USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > Price & Lee's New Haven (New Haven County, Conn.) city directory, including West Haven, East Haven, and Woodbridge, 1863-4 > Part 3
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > Price & Lee's New Haven (New Haven County, Conn.) city directory, including West Haven, East Haven, and Woodbridge, 1863-4 > Part 3
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > West Haven > Price & Lee's New Haven (New Haven County, Conn.) city directory, including West Haven, East Haven, and Woodbridge, 1863-4 > Part 3
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Woodbridge > Price & Lee's New Haven (New Haven County, Conn.) city directory, including West Haven, East Haven, and Woodbridge, 1863-4 > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
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for in a first class hotel, with the special attractions of a water ing place. The house has accommodations for about two hun- dred boarders. A considerable number of his guests are made up of families who spend the summer at the Rock. The table arrangements are admirable. All who visit the house unite in pronouncing this department unexcelled in the country. A shooting gallery, billiard tables, bowling alleys, shuffle board, rowing, sailing, fishing, bathing, double and single carriages, saddle horses, &c., present an agreeable variety of resources both for his regular guests and for occasional visitors. Mr. U.p- son's charges are $2,50 per day for transient boarders, and according to the rooms they occupy, for regular guests. The facilities for reaching Savin Rock are unusually good. The New York and New Haven Railroad passes within no great distance from the house, the cars stopping four times a day at the West Haven Depot. Omnibusses run every two hours from the city. A telegraph office connects the house with all parts of the coun- try. The grounds pertaining to the house embrace about twenty acres, including one of the finest kitchen gardens in the State. The grove continues to be a favorite resort for select picnic par- ties, a trifling charge being usually made for the use of the grounds and tables. The pleasant village of West Haven is about a mile distant, having a Congregational and an Episcopal Church, in both of which, visitors to the Rock are received with attention.
Summer Resorts on the East Side of the Harbor.
GROVE HOUSE.
The Grove House is in the immediate vicinity of the Light House, and indeed, was built in consequence of the prohibition by the Government of the keepers of Light Houses becoming also keepers of houses of public entertainment. The situation is a delightful one, at the entrance of the harbor. The house is surrounded by a beautiful grove, the fishing is abundant.
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There is a ten-pin alley for the recreation of the guests, about thirty of whom can be accommodated by the proprietor, Mr. George Nettleton. His charges are moderate for board, being but $1.00 per day. The house usually opens on the first of June. Tables are erected in the woods for the convenience of picnic parties, who visit the place in large numbers, and who are expected to pay nothing for the use of the tables and grounds. Mr. Nettleton has ample accommodations for horses.
Leaving the city either by the way of Fair Haven, or Tom- linson's Bridge, a charming drive of five or six miles can be found by skirting the harbor on the road which leads to the Light House. The view from the different hills you pass, com- mands the entire basin in which the town of New Haven lies, as well as a fine water prospect of the Harbor and Sound. About a mile from the city the highest eminence on the left is Fort Wooster, which was built in 1814 by the spontaneous efforts of citizens of New Haven, aided by large companies of men from the neighboring towns, to repel an anticipated attack from the British fleet which held possession of the Sound. The fort was never garrisoned, and indeed, was only designed for use as earthworks in some temporary emergency. The view from Fort Wooster will amply repay the slight labor of the ascent. A hundred or two yards north of the entrance to the fort, lies the ancient Indian burying ground. Nothing remains to indicate the place, except the slight depressions in the turf which mark the graves of the once powerful Quinnipiacks. Bodies have oc- casionally been dug up by the curious. They are found buried in a reclining position, facing the rising sun, at the depth of only three or four feet from the surface. Wampum, beads and hatchets, are found to have sometimes been buried with the dead. A mile or more below Fort Wooster, on the water, lies Fort Hale, belonging to the United States, which is the only protection ever furnished by the Government to the largest city and the most important seaport in Connecticut. During the war of 1812 it was garrisoned by a few men, but it has long ceased to be regarded as having any value for military purposes. Two or three graceful villa residences on this road will attract
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the attention of the stranger. The first belongs to the family of the late William K. Townsend, Esq., and is beautifully situ- ated on the left of the road, about two and a half miles from the city. The other two are at Morris' Cove, below Fort Hale. The first belongs to J. Albert Lum, Esq., and the next is the sum_ mer residence of C. Maverick Parker, Esq , of New York. The Morris House, at the Cove, is in the habit of receiving a few visitors in the summer months. Accommodations for a limited number can usually be found in several of the other private houses in the vicinity.
THE LIGHT HOUSE.
