NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT — The June sunlight sparkled off the smooth waters of the Quinnipiac River beside the Quinnipiac River Marina in Fair Haven, where people of all ages gathered to participate in the Quinnipiac Riverfest this Saturday.
Category: Community and history
Here there be dragons
Hundreds gather for Canal Dock’s annual Dragon Boat Regatta
On June 3, 2023, a dozen dragons were spotted in the New Haven harbor. “Dragons” are not necessarily a new occurrence in these waters. In the 17th century, European settlers and sailors named the lower Quinnipiac River “dragon” after the multitude of harbor seals, known as “sea dragons” that populated the waters. Over the decades, pollution and development drove these creatures away, but in 2016, the Canal Dock Boathouse introduced a different kind of dragon to the harbor, in the form of large canoe-like vessels with ornately carved dragon’s heads and tails. These dragons emerged for a single day with a single focus: to be crowned victor in the Boathouse’s annual Dragon Boat Regatta.
Dragon Boat Racing — a traditional Chinese watercraft activity dating back 2000 years — is one of the fastest growing water sports in the world and a favorite among charities and corporations for its fundraising and team-building benefits. Indeed, Canal Dock’s Dragon Boat Regatta serves as an important fundraiser for the organization, helping them continue their mission connecting people to New Haven’s waterfront through programs and activities including community days, dry land rowing, yoga class on the platform, kayaking, rowing, and dragon boating.
The Regatta brings together a broad spectrum of the community, including local businesses, clubs and high school participants. The entry fee of $1700 allows teams to sponsor a boat which holds 16 paddlers and 1 drummer. Crews — comprised of people of all ages and experience — sit in pairs and paddle while a drummer beats time to keep them in unison and a helms person guides the boat. All boats are required to have at least 6 females inclusive of transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming individuals.
Thus year a dozen boats vied for the gold. Participants included two groups that have been with the event since its inception: Tuff Girls gym and ASSA ABLOY/Sargent. Each brought three teams this year. The Wheel Good Paddlers was made up of members of the New Haven Bicycle Club paired with public high school participants. The Glandmasters from Yale Endocrinology and Vespoli both re-entered the Regatta this year after a hiatus, and Griffin Hospital returned for a second year. Joining them were new teams from mActivity gym and Reed Hilderbrand Architects.
Race conditions were windy and the competition fierce, with only hundreds of a second separating some of the head to head challenges. In the end, Tuff Girls Fitness Boat 3 paddled their way to first place, dethroning the two year reigning champions, the Wheel Good Paddlers, who took third. Coming in second was ASSA ABLOY’s Orange boat.
Building on this year’s success, Canal Dock hopes to host 18 boats at the 2024 Dragon Boat Regatta, set for June 1, 2024. Additionally, they plan on introducing a men’s and women’s division, in addition to the existing co-ed division.
“The funding that Canal Dock receives from the Quinnipiac River Fund ensures that we are able to provide equitable access and services to area residents who would not otherwise be able to participate in activities on or around New Haven’s waterways. The ability to get out on the New Haven Harbor or Quinnipiac River can be a life changing experience. Because of the grant funding that we receive from the Quinnipiac River Fund, we are able to provide access to boating and paddling activities to hundreds of youth and adults residing in the greater New Haven area every year. We hold monthly Community Boating Days during the warmer months where individuals, many of whom have never been on the water in a boat, are able to paddle the harbor and experience the birds and marine life around them. All of our youth programs are
free for New Haven Public School Students and they provide exposure to Long Island Sound and the Quinnipiac River. We are so grateful for this grant as it has expanded our ability to provide equitable access and services to the entire community.” – Hollis Martens, Executive Director, Canal Dock Boathouse, Inc.
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Hundreds Hit The Marina For 15th Annual Quinnipiac Riverfest
NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT — A place of peace and sanity, almost a stay-cation; a sense of history so deep you can feel the life of people here 10,000 years ago; a place where the local beer is a beautiful amber and you can also practice tai chi, as the gods intended, in nature, down by the banks of a river.
Down by the river side
Quinnipiac Park hosts community events
With broad views of river, oyster boats and two historic bridges, and a wide stretch of grass to gather and play, the Quinnipiac River Park makes an ideal place for celebrations of all types. On a sunny Saturday at the peak of spring, the park hosted two community events, both promoting important causes.
