New Haven Harbor, the second largest harbor in New England, with its excellent natural waterways, sheltered anchorage and mercantile prospects was a definitive factor in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies’ decision to found a city around it in 1637. The original nine squares of the town were situated between the two creeks that flowed over the estuarine mud flat and into what was then the main harbor channel.
The off loading of all deep draft vessels was accomplished in the harbor itself while smaller vessels brought passengers and freight via a ferry operation into the main city utilizing the creek channel. In the last part of the 17th century a major ship landing was constructed at Long Wharf where the mouths of the two creeks converged. This area was the subject of continuous development and expansion until 1815.
In that year the commercial wharf extended the full length of the flats. With the advent of the Clipper era ship drafts became deeper and large capacity vessels became the rule. As a result rapid commercial obsolescence overtook New Haven Harbor. The Harbor suffered a century of decline as a commercial and industrial area. After the Second World War however, the harbor was dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers and in 1948 a channel was dredged with the dredge spoils being utilized to bury the old Long Wharf and most of the accompanying mud and tidal flat areas.
In 1958 Interstate #95 was opened. It runs along the West side of the flats and is supported by artificially created landfill that extends the shoreline about half a mile into what was previously the harbor. This parcel of land was created by the landfill and is bounded by Hallock Street, the old railroad station and rail right of way, and the interstate highway. It is currently used for medium and light industry.
The West River was originally situated in a meadow at the point where it meets the Harbor and City Point. The meadow served originally as a grazing common for farm animals who ate the “salt meadow hay” (Spartina alterniflora) which grew there in abundance.
With the decline of farming in Connecticut at the latter part of the 19th century, the pasturage declined and the area was taken for use by numerous cemeteries. By the turn of the 20th century, the landfill operations had sufficiently destroyed the former pasturage to permit construction of Boulevard, which runs parallel to the East Bank of the river creek. Over the next half century construction and fill-in continued of sufficient magnitude to permit the construction of shopping malls, sports and baseball fields, and eventually an interstate throughway (I-95).
As early as the beginning of the 18th century the area of City Point was occupied by the shacks of commercial oystermen, which gave rise to the name Oyster Point by which it was known since mid 1870’s and until the decline of the Connecticut oyster industry in the first quarter of the century. Today the area is the site of Schooner Incorporated, an ecology promoting organization, a sewage treatment plant, a marina and a restaurant.
City Point Tidal Mud Flat is located in New Haven Connecticut in New Haven County. It lies at forty one degrees, sixteen minutes and 53 seconds North Latitude and seventy two degrees, fifty six minutes and 15 seconds West Longitude according to the Geologic Map of New Haven Quadrangle #N4115-w7252.5, New Haven, Connecticut. It is bounded on the North by interstate 95, on the East by the City Point development, on the West by the Kimberly Avenue Bridge and embankment; and on the South by the harbor channel leading in to the mouth of the West River. Water depths range from zero on the flat to about eight feet in the channel with sediment deposits of from two to five inches.
The general substrate is of soft silt clay which becomes mostly sand at the point where the water and flat meet. The water quality is poor and suitable only for “navigation, power and cooling” according to a 1978 environmental impact study by Hilgenhurst Associates, while City Point itself is “an important” area for future commercial development according to the same study and is termed an “opportunity” area for the venture capitalist.
In order to better understand City Point one must reserach not only its historical value but also its geological history. A starting point is to cover the changes over the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras with regard to the Connecticut shoreline and that of neighboring regions. During the Paleozoic ear (about 570 million years ago) Connecticut was a part of the submerged continental shelf of the Proto Atlantic. The fossil record in Connecticut, although sparse due to a later metamorphic period, shows the remains of sea animals and plants in the areas that form the Eastern boundary of the old continent. One such notable deposit (as it is one of the very few fish fossil sites in this state) lies several miles to the North and East of City Point in the Town of Durham where a small stream has cut through the later rock and exposed fish fossils of the carbonaceous era.
During the metamorphic phase most of the rest of Connecticut’s fossil record was destroyed, and what we have left is the geological evidence of metamorphosis and erosion.
A period of vigorous vulcanism occurred during the Mesozoic period in our area. The land masses west of New Haven and coastal Milford are a direct result of the spreading of volcanic rock. Large volcanic deposits can be found just east of the central Connecticut lowland. The movement of lava and molten rock which formed rifts and valleys throughout Connecticut is responsible to a large extent for the composition of the shore line and indirectly responsible for the underlying formation of the harbor basin.
The greatest geologic event with regard to New Haven harbor and Long Island Sound however, was glaciation. While the ice sheet was stationary over the region, glacial melt water carried sand and gravel (sediment) south to form sand plains, tills and moraines. This sandy, porous area was favorable to the growth of white and yellow pine, cedar and scrub oak, all of which are abundant still in Connecticut to this day. The ice sheets have covered the region and receded a total of five times. In Connecticut, the latest period of glaciation (called the Wisconsin) has erased the evidence of previous ice sheets that can be seen in other parts of the country. However it did not have a huge effect on surface topography due to its extremely slow movement.
