History Overview

The early days…

Do you know when and how “Roton Point” all got started? Many, many years ago, starting back in the early 1800s, the present day grove and the small hilltops (where there are now homes overlooking the club by the bath house), were small islands. The rest of the area surrounding the club was marshland, including the area around the present-day Bayley Beach. This marshland extended all the way through to the Five Mile River, except for isolated sections of high clumps of outgrowing rock on which trees could grow.

The natural advantages of this section of the Long Island Sound shoreline (which was soon to be known as Roton Point Park) — easy access; fine, sandy beaches; cool, shady groves of tall oak trees — were readily apparent to all. Shortly after the Civil War, people started to use the grove for picnic outings and  the beach for swimming… and, of course, it is still being used for these very same purposes today.

In the early 1880s, accessibility to the area was limited mainly to local residents because of the lack of available transportation from the nearby towns. However, as the mid-1880s approached, the entire stretch of land which surrounds the present day club came to the attention of some keen developers who bought up all of the nearby property and formed the Roton Point Improvement Corporation. This effort, fed by one of the greatest advances in public transportation—the trolley car—led to the rapid expansion of the area, and by 1892 the park was well known throughout (and even beyond) the entire region. What ensued was the development of one of the most beautiful and well-known amusement centers on the east coast.

“The Prettiest Park on Long Island Sound”…

Soon, all the surrounding land was consolidated under one ownership, and thanks to the introduction of the trolley car — first horse-drawn, then electrified — the park quickly started to expand. The trolley line was extended from South Norwalk, and then linked to Darien in the west, thus allowing many more local communities to have easy access to the area. Trolleys came into the park through the present entrance and made a sweeping loop close to today’s tennis building where they would discharge their passengers and wait for the mass exodus at the end of the day. The fare was five cents, and one arrived about every 20 minutes.

A pier was extended into the Sound on the east side to allow excursion boats to dock. And activity was extremely brisk by the turn of the century. At one time, four large boats were at the dock, and five more were off shore waiting to discharge their passengers. With an average capacity well over 1,200 people, some 12,000 visitors were able to arrive in one day by boat alone.

As a family park, Roton Point attracted church and fraternal groups, lodge outings, conventions and Sunday school picnickers from all over, with many coming by boat from as far away as New York City and New Jersey for a fun-packed, leisurely day. There were scores of picnic tables laid out, row upon row in the grove area. The area began to grow well beyond just picnics and bathing into a full-fledged amusement park, with a variety of attractions. A small dance platform was placed on the side of the grove, and that was soon replaced by a much larger dance pavilion down by the water’s edge, built out over the rocks.

A hotel was built, and many small concession stands were concentrated in the area behind it, extending along the border by Bayley Beach. In addition to refreshment stands, these included a shooting gallery, penny arcade, “crazy house,” palm reader, skeet ball and many other games of chance. One of the most popular attractions was the glass blower’s booth. As beautiful, small glass pieces were shaped in front of them, fascinated by-standers would crowd in front of the skilled craftsman. Many of his objects are still treasured by local residents, and his grandson still lives in Rowayton in a house filled with memorabilia from this era. The walkways, both around and inside the park area, were surrounded by beautiful flower plantings that made Roton Point the prettiest amusement park on the entire Sound.

The first carousel was located near the northwest corner of the hotel. And chugging across the west beach was a miniature steam train (later replaced by the roller coaster) that gave a pleasant and thrilling ride to children and adults. The park’s first roller coaster extended across what is now Bayley Beach, along with other simple rides of that time, such as an automated circular swing.

The present day octagonal bath house was built to house the first carousel but found greater use as a vaudeville theater and then as a roller skating rink. The two long bathhouse wings that are now on both sides of it were originally one large, long structure that extended parallel down the full length of the present beach. This structure was cut in half and moved to its present locations around the turn of the century.

 

Roton Point evolved slowly during the years up to the 1920s. At that time, Neville Bayley, an astute and successful entrepreneur, took over ownership of the park and expanded it with more rides, chance booths and a variety of other attractions.

Big plans, big bands, and a big storm…

With almost clairvoyant insight into the future of Roton Pont, Neville Bayley purchased, in the mid-1920s, all the park’s property from the Connecticut Railway & Lighting Company, the operators of the trolley line. Immediately thereafter, more rides, chance booths and a variety of new attractions were added, and people continued to flock to the park in growing numbers, both over land and by water.

In 1925, the park’s management had their own excursion steamer, the Belle Island, built for their exclusive use. Many people thought that she was the prettiest of all the steamers servicing the park, and she continued to be used until the park was permanently closed. A rival company even built a second pier out from the far end of the west beach to accommodate the growing excursion traffic, and to this day, many people don’t realize that a second pier ever existed.

The park continued to change and expand. Dining facilities were enlarged to seat hundreds on the hotel porch, and the west grove was filled with picnic tables to accommodate up to five hundred at one sitting. Also added were a fortune teller, a weight guesser’s booth and even a fish pond. The favorite foods sold from the refreshment stands were hot dogs, ice cream, taffy, popcorn and cotton candy. There were weekly vaudeville shows, and animal acts were a big attraction. The rides in the midway were upgraded to include an airplane ride, the whip, and bumper cars, among many others.

By the early 1930s, the far end of the west beach was sold to become what is now Rowayton Beach and the Wee Burn Club. To accommodate this change, the old roller coaster was replaced by a shorter, but steeper “breath-taker” offering a longer, faster ride. The original starting and finishing platform now serves as the bathhouse for the present Bayley Beach.

Fireworks, beauty contests and band concerts were weekly events, and the resulting traffic and noise were not easy to live with. The merry-go-round’s giant Wurlitzer organ banged away incessantly, and the roller coaster riders screeched without restraint. With the growth of the motor car and with buses replacing trolleys, local traffic increased alarmingly; at one time, there were sixty buses parked on the property. “People of means” chose to live in Tokeneke and Wilson Point, leaving the “less well-off” to comprise most of the local Rowayton community.

Dances and dance competitions were held from the earliest days of the pavilion, and endurance contests, with generous prizes, were very popular. Nationally known big bands were scheduled for Sunday nights, and thousands turned out to see and hear them. All the famous bands made an appearance… Bunny Berigan, Cab Calloway, the Dorsey brothers, Eddy Duchin, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Wayne King, Guy Lombardo, Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, Rudy Vallee, Fred Waring… just to name a few.

Beauty contests were an annual event, and for years, “Miss Connecticut” was selected at Roton Point before going on to Atlantic City.

The hurricane of 1938 did a tremendous amount of damage. Especially hard hit were the rides in the midway, and most of them were never restored. This event marked the beginning of the end for the park. As World War II approached, fuel rationing crippled the 1941 season, and all the excursion boats were taken for the war effort. The park was then closed… never to re-open again.

After the closing, the assets were sold piecemeal. Ten acres of land, just east of Wee Burn, were acquired by Rowayton’s Sixth Taxing District for $30,00 and have become the present Bayley Beach. The remaining thirteen acres — representing the present configuration of the Roton Point Association — were offered to the residents of New Canaan for $45,000, but facing fuel rationing and wartime, this offer was rejected. Roton Point then became a family beach club and has continued in that same role; in 1984, the members purchased the property from the Roton Point Partners and it exists today as a recreational condominium association. Nearly a hundred and fifty years after its earliest picnicking and swimming days, people continue to come to Roton Point today to do just that… picnic, swim… and relax.

[The above information was submitted by the History Committee, with specific reference to Rowayton On The Half Shell, Frank E. Raymond, Phoenix Publishing, 1990.]

Revised on May 10, 2011