…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 "our" 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. As such, shortly after
the Civil War, people started to use the grove for picnic outings
and bathing… and, of course, it is still being used for these very
same purposes today.
At that time, 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. But more about that in the
next issue!