This spot was selected by Government early in the present century, for the erection of a Light House, greatly needed here, as a guide to mariners. The first building erected in 1804, was a small affair, and gave place in 1846, to the present edifice, seventy-three feet in height. It is furnished with a stationary light, and the place is also supplied with a fog bell.
The Light House keeper, Mr. Elizur Thompson, is prohibited from keeping a house of public entertainment, but he is obliging enough to part with two or three rooms to visitors, who can provide themselves in other ways with board. It is a retired and pleasant place for two or three small families who need quiet and the benefit of sea air.
SOUTH END.
This neck was originally sold for five barrels of pork. It is now the quiet resort for picnic parties from city and country. South End can be reached either by passing through East Ha- ven, or by leaving the road to the Light House, where it turns off directly to the water, apparently through a farm yard, and keeping on to the left.
Mr. John P. Thompson, the owner of the grove, can receive into his house twenty or twenty-five persons, who do not ex- pect Fifth Avenue accommodations. His charges are $5.00 per week, or seventy-five cents a day. The fishing here is superior, rock black fish being in great abundance, and the bathing places
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IN AND AROUND NEW HAVEN.
on the long, fine beach, excellent and safe. It may be well for picnic parties who resort to South End, to know that the use of the grounds, tables, well of water, &c., can hardly compensate the proprietor for his expense and trouble in making it an agree- able resort for pleasure seekers. His charge is $1 for a table, which will accommodate from twenty to twenty-five persons.
The New London Railroad, or a carriage road through the center of East Haven, will carry pleasure seekers to several pop- ular sea-side houses of entertainment.
DOUBLE BEACH.
The house at this headland has long been kept by Mr. Malachi Linsley, and is a pleasant resort for citizens of New Haven. Its distance is only an easy hour's drive,-seven miles from the city,-or it can be reached by rail, the traveler stopping at Bran- ford Depot, from which a carriage will convey him a distance of two miles, to the Beach. From seventy to seventy-five persons can find accommodations at the house, at the rate of $7.00 per week, or, $1.25 a day for a shorter period. A bowling alley, trotting course, boating, billiards, fishing and bathing, are among the means of recreation provided for its guests.
BRANFORD POINT
Is an agreeable and well kept house. The proprietor, Mr. D. M. King, has room for one hundred and forty guests, whom he charges from eight to ten dollars a week, according to the rooms they occupy. For a shorter period, his charges are $1.50 per day. All the conveniences for passing the time pleasantly usu- ally found at such places, are furnished at the Point, and the house may safely be recommended to strangers. For several seasons past the proprietor has run an omnibus daily to and from the city.
INDIAN NECK.
Two large boarding houses on the Sound are also reached from the Branford depot. Indian Neck, two miles from the de- pot, has accommodations for forty persons. The proprietor is Mr. Lynde Frisbie.
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PINE ORCHARD,
Four miles from the depot, is a pleasant boarding hous where Mr. Truman Sheldon receives from forty to fifty guest
STONY CREEK.
This quiet resort, twelve miles from New Haven, is only quarter of a mile from the Stony Creek depot, on the New Lo don Railroad. The fishing here is admirable, and the gigant oysters and clams taken in the vicinity, have made the name the place famous among those who are careful about the qualit of their shell fish. A pleasant bowling alley and billiard roon a comfortable yacht, &c., are provided for the fifty guests, t whom, during the season, the proprietor, Mr. Douglass, devote his attention. His charges are at the rate of $1.00 a day. may interest visitors to know that the oldest man in Connecticu -Mr. James Douglass,-father of the proprietor, resides her He was born August 1, 1753, and is therefore in his 111th yea: He is small in stature, slight in figure, and bears no marks extreme old age. He walks almost daily, two miles, and take personal care of a garden.
SACHEM'S HEAD.
This celebrated watering place is situated on the north shore Long Island Sound, within the boundaries of the pleasant tow of Guilford, 15 miles from New Haven. The large hotel is si uated on an eminence of rare beauty, giving a view over muc varied and interesting scenery. Landscape and water combin to render the prospect the most charming imaginable Th immense edifice which now occupies the site of what was onc only a mere ordinary dwelling, is over six hundred feet in length with three "center " buildings, three stories in height, and 7 feet in length each. It is calculated to accommodate more vis tors than any other seashore house in Connecticut.
A line of telegraph is in operation from the Head, connectin with all the lines of the Union.
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HAVEN.
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The place is within a half hour's ride of New Haven, by rail- road, and the trains run regularly four times each way daily over the Shore Line Railroad. Price of board, $2.00 a day.
