Mystic Drawbridge 7:45 A.M.

The lobsters will have to wait!

At 20-minutes before-the-hour, a whistle blows in downtown Mystic, and a pair of crossing gates stop traffic on Route 1. Moments later, the Mystic Drawbridge begins to rise.



A fixture in town since 1920, this counter-weighted, bascule bridge provides clearance for the ships of Mystic Seaport, as well as creating a spectacle for tourists walking the main street. On busy weekends, visitors with ice-cream cones and shopping bags stop what they are doing, to watch the drawbridge open for ships named Sabino and Argia.  The ships pass, the bridge is then lowered, and vacation-life resumes.

For the residents of Mystic, it is a more complicated relationship. There's an internal clock attached to every errand planned. You always seem to arrive someplace twenty-minutes early, or ten-minutes late. When you find yourself in an absolute hurry, the bridge will be open - guaranteed.

But these inconveniences have their sweet rewards. No matter the circumstance, and regardless of the true reason, residents all carry a solid, ace-in-the-hole alibi for when they are not on-time:

"Sorry I'm late, boss (honey, Mom, Your Honor, etc)...... the bridge was up".





Wikipedia: Mystic River Bascule Bridge

WTNH: Renovations for Mystic Drawbridge

New England Traveler: Mystic Bridge is a Real Draw

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Mill Dam Bridge in Centerport

Spanning the tidal-flats of Centerport Harbor, the Mill Dam Bridge has a history as old as our country itself. A tide-mill and dam were constructed here in 1774, which replaced an earlier mill built just south of this site in 1674.  Although the mill is long gone, the bridge and dam have been reincarnated several times in the last century. 

Its most recent form, built in 2005, may be the most inviting. Designed with accessibility and aesthetics in mind, there is stonework and detail often not found in public works today. At several points, the sidewalks widen to create viewing areas of both the harbor and the sluice gates below. Both ends of the bridge have small pocket-parks with benches, and various bric-a-brac. 

It's not just a utilitarian bridge and dam - it's a place to spend a little time. It's the Camden Yards of Long Island Sound bridges.

I suppose Centerport Harbor is one of those settings that would be beautiful regardless of the bridge which was built. Still, it is nice to see structures which compliment the surroundings, rather than detract. And it's especially heartening to see city fathers and planners trying to appeal to public-access kooks like me. 

Jarvis House: Mill Dam Bridge (Lori put together a collection of wintertime photos)

Boating Times: Centerport Harbor

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photo credit: Wikipedia

Quinnipiac River Park

North of Interstate-95, above the Ferry Street Bridge, the decaying industry along New Haven's Quinnipiac River gives way to this historic stretch of waterfront. With a high concentration of 19th-century homes, the neighborhoods of Fair Haven, and Fair Haven Heights are a modern day reminder of New Haven's maritime past.  

This was once a prominent oyster port, with wharves and sheds lining both sides of the river. Related industries, such as shipbuilding and barrel making, thrived as well. By the 1840's, the neighborhood became a leading center for processing and trading, as oysters arrived from as far away as the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. 

Today, things are a bit quieter here, but the oystering lives on, albeit on a lesser scale. Taking in the view from Quinnipiac River Park, I could see an oyster boat quietly at rest, with a tell-tale pile of shells rising behind her. A limited and diminished reminder of a once dominant past.

New Haven Preservation Trust: Quinnipiac Historic District 

CT Coastal Access Guide: Quinnipiac River Park

Quinnipiac Watershed Association

Mystic Seaport: New Haven Sharpie

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Bon Voyage Empire State

Maritime education is not something generally associated with Long Island Sound, until you actually take the time to think about it. There is the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London; the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point; and SUNY Maritime College at Throgs Neck. Those colleges, combined with the oceanography programs at SUNY Stony Brook and UCONN Avery Point make the Sound one big nautical classroom. 

While students at more conventional schools are presently thinking about final exams and summer vacation, students here are instead preparing for a semester-at-sea. Hands-on experience, outside the classroom, aboard a ship.

Empire State VI, a converted 565 foot bulk cargo freighter, serves as the training ship for SUNY Maritime College. She and her crew depart this morning for the Mediterranean. Bon voyage...see you in September!

SUNY Maritime College

Wikipedia: TS Empire State

New London Day: USCGC Eagle Departs for Europe

Kings Point Waterfront: Summerwind in DC

YouTube: Departure of Empire State

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Norwottuck Rail Trail

 

When I look at the Connecticut River north of Hartford, I have to sometimes remind myself this is the same river where Carina spends her winter months. While I am well acquainted with the river's path from the Quebec border to Saybrook Point, I don't instinctively connect-the-dots for these agricultural and mill towns  scattered along its bank in western Massachusetts.

Northampton is approximately 75 miles north of the Sound, as the crow flies. The river however, follows a more twisted and indirect path, adding perhaps 40 miles to its flow towards Long Island Sound. If one were to paddle this portion of the river, you would spend a significant amount of time heading east and west, in order to travel south.

Thankfully, I hadn't arrived here by river-raft or canoe; I was staying at my sister's house just a few minutes away. One day last month, while she was still asleep, I took an early morning walk along the Norwottuck Rail Trail, which includes this 1879 bridge.  The ten mile, former railroad line connects the city of Northampton with Amherst, MA. According to the website, it is one of the "most popular facilities in the Pioneer Valley".

Old bridges make old noises! The frozen wood planks atop the cold steel made a sort of cracking bang with each step that echoed off the ice flow. Several times I had stopped for a moment to take in the silence, before quickly moving on. Silence may be golden, but it was cold out, and I don't like standing still.  

