1099 Pequot Brochure

SOUTHPORT, CONNECTICUT
IN THE 1700S, MILL RIVER VILLAGE WAS A SMALL HAMLET OF A FEW
HOUSES AND A WHARF AT THE MOUTH OF FAIRFIELD’S MILL RIVER. BY
1831 THE VILLAGE HAD CHANGED ITS NAME TO SOUTHPORT AND WAS A
BUSTLING COMMERCIAL AREA WITH WAREHOUSES, CHURCHES,
SCHOOLS, STORES, AND ELEGANT HOUSES.
SOUTHPORT BECAME A LEADING COASTAL PORT ON LONG ISLAND
SOUND, ITS SHIPS CARRYING PRODUCE AND GOODS BACK AND FORTH TO
NEW YORK CITY. A MEASURE OF ITS SUCCESS IS THE FACT THAT
THROUGHOUT THE 1800S IT POSSESSED THE ONLY TWO BANKS IN TOWN.
HOWEVER, COMPETITION FROM STEAMBOATS AND THE RAILROAD TOOK
ITS TOLL ON PROSPERITY. RESOURCEFUL SHIPPERS TEAMED WITH LOCAL
FARMERS AND BUSINESSMEN TO KEEP THE PORT GOING; THE
SOUTHPORT ONION, A HIGH-QUALITY ONION WAS DEVELOPED AND
GROWN ON FAIRFIELD’S HILLS AND SHIPPED IN SOUTHPORT MARKET
BOATS, KEEPING THE HARBOR PROFITABLE UNTIL THE END OF THE
CENTURY.
TODAY, MUCH OF THE OLD VILLAGE AREA IS PART OF AN HISTORIC
DISTRICT, WHERE BUILDINGS FROM THREE CENTURIES ARE PROTECTED
FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.