Mugavero
NUGGET #71
Mugavero: Family of Ridgefield/Branchville barbers began with Vincent Mugavero (1902-1987) of Norwalk who from 1931-38 ran Ridgefield Tonsorial Parlor at ONS89 Main Street (392?); he was joined by his brother Jerry (1904-88) who bought the business in 1938 when Vincent opened B-V Ranch, a restaurant on Route 7; Jerry operated Jerry’s Barber Shop many years (for a while with Mike Pontello, who married Jerry’s daughter, Agatha); Jerry lived on Route 7 in Branchville; Jerry’s son, Peter, operated Peter’s Barber Shop in Branchville for many years; Peter’s daughter, Linda Mugavero Morganti, operates The Barber’s Daughter at 723 Branchville Road.
Jack Sanders, Who Was Who in Ridgefield.
Read more about the Mugavero family on Jack Sanders’s Old Ridgefield website.
More Historical Nuggets
First Pride Day, 1998
FIRST ‘PRIDE’ DAY: “A Celebration of Community: Straight, Gay and Lesbian“ took place in 1998, on the Community Center lawn. Just a year later, a Rainbow Flag was flown for the first time in the nation over a state capitol, Hartford, on March 21, 1999.
Hezekiah Scott (1789-1879)
Hezekiah Scott was a weaver and operated a distillery on the brook near his home on Barlow Mountain Road — a stream now called Kiah’s Brook.
Paving
The first road paving, part of a state experiment, was done on the eastern end of Branchville Road around 1912. Catoonah Street was paved in 1922.
Lillian Barnard Gilkes and Louise “Lulu” Davidson
Gilkes, Lillian Barnard, (1903-1977), was a nationally recognized scholar, author and critic who lived at 93 Olmstead Lane with stepsister.