GUILFORD POINT,
Fifteen miles from New Haven, is a headland on the Sound, two miles east from Sachem's Head. The Guilford depot of the New Haven and New London Railroad, is little more than half a mile distant, where eight trains stop daily-four from New Haven, and four from New London. "The Pavilion," Mr. Rob- Mert Hunt, proprietor, is a very quiet, and highly respectable hotel, largely patronized by many families from New York, Hartford, &c., who are in the habit, year after year, of making sthe Point their summer home. The house is very pleasantly situated on a beautiful lawn, fronting the Sound. It has accom- modations for about one hundred guests. His charge for per- emanent boarders, is $9.00 per week ; and two dollars a day for Transient visitors. The usual conveniences are found here for fishing, bathing, rowing, sailing, bowling, &c. The shell fish saken at the Point are said to be the finest on the Atlantic coast. The proprietor is at all times during the season, prepared to en- ertain parties from New Haven, or elsewhere, with dinner or upper, the usual charge being fifty cents for each person.
DRIVES.
The vicinity of New Haven abounds in fine drives. Begin- ing on the west side of the harbor, West Haven is a beautiful illage, about three miles from the city, very much like an Eng- sh village in appearance, with its rural green and venerable rees. It is a place of some historic interest, in connection with ne landing here of the British troops, under command of Gens. ryon and Garth, during the revolutionary war. Early on the horning of July 5th, 1779, two English men-of-war, with forty- ght tenders, transports, &c., entered the harbor. At sunrise,
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NEW HAVEN DIRECTORY.
about one-half of their land force, (1,500 men,) under the com- mand of Gen. Garth, landed at Savin Rock beach, the officers making their temporary headquarters at the old Kimberly house, (still standing,) about half way between West Haven village and the place of landing. The troops were mustered on West Haven Green, and commenced their march for New Haven. Soon after the advance, skirmishing occurred between the enemy and our own people. Adjutant Campbell was killed while as- cending Milford Hill. The tradition among the old people of the vicinity is, that he was shot by a lad by the name of John- son, who, taking an old fashioned musket, and creeping among the whortleberry bushes growing on the side of the hill, lay down to observe what was going on. An officer on horseback soon after appeared ascending the hill, in advance of a small squad of men, when the lad shot at him, and saw him fall from his horse. Campbell was carried into the house of the mother of the boy, where he soon after died of his wound. He is bu- ried in a field, still called "Campbell's Lot," about 300 feet north of the road leading to Milford. A low stone, with the name "CAMPBELL, 1779," in the south-west corner of the field, marks his grave.
West Haven is reached by two roads; one the old road through Allingtown, and the other from the Oyster Point road, across the new bridge recently built (1861) at the mouth of West River. A very pleasant drive is found by crossing the new bridge, passing the West Haven Green, and down to Savin Rock. The return drive to the city by West Bridge, will carry the stranger past the Catholic Cemetery, the State Hospital, St. John's Church, &c.
A longer and more retired drive may be found by passing on the West side of the river, through Allingtown to the Derby road, and so into the city ; or, it may be protracted by contin- uing on the road to Westville, over the high ground which com- mands a fine view of New Haven, passing the residence of Donald G. Mitchell, Esq., late U. S. Consul at Venice, author of " Reveries of a Bachelor," &c. The village of Westville is pic- turesquely situated at the foot of West Rock, and is a thriving
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manufacturing community. As you rise the hill from West- ville, passing into the city, the eminence on the left indicates the place where entrenchments, traces of which are still visible, were thrown up by the Americans, to resist the advance of Gen. Garth A spirited contest here ensued, in which numbers were wounded, and a few killed on each side. On the right is
HAMILTON PARK,
Which was opened to the public by a few public-spirited proprietors, in the year 1859. Previous to this time, New Haven possessed no appropriate place for agricultural fairs, or for other objects needing accommodations for a large con course of people. The grounds have been handsomely arranged, a fine course for trotting laid out, and convenient buildings for visitor's erected. The ground within the course has been exca- vated for a skating pond in winter, which is filled by a steam pump, from the water of the river which bounds the ground on the west. Arrangements have recently been made, by which the attractions of the place have been largely increased. The ground inclosed for the Park is about forty acres.
WEST ROCK
Furnishes the most extensive view to be obtained of New Ha- ven and its vicinity. Omnibusses run during the day to West- ville, and will leave passengers at Blake's factory, from which point visitors will find it a half hour's walk to the summit of the Rock. About half a mile north, is the celebrated
JUDGE'S CAVE.
