Connecticut Coastal Paddling

Fairfield County

Bridgeport

Bridgeport Harbor

Site Location: Newfield Ave, Bridgeport

Basic Information:

Type: Bay

Season:

Site Contact Information:

Coordinates:

Longitude  73.175ºW   Latitude 41.163ºN

Location Map:

USGS Quadrangle:  Bridgeport

Navigational Charts: Use ChartKit Region 3, page 28; Maptech Waterproof Charts 1 and 16; and Maptech electronic and NOAA paper charts 12369 (1:20,000), 12364 (1:40,000), and 12363 (1:80,000). Use tide tables for Bridgeport. Mean tidal range is 6.8 feet.

Driving Directions:

Directions Map: Google Map

Regulations:

Toilets:

Parking:

Parking Spaces:

Parking Fees:

Boat Launch Information:

Newfield Avenue Boat Ramp

Seaside Park Boat Launch

You can also launch from Pequonnock Yacht Club

ADA Access:

Site Description:

Environment:

Additional Info:

Bluefish that play baseball. Tigers that play ice hockey. It could only happen in Bridgeport, where "the greatest showman on Earth," P.T. Barnum, made his home for most of his life. Based on the history of Connecticut's largest city, the circus promoter picked a perfect place to establish himself.

Bridgeport Harbor Lighthouse

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Site History:

When the area was first settled in 1639, it was called Pequonnock, after the river where the Indians of the same name lived. The town at the mouth of the Pequonnock sought an identity much like a Barnum act, undergoing numerous name changes. It was called Fairfield Village in 1694, then Stratfield Village in 1701, and Newfield Village in 1798. Two years later, when the first drawbridge was erected over the Pequonnock River, it was then changed again, for the final time, to Bridgeport. And, now you know why P.T. Barnum came here.

Born in Bethel, Connecticut in 1810, Barnum is well-known for his circus, which wintered in Bridgeport, but he made a good deal of his fortune through real estate in the city and investments in local banks, utilities, and the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company. He also laid out parks and roads, built magnificent homes, and even designed Mountain Grove Cemetery where he is buried. Barnum, once a mayor of the city, is credited with bringing Elias Howe and his Singer sewing machines to Bridgeport in the early 19th century, changing this port city into a major manufacturing center.

Throughout most of its history, Bridgeport has been an industrial powerhouse, producing everything from brass products, machine tools, carriages, corsets, and sewing machines, to military equipment and supplies. The city's official motto in Latin is Industria Crescimus, or "by industry we thrive." Over the last 50 years, however, the city's fortunes and population have changed.

Today's trades are more service-oriented. Many families of former factory workers moved into the suburbs with their cars, and a citizenry made up of new immigrants, mostly minorities, replaced them. The ethnic diversity brought educational and economic disparity in the region, and the polarization resulted in more crime and an unwanted reputation.

The new millennium has brought revitalization to a city that needs it. The reconstruction of the highways intersecting the city and proposals for a new, multi-million-dollar Steel Point waterfront, complete with retail, hotel, and boardwalk space, are signs of change. Pleasure Beach, the island on the harbor's eastern entrance that was once an amusement center, is slated for more improvements as a public recreation area.

Bridgeport is a regional hub. The downtown area is a center of government, transportation, communications, and employment for the residents of Fairfield, Easton, Monroe, Trumbull, and Stratford. These towns also rely on the city's hospitals. The region is now looking to Bridgeport as a source of family entertainment, too. The presence of minor-league baseball and hockey teams with their multi-purpose arenas will bring other sporting events, concerts, and, yes, the circus. This resurgence would make P.T. Barnum proud.