Cut in Two Island , East and West, are two of the

Thimble Islands The Thimble Islands is an archipelago consisting of small islands in Long Island Sound, located in and around the harbor of Stony Creek in the southeast corner of Branford, Connecticut. The islands are under the jurisdiction of the United ...

off Stony Creek, a section of

Branford, Connecticut Branford is a shoreline New England town, town located on Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, about east of downtown New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven. The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Regi ...

. It is actually two separate islands, but, as the name suggests, it looks like a single island that was cleaved in two.

History

Cut in Two East was once the home of circus performer

General Tom Thumb Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American with dwarfism who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum. Childhood and early ...

, of P.T. Barnum fame. He lived on the island with his wife, Lavinia Warren. Supposedly, at least one room was wallpapered with circus designs. Cut in Two East last sold in 2003 for $3.4 million and Cut in Two West in 2004 for $2.4 million. They were among several islands bought by Christine Svenningsen and, before his death, by her husband, party goods magnate John Svenningsen.

Footnotes

References

*
Wealthy Widow Buying Up Thimbles
'', "New Haven Register", January 22, 2006, page A1 *

'; Stacey Stowe; "In the Region/Connecticut", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', July 30, 2006; Real Estate page 10. Thimble Islands {{Connecticut-geo-stub