Look closely at the Riverside crest and you’ll find an oyster, and that is no accident. Mianus Neck lived on the water — fishing and oystering the Mianus River and the shallows of Long Island Sound, where Greenwich and neighboring Cos Cob were part of the great Sound oyster trade that fed New York for a century. The oyster on the logo, over “Connecticut · Est. 1636,” is the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Connecticut town — a nod to the Sound’s shellfish heritage and the colony’s founding era. On Riverside it points straight back to the Neck, when the day’s living came up out of the river on the half shell.
The water that fed the oystermen now carries sailboats. In May 1888 a retired Civil War captain named George I. Tyson built a clubhouse on his own waterfront on the eastern shore of Cos Cob Harbor, at the mouth of the Mianus, and founded the Riverside Yacht Club — the second-oldest yacht club in Connecticut and among the oldest in the United States. Its Victorian clubhouse went up the next year, and the club has been racing on Long Island Sound ever since. Sailcloth, brass, and harbor-grey: this is Riverside’s prevailing weather.
Why People Visit Riverside
Riverside rewards visitors who like the quiet, watery side of the Gold Coast: sailboats on the Mianus, shaded streets, and a handful of real landmarks close together. Add the Sound-side parks and the easy ride to the city, and the genteel calm makes its own case.
