
Westbrook holds two stories at once: a working shoreline town on the salt marshes of Long Island Sound, and the unlikely birthplace of an invention that changed the sea. Our Westbrook designs gather that identity — the oyster-and-1636 emblem, the Sound shoreline, and the Turtle's quiet claim to history — into wearable form. Westbrook, Connecticut — birthplace of the world's first submarine, on the salt marshes of Long Island Sound since 1648.
The town itself is older than its famous invention. Algonquian peoples lived along this shore long before European settlement; around 1648 the area was settled as the "Oyster River Quarter" of the Saybrook Colony — the seed colony from which a cluster of Connecticut towns grew. The West Parish formed its own church in 1724, the place was renamed Westbrook in 1810, and in 1840 it was incorporated as a separate town. The "Oyster River" name says it plainly: this has always been a shoreline town.
Why People Visit Westbrook
Westbrook offers quiet shoreline New England with a remarkable story beneath it. Visitors come for the beaches, the marsh and harbor, the historic town center, and the distinction of standing in the birthplace of the submarine. It's low-key, scenic, and steeped in Long Island Sound maritime heritage.