Lordship (neighborhood)
Encyclopedia
Lordship is a small, waterfront neighborhood in Stratford
, Connecticut
. The neighborhood extends onto a peninsula on Long Island Sound
and is bounded from the rest of Stratford by Sikorsky Memorial Airport
to the north and Short Beach to the north east. Lordship is accessible by only two roads, both parts of Route 113
.
Lordship is home to the Stratford Point Light
.
who had a large village at Fresh Pond and smaller encampments at Stratford Point and at Indian Well (areas in Lordship). Indian Well was a fresh water pond where the old trolley line crossed Duck Neck Creek just north of the rotary near the firehouse. When the first settlers arrived in 1639, they found that Indians were using this area to plant corn, so there was little clearing necessary. Originally Lordship, called Great Neck, was a “Common Field” worked and owned by settlers who returned home to the safety of the palisade fort at Academy Hill at night. Richard Mills was the first to build a farmhouse in Great Neck in the western end near present day Second Avenue. He sold his estate to Joseph Hawley (Captain)
in 1650 and moved. It is in connection with his name that the term Lordship is first found, as applied to a meadow on what is still known as the Lordship farm. It is said in deeds of land - 1650 to 1660 – several times, Mill’s Lordship and the Lordship Meadow. Richard Beach came to Stratford with a family and in 1662, he purchased one of five acres on west point of the Neck, butted south upon the meadow called Mill’s Lordship.
Gustave Whitehead
is reported to have used the windswept sandy areas of Lordship during some of his early powered flight trials in the early 1900s.
Stratford, Connecticut
Stratford is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. It was founded by Puritans in 1639....
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. The neighborhood extends onto a peninsula on Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
and is bounded from the rest of Stratford by Sikorsky Memorial Airport
Sikorsky Memorial Airport
Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport , formerly known as Bridgeport Municipal Airport, is a public airport located in Stratford, three miles southeast of the central business district of Bridgeport, in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States...
to the north and Short Beach to the north east. Lordship is accessible by only two roads, both parts of Route 113
Connecticut Route 113
Route 113 is a Connecticut state highway running from the Bridgeport-Stratford town line around the Lordship section of Stratford to the eastern part of the town.-Route description:...
.
Lordship is home to the Stratford Point Light
Stratford Point Light
Stratford Point Light is a historic lighthouse in Stratford, Connecticut,United States, at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The second tower was one of the first prefabricated cylindrical lighthouses in the country and remains active....
.
History
The first inhabitants of Lordship were the PaugussettsGolden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation
The Golden Hill Paugussetts are the Connecticut state-recognized tribal descendents of the Paugussett Nation of Native Americans that occupied much of western Connecticut prior to the arrival of Europeans...
who had a large village at Fresh Pond and smaller encampments at Stratford Point and at Indian Well (areas in Lordship). Indian Well was a fresh water pond where the old trolley line crossed Duck Neck Creek just north of the rotary near the firehouse. When the first settlers arrived in 1639, they found that Indians were using this area to plant corn, so there was little clearing necessary. Originally Lordship, called Great Neck, was a “Common Field” worked and owned by settlers who returned home to the safety of the palisade fort at Academy Hill at night. Richard Mills was the first to build a farmhouse in Great Neck in the western end near present day Second Avenue. He sold his estate to Joseph Hawley (Captain)
Joseph Hawley (Captain)
Joseph Hawley , born in Parwich, Derbyshire, England, was the first of the Hawley name to come to America in 1629. He settled at Stratford, Connecticut in 1650, becoming the town's first town clerk or record keeper, tavern keeper and a shipbuilder.-Surname:The surname of Hawley is one of locality...
in 1650 and moved. It is in connection with his name that the term Lordship is first found, as applied to a meadow on what is still known as the Lordship farm. It is said in deeds of land - 1650 to 1660 – several times, Mill’s Lordship and the Lordship Meadow. Richard Beach came to Stratford with a family and in 1662, he purchased one of five acres on west point of the Neck, butted south upon the meadow called Mill’s Lordship.
Gustave Whitehead
Gustave Whitehead
Gustave Albin Whitehead, born Gustav Albin Weisskopf was an aviation pioneer who emigrated from Germany to the U.S., where he designed and built early flying machines and engines meant to power them....
is reported to have used the windswept sandy areas of Lordship during some of his early powered flight trials in the early 1900s.