In the morning, more than 1,200 children, family and community members convened at the Quinnipiac River Park to celebrate the 10th New Haven Family Stroll & Festival, an event created by local childcare center Friends Center for Children to raise awareness and much-needed funds for high-quality early care and education. The event began with a 1.5 mile loop over the neighborhood’s two iconic bridges — the Ferry Street drawbridge and the Grand Avenue Turnbridge. The “Strollers” then returned to the park for food trucks, face painting, parachute play, magicians, musicians, Zumba, bubbles, arts and crafts, and, of course, education – from over 60 community organizations.
Amid all the activities and excitement, two messages resonated. The compassion theme of this year’s stroll — emphasized on stickers, bags, water bottles and banners — prompted attendees to consider “how do you share your kindness with others?” Special guests New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, State Sen. Martin Looney, and State Rep. Robyn Porter joined the festivities and shared their commitment to supporting equitable access to quality early care.
“We’ll continue to work hard to make sure that our young people have what they need, and also their caregivers and parents have what they need so we can be whole families,” promised Porter.
Later in the evening, though clouds and drizzle dotted the sky, a smaller but equally passionate group came to the park to celebrate a significant milestone. The day before, Urban Resource Initiatives (URI) had planted its 10,000th tree, fulfilling a campaign launched in 2010 to plant street trees to improve the urban infrastructure and help make Elm City a tree-friendly city once again. The 10,00th tree, a shingle oak, was planted feet from the Quinnipiac River. Fittingly, to celebrate the occasion, a party in the park was in order. Sponsored by the New Haven Green Fund, the event included sweet songs from Goodnight Blue Moonshine, food from local food trucks, and an award presentation acknowledging the commitment of volunteers, partners, staff members, funders, and advocates.
Similar to the earlier gathering, the consideration of equity and justice underscored the festivity. “Nationally, low-income and majority Black and Brown neighborhoods have disproportionately fewer trees, which can be a source of clean air, temperature control, and beauty.” (New Haven Independent).
In June, the New Haven Preservation Trust hosted its annual preservation awards at the Park. A crowd of around sixty people, mainly local residents, members of the Trust, and award recipients, were present on a sunny late-afternoon to see this year’s honorees receive their awards. All three awards were for projects located in Fair Haven: a 19th century shipbuilder’s house on Perkins Street, two houses joined and reinvented as classroom space for the Cold Spring School, and the late nineteenth-century Grand Avenue Bridge. Mayor Elicker gave introductory remarks and joined the team from the City in receiving the award honoring the recent work on the bridge, which formed the background to the event.
Fair Haven Flourishes At Quinnipiac Riverfest
NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT — Fair Haven businesswoman Azucena Rojas moved her Mexican grocery outdoors for the day — and further connected with the neighborhood she calls home — during a festive, sun-dappled 10th annual Quinnipiac Riverfest.
Quinnipiac Riverfest will include debut of Fair Haven seafood restaurant
NEW HAVEN REGISTER —A new seafood restaurant is coming to town, and will make its mini-debut at Saturday’s 10th Quinnipiac Riverfest. Emily Mingrone and Shane McGowan, whose Tavern on State will celebrate its third anniversary this month, will open the Fair Haven Oyster Co. at the Quinnipiac River Marina later this month.
Quinnipiac: The People of the Long Water Land
CONNECTICUT HISTORY.ORG — Once a common sight in Connecticut’s towns, itinerant Indian crafters walked miles across the state, selling all sorts of brooms, baskets, herbs, and other Native goods. In the late 18th century, several such vendors were known to the people of Guilford as town residents.
Rising Waters: The Banton Street story
A bygone community on the banks of the Quinnipiac
Weed-dappled asphalt, rusty vine-tangled fences, fragments of piers and retaining walls, stone stairs dipping toward the river. A hike through Quinnipiac River State Park, north of Banton Street, reveals remnants of a history much different from the quiet forest that greets us today.
In the 1920s, families flocked to the banks of the Quinnipiac in North Haven, drawn by the beauty and recreation of the woods and water: picnics, swimming, fishing and peaceful living. Called “Little Savin Rock,” it became a hub of summer activity, especially for those escaping the New Haven city heat. A bath house and refreshment stand were built; summer cottages constructed. Over the years, the seasonal retreat grew into a permanent neighborhood, boasting three dozen houses and more than a hundred close-knit neighbors.
