• Fairfield Connecticut Holiday Ornament, Penfield Reef Lighthouse, View 1
  • Fairfield Connecticut Holiday Ornament, Penfield Reef Lighthouse, View 2
  • Fairfield Connecticut Holiday Ornament, Penfield Reef Lighthouse, View 3
  • Fairfield Connecticut Holiday Ornament, Penfield Reef Lighthouse, View 4
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Fairfield Connecticut Holiday Ornament - Penfield Reef Lighthouse

Fairfield Connecticut Holiday Ornament - Penfield Reef Lighthouse

$28.00 USD
$28.00 USD
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Penfield Reef Lighthouse. A stone house standing in open water a mile off the beach, with no island under it. Just a reef, a caisson, and a family who lived out there.

Penfield Reef runs out from Fairfield into Long Island Sound - a long shoal that wrecked enough vessels to earn a light of its own. The lighthouse was completed in 1874: granite, mansard-roofed, the keeper's dwelling and the light built as one structure because there was no room for two. Keepers and their families lived on it for decades, rowing to shore for supplies and school, riding out storms that broke over the roof. It was automated in the twentieth century and still marks the reef today.

Shoreline Connecticut has a long habit of insisting on the sea while pretending to be suburban. Penfield is the reminder standing offshore - a working structure, unglamorous, that has spent a hundred and fifty years doing one job in weather nobody would choose.

For the Fairfield boater, the beach walker, the one who can point it out on the horizon from Penfield Beach.

Below are excerpts from our Fairfield history page. The Fairfield town logo and the full town story are available through the collection link above.

Printed on a three-inch faceted crystal glass round, white-backed so the granite detail and the breaking water hold their depth, with the red wreath as the single point of color. The faceted edge takes tree light from any angle. Arrives boxed - white or gold gift box, your choice at checkout.

3-inch (76 mm) round crystal glass ornament · faceted gem-cut edge · white-backed print for crisp contrast · red ribbon hanger · your choice of white or gold gift box, included · free U.S. shipping.


QUICK FACTS — FAIRFIELD CT CRYSTAL ORNAMENT — PENFIELD REEF LIGHTHOUSE

Town: Fairfield, Connecticut

Founded: 1639

Known for: Great Swamp Fight (1637); rebuilt after Tryon’s raid of 1779; Greenfield Hill; Penfield Reef Light

Art: Penfield Reef Lighthouse, original Merlin Classics engraving

Blank: 3-inch (76 mm) round clear crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge

Print: white-backed for contrast; red ribbon hanger

Packaging: white or gold gift box, chosen at checkout

Made to order in the USA



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Wear Local. Feed Local. Stay Classic.

Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

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On July 7–8, 1779, British forces under General William Tryon landed and burned Fairfield — the courthouse, the churches, and most of the town’s houses were destroyed in two days. Fairfield rebuilt through the Federal era with a confidence that still defines the town center: the Burr Mansion rose again in 1790 on the site of its burned predecessor, the Sun Tavern went up on the green in 1780, the 1794 Town Hall still anchors the historic district, and the Powell House of 1755 stands among the survivors. Greenfield Hill, the inland farming village the raid never reached, kept its colonial streetscape and gained its landmark Congregational Church in 1855 — today the district holds one of the largest concentrations of intact Federal and Colonial homes in New England.

Offshore, Penfield Reef Lighthouse has marked one of the most treacherous stretches of western Long Island Sound since 1874. Local legend holds that the light is still kept company by Fred Jordan, the keeper who drowned on December 22, 1916, rowing home to spend Christmas with his family: two weeks later his successor, Rudolph Iten, recorded a gray, phosphorescent figure in the official keeper’s log, later keepers signed affidavits describing the same apparition, and in one 1942 tale two boys pulled from the water near the reef identified their rescuer from Jordan’s photograph.

Why People Visit Fairfield Connecticut

Fairfield offers a deep colonial history, a National Register town green, the Federal-era Burr Mansion and surrounding streetscape, the Greenfield Hill village preserved intact from before the Revolution, an offshore lighthouse, four miles of Sound beaches, and the original Boston Post Road running through the middle of it all. Visitors come for the museum and the green, the Federal architecture along Beach Road, the Greenfield Hill drive in apple season, the Pequot Library, Jennings Beach in summer, and the simple shoreline pleasures of a town that was founded by the lawyer who wrote America's first constitution and rebuilt itself after the British burned it down. It is layered, walkable, and very Connecticut.

Fairfield Connecticut Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring Connecticut clam shell motif