Singing Bridge, U.S. Route 1, over Patchogue River, Westbrook

Singing Bridge, U.S. Route 1, over Patchogue River, Westbrook
– Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Westbrook, in Middlesex County, is located in southern Connecticut on the Long Island Sound. Originally part of Saybrook Colony, it was known as Pochaug until 1810 and incorporated as a town in 1840. Timber from local white oak and chestnut forests sustained a shipbuilding industry that flourished for nearly a century. The most famous vessel associated with the town of Westbrook is the Turtle, the world’s first submarine, invented by Westbrook-native David Bushnell. By the 1870s, the area had become a popular summer resort town—a characteristic it still retains today.

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