Fayerweather Island is a -acre land mass in
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...
. Part of the city of
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...
, it is located south of the city's
Seaside Park. The island contains a resurgent coastal forest composed primarily of white oak (''Quercus alba'') and Eastern red cedar (''Juniperus virginiana'') growth. It is home to the
Black Rock Harbor Light, built in 1823, at the mouth of
Black Rock Harbor.
Physical description
*Elevation: ~.
*
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...
maintains weather station FWIC3 on the island.
History
*1807: Island purchased from David Fayerweather by the US Government.
*1823: The present lighthouse was built, with four-foot-thick rubble walls faced with brownstone ashlar, to replace an earlier wooden structure that had been washed away in a hurricane. A keeper's house was constructed at the same time.
*1837–38: A granite
seawall
A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation, ...
—called "the fortification"—was constructed to help maintain the integrity of the island and lighthouse station. It was extended across what had become little more than a sandbar to connect with a larger portion of Fayerweather Island in 1849.
*1844: Lantern of lighthouse reconstructed
*1873: Keeper's house rebuilt, with self-sufficient cistern water supply.
*1894: Dredging project completed, providing channel around the island into the harbor at low tide. Seawall repaired & improved.
*1911: Island acquired by the city of Bridgeport. Reconstruction of the seawall is begun that would connect the island to the western end of
Seaside Park.
*1919: New seawall and roadway completed that connected the upper portion of Fayerweather Island (now the western end of the park mainland) to the older portions of Seaside Park.
*1933: Lighthouse decommissioned.
*1977: Keeper's house destroyed by fire.
*1986: A state-record 17 lb 14 oz
weakfish
''Cynoscion'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family, Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found off the coasts of North and South America in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Many fishes in ...
was caught on the island.
See also
*
History of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Notes
External links
{{authority control
Geography of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Coastal islands of Connecticut
Landforms of Fairfield County, Connecticut