It consists of huge boulders, apparently thrown together by some convulsion of nature. There were formerly three of the larger stones, each rising to a height of fifteen or twenty feet, with openings a few feet wide between their bases. Some years since the centre was struck by lightning, which did considera- ble damage, and greatly altered the appearance of the Rock. More than two hundred years ago, these narrow fissures were the only home of two men, whose names were once memorable in England,-General Edward Whalley, and General William
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Goffe, both of whose signatures are affixed to the warrant for the execution of King Charles I. These gentlemen had fled at the Restoration, and made their appearance at New Haven in the Spring of 1661. To protect their friends here from the sus- picion of harboring rebels, they betook themselves to this wild retreat, where they were supplied with food by Richard Sperry, the nearest inhabitant to the rock. Tradition says, that they were frightened from the place by the appearance in the night of a panther or catamount.
A pleasant half hour's ramble in a northeasterly direction, leads to a romantic spot, called
WINTERGREEN FALLS.
It is one of the most agreeable places for the visit of pleasure parties, that can be found in the vicinity of New Haven. Those who prefer a carriage to' the omnibus, can approach nearer the Judge's Cave, by following the road at the foot of the Rock, north to the first dwelling on the right hand side, opposite which is the direct ascent to the Cave. The shortest way both to Judge's Cave, or Wintergreen Falls, is through Goffe and Crescent streets. To visit the latter place, those not familiar with its situation, will find it necessary to make inquiries at some of the dwellings near the foot of the Rock.
THE VILLAGE OF WHITNEYVILLE
Is a pleasant place for strangers to visit. Its distance is little more than two miles from the city, and it can be reached by two or three different roads,-either by the Hamden road, through Broadway, or by Prospect street, through the woods, and past the reservoir, or directly by the Hartford turnpike. The pleasantest of these drives, especially in a warm day, is that through the woods, both from its shadiness, and from the fine views both of East and West Rock, to be seen at intervals on the road. The village itself was built up by Eli Whitney, Esq., the distinguished inventor of the cotton gin. In the year 1798, Mr. Whitney, having obtained a contract from the United States for the manufacture of ten thousand stand of arms, pur-
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chased the site of this place, and erected his factory, together with a number of tenements for workmen. Mr. Whitney died in 1825. The factory, greatly enlarged, is now owned by his son, who continues the manufacture of fire-arms.
Mill river, on which the factory is situated, furnishes New Haven with its water. A new and very substantial dam was built in 1861. The dwellings on the sides of the stream above were removed, and the interval between the high lands on each side the river, flooded. The reservoir for the supply of the city, is situated on the elevated land between Prospect street and the Hartford Turnpike, about a mile from the dam. The pump by which the water is forced into the reservoir, is driven by the surplus water of Mill river.
NEW HAVEN WATER WORKS.
The introduction of an abundant supply of pure and whole- some water is a feature in the history of a city which has been found to contribute, more than any other, to its growth and prosperity ; and the successful accomplishment of such an undertaking for the City of New Haven, in the face of many obstacles, may render a brief account of the works interesting.
The source from which the supply is obtained is Mill River, yielding, the year round, a daily supply of 120,000,000 gallons; one-tenth of this quantity is the basis upon which the works are constructed, this being the extreme minimum flow of the stream.
At a point on the river which seems formed by nature for this very purpose, a dam, thirty feet high, twenty feet wide at the top and one hundred feet at the base, is built ; the whole length of which is five hundred feet, with an overfall of one hundred and fifty feet-the east wing not being so high as the main dam, affords an additional length of overfall in case of extraordinary rises in the river.
The dam backs up the water for about two and a-half miles, and forms one of the finest lakes in the country, with drives along its shores, which are exceedingly attractive. The average depth of water is about twenty feet, and the quantity ordinarily in the lake 500,000,000 gallons.
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The water is conveyed through the dam by a 48-inch iron pipe into the pump-house, which is a very substantial brick structure, sixty feet long, forty feet wide, and twenty-five feet high. This building contains the pumping machinery, which consists of two back-pitch, overshot water wheels, each thirty feet in diameter, with eighty wrought-iron buckets, six feet in length, and two double-acting force-pumps, sixteen inches in diameter, and five feet stroke, capable of delivering three thous- and gallons per minute; these are so arranged as to be used separately or together, as occasion may require. The whole of this machinery was constructed by the "Farrell Foundry and Machine Co.," of Ansonia, and is of the most substantial charac- ter. From here the water is forced through an iron pipe, sixteen inches in diameter, into a reservoir on "Sachem's Hill," at an elevation of one hundred and twenty-five feet above mean high water. The reservoir is in the form of an ellipse, and has a capacity of 10,000,000 of gallons ; it is built in two divisions, so that the water can be drawn off from one, for the purpose of cleaning, without diminishing the supply to the city. The dimensions of the reservoir at the water line are four hundred and eighty-eight feet by two hundred and forty-eight feet, with a depth of fifteen feet.
