For a century Westbrook lived by the water — shipyards built from the white oak and chestnut of the local forests, oyster beds in the tidal rivers, and a menhaden fish-oil works out on Salt Island off Middle Beach. The Pochaug and Patchogue rivers share a single mouth here, spreading into broad salt marshes, with Duck Island and its breakwater offshore. By the 1870s the same shoreline had become a summer resort, its cottages filling each season with visitors drawn to the Sound.
Our Westbrook logo carries Connecticut's oyster shell over "Connecticut · Est. 1636," tying the town to the colonial founding of Connecticut — the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Connecticut place. Printed black-and-white with the worn look of an old oyster-crate label, the shell reads as the shoreline in shorthand: tidal, maritime, salt-aired. What makes this one Westbrook is the story behind it — the Oyster River, the Sound, and the birthplace of the submarine.
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.
