West Haven – The City with a Heart

West Haven was settled in 1648 by farmers of the New Haven Colony. For years it remained a farming community and home for small craftsmen. In 1719 it became the separate parish of West Haven until 1822, when it joined North Milford to form the town of Orange. A legendary Revolutionary War battle was fought here, then called West Farms, and Savin Rock served as a lookout during that war and the War of 1812. In 1921, West Haven incorporated as a separate town; in 1961 it incorporated as a city under a charter establishing a Mayor-Council form of government.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, West Haven was a major industrial community, building ships for some of the area’s most prominent sea captains and privateers and manufacturing tires for the now-bygone Armstrong Rubber Co. Now home to 54,000 residents, the city with a small-town feel is Connecticut’s youngest, covering 10.6 square miles. It lies in New Haven County about 58 miles east of New York City and 40 miles south of Hartford. It is bounded on the north and east by New Haven and New Haven Harbor, south by Long Island Sound and west by Orange and Milford.

A century ago, throngs of Victorian families flocked to West Haven’s pristine shoreline to picnic, stroll along the nearly four-mile coastline, dine in the pier restaurants and enjoy an amusement park then called The White City. The city of fluorescent-colored lights, made famous by trolley entrepreneur George Kelsey, illuminated the skyline and served as a beacon to the seaside playground. Future generations arrived in electric trolley cars, automobiles and buses. Regardless of the mode of transportation, the trip to what eventually expanded to become the Savin Rock amusement park was a memorable one. The name Savin Rock is derived from a genus of juniper trees that once covered Savin Rock proper known as savins, which are commonly found in parts of eastern North America and Europe.

Today, thousands of people recall the happy days of their youth at “The Rock”: a mile-long midway of roller coasters, water chutes and carousel rides, auto races and bumper cars, mirrored and spooky fun houses, concerts and marathon dances. … Shore dinners, split hot dogs, honeydew popcorn, frozen custard, mechanical fortunetellers or The Laughing Lady. … Young men determined to impress their date by winning prizes with pitching skills or, for the timid, from a machine with a fishing derrick. After many booming years of operation, the storied Rock slowly succumbed to redevelopment in the late ’60s, officially closing Sept. 21, 1966, to pave the way for the Savin Rock Urban Renewal Plan.

A living history for future generations, the Savin Rock Museum, 6 Rock St., offers an opportunity to revisit the storybook sights and sounds of that magical era, along with more than three centuries of West Haven nostalgia, including notable figures and historical events. Learn about the customs and culture that captured the hearts and imaginations of six generations of happy faces through interactive video, hands-on exhibits and rare memorabilia.

West Haven’s other place for a taste of the past, the Ward-Heitmann House Museum at 277 Elm St., is the oldest-surviving structure in the city, perhaps even the oldest in the colony of New Haven. Built as early as 1684, the house has been faithfully restored to reflect life in the last 300 years.

The city’s crown-jewel shoreline is one of the foremost locations in Connecticut to spot rare shorebirds, serving as a migratory route for some of the most endangered bird species. The Sandy Point estuary, one of the sites featured on the Connecticut Coastal Birding Trail, has been designated an “important bird area” by Audubon Connecticut.

Historic Bradley Point Park, featuring sweeping panoramas of the Sound, marks the area where invading British troops landed on July 5, 1779, and now serves as  a hotbed for picnickers and passive recreation. The shoreline is just minutes from the historic downtown business district.

Since its beginnings, West Haven has provided a home for people to raise their families and develop the strong bonds that define a community. The shoreline burg’s ideology as a working-class community with strong feelings of hometown pride is a testament to West Haven’s appeal to those seeking a welcoming place with a rich and diverse heritage.

“The City with a Heart,” as it is fondly called, is alive year-round, offering a variety of charming restaurants, quaint specialty shops and first-rate hotels. It also offers concerts, festivals, craft shows, cultural events and farmers markets on the historic downtown Green and the beachfront Old Grove Park, which skirts the bustling 1 ½-mile promenade. Memorials honoring West Haven’s war heroes parade down the popular 3 ½-mile shoreline, which makes up 25 percent of Connecticut’s public beaches and boasts such staple maritime pastimes as fishing and sailing. Much of the seafood dishes that catapulted Savin Rock to notoriety are still served in the melting pot of eateries that line the shore and Campbell Avenue. Its three working farms offer bushels of homegrown produce and homemade wares, preserving a centuries-old tradition handed down from West Haven’s founding fathers.