In some parts of the country, it's called a minecart, a mine cart, a mine trolley or a mine hutch…read more Basically, it's sort of a rolling wagon that back in the day was used to pull ore and stone out of a mine on a mine railway. They've become obsolete, as technology has advanced to conveyor belts and the like. So minecarts have become a relic of the past or a movie prop like the one used in the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie You'll see this very cool monument overlooking the waterfront in downtown Westport. The monument and plaque were dedicated by the Gault Energy Company, who have been around for over 150 years and are headquartered here in Westport. The monument includes an authentic coal cart that was used in the late 1800's. It was pulled by mules to unload and move coal from the Westport shipyards. It's a very cool nod to history.

49 miles separate Manhattan and Westport, CT…read more In Westport, CT, there's a 9-foot long engraved granite memorial in a grassy area that's installed so it faces the Manhattan skyline across Long Island Sound. On September 10, 2001 you could see the Twin Towers in that skyline. On September 11th and for days after, visitors to Westport's Sherwood Island State Park could see the smoke rising from the crippled skyline where 2,606 people were murdered. The Sherwood Island 9/11 Memorial includes outdoor and indoor elements. That granite memorial is engraved with the words "The citizens of Connecticut dedicate this living memorial to the thousands of innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001 and to the families who loved them." You are facing the skyline as you read those words. There are benches and trees and paved walkways with 153 individual pavers engraved with names of the victims with Connecticut ties. The indoor element of the memorial is a wall display of bio-plaques and a sculpture that includes artifacts from the World Trade Center. You'll see it in the Park's Main Pavilion. The two elements combine for a powerful display and reminder of what happened on that terrible day.

I visited this stunning site yesterday. Acres of lawn ended at the water's edge with a long stretch…read moreof beach. Polished sheets of metal reflected the names of Connecticut residents who perished on 9-11. A low pavilion -- with many picnic tables -- offered shelter. Massive evergreens caught one's eye. An extraordinary tribute.

This was our 2nd visit to the Sheffield Island lighthouse which is owned and kept by the Norwalk…read moreSeaport Association. They offer almost daily tours of the island and the lighthouse during the summer months. The staff were all very knowlwdgeable and passionate about the area history. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy. The grounds are free to roam and its quiet and peaceful. There are a lot of bugs so be prepared. The boat ride there and back was smooth and pleasant with information given on all the various islands and history. Be sure to ask for your lighthouse stamp! A great way to spend the day!

I took the Norwalk Seaport Association's ferry/tour to Sheffield Island with my husband and some…read morefriends when we drove down the coast of Connecticut for a few days over the Fourth of July weekend. It was one of the highlights of our trip! The ferry ride takes you out into Norwalk Harbor and Sheffield Island, passing a few small lighthouses and islands. The ferry ride to the island is narrated, with history of the area and some stories about some of the homes and homeowners in the area. When you arrive at the island, you get a little under an hour to spend your time how you choose. You can take a tour of the lighthouse with a member of the staff from the ferry, you can walk along the nature trails on the island (although they warned us of a tick problem they were experiencing on the island when we visited), or you can just relax on the island. We opted to relax. We had brought two chilled bottles of wine with us, and we walked over to some Adirondack chairs that were in the shade of a tree. We sat in those chairs, enjoyed our wine and view, and relaxed for pretty much the whole length of our visit. We did do a little walking around in the last 20 minutes or so we had on the island. The lighthouse is beautiful, and there's a plaque/sign you can read in front of it if you don't take the tour. The views are really lovely: blue skies, blue water, sail boats... FYI: The tours are offered between Memorial Day and Labor Day only. It's about a half hour on the ferry each way, so you get about 1.5-2 hours on the island. You can bring food and beverages. There are bathrooms (composting portable bathrooms) on the island. There is a covered area with picnic tables on the island, but it's a little off the water without much of a view. The three Adirondack chairs we scored were the only ones along that part of the island, and we only got to them because we were first off the boat. I do wish they had more chairs that could be moved - to shade, better views, etc. We lucked out by getting to them first. Bringing a blanket would be a good idea, because I'm not sure if they'll let you bring your own camping chairs or not! Our roadtrip was great, but it was jam-packed with activities. This ferry tour to Sheffield Island was relaxing. A chance to sit and enjoy a beautiful place for a few hours. It really was one of the highlights of our trip. I highly recommend it.

