Fayerweather Island

Physical description

• Elevation: ~.
• NOAA maintains weather station FWIC3 on the island.

  History

• 1807: Island purchased from David Fayerweather by the US Government.
• 1823: The present lighthouse was built, with four-foot-thick rubble walls faced with brownstone ashlar, to replace an earlier wooden structure that had been washed away in a hurricane. A keeper's house was constructed at the same time.
• 1837-38: A granite seawall—called "the fortification"—was constructed to help maintain the integrity of the island and lighthouse station. It was extended across what had become little more than a sandbar to connect with a larger portion of Fayerweather Island in 1849.
• 1844: Lantern of lighthouse reconstructed
• 1873: Keeper's house rebuilt, with self-sufficient cistern water supply.
• 1894: Dredging project completed, providing channel around the island into the harbor at low tide. Seawall repaired & improved.
• 1911: Island acquired by the city of Bridgeport. Reconstruction of the seawall is begun that would connect the island to the western end of Seaside Park.
• 1919: New seawall and roadway completed that connected the upper portion of Fayerweather Island to the older portions of Seaside Park.
• 1933: Lighthouse decommissioned.
• 1977: Keeper's house destroyed by fire.
• 1986: A state-record 17 lb 14 oz weakfish was caught on the island.