Shippan Point
Street names such as Ocean Drive West and Lighthouse Way reflect the neighborhood's shoreline location.
To the west of Shippan Point, separated from it by a canal, is the South End neighborhood, which is currently in planning phases for a major redevelopment.
[3] A waterfront mansion known as Marion Castle (One Rogers Road) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Marion's Castle as it became known was designed in the style of a French chateau completed in either 1914 (according to an October 2, 2005, New York Times article) or in 1916 ("completed in 1916," according to a July 2006 article in New Canaan/Darien Magazine[4]) Frank J. Marion was a movie industry pioneer who with partners in the Kalem Company produced silent one-reelers shown at nickelodeons.
He sold the business to Stamford developer and Shippan Point resident Thomas L. Rich in June 2008.
One such deed of July 1, 1640, acknowledges the sale of land to Nathanael Turner of Quenepiocke in exchange for one dozen each of coats, hoes, hatchets, glasses, knives, two kettles and four "fathom of white wampum."
When Benjamin Belding died in 1741, his children sold off part of the farm to John Lloyd, a ship owner and operator of a general store at the mouth of the Mill River.
On the night of September 5, 1779, Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge led a force of 130 men from Shippan Point to Lloyd's Neck, where the surprised Tories surrendered.
Once again Shippan was chosen as the site of embarkation, but two days of stormy winter weather thwarted the mission.
In 1806 he purchased the Waterbury farm for $10,000 bringing his land holdings to over 400 acres (1.6 km2) and eventually owning the entire southern part of the point.
In 1792, Moses Rogers married Sarah Woolsey, sister-in-law of one-time Yale College president Timothy Dwight.
Lawrence restored the property which became a popular picnic area in the summer months, peaking on a day in 1845 with over 500 people.
After the last surviving child of Moses Rogers died in 1866, the first of many public auctions of Shippan land took place.
Another promotional scheme was the building of the Ocean House Hotel, where potential buyers could stay to get a feel for the area.
"[7] In 1887 John Ennis bought land at the southwest end of the point and built a bathing pavilion over the water, where people could swim beneath a roof.
[3] With Stamford Harbor on the west-side of the point, and Westcott Cove to the east, boats were plentiful in the summer months.
The racetrack at the northeast end of the peninsula brought even more visitors, so in 1892 the Stamford Street Railway began trolley service to Shippan.
In 1887, John Ennis bought land at the southwest end of the point and erected a bathing pavilion in the water.
On Halloween night in 1906, Mayor Homer Cummings cast the deciding vote that turned the 95 acres (380,000 m2) of land into a public park.
In 1899 the Moses Rogers house was purchased by the Fosdick Syndicate, later called the Shippan Manor Company.
At about this time Leonard Barsaghi bought and renovated the Shippan House and the casino on the eastern shore.
One year later, Frank J. Marion, a producer of the early "one-reeler" silent films, had a castle built at 1 Rogers Road.
The Shippan Land Company developed over 100 acres (0.40 km2) of the peninsula, including Saddle Rock and Rogers Roads in 1913.
The Atlantic Realty Company held a large public auction of land in 1914 at Lanark, Auldwood, Downs, and Whittaker avenues.
There are believed to be small parts of the ship, like windows, buried only a few feet below the sand at the beach at Stamford Yacht Club.
[9] Current residents include newscaster Chris Hansen and Stamford developer, Thomas L. Rich.
