Bridgeport Harbor is an inlet on the north side of

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

. It was carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

approximately 13,000 years ago. Bridgeport Harbor is a federal shipping port and a terminus of the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, one of the oldest ferry companies in the nation. It is due east of the smaller

Black Rock Harbor Black Rock Harbor is located in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Long Island Sound. The Black Rock Harbor Light on Fayerweather Island Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

Geography

Bridgeport's Success Lake (Connecticut) and Stilman Pond both egress via the Yellow Mill Channel and into the

tidal marsh A tidal marsh (also known as a type of "tidal wetland") is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes are commonly zoned into lower marshes ( ...

at the top of the harbor. The

Pequonnock River The Pequonnock River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed 2011-04-01. waterway in eastern Fairfield County, Connecticut. Its watershed is located in five communities, wi ...

empties into the inlet on its north end while the Tongue Point Light is at the western end of the mouth of the harbor.

Notable structures in or near the harbor

Arena at Harbor Yard Total Mortgage Arena (formerly The Arena at Harbor Yard and Webster Bank Arena) is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. It is the home venue of the New York Islanders' AHL farm team, the Bridge ...

, a 10,000 seat capacity basketball, hockey and sporting venue. *

The Ballpark at Harbor Yard The Ballpark at Harbor Yard was a 5,500-seat minor-league ballpark in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut that opened on May 21, 1998. The stadium was located next to the Webster Bank Arena, now known as the Total Mortgage Arena. It was named "Harb ...

, a 5,300 seat outdoor venue which is home to the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseba ...

baseball team. * Berkshire No. 7, a shipwreck, sank in 1974 along with the Elmer S. Dailey and the Priscilla Dailey *

Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is a railroad drawbridge (movable bridge) over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Owned by the State of Connecticut and maintained and operated by both Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, it is als ...

is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. *

Pleasure Beach Pleasure Beach is the Bridgeport portion of a Connecticut barrier beach that extends westerly from Point No Point (the portion in the adjoining town of Stratford is known as Long Beach). Prior to June, 2014, when Pleasure Beach re-opened, the a ...

, also known as "Steeplechase Island" is a former amusement park and ghost town. It is the site of the transmission towers for

WICC (AM) WICC (600 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Bridgeport, Connecticut, owned by Connoisseur Media. It airs as a talk radio format featuring local shows with Melissa Sheketoff, Lisa Wexler and Paul Pacelli. Nationally syndicated programs i ...

. *The PSEG Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station is a familiar piece of the Bridgeport skyline.

History

Originally used for shipbuilding, it now operates mainly as a shipping port. The harbor was dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1964. Current plans to dredge it again have met with opposition from residents of

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

due to plans to dump the dredged material at

Morris Cove East Shore is a neighborhood in the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The East Shore contains the Morris Cove Historic District. Its name is derived from its geographic location on the east side of New Haven Harbor. It is bordered on the north by U ...

. A 4000-ton dry dock was opened in 2010.

Transportation

The

Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, commonly referred to as the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry is a ferry company that operates ferry service across Long Island Sound, between the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Long Isl ...

is berthed in the harbor. The harbor is located at the end of 8/ 25 connector, where it merges into

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

, near the

Bridgeport (Metro-North station) Bridgeport station is a shared Amtrak, Metro-North Railroad, and CTrail train station along the Northeast Corridor serving Bridgeport, Connecticut and nearby towns. On Metro-North, the station is the transfer point between the Waterbury Branc ...

, a stop for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut D ...

and

Shoreline East Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and i ...

trains.

References

External links