"Arcadian Movement". The arrival of the Shepaug Railroad in Washington in 1872 introduced rail service to New York City, which brought an influx of new visitors. Architect Ehrick Rossiter, then a recent graduate of the local Gunnery prep school, saw an opportunity to establish an understated alternative to Greenwich, Newport, and the ostentation favored by the nouveaux riches of the day. In collaboration with a coterie of wealthy New York patrons, Rossiter remade the Washington Green area into an idyllic summer colony, transforming it into an idealized version of the quintessential New England village. During this period, the Congregational church received a makeover, commercial enterprises were eliminated for aesthetic purposes, and restrained but elegant summer homes—many of them designed by Rossiter himself—were constructed. Contemporaneously, new seasonal residents established themselves at Lake Waramaug in New Preston.