Image: Tracey O’Shaughnessy /Hearst Connecticut Media via CT Insider
The commission ultimately approved the 25-lot subdivision in February 2026. The two men agreed to buy the property from developer Phillip Bowman’s Birdsey Development for $5 million. The referendum itself had passed with 75% of the vote, according to CT Insider. Esposito told CT Insider that the farm may not be ready to sell fruit again until 2027. In February, the story appeared to be about the end of a 268-year-old farm and the arrival of 25 new homes.
CT Insider reported that one resident described the prospect of seeing the centuries-old farm replaced by development as deeply disappointing. Bringing the orchards and other agricultural operations back won’t happen overnight.
Cunningham told CT Insider that he had grown up visiting Cheshire’s apple farms with his family and was upset when he heard Norton Brothers was going to close. Town officials said concerns about rapid development and the loss of open space had helped drive the effort. Esposito and Cunningham have said they don’t expect to make money from Norton Brothers.
For generations, people in Cheshire, Connecticut, knew Norton Brothers Fruit Farm for its apples, peaches, pears and berries. Families came here to pick fruit, buy produce and spend fall afternoons among the orchards. Bill Cunningham, and Dr. David J. Esposito, stepped in. Their goal wasn’t to build on it. They wanted to keep the land as farmland or open space. His reaction was simple: Could anything be done to save it? That question eventually became a deal. They describe the purchase as a “labor of love. The property had already sat fallow for two seasons. The buyers are working with the town and Cheshire Land Trust on the long-term preservation of the property. Still, the basic idea is remarkably simple: instead of replacing an old farm with a neighborhood, they are trying to give the farm another life. By May, the same property had become an example of something quite different: what can happen when a town, private buyers and a developer all find a way to preserve land that seemed destined for development. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test Get the latest Lifestyle News and more. Download the TOI app.
When the development plan came before Cheshire’s Planning and Zoning Commission, residents spoke about losing one of the town’s remaining pieces of open land.
Then, after 268 years, the farm closed. A developer had bought 42.3 acres of the property for $3.05 million, and a plan for 25 single-family homes had been approved. A farm that had operated since 1757 was about to become a residential development. By 2019, the operation covered about 107 acres and included 34 varieties of apples along with peaches, pears, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, University of Connecticut says. The farm and its stand eventually closed permanently in May 2025. The town agreed to contribute $1.5 million from money approved by voters in a 2025 conservation referendum.
And for a while, it looked as though the next chapter would have little to do with farming. Then two Cheshire residents decided to try something different. Norton Brothers wasn’t just an old farm. It had been run by seven generations of the Norton and Perry families. That closure immediately raised concerns in the community. That money will help secure a permanent conservation restriction on the property, meaning the land cannot simply be turned into houses later.