Woodbury, Connecticut: Antiques Capital, the Glebe House, and Main Street
Woodbury, Connecticut
Pictures from Woodbury
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Woodbury is Connecticut's 23rd town, settled in 1673 by families who walked up the rivers from Stratford to claim the Pomperaug plantation and built log cabins along what is still the main street. Three and a half centuries later that street is the reason to come: a National Register streetscape of 18th- and 19th-century buildings that earned Woodbury its title as Connecticut's antiques capital, anchored by the c. 1740 Glebe House — birthplace of the Episcopal Church in America — and the only Gertrude Jekyll garden in the country open to the public. Eat well, sleep in an 18th-century inn, and browse.
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The c. 1740 minister's house where the Episcopal Church in America traces its birth — and the only publicly open Gertrude Jekyll-designed garden in the U.S. Garden is self-guided, dawn to dusk, year-round.
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2,400-plus conserved acres with public trails, about 60 years in the making.
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walk
The town park next to the Glebe House — pavilion, fields, and a stretch-your-legs stop.
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walk
Wooded town park with a disc golf course.
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food
Bistro New American in the antiques district; Monday BYOB with no corkage.
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Farm-fresh, seasonally changing menus; Sunday brunch 11:30-3.
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food
The 1971-founded natural-foods market — grab prepared foods and picnic.
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food
40-day aged prime beef and a sushi bar on Main Street.
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stay
Ten rooms with private baths in the 18th-century inn long known as the Curtis House — reputedly Connecticut's oldest inn, now operating as the 1754 House.
Connecticut's 23rd town
In the spring of 1673, families from Rev. Zechariah Walker's dissenting Stratford congregation walked into the Pomperaug wilderness and founded Woodbury — "dwelling place in the woods" — with each family receiving up to twenty-five acres along a single main street. By the late 1700s Woodbury was a thriving agricultural trade center of millers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, tinsmiths, and goldsmiths. The town center still holds St. Paul's Episcopal Church (1785), the First Congregational Church (1818), and the Masonic Temple (1839) — and it was home to Leroy Anderson, one of the 20th century's most popular composers of light concert music.
Antiquing Main Street
In the late twentieth century, antique dealers moved into the historic residential buildings along Woodbury's town center, and the town became known as Connecticut's antiques capital. The dealers change; the streetscape doesn't. Park once and walk Main Street South — the shops, John's Cafe, and MIX are all on the same stretch, with the Glebe House a turn away on Hollow Road.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is Woodbury called the antiques capital of Connecticut?
- Since the late 20th century, antique shops have occupied the historic buildings along its town center, making it the state's best-known antiques destination.
- Is the Gertrude Jekyll garden open?
- Yes — it's self-guided and open dawn to dusk year-round on the Glebe House grounds, the only Jekyll-designed garden in the U.S. open to the public.
- Where can I stay in Woodbury?
- The 1754 House at 506 Main Street South — ten guest rooms with private baths in the 18th-century building long known as the Curtis House, reputedly Connecticut's oldest inn.
- What is the Glebe House?
- A c. 1740 gambrel-roofed house, occupied from 1771 by Anglican priest John Rutgers Marshall, known as the birthplace of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
- Is the Good News Cafe still open?
- No — Carole Peck's famed Good News Cafe could not be verified as operating in 2026; its successors appear closed. John's Cafe and Market Place are the current Main Street picks.
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