Pleasure Beach, Connecticut

[grs345]

I just found out about this site and I wanted to know if this ghost town in my county could be added to the list of connecticut ghost towns? it is fairly large and located on an island and was inhabitted untill 1996 when a wooden bridge(its only route to the mainland) burnt down.

here is a page i wrote about it complete with an article I wrote and some pictures that i clipped out of screenshots of a video about the ghost town.

http://bfsnakes.googlepages.com/pleasurebeach.html

edit: oh and u guys can copy and paste my article if your going to put it up. id like if you could give refrence to my page but either way its ok with me.

[grs345]

oh i ment to post this in Directions and Locations of Ghost Towns (http://forums.ghosttowns.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10) . can a mod move it there?

[campp]

How long was the bridge that was destroyed?

[grs345]

not very long but it was the ony practical way to get to the mainland and the people who lived their we're forced to leave beacause it was a hazzard scince firetrucks couldent get in in case of a fire.

[brian10x]

oh i ment to post this in Directions and Locations of Ghost Towns (http://forums.ghosttowns.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10) . can a mod move it there?

Don't worry about it. We're all just happy its ghost town related.

Besides, the moderator is too busy looking for bad words and dirty pictures I try to sneak in.:p

[Gravelrash]

grs345 - what you have there is a genuine ghost town, happening right before everyones eyes!! Congrats!....and thanks for sharing it. Loved the photos.
I dunno about you, but when I read things like this.....
All property owners were forced to leave the island/penninsula and all of their property their beacuase of the fact that the fire department would not be able to access the community in case of an emergency...... I get a little...... cynical??? :rolleyes:
Hmmmm, lemme see..... permanent ocean frontages, pleasant climate, low crime, sea views, island isolation. Well now, if that doesn't spell Real Estate B-O-N-A-N-Z-A, I don't know what does!:cool:

But that could just be me.

[campp]

There are many US islands that have no automobile traffic or access, full of houses and inhabitants. I don't get it, why didn't the property owners rise up? There are isolated county "islands" (unicorporated areas) near my city that don't pay for fire protection... and don't have it. But people still live there...

[grs345]

thanks gravearash.

and ya the island wasnt even to far away from the mainland, infact the bridge was so small it could have been easily replaced if you see any of the pics of it in the video on that page. just the county didnt want to spend money to replace the bridge. they are planning on selling to property to a government agency that wants to turn it and the surounding wetlands into a wildlife reserve, hopefully they will preserve the town. most of the homes were only vacation homes to people but their were a good number of people that actualy lived their full time. if im correct the reason they didnt reconstruct the bridge was cause there was a dispute on who would pay to rebuild the bridge between the county, the city of bridgeport, and the town of stratford.

[Vulture]

There are isolated "islands"

Why yes indeed. In Arizona we have "sky islands" with no vehicle access & lots of residents.

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[grs345]

theres also a small island in this county kid off far off the coast called cutties island(if im correct) that has 2 old stone buildings that looks like it was inhabbeted quite some time back. i dont know much about it thou.

[Gravelrash]

Why yes indeed. In Arizona we have "sky islands" with no vehicle access & lots of residents.
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You'll have to explain that to me over a few beers. Any excuse.

[Vulture]

You'll have to explain that to me over a few beers. Any excuse.

I'm poppin' a top right now pfffft.... See a map of southern AZ. There are several small mountain ranges that pop up from the fairly flat desert floor. Baboquivari, Santa Ritas, Patagonias, Empires, Whetstones, Dragoons, Chiricahuas, Santa Catalinas, Rincons, Huachucas. I have probably missed some. The elevations go up to 9,000 ft or so & the ranges are only around 20 or so miles long. There is found a completely different set of flora & fauna, some completely unique to that small area. We call them sky islands.

This explanation is pretty basic. Joel can elaborate with mo' betta' elequence.

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[grs345]

got any pictures or any communities i can look up on google images?

[Vulture]

got any pictures or any communities i can look up on google images?

I have not used Google images, but if you go to Google maps & view Arizona south of the Gila river & east of the Santa Cruz river you will see the "sky islands". The Apaches used these as rest stations as they merrily plundered their way along. Cooler temps, water, plant & animal food sources that were not available on the desert floor.

There is a good book, "Islands in the desert" by John P Wilson that covers this well.

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[campp]

I've read that larger predators are known to travel from one "island" overnight to a neighboring one. Down the mountain, across the deserts, and back up the next mountain (island) by dawn.

[L.A.P.S]

How far is this pleasure beach from Norwalk CT?

[grs345]

the island and the ghost town are right on the border of bridgeport and stratford. heres some directions from norwalk to pleasure beach:

1)get on I-95
2)drive untill you get to exit 30 in stratford(it might say lordship and not stratford on the roadsigns) just past the bridgeport-stratford line
3)drive down lordship blvd. till you get to oak bluff ave.(which is just past sikorski airport
4)take a right on oak bluff ave. and drive all the way straite til you hit the water.
5)take a right at the end of oak bluff ave. and you should reach a parking lot
6) get out of your car and walk north west untill you reach the ghost town.

and go to http://maps.google.com/ and type in "pleasure beach, bridgeport,ct" if you want to see where it is but dont trust their directions itl say to get their cause the bridge it might say to use is burnt down and port jeff ferry passes pleasure beach but doesent stop their.

happy ghost towning! :D
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ah man the people at aokhost took my pleasure beach article down...

heres the new link: http://bfsnakes.googlepages.com/pleasurebeach.html

[Natalie's Boots]

Very cool! I like the pictures. Recently abandoned Ghost Towns fascinate me...

[dremoto]

Awesome find and a modern ghost town in the making. Too bad for the residents:(, I imagine it is a nice island.

[grs345]

I live right near it and surprisingly enough Ive never been on the island lol... Ive been across from it near the burnt down bridge on the main land, driven past 2 trails that lead to it, and even seen it upclose on the bridgeport,ct-port jeff,ny ferry but have never actualy been on it.

But yes it realy is buetifull! I hope the US wildlife agency preserves it once they buy it. Is there anything i can do or any organization I can go to to ensure the preservation of ghost towns? expecialy a fien specimine such as this one?