"But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency All…read morenon-believers and men stealers talkin' in the name of religion And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend" (Bob Dylan) You've probably seen maps of train or subway lines before. A spaghetti like graphic of different colored lines, sometimes running parallel to each other, sometimes crisscrossing each other like a spider web on LSD. So how do train lines manage all that switching and changes of direction without crashing into other trains? It's all computer driven today, but way back in the day things were done manually by throwing huge levers in a Switch Tower, and you can learn all about it and see the 100+ year old equipment in this very cool free museum. The museum is on three stories, and you have to walk up a metal staircase all the way to the top because that's where the tour starts. Our guide on the 3rd floor was John and he was fantastic. We saw the gigantic old switches, and he did a great job explaining the technology of the day and how it changed over the years. Next, we walked down to the second floor where Joe took over and he explained the switches and system in deeper detail. Finally, we walked down to the gift shop on the first floor with all sorts of railroad memorabilia, mugs, and hats are available for sale. John and Joe are volunteers, and their love of trains was quite evident. If you like learning about how mechanical things work, or you have a train buff in your family, you really can't go wrong with a visit to this niche museum.

Wonderfully restored historic building. The tower and docents were excellent....knowledgable,…read morefriendly and you could tell, very much train enthusiasts. The tour was quite interesting and satisfying. GO....you'll learn something...about how they used to 'switch' trains on the New Haven line

My boyfriend and I went for a mini vacation in Norwalk, CT and I booked the Sunset Harbor…read moreLighthouse Tour which we went on this past Sunday evening from 6:30-8:30, on 8/10/25. This tour was definitely a highlight of our trip! Captain John and Charlie were great and all the passengers aboard had a great time! We passed three lighthouses-Peck Ledge LH, Sheffield Island LH and Green's Ledge LH. Charlie, co-captain of Captain John, had just toured the inside of Green's Ledge LH the day before which is listed on Airbnb for $6,000! He went around the ship showing everyone the floor plan. It especially exciting to be on the Long Island Sound and to see the red and white towers from Northport, since I live on Long Island!! We were able to see several different viewpoints of the sunset and osprey nests as well. Definitely recommend to residents of Norwalk AND tourists alike!

