House By the Side of the Road, a longtime Wilton garden and retail shop, is marking a milestone year in 2026 as it reaches 50 years since opening in its current location.
David and Elaine Goddard, shop owner Abby MacFarland’s parents, bought the business in 1971 from Bob and Trenti Sanborn. Originally located on Elm Street along Route 101 in Milford, the business moved to Wilton in 1976 after the Route 101 bypass altered traffic patterns.
The business had planned to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021. Those plans were postponed, however, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted operations and because the shop’s move to Wilton occurred five years after its founding.
“While COVID did ruin our plans for the 50-year anniversary in 2021, we had a huge uptick in business. Ever since, we’ve had a steady flow of customers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts regularly coming in,” MacFarland said. “As for doing something for the 50-year anniversary this year, we’re still thinking about the best way to do so.”
MacFarland said a common misconception is that a fire forced the relocation, but that was not the case.
“While the original building in Wilton did burn down, it did so after we moved,” she said.
In its early days, the shop sold knick-knacks, cigarettes and tapestries. “It was mostly a souvenir and gift shop,” MacFarland said. Now, its primary focus is plants, though it still sells some of the original goods as well.
“One of our big non-plant sellers are our puzzles,” she said.
“When we first moved to Wilton, the building was set up as an apple packing plant. We sold knick-knacks for a few years, then set up our first greenhouse in 1978,” MacFarland said, adding that African Violets were the first plants cultivated and sold in the shop.
MacFarland, who said she dreamed of becoming a writer as a child, took over day-to-day operations around 2000 or 2001, as her parents transitioned into semi-retirement. Her father died in 2012, and her mother, Elaine Goddard, will turn 90 later this year.
Today, four generations of the family are involved in the business, including MacFarland, her mother, her daughter Bethany LaFleur and LaFleur’s two children.
Over the years, the shop has expanded into a network of greenhouses. Staff member Whitney Dunbar said that in the winter, a few of the greenhouses are empty but in the spring, they are filled with plants.
In addition to perennials and annuals, the shop has a variety of succulents, bonsais, fruit trees and hanging house plants.
According to MacFarland, the shop grows most of its annuals and perennials while suppliers provide harder-to-grow specialty plants.
“Houseplants, annuals, perennials and lots of our outdoor hanging baskets fill the back nine greenhouses during spring,” she said.
Customers may be greeted by one of the shop’s two cats, Rusty and Poppy, and can find koi fish and turtles in small ponds scattered throughout the shop. During breeding season, some customers may spot turtle eggs.
“We didn’t anticipate our shop turning into a turtle sanctuary. We started with the turtle pond out back and then brought some inside. Since doing so, customers periodically bring unwanted pets or injured wild turtles here and we hold onto them,” Dunbar said. “In the spring, some of the turtles crawl out of the ponds to lay eggs near the plants.”
Adjacent to the main shop is the House By the Side of the Road Convenience Center, in what was once the family’s residence. “In 1981, we moved to a different house and turned the one next to the shop into a convenience store,” MacFarland said.
In addition to beer, coffee, cigarettes and snacks, the store features a candy shop in the back room.
