For a century Westbrook lived by the water — shipyards built from the white oak and chestnut of the local forests, oyster beds in the tidal rivers, and a menhaden fish-oil works out on Salt Island off Middle Beach. The Pochaug and Patchogue rivers share a single mouth here, spreading into broad salt marshes, with Duck Island and its breakwater offshore. By the 1870s the same shoreline had become a summer resort, its cottages filling each season with visitors drawn to the Sound.
Then the inventor vanished. After the war and a failed venture in France, Bushnell dropped from public life entirely — and resurfaced, years later, in Georgia as "Dr. David Bush," a quiet country physician and teacher. Only after his death in Warrenton in 1824 did neighbors learn that the doctor down the road had invented the submarine. His hometown never forgot: the old red Bushnell homestead near the village is kept today as his memorial.
Why People Visit Westbrook
Westbrook offers quiet shoreline New England with a remarkable story beneath it. Visitors come for the beaches, the marsh and harbor, the historic town center, and the distinction of standing in the birthplace of the submarine. It's low-key, scenic, and steeped in Long Island Sound maritime heritage.
