Today Riverside is barely two square miles of winding lanes and waterfront between Cos Cob and Old Greenwich, split by Interstate 95 and the Boston Post Road and threaded by the Metro-North line that built it. The c.1760 Samuel Ferris House, the Ferris family’s old Cape farmhouse, still stands near the Post Road. It is a quiet, patrician corner of the Gold Coast — sailboats off the harbor, the old cast-iron bridge, and a farmhouse-to-mansion arc along the Mianus River.
Riverside also keeps a genuine rarity. Carrying Riverside Avenue over the railroad tracks is the Riverside Avenue Bridge — a 19th-century truss built almost entirely of structural cast iron, the only surviving cast-iron bridge in Connecticut and one of very few left in the country. It began life in 1871 as part of a six-span railroad bridge over the Housatonic in Stratford, fabricated by the Keystone Bridge Company; when that bridge was replaced, a span was salvaged and re-erected here over the tracks in 1894. Elegant, ornate, and improbably durable, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.
Why People Visit Riverside
Riverside rewards visitors who like the quiet, watery side of the Gold Coast: sailboats on the Mianus, shaded streets, and a handful of real landmarks close together. Add the Sound-side parks and the easy ride to the city, and the genteel calm makes its own case.
