The Connecticut Valley Railroad Roundhouse and Turntable Site is a former railroad facility located in Fort Saybrook Monument Park off Main Street in

Old Saybrook Old Saybrook is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,481 at the 2020 census. It contains the incorporated borough of Fenwick, as well as the census-designated places of Old Saybrook Center and Saybro ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The roundhouse and

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

were built in 1871 by the

Connecticut Valley Railroad The Connecticut Valley Railroad was a railroad in the state of Connecticut founded in 1868. The company built a line along the Connecticut River between Hartford and Old Saybrook, which opened in 1871. It was reorganized as the Hartford and Con ...

, which was later acquired by the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

. The rail facilities are built partly on the

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

remains of

Fort Saybrook A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, the main fortification of the 17th-century

Saybrook Colony The Saybrook Colony was an English colony established in late 1635 at the mouth of the Connecticut River in present-day Old Saybrook, Connecticut by John Winthrop, the Younger, son of John Winthrop, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ...

, and are the only surviving remnant of what was once a large facility, with an

icehouse Icehouse or ice house may refer to: * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an ''Icehouse'' * Ice skating rink, a facility for ice skating. * Ice hockey arena, an area where ice ...

coal bin A coal bin, coal store or coal bunker is a storage container for coal awaiting use or transportation. This can be either in domestic, commercial or industrial premises, or on a ship or locomotive tender, or at a coal mine or processing plant. D ...

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

dock A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...

, depot, and

signal tower On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetabl ...

. Archaeological remains of these other facilities are believed to lie under other parts of the park and adjacent properties. The exposed facilities were excavated in 1981-2. Both structures were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on April 28, 1994. The Connecticut Valley Railroad was chartered in 1868, and began operations three years later, providing service between Saybrook Point and

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, with a connection to the Shore Line Railway at the Saybrook Junction station. The extension to Saybrook Point ceased operations in 1922, and its facilities were abandoned. The roundhouse was a quarter-round structure housing six bays, with foundations of brick and stone, supporting both the structure and the tracks on which the railroad cars ran. The turntable had a concrete base. Portions of these features are exposed in the park, with interpretive signage explaining the use and history of the site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connecticut Valley Railroad Roundhouse And Turntable Site Transportation buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Connecticut Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Railroad roundhouses in Connecticut Railway turntables Transport infrastructure completed in 1871 Railway roundhouses on the National Register of Historic Places Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Old Saybrook, Connecticut

See also

References