From the reservoir the water is carried into the city by a 16-inch main, and distributed through over twenty miles of pipes, of various sizes-12, 8, 6 and 4 inches in diameter- about one-half of which is six inches. Arrangements are made, in the works already constructed, by which their capacity can be increased to two force mains and three distributing mains, as the demand for an additional supply may require.
In short, the New Haven Water Co. have successfully accom- plished their object, viz: The introduction into the city of an abundant supply of good water, at an elevation entirely suffi- cient for all practical purposes, public or private ; and the very moderate cost of the works, compared with others of the same magnitude, has enabled them to conclude a contract with the authorities, upon terms very advantageous to the city, for the supply of water to public buildings of all kinds, and to some
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two hundred and sixty hydrants, for fire purposes, thereby placing the City of New Haven, as regards protection from fire, in a position not surpassed by any other city in the Union. Thus has the project inaugurated, and for many years so hon- estly and earnestly contended for, by the late Hon. AARON N. SKINNER, been consummated, vindicating the correctness of his judgment and the active benevolence of his capacious heart. It is a source of regret to all the friends of this project that he could not have lived to behold its glorious triumph.
EAST ROCK.
This beautiful eminence is reached by a short ride over Neck Bridge, and by an ascent not difficult to carriages. The city, the harbor, the shipping, Long Island Sound, and in the distance Long Island itself, unite to form a singularly beautiful panorama. A house of entertainment can be found on the brow of the rock, with a bowling alley for those who like the amusement. Parties on foot will find the return to the city over the rock, by the way of Whitneyville, to be a pleasant walk. Parties on horseback, or even in carriages, (though the road is not to be commended for vehicles.) will find a beautiful view of the bold face of the Rock, by turning to the left after reaching its foot, and following up the stream either to Potter's Bridge, or to Whitneyville. A pleasant ride entirely around the rock, is had by the Whitneyville road, to the covered bridge above the dam, and by taking the first road to the right after crossing the stream and then into the city. Those who are fond of a drive by the water, will find a pleasant one over Neck Bridge to Lewis' Bridge, thence down the Quinnipiack to Fair Haven, and across the railroad to the old ferry point. Those who wish to visit Fair Haven, can do so by the Horse Railroad. The cars run every ten minutes.
CEMETERIES.
For more than a century and a half, the successive genera- tions of our forefathers were laid to rest around and in the rear of the humble sanctuary erected on the rural green, which the
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first settlers of New Haven had set apart for the uses of religion and of public justice. In October, 1797, an act of incorporation was granted by which the plat of ground on Grove street was made a public burial ground. The ground was divided into family lots, to which titles in fee were given, at a price that inadequately remunerated Mr. Hillhouse, the public spirited projector of the enterprise. Burials immediately began to be made in the new cemetery, though from family feeling, and old associations, in- terments were still frequent in the old "grave yard." In 1821, the town ordered the removal of all the stones and monuments from the Green, to the new burying place, and the ground to be leveled. From that time onward, with three or four excep- tions, it has been a matter of increasingly vague tradition, where the forefathers of the town lie buried. The exceptions are the graves of Theophilus Eaton, of the regicides Col. Dix- well, and the supposed graves of Generals Whalley and Goffe. President Stiles, of Yale College, who wrote the lives of the regicide judges who escaped to America, indicates by a plate in the volume, the relative position of these graves. They lie within a few feet of each other. To the least considerable of them a handsome monument has, within a few years, been erec- ted, by a descendant in the female line ; while the top of a small stone, level with the walk on the north-west side, and two stones a few feet east of the inclosure to Dixwell's monument, alone indicate where the abler and more noted regicides are conjec- tured to lie buried. When the "grave of Dixwell was opened, in 1849, the skull and most of the large bones were found en- tire; fragments only remained of the coffin, which seemed to have been made of cedar, covered with black cloth, and orna- mented with brass-headed nails. It is a suggestive fact, in con- nection with honors paid to the long buried dead, that no pro- vision had been made for the reception of such remains of the regicide as might be found unconsumed by time, and that the deficiency was supplied by the hasty procurement of a coarse packing box, in which they were deposited. The monument above it, however, is an expensive and handsome one.
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