Bridgeport

Bridgeport is located in Fairfield County southwest of New Haven between Stratford and Westport, along Interstate 95 on the banks of the Pequonnock River near Long Island Sound. It is situated along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Bridgeport is a major manufacturing center and also a port for oceangoing vessels. Seaside Park follows the shoreline for two miles. Bridgeport was a center of the whaling industry. Later it became one of the first to manufacture sewing machines.

The first white settlement of the site was in 1639. Bridgeport is Connecticut's largest city and is known as the "Park City." Bridgeport is named after the first drawbridge over the Pequonnock River. Phineas Taylor Barnum turned this port city into a major manufacturing center in the early 19th century when he became mayor. Also this great city is the birth place of Charles S. Stratton, also known as, "General Tom Thumb."

Near Bridgeport you will find these attractions: Hemlock Reservoir, Aspetuck Reservoir, Samp Mortar Reservoir, Mill River, Lake Forest, and Black Rock Harbor. Also Bridgeport is the host of a beautiful lighthouse called Tongue Point Light. It had another lighthouse that was discontinued in 1953 called Bridgeport Harbor LIght.