Maritime New HavenAn Overview

New Haven Museum114 Whitney Avenue

New Haven, CT 06510

Table of Contents

• Early New Haven

• Trade

• Long Wharf

• Oyster Industry

• Transportation

• Recreation

• Sources

Image circa 1890

Early New Haven

• Founded in 1638 by Reverend John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton

• Dependent on a “good harbor,” why?Safe place to dock shipsSource of transportation, communication, employment

• Hoped to develop a direct trade link with England, why didn’t work?

Close proximity to New York and Boston

• New Haven remained largely an agricultural community until the 18th century

1775 map of New Haven

Harbor

Trade

• International trade increased during the 18th century

• Items were directly received from France, Spain, and England, but trade was interrupted by war (French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars)

• West Indies Trade

• China Trade took place between 1790-1817New Haven

South Seas

China

Voyage of the Neptune 1796-1799

Most profitable ship along this trade route, bringing cargo worth $300,000

Customs House, built in 1756

Image circa 1890

Long Wharf

• Construction began after 1644, by 1736 it extended 400 feet

• Warehouses and shops lined the wharf by 1760

• By 1820 the wharf extended 3500 feet

• New items arrived daily that led to a rapid expansion of New Haven

FoodCoalLumberOther raw materials

Doolittle Map 1824

Long Wharf

Image circa 1900

Oyster Industry

• Perfect conditions: sheltered, shallow, warm salt water, with an influx of fresh water

• By 1900, oysters were a staple of New Haven residents’ diets

• Accounted for the largest percentage of seafood harvested in the United States

• Good source of jobs and continued technological advancement

• Largest company in town: Levi Rowe & Company

Image circa 1908

City Point oyster dredge, Isabella

Transportation

• Steamboats-First to arrive in New Haven, the Fulton , in 1815 from

New York-By 1822, New Haven had it’s own steamboat line-Last to arrive in New Haven was the Richard Peck in

1920

• Canals-New Haven-Farmington-Northampton-Completed in 1836-Linked New Haven’s harbor to agricultural interior of

Connecticut

• Railroads -Better way to transport goods and people

Advertisement circa 1860

Recreation

Lighthouse Point

Image circa 1915

Savin Rock Amusement Center

Image circa 1949

Sources

• Trout, Amy L. and Julie Ponessa Salathe. “A Brief Introduction to the Maritime History of New Haven.” Journal of the New Haven Colony Historical Society 37.1 (1990): 3-12. Print.

• Photo Archives of the New Haven Museum

Image circa 1891