The water that fed the oystermen now carries sailboats. In May 1888 a retired Civil War captain named George I. Tyson built a clubhouse on his own waterfront on the eastern shore of Cos Cob Harbor, at the mouth of the Mianus, and founded the Riverside Yacht Club — the second-oldest yacht club in Connecticut and among the oldest in the United States. Its Victorian clubhouse went up the next year, and the club has been racing on Long Island Sound ever since. Sailcloth, brass, and harbor-grey: this is Riverside’s prevailing weather.
What Atwater and Lockwood built still shapes the place. They laid out winding shoreline lanes, donated land for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1876, and tied Riverside to Manhattan with the New York, New Haven & Hartford line — an hour’s ride that turned a farming neck into a commuter’s Eden. Through the 1880s and into the new century, Victorian cottages and Shingle-style houses rose on leafy lots along Riverside Avenue, the old “Potato Road.” By the 1930s the neighborhood held some of the highest real-estate values in the region.
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.
