Our Riverside logo carries the Connecticut oyster over “Connecticut · Est. 1636,” the founding era of the colony — the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Connecticut town. Printed in clean retro black-and-white that reads like an old oyster-crate label, the oyster stands for the whole Long Island Sound shellfish coast; what makes this one Riverside is everything behind it — Mianus Neck and the Mianus River, the cast-iron bridge, the 1888 yacht club, and the leafy Greenwich shore.
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.
