SAVED CUPOLA AT

SAYBROOK POINT CONNECTICUT

Saybrook point is a coastal resort community on the Connecticut coast just west of the mouth of the Connecticut River, and is one of the most expensive places to live in Connecticut. That Connecticut is one of the most expensive places to live in the country gives you an idea of how expensive this place is.

Most of the homes in this particular neighborhood are new, but a few Victorian-era homes still survive. I stopped to take this picture because the cupola looks to be the only part of the home that hasn't been updated. It looks as if they intend to save it and restore it, though, and the contrast between new and old is striking. I'm sure there's an old house underneath all the Tyvek and pressure-treated lumber, but it's hard to tell. Even the foundation appears to be concrete, and therefore new. The original foundation would likely be large blocks of local granite.

Common folklore is that these cupolas are the places from which ship's captains' wives would watch for their husbands' return from the sea, and many such towers rise above the crowded streets of Stonington, Mystic, and other coastal Connecticut towns. If the tower beneath has no enclosed area at the top but a short iron fence instead, it is called a 'widow's walk.'