Further Notes on Stonington Borough, by Juan O'Callahan
An 1873 edition of the New York Daily Graphic newspaper described Stonington Borough as “the most picturesque village along the northern shore of Long Island Sound (sic)”.
That hasn’t changed. Today, Stonington is listed in a current edition of Connecticut Magazine as “the number one place to retire” and as “one of the most lovely coastal villages in New England”.
Stonington Borough has a population of one thousand souls, most of who
reside year round, with nearly a hundred children attending local and nearby
schools. It has its own local government, a four truck volunteer fire
station and a roads’ department. It is a vibrant, year-round village
boasting six restaurants, two Inns including top-rated The Inn At
Stonington, several art galleries, many sophisticated boutiques and shops,
three churches, and Connecticut’s only active commercial fishing fleet.
The village itself was settled in 1753 (the adjoining Wequetequock Cove was established as a trading post in 1649). Stonington’s original name was Long Point, since it is indeed a long point that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at Little Narragansett Bay (actually, just north and east of Long Island Sound). Stonington village was incorporated in 1801 and is the oldest Borough in the state of Connecticut.
Almost all homes and properties in Stonington Borough have spectacular Atlantic ocean views looking across at Watch Hill - Rhode Island; Fishers Island – New York; Long Island from north of the Hamptons to Montauk Point; or nearby coves and points along the Connecticut coast. It is home-port to countless sailors, with up to a thousand slips and moorings managed or owned by the Borough’s two Yacht Clubs, the Dodson Boatyard and the village’s many waterfront property owners.
Besides its prominent Library, centered on the Village Green, Stonington has active associations such as the Stonington Historical Society, the Community Center, Village Improvement Association, Stonington Garden Club, the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society and several church-affiliated lay groups.
Stonington’s festivals are well known. There is the annual Blessing Of The Fleet, the once-every-three-years’ Gardens By The Sea open gardens’ tour that draws four thousand visitors, the weekly Saturday Farmers Market, and the Battle Of Stonington Road Race.
The 200th Anniversary of the actual Battle of Stonington will be celebrated in half a decade, in August 2014. Stonington’s community villagers, on two occasions, repulsed the mighty British Royal Navy. The so-named Battle of Stonington took place on August 10-12, 1814 during the little-known War Of 1812 (June 1812 to early 1815). Six British warships, on the orders of the famous Captain Hardy - which were to burn the town (see The History Of The Town Of Stonington, by Richard A. Wheeler, 1900) - sporting 160 cannon, bombarded Stonington for three days, lobbing 50 tons of shells, cannonballs and rockets into the village. Stonington fought back with three cannon, firing the eighteen pounders - double-shotted - with great accuracy. These near-obsolete cannon had been manufactured 33 years earlier in 1781. On the third day, having sustained significant damage, the British fleet withdrew. Stonington and America declared victory. Stonington’s historic cannons are on view in Cannon Square, and the huge sixteen-stars sixteen-stripes’ flag, all shot with holes, is preserved by the Historical Society.
Of perhaps great historical significance was Stonington’s action against the British Navy during the Revolutionary War (War of Independence, 1775 – 1783). In the early part of 1775, the British were sustaining losses of smaller warships to smugglers and brigands operating out of Rhode Island. The British dispatched Captain Wallace in a larger warship, The Rose, to take care of the situation. He was so effective in curtailing the Rhode Island smugglers that the population of Newport declined by four-fifths. On August 30, 1775, Captain Wallace stood The Rose off Stonington (Long Point) and demanded cattle and stores. The villagers refused. A British landing party was dispatched but they were repulsed, with heavy losses, by a company led by Captain Oliver Smith and locals under William Stanton. When the villagers refused to surrender, Captain Wallace bombarded Stonington, killing two citizens and destroying several homes, before withdrawing. As a result of the Stonington action, the Continental Congress decided to form an official navy to combat the British warship, The Rose. The decision was implemented in less than two months, with the date of October 13th, 1775 being the Official Date of the Founding of the American Navy.
Stonington evolved into a great seafaring and shipbuilding center. Some of its local sea captains became world famous. Captain Nathaniel Palmer discovered Antarctica in the winter of 1820, while hunting seals in his forty-foot sloop, the Hero. Captain Edmund Fanning circumnavigated the world in 1797 to 1799, discovering new islands in the Pacific (one island is named after him). The Stonington and Providence Railroad was started in 1837 to serve all of Stonington’s thriving commercial and transient businesses.
Today, this jewel of a Yankee coastal village is occupied by Portuguese-ethnic seafaring families; by young families with children; by the “original families” dating back many generations to the early 1700’s; by a multiplicity of merchants (see website www.stoningtonboroughct.com); and by retired couples from around the world and from crowded cities of America. All the grand and historical houses on these tree-lined streets have been carefully restored or maintained, and their heritage is well described by historians during the many guided-walking-tours of the village. Stonington has the ultimate beauty, a vibrant community and social spirit, or for those who seek it, quiet privacy.
Stonington Borough is ideally situated between New York City and Boston. It is accessible to/from either metropolis by high-speed Acela Amtrak train (out of nearby New London, or Providence). One can leave Stonington and be in New York City by 9:30 a.m. and return home by 9:00 p.m.
Traveling by air, the nearest major airports are Providence (45 minutes away) and Hartford (70 minutes). All US airlines fly from these hubs and provide service, either direct or by connection, to all points in the US and abroad. Travelers with private aircraft can land at Groton or Westerly airports (20 minutes away).
Ferries out of New London (25 minutes away) serve Block Island, Long Island and Fishers Island.