Remember the Lush Surrounding of the Milestone Inn in Naugatuck?

One of the true hidden gems of Naugatuck's culinary history has been permanently closed for a few years, and the property is no longer hidden.

I drove down Rubber Ave the other day for the first time in a while, I was shocked at what's happened to the former Milestone Inn property on Neumann Street. For more than 30 years the Milestone Inn was a hidden gem tucked away in a thicket of trees, shrubs, and lush greenery right behind Naugatuck's Mountainview Plaza. Here's where Google Maps helps. This is a photo of the property in 2013 -

The property was beautifully landscaped. Here's what it looked like in 2019 -

The next photo was taken in 2021, after the Milestone Inn's closure, here is where the deforestation begins. -

This is the latest Google Street Maps image from 2023 -

The property at 18 Neumann Street was purchased by Don Raphael Cuisine, a Brazilian/Portuguese Restaurant in Bridgeport just under a year ago. There must have been quite a few stump grinders and woodchippers in Naugatuck during the summer of 2022. Maybe I'm wrong, and it doesn't matter in 2025, but I always felt that the landscaping work that the Milestone did added to the cozy atmosphere?

Look at what the owners of Viron Rondo in Cheshire have done to their property, it's like walking into the New York Botanical Gardens along Highland Avenue. For all that was lost on that property, I am glad that the landscaping crews left the mature hundred+ year old trees along the roadway.