When I reached the east side of the bridge, I could see farm fields and the encroaching sprawl on the whitewashed horizon. It was then that I realized I had passed through here before.

Returning from Vermont last summer, I had taken a slower, more indirect route through this obscure stretch of river valley. Steering clear of the interstate, I meandered southward on county roads through tobacco farms  and vegetable fields. With the windows wide open and my bare foot on the dash, I had stopped at a small store for a seltzer and a phone call.

 It was now clear to me that the same store was directly in front of me.

It's strange how people and places of little significance can reappear later in life, under completely different circumstances. A negative streak intersects with a previous, unrelated positive path. The good times and the bad get all tangled together - interwoven is too orderly a word.

This trip to Northampton didn't have the carefree feel of that late summer drive. I was passing through town on a much more serious matter. This time, the glass was half-empty and there was no way to make it half-full. The farmhouses and colonials no longer boasted an aura of riverside, orderly bliss.  Instead, I looked out at the clapboard, and wondered about the modern day turmoils taking place inside the facade. 

Norwottuck Rail Trail: website

Northampton MA: Map

Bruce Springsteen: The River

Johnny Cash: Turn Your Back On Your Family, You Aint No Good

An Occurrence At Old Lyme Bridge

No matter what the calendar and thermometer may read, it is the Old Lyme Railroad Bridge that marks my seasons . When I sail north of this span in November, the bridge closes behind me, and my winter begins.

For the past several years, Carina has spent her winter months in a boatyard a few miles above this bridge. I still sail her occasionally in late fall and early spring, but always north of the span. Until I venture to the other side, it all seems like a preseason exhibition game. It doesn't really count. This 1907, truss-style, bascule bridge is my Checkpoint Charlie; my San Ysidro. Passing beneath her is my spring and autumnal equinox.

There is something that feels very unnatural when a boat passes under a bridge. The charts and signs all show that there is plenty of clearance, but I still find myself second guessing the dimensions. I envision the mast being too tall, hitting the bridge, and then falling down. If only Freud were aboard to diagnose and explain my  mast-envy, and dismasting anxiety.

But there are no mishaps, and the bridge operator gives me a wave as I clear the opening. I turn to wave back and immediately realize that I am south of the bridge. "See you in November" I yell to him.

Ahead of me I can see the two lighthouses at Saybrook Point, and I smell the salt water in the breeze. A small wave rolls in from the Sound and smacks the hull broadside, spraying my face lightly. It's a brisk and salty reminder that Carina has been released from her winter stall, and is now free to roam in what F. Scott Fitzgerald called "the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound". 

Saybrook-Old Lyme Bridge

Soundbounder: November

Soundbounder: Ferry Landing Park

Rings End Bridge In Darien

The western approach to Long Neck Point crosses Gorham Pond and the remains of a grist mill dam.  As early as 1708, a mill stood here before eventually being destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. The Rings End Bridge (aka Gorham's Pond Bridge) was constructed in the 1920's. The stonework and arches make this one of the more attractive bridges I have seen.

The bridge aside, this photo interests me because it captures that brief window in November when the trees and sky have turned gray, yet the weeds and grass in the foreground are holding on to their autumn color. It reminds me of those images that add color to one item in a black & white photograph.

Darien Times: Bacterial Levels Less Of A Problem In 2009

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Glen Island Bridge

Glen Island was originally a private resort created in the late 19th century, that consisted of several islands linked by causeways and footbridges. To reach the islands, one needed to arrive by excursion boat, or take a small ferry from New Rochelle. When Westchester County purchased the land in the 1920's, the islands were connected with fill to create one large island. The drawbridge shown here, was also constructed to connect the park to the mainland. The stonework and streetlamps make this an attractive bridge. Today, the 105 acre Glen Island is the second most visited county park in Westchester.

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Westchester.com: Glen Island Park

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Mystic River Railroad Bridge

Little Bay Park

It began in 1883 when the Brooklyn Bridge spanned the East River, connecting lower Manhattan with Brooklyn. In the years that followed, each decade seemed to produce a new span that linked Manhattan and the Bronx, with Brooklyn and Queens. By 1961, there were eight bridges and more than a dozen tunnels traversing the divide of the river. 48 years ago this week, in a sort of golden spike moment, the Throgs Neck Bridge opened. From the Battery Tunnel to Long Island Sound, the East River had been conquered from both above and below.
To the best of my knowledge, that is not exactly how the opening of the Throgs Neck Bridge was viewed. Newspaper articles of the day reported it as one more link of a bigger plan that would continue eastward. Throgs Neck was built to ease traffic congestion on the Whitestone Bridge, and there would be future bridges across the Sound to ease the traffic of the Throgs Neck. There were already plans in the works by Robert Moses for a Rye-Oyster Bay Bridge, a New Haven-Shoreham Bridge, and an Orient Point-Rhode Island Bridge. Each project promising to solve the traffic congestion created by the previous bridge.
Obviously, these bridges and tunnels were never built. But every so often, the issue is resurrected again as a cure-all for our traffic problems. The latest version is a tunnel extending from Interstate 287 to Oyster Bay. This project has most likely been shelved due to the current fiscal crisis, but it will reappear when prosperity returns.

Little Bay Park is a thin parcel of land wedged between the Cross Island Parkway, Fort Totten, and the Throgs Neck Bridge. When I visited recently, there were many joggers, as well as people walking their dogs. A few visitors just sat in their cars, looking out at Little Bay, and the traffic jam on the bridge that marks the entry to the East River from Long Island Sound.

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