Shoreline Trolley Museum, East Haven

The town of East Haven, located in New Haven County, is on the east side of New Haven Harbor in the Long Island Sound. First called East Farms, in 1638 settlers obtained the land as part of the purchase of New Haven. In 1785, after years of petitioning the General Assembly, East Haven incorporated, becoming a separate town from New Haven. By the late nineteenth century, East Haven had greatly reduced its size by selling a significant portion of its land to New Haven. Today, the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven operates the Branford Electric Railway. The railway is the oldest continuously operating suburban trolley line in the United States.

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Detail from the map Colony of Connecticut in North-America by Moses Park

East Haven’s Revolutionary Salt Works

East Haven's Amos Morris helped supply Americans with salt (essential for preserving food) during critical shortages brought on by the American Revolution. …[more]

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Websites

“Greater New Haven Labor History Association,” 2017. Link.

Places

Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. “Farm River State Park,” 2012. Link.
“The Shore Line Trolley Museum,” 2012. Link.

Documents

Harte, Charles Rufus. “Connecticut’s Iron and Copper: Part 1.” 60th Annual Report of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, 1944.
Connecticut State Library Digital Collections. “East Haven - WPA Architectural Survey,” 2013. Link.
“East Haven Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.

Books

McCain, Diana. Connecticut Coast: A Town-by-Town Illustrated History. Guilford,  CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2009.
Dodd, Stephen, ed. East Haven Register, Containing an Account of the Names, Marriages, and Births of the Families Which Settled, or Which Have Resided in East Haven, from Its Settlement in 1644 to the Year 1800. New Haven, CT: A.H. Maltby & Company, 1910. Link.
Hughes, Sarah E. History of East Haven. New Haven,  CT: Tuttle  Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1908. Link.
Rockey, J. History of New Haven County, Connecticut. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Preston, 1892. Link.