Like a lot of other dork type middle age dudes I'm a sucker for a good lighthouse. Actually I've…read morebeen to a few clinkers which says that I'm apparently I'm also a sucker for a bad lighthouse as well but there's no need to worry about that at Sheffield because it's all good here. So if you want to come you've got two legal options. 1. Show up via kayak (or I suppose boat then taking a short swim) during hours when they are running tours and you will be met on the shore by a volunteer who will ask you to pay a few dollars for the privilege of taking the lighthouse tour/hanging out on the island. 2. Or, you come via the regularly scheduled boat that runs from the dock on North Water Street in Norwalk from late May until the end of September. There are various public & private decks for parking all around the area so it shouldn't be too hard to find a close space. I don't remember what the price is for option #1 but for option #2 the below currently apply: Adults: $22.00 - Children 12 & Under: $12.00 Senior / NSA Member $20.00 Active Military with ID $10.00 Children 3 & Under: $5.00 Family 4 Pack (2 Adults, 2 Children) $55.00 A few random facts: Boats depart weekends only every year over Memorial Day weekend and eventually go daily from July until Labor Day and then back to weekends only until the end of September. Check seaport.org for the current schedule and for special events such as their clambakes. Once you get to the island you get to take a brief tour of the lighthouse which was built in 1868 (downstairs only for now as the upstairs tower portion is being worked on and hopefully tours will be allowed there in the not to distant future once they get the stairs in better shape along with figuring out a way to dissipate the heat which we were told was well over 100 degrees the day we were there in August) and you can also walk through the nature trail via the Stewart B. McKinney Wildlife Refuge. If you are going to walk on the nature trail or along the beach that fronts Sheffield Island Harbor just know that things are "wild" and that you will get eaten alive by flies, mosquitoes and I wouldn't be shocked if the trees had lots of ticks. The lighthouse was relit in 2011 for the first time in 91 years. Why Sheffield Island? The island was named after Revolutionary War veteran Captain Robert Sheffield who bought the island in 1804. He married Temperance Doty, a Mayflower descendant and such started the current lineage of the island's name. The 47 acre island is private property that is primarily owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the Norwalk Seaport Association depending upon the website owning only three or four of those acres. You will be reminded a few times of where you can and cannot walk. Speaking of an area you can't walk by it would be the dilapidated house on the right near the dock. That house is still owned by the Stabell family who sold the island to the Norwalk Seaport Association in 1986 for 700K. I forget the exact story we were told but it's something along the lines of the "home" (more of a dilapidated shack) cannot be renovated because of Fish and Wildlife Service rules and if they raze the structure they lose the land so the shack stands as is. The island itself is around a mile and half from the dock in Norwalk and the boat is kept at a country club pace in both directions which equals about 40 minutes to make the trip in each direction. This is fine as one of the crew did a fairly good job or telling everyone about some of the various islands & lighthouses & birds in the area and about the local shellfish industry. Past that it's just sit back and relax on some of their picnic benches and have a picnic or don't do a damn thing except the enjoy the beautiful view. Either way it's awesome.

When you walk from the parking lot into Westport Town Hall, you'll see this one-sided marker from…read morethe CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a blue background: There is a lot of interesting information crammed into that single side. 1) Westport was founded in 1648 2) Westport was the site of a "sharp skirmish" with the British in 1777 3) Irish and Italian immigrants flocked to Westport and helped build its railroad 4) The area became "primarily a residential suburban community" by 1950. The marker was dedicated in 1980 and is in overall good condition.

It's always incredible to read about stuff in a town's history that goes back to the 1600's…read more But having said that, this is a strange marker because it describes a lot of things that didn't happen. For example, a guy named Daniel Patrick was deeded some land by the Indians in 1640, but no one settled in that new land. Also, a guy named Roger Ludlow got some more nearby Indian land, but no one settled there either. That's a pretty sizeable amount of room on this plaque describing non-settlements. Some Hartford families finally settled in the areas in 1651. This is a two-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission, with the familiar white lettering on a blue background. It has the same inscription on both sides. . It's located on a strip of grass between a cemetery and a funeral home. The marker dates to 1977 and is in a distressed condition. The white lettering is in pretty good shape but the blue background is showing obvious signs of chipping, peeling, and fading. The plaque's full inscription reads: First in recorded history came a navigator, Adriaen Block, in 1614 who called the Norwalk Islands "Archipelago." In 1640 Daniel Patrick from the New Haven Colony obtained a deed from local Indians conveying land on the west side of the Norwalk River. But that colony sent no settlers to the grant. Roger Ludlow of the Connecticut Colony, perhaps to halt further penetration by Patrick's claim towards his Fairfield settlement, secured and Indian grant of land on the east side of the river in 1641. Neither Patrick nor Ludlow settled here. In 1651 Nathaniel Ely and Richard Olmstead led thirteen families from the Hartford area to the Ludlow grant. The first homes rose on both sides of a path, now East Avenue near its intersection with Fort Point Street. On September 22, 1651 the General Court of the Connecticut Colony decreed "that Norwauke shall bee a Towne." Erected 1977 by City of Norwalk, Norwalk Historical Commission & the Connecticut Historical Commission.