The receding glacier carved and shaped what has come to be Long Island Sound and left us with fine natural harbors where the softer material of the sand plains interspersed with the basaltic flow of lava.
Within this capsulized view of Connecticut’s geologic history, I wish now to spotlight City Point itself. Again, one must be aware that being an estuarine system, the City Point mud flats have undergone periods of natural change. Looking at the map herein included (fig. 1—map of the area) one can note the land extension protruding directly into the Harbor. This is surrounded on three sides by tidal flats. Today the sewage treatment plant (providing primary and secondary treatment to sewage) is located at the far end of City Point, an important part of Long Island Sound that has had its share of environmental activity. Commercialism, a direct effect of industrialism, also plagues the surrounding area of the city. The Boulevard has rapidly become one of the heavily commercialized centers and it is part of the City Point neighborhood.
In a study done in 1978 both the qualitative and quantitative components of the City Point mud flat community were sampled. Random sampling of vertebrates, invertebrates and vegetation of the flat and marshland formed the qualitative element. Eight species of birds were mapped and counted. Today one can see the ring-billed gull and herring gull graciously cruising the area or, at the same time, engaging in internecine warfare over the supply of fiddler crabs and periwinkles that typify the invertebrate community here. The quantitative aspect of the 1978 study (Mckay and Baker) used two line transects, each 55 feet long; each line transect was subdivided by three sampling stations. A sediment sample was taken from a depth of 20 centimeters at each of the stations. Each of the samples was sieved and the organisms were stained, identified and enumerated. Tables of scientific enumeration and labeling were made. These samples were then compared with earlier studies conducted in the City Point area. The effects of natural change, pollutants and other variables were part of the case study conclusion.
City Point has been the center of study for many reasons. The New Haven office of city engineers has reviewed periodically its interest in a water pollution abatement project. Southern Connecticut State University has data from a 1974 study and the 1978 study specifically dealing with the mud flats; with particular emphasis placed upon the environmental impact of alterations to the mud flats. It was noted in Mckay and Baker (1978 study) that pollutional stresses eliminate the more sensitive species of the flat community, allowing only tolerant forms to exist; thus the steady increase in diversity was found between October 1974 and September 1978. This change of approximately 90% overall also may mark the lessening of pollution in the Harbor. Several area developmental projects were awaiting approval to reverse the pollutant trend and assist in the protection of deposit-feeding organisms. Schooner Incorporated has its base here at City Point with its primary interest in rebuilding the area environmentally. As with everything else, an educated consumer, in this case the human population of the area, is the best investment for future needs.
The New Haven Redevelopment Agency and the New Haven Colony Historical Society have also had a variety of reasons for gathering data, both historical and geological about City Point. I have prepared on-site 35 mm. color slides of the study area which reflect the actual day to day commercial and non-commercial events in the City Point area. Photos of the mud algae and spartina alterniflora are also included as well as natural shots of the area including the harbor. Included in the slides are:
1. Typical daily scenes of the neighborhood today.
2. Industrial/commercial uses of the area.
3. Natural habitats of birds and fishes.
4. Photographs indicating topography.
5. Water and drainage sites.
By reviewing these slides the students can readily evaluate the environmental impact, the surrounding neighborhood has had upon City Point and more importantly, how City Point impacts upon the neighborhood.
Attached to this unit will be an appendix of special interest groups for contact. They are the same agencies that the teacher may want to call upon for help in the teaching of the unit. The general goal of the unit will be clearly stated and the teaching objectives will be intrinsic to the lesson. Additional activities are also listed. Therefore, as a teacher, all one need to do is to implement the lesson plan to fit the level of the students in the classroom.
One may study the City Point area in a variety of ways. I would suggest that this be one lesson of a composite unit on shorelines and waterways so that the student can correlate information relevant to the study of Earth Science. City Point can be an avenue for the study of estuaries and waterways; or this unit can also exist in harmony with a more in-depth study of geological changes in the land formation of Connecticut. This unit lends itself to infinite possibilities including subunits on pollution, conservation and environmental studies. Waste water treatment facilities and sewage treatment plants are excellent for this type of focus, both of which are found at City Point.
Maps and map usage will be an important subskill to be taught in this unit. “On Site” specimen collecting and field trips are a definite necessity in teaching the core of the unit. These “on site” walking trips can better acquaint both teacher and students to the thrust of the unit. I would suggest previewing the slides prior to any field trip. I would review a list of terms and pertinent vocabulary before adventuring out on the entire lesson coverage. In one of the Lesson Plans, an additional activity in Vocabulary Study of scientific terminology is available. The Institute Office will have the slides, maps and additional teacher-made materials on hand for this unit.
Much interest in nature can be developed by studying nature in one’s own backyard as with the study of City Point in relation to Clemente Middle School on Howard Avenue. This important area should be a basis of study for those students who live in the environmental kline of the inner city and the sound.