For two centuries the harbor was the whole economy. Clinton built ships, worked farms, and above all harvested the Sound — finfish, shellfish, and especially oysters, which made the town's reputation and filled its wharves. Schooners came and went from the Town Dock, the Indian River carried small craft into the heart of town, and Cedar Island sheltered the anchorage. The oyster is Connecticut's official state shellfish, and harbors like this one are why — and the trade never quite ended: oyster farming still works these waters today. In the late 1800s Connecticut's beds ranked among the most productive oyster grounds anywhere, and Clinton's harbor carried its share of that silver-shelled wealth.
The harbor also launched the town's greatest fortune. Charles Morgan, born on East Main Street in 1795 to a shipowning family, left for New York at fourteen and built an empire remembered as the beginning of American coastal shipping — the first scheduled steamship line from New Orleans to Galveston, routes to Corpus Christi and Havana, iron works on the East River, railroads across Louisiana and Texas, and a running rivalry with Cornelius Vanderbilt himself. Morgan City, Louisiana wears his name. So does the gift he sent home: in 1871 he built Clinton a high school, endowed its upkeep, and the Morgan School — his statue out front — still graduates the town's seniors today.
Why People Visit Clinton
Clinton offers the Connecticut shoreline at its most relaxed — a real harbor town with beaches, marinas, and a colonial Main Street, plus the surprising distinction of being where Yale began. Visitors come for the water, the history, and the easy shoreline pace, and stay for the beaches, the harbor, and the oysters.