For decades the riverside community thrived, but the tide was soon to turn. Upstream development, in particular the construction of I91, altered the watershed, increasing flooding to dangerous proportions. The river rapidly rising, at times up to five feet above its banks, destroyed property and left residents stranded on roofs and porches, requiring rescue by rowboat and rope.
The once cozy community had become a dangerous floodplain and, by 1973, it was clear that a more permanent rescue was in order for the people who called Banton Street home. The state appropriated funds, purchased the properties and relocated the families to higher and drier ground.
Banton Street was abandoned; homes boarded up or hauled away. Streets that once invited recreation, now drew vandals. The ghost town grew dangerous and unsanitary: suspicious fires, seeping septics tanks, weed-filled foundations filling with water.
Eventually, bulldozers dealt with the abandoned structures, and what remained was left to be reclaimed by nature.
Today, we hike among magnolia trees, marsh daisies, moss, and mud. The serenity of a forest-ensconced river mingles with the muffled hum of the nearby Merit Parkway, and, among it all, the vestiges of Banton Street still spark curiosity of the community that once called these Quinnipiac banks their home.
For more information on Banton Street, visit North Haven
https://www.northhaventrails.org/press
and to view trail information visit https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/connecticut/quinnipiac-river-loop?p=22423753
Marooned with chickens on rooftop. Overbook road. Earl Coughlin’s home.
Photo courtesy of North Haven Historical Society and Museums Archives
From Rails to Trails
North Haven Tidal Marsh Trail reveals secrets of its railway past
photos by Ian Christmann
He tells hobo tales to captivate the audience gathered on the grassy slope, recounting fables of those who rode the rails in bygone days. Behind him, the Quinnipiac winds its way through the North Haven marshes, bearing its own unspoken stories of a railroad era as it passes the vine-wrapped light platforms and towers that once guided the freight cars of Cedar Hill.
Master storyteller Jonathan Kruk, and his hobo tales, are just one of the many events organized by the North Haven Trail Association to peek the public’s interest in the scenic Tidal Marsh Trail that stretches a half mile between portions of the abandoned rail yard and Quinnipiac’s marshy banks.
The trailhead begins behind Target on Universal Drive, offering sweeping views westward over the river and marsh grass, with East Rock’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument and Sleeping Giant’s dozing profile in the distance. Small fishing paths lead down eroded banks to the water’s edge, where you may find osprey, heron and even eagles hunting in the
To the east, the forest floor bears evidence of Cedar Hill rail yard’s former glory. Steel tracks curve through grasses, leaves and tree roots. Rusted light towers — now home to nesting ospreys — rise in the distance. At the trail’s end, unofficial and mostly-overgrown footpaths lead to more abandoned remnants: collapsed pump houses, derelict warehouses and eerie concrete tunnels.
At its hey-day, Cedar Hill was the largest rail depot east of the Mississippi, covering more than 880 acres and stretching seven miles from New Haven to North Haven. Built between 1910 – 1920, Cedar Hill served as a major terminal for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. It held 14 of New Haven’s 25 yards, and handled a record of 9,415 cars in a single day.
After WWII, with advancements in transportation methods, Cedar Hill grew quiet. By the 80s, most of the yards and tracks were abandoned. What remains today adds mystery and intrigue to the woodland trail, and reminds us of the complex history of development in New Haven and its impact on the watershed, whether through injury or apathy.
The latter still apparent on the trail today. Rather than rails and freight, rows of boxy retail stores and restaurants, built with their back to the river, and thousands of patrons who daily frequent the area, with no awareness of the beauty just behind them.
Historic photos reveal community’s fascinating waterfront heritage
Current day photos by Ian Christmann
Once home to a thriving oyster industry, the community along the banks of the Quinnipiac River in New Haven, Connecticut still reflects its rich heritage. Though much has changed since its peak in the mid 1800s, thanks to the preservation efforts of residents, non-profit organizations, and city and state agencies, its charm and character remains. Strolling the neighborhood, homes, buildings and bridges speak of its heritage, and invoke wonder of days gone by. This photo series provides a glimpse of the landscapes of today and how they looked in yesteryears, a reminiscence that is especially important as one of the community’s iconic bridges, the Grand Avenue bridge, closes for a two-year rehabilitation, aimed at restoring its infrastructure, while retaining its historic form.
*click on a photo to view fullscreen
