Bridgeport Harbor is an inlet on the north side of Long Island Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

approximately 13,000 years ago. Bridgeport Harbor is a federal shipping port and a terminus of the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, one of the oldest ferry companies in the nation. It is due east of the smaller

Black Rock Harbor Black Rock Harbor is located in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Long Island Sound. The Black Rock Harbor Light on Fayerweather Island Bridgeport Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

Geography

Bridgeport's

Success Lake (Connecticut) Success Lake is a reservoir in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The elevation of the reservoir is 46 feet. It is located in the 435 acre Lake Success Business Park, which was used to produce ammunition and explosives by the Remington Arms Company from 19 ...

and Stilman Pond both egress via the Yellow Mill Channel and into the

tidal marsh A tidal marsh (also known as a type of "tidal wetland") is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes are commonly zoned into lower marshes ...

at the top of the harbor. The

Pequonnock River The Pequonnock River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed 2011-04-01. waterway in eastern Fairfield County, Connecticut. Its watershed is located in five communities, wi ...

empties into the inlet on its north end while the

Tongue Point Light Tongue Point Light Lighthouse, also known as Bridgeport Breakwater or Bug Light, is a lighthouse on the west side of the Bridgeport Harbor entrance, in the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut in the United States. Built in 1891 and moved to its pre ...

is at the western end of the mouth of the harbor.

Notable structures in or near the harbor

Arena at Harbor Yard Total Mortgage Arena (formerly The Arena at Harbor Yard and Webster Bank Arena) is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. It is the home venue of the New York Islanders' AHL farm team, the Bridgep ...

, a 10,000 seat capacity basketball, hockey and sporting venue. *

The Ballpark at Harbor Yard The Ballpark at Harbor Yard was a 5,500-seat minor-league ballpark in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut that opened on May 21, 1998. The stadium was located next to the Webster Bank Arena, now known as the Total Mortgage Arena. It was named "Har ...

, a 5,300 seat outdoor venue which is home to the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseb ...

baseball team. *

Berkshire No. 7 ''Berkshire No. 7'' is a wood and steel barge constructed in 1935. It is historically important as a transitional canal barge and as one of the few surviving wooden-hulled canal boats. It was used to transport bulk cargo, including shipping fer ...

, a shipwreck, sank in 1974 along with the Elmer S. Dailey and the

Priscilla Dailey ''Priscilla Dailey'', previously known as the ''Elizabeth E. Newell'', is a wooden canal boat constructed in 1929 in Whitehall, New York. The barge was used to transport bulk cargo in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut harbors. It sank in 1 ...

Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is a railroad drawbridge ( movable bridge) over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Owned by the State of Connecticut and maintained and operated by both Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, it is al ...

is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. *

Pleasure Beach Pleasure Beach is the Bridgeport portion of a Connecticut barrier beach that extends westerly from Point No Point (the portion in the adjoining town of Stratford is known as Long Beach). Prior to June, 2014, when Pleasure Beach re-opened, the a ...

, also known as "Steeplechase Island" is a former amusement park and ghost town. It is the site of the transmission towers for

WICC (AM) WICC (600 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Bridgeport, Connecticut, owned by Connoisseur Media. It airs as a talk radio format featuring local shows with Melissa Sheketoff, Lisa Wexler and Paul Pacelli. Nationally syndicated programs in ...

. *The PSEG Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station is a familiar piece of the Bridgeport skyline.

History

Originally used for shipbuilding, it now operates mainly as a shipping port. The harbor was dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1964. Current plans to dredge it again have met with opposition from residents of

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

due to plans to dump the dredged material at

Morris Cove East Shore is a neighborhood in the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The East Shore contains the Morris Cove Historic District. Its name is derived from its geographic location on the east side of New Haven Harbor. It is bordered on the north by Up ...

. A 4000-ton dry dock was opened in 2010.

Transportation

The

Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, commonly referred to as the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry is a ferry company that operates ferry service across Long Island Sound, between the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Long ...

is berthed in the harbor. The harbor is located at the end of 8/ 25 connector, where it merges into

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...

, near the

Bridgeport (Metro-North station) Bridgeport station is a shared Amtrak, Metro-North Railroad, and CTrail train station along the Northeast Corridor serving Bridgeport, Connecticut and nearby towns. On Metro-North, the station is the transfer point between the Waterbury Branch ...

, a stop for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut ...

and

Shoreline East Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and i ...

trains.

References

External links