About 1,850 British troops under General William Tryon landed at Compo Beach on April 25, 1777, to raid Danbury; returning militia fought them at the Battle of Compo Hill, and more than one hundred Continentals fell in the raid's engagements.
The Famous Artists School opened in October 1948 in the old Sasco mill by the Saugatuck River, founded by twelve illustrators led by Albert Dorne with Norman Rockwell; two hundred dollars bought twenty-four lessons mailed out one at a time, and at its height the school had more than forty thousand students.
Why People Visit Westport Connecticut
- Spend a day at Compo Beach, the town's Sound-front park, and find the Minute Man statue on the bluff above the 1777 landing site — the 1901 commemorative cannons stand nearby.
- Walk the Saugatuck River waterfront and the historic Saugatuck village, the colonial shipping center the town grew from, and cross the 1884 Cribari swing bridge.
- Catch a show at the Westport Country Playhouse, founded in 1931 in a converted 1835 tannery, or a summer concert at the Levitt Pavilion.
- Browse downtown Main Street and the river walk, with shops and galleries near the water.
- Kayak to Cockenoe Island off Compo, or walk Longshore's shoreline paths and public golf course.
- Drive a stretch of the Merritt Parkway for its celebrated 1930s bridges — no two are alike.
- Read up at the Westport Library before exploring the town's deep arts-colony history.
