Johnna Kaplan
A Russian Refuge, Preserved
In the suburban town of Southbury is an intriguing slice of little-known Connecticut history, hidden in plain sight.
In 1925 a group of Russian immigrants, mainly artists, writers, and dancers, transformed this patch of wilderness into a center of Russian arts and culture. They named their summer colony Churaevka. It is now called by that name as well as simply Russian Village.
The tiny Russian Orthodox chapel the immigrants built stands in a clearing like something from a magical tale, and the cottages they constructed, though winterized, remain much as they were when their builders first laid them out on roads with names like Kiev Drive.
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