The Compo–Owenoke Historic District encompasses an early 20th-century summer resort beach community in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connec ...

. Developed between 1910 and 1940, the Compo Beach area contains one of the largest assemblages of period resort architecture in Westport, and one of the best such collections in the region. The district, covering south of Compo Road South, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1991.

Description and history

Compo and Owenoke occupy the southern portion of a peninsula extending into

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), 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 (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

south of downtown Westport. It is bounded on the east by Compo Cove, and the west by Gray's Creek. The historic district covers most of the area south of Compo Road South, excluding mainly buildings constructed or significantly altered after 1940. The Compo area is located north of Compo Beach, and has a somewhat grid-like road layout with mostly small lot sizes. The Owenoke Point peninsula projects westward from Compo; part of it was originally an island joined to the mainland by landfill in the 1930s. Buildings in the district are mainly Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, or Craftsman/Bungalow in style. A few 19th-century farmhouses also remain in the district, a reminder of its agrarian past. and Prior to its development as a summer resort community, Compo was a coastal agricultural area. In 1909, development began on the eastern third of the district, formerly the farm of David Bradley. Roads on the western side of the district were laid out in 1919, and Appletree Trail was laid through the center of the district in 1928. The beach area was developed with bathing facilities, dancing pavilions, and a marina, but deed restrictions on most properties precluded the construction of hotels. The area was popular with middle-class New Yorkers in the 1920s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Compo-Owenoke Historic District

Beaches of Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound ...

Westport, Connecticut Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut Neighborhoods in Connecticut Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References