Greenwich Is Where Wall Street's Hedge Fund Money Went Home

Greenwich, Connecticut sits at the southwestern tip of Fairfield County's so-called Gold Coast, a stretch of Long Island Sound shoreline that has drawn money out of New York City since the Gilded Age. A roughly 45-minute ride from Grand Central on Metro-North's New Haven Line puts it close enough for a commute, and far enough to feel like a different world of gated driveways and multi-acre lots.

From railroad fortunes to hedge funds

Greenwich's wealth has changed character more than once. Gilded Age railroad and industrial fortunes built the town's earliest grand estates in the late nineteenth century, and a second wave of Wall Street commuters arrived through the mid-twentieth century. Since the 1990s, the town has become one of the most concentrated hedge fund addresses in the United States, drawing firms and their principals out of Manhattan for lower state taxes and, for many, more space.

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Belle Haven and the back-country estates

Two distinct kinds of address define old Greenwich money. Belle Haven, a private, gated waterfront community on its own peninsula, holds some of the town's oldest and most guarded shoreline properties. Further inland, so-called 'back country' Greenwich holds multi-acre estate lots along winding lanes, the kind of property that rarely appears on public listings before it sells.

A beach the public can't just walk onto

Greenwich Point Park, known locally as Tod's Point, is the town's best-known public shoreline park, but access reflects the town's private character: non-resident visitors need a paid pass, and the town's restrictions on outside access have drawn legal challenges over the years.

Greenwich Avenue, not Rodeo Drive

Unlike more theatrical old-money shopping streets, Greenwich Avenue keeps a low-key, small-town scale: a roughly half-mile stretch of boutiques, private banks and restaurants that serves as the town's social main street rather than a tourist strip, even though its retailers include the kind of luxury names found in far larger cities.

Traveller tips

• Greenwich is an easy day trip from New York City via Metro-North's New Haven Line from Grand Central, roughly 45 minutes each way.
• Tod's Point (Greenwich Point Park) charges non-residents for parking and beach access; check current rules before driving out.
• Belle Haven and the back-country estates are private and largely unseen from public roads; there's little to view up close beyond entrance gates.
• Greenwich Avenue is walkable end to end and is the best way to get a feel for the town without a car.