Hartford History, on the Connecticut Shoreline

Hartford is rich in history, so much so that even when you leave the city, you can never quite escape the stories of people from its past. Recently, I encountered a chapter of Hartford history in the Post Road Review, a free magazine mailed to residents of East Lyme and other southeastern Connecticut communities.

As it turns out, the McCooks of Hartford’s beloved Butler-McCook House and Garden are also the McCooks of McCook Point Beach and Park in Niantic. In the 1860s, the Reverend John James McCook brought his ailing son John to the shoreline for the health benefits of “shore breezes.” The family soon acquired land on the Niantic coast and by the 1870s they had built a house, complete with a chapel.

In 1874, during a winter so cold that Niantic Bay froze over, the McCooks spent the season in the new home while their Hartford house was occupied by renters. After that, the seven McCook children frequently played with local kids on the baseball diamond and lawn tennis court that Reverend McCook had built. The family became known for opening up their sprawling property to the public, foreshadowing the town park it would later become.

You can access the full Post Road Review story, written by Olive Tubbs Chendali, in PDF form here.