Town of Old Saybrook

History :

Old Saybrook, located at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was the home of Algonquin Nehantic Indians for years before Europeans arrived. They were peace loving Indians who farmed in the area and had a village at Saybrook Point. Around 1590 the peaceful Nehantic and other gentle Algonquin tribes living in the Connecticut River Valley were conquered by the Pequots, a warlike tribe from the north.

The first European to sail up the Connecticut River was Adrian Block who, in 1614, was sent by the Dutch West India Company in New Amsterdam on an expedition to explore, map and claim the eastern coast of "New Netherlands" for the Dutch. In 1623, fearing English competition, the Dutch deposited a small group of Dutch men and women at Saybrook Point to establish a permanent colony. After a few miserable months, the settlers gave up and returned to New Amsterdam.

As Saybrook grew, settlers moved further and further away from the original settlement and eventually they received permission to form their own parishes so that they would not have to travel so far on Sundays to attend church services. As these outlaying parishes grew, they separated from Saybrook and became the present day towns of Lyme, Old Lyme, Westbrook, Chester, Essex and Deep River.

Because of its location at the mouth of the river, Saybrook became an important center for coastal trade and for transshipment from riverboats to ocean ships. Its main harbor was North Cove which, before the railroad reduced the opening of the mouth of the cove with fill in 1871, was a much deeper harbor than it is today. The ships sailing to and from Saybrook visited Europe, Africa and South America, but their primary trade was with the West Indies and along the eastern seaboard.