Connecticut Goes to the Beach:
A Source of Pleasure and Relaxation

Resort Hotels and Seaside Cottages

Beginning with early 19th-century bathhouses, buildings of all varieties were constructed to help people enjoy their visits to the beach. The “golden age” for most Connecticut seaside resorts fell between 1890 and the 1914, when the grandest of the hotels and private summer homes were constructed. Although development continued in beach communities, it slowed dramatically during the Depression, with the exception of Federal Works Progress Administration sponsored construction, like the pavilion at Rocky Neck State Park in Niantic. The hurricane of 1938 destroyed many of the beachfront structures in the state, erasing a major part of the Connecticut landscape.

< Through most of the 19th century beachfront property was considered undesirable for residential development. Affluent families in the 1870s and 1880s built their elaborate summer homes away from the beach to protect against storms and avoid the swarms of mosquitoes in the summer.

Fort Griswold House
Eastern Point (Groton), between 1884 and 1905
Photo CD: 4170 img0034.jpg

< With the shipbuilding industry in decline and the number of summer visitors on the rise, shipyards and boarding houses along the coast gave way to large summer hotels offering their guests everything from dances in elegant ballrooms and dinner prepared by French chefs to lawn tennis and bowling alleys.

Fire Engines at Pequot House
New London, 1908
Photo CD: 2824 img0037.pcd

< Most of these large elegant seaside hotels were built with wood frame construction, and many fell victim to fire in the late 19th and early 20th century. Only a handful of the grand old hotels survived into the 21st century.

< In most towns residential development of the beachfront began in the 1890s when people of moderate means started to build seasonal cottages on the relatively inexpensive beach property.

< Beachfront homes were particularly susceptible to the harsh New England weather, like the hurricane of 1938, which washed away not only beach houses but also some entire beaches.

Link to other essays in this Journey:

>> Introduction: Connecticut Goes to the Beach
>> Getting There
>> Gathering with Friends and Family
>> Attractions and Amusements
>> Souvenirs of the Trip

>> Guideposts
>> Suggestions for further reading