Ports & Harbours of the Atlantic coast of the United States

History

William Penn Landing Site is near the confluence of Chester Creek and the Delaware River.

Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company - The United States' biggest post-Civil War shipyard was founded by the Sun Oil Company in 1917 as a private shipyard for production of oil tankers. During the period between the First and Second World Wars, when many other yards were shut down due to a surplus in vessels and the Great Depression, Sun maintained its building pace as the US began to move away from coal as the main source of fuel for ships, powerplants and machinery and into oil. It closed in 1990. The US Navy has named ships USS Chester in honor of the port.

Facilities

Subaru Park is an American soccer-specific stadium is home to the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. The project is the result of combined commitments of $30 million from Delaware County and $47 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Talen Energy is the stadium's naming rights sponsor.

Harrah's Philadelphia was built on the site of the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company.

Location and access

The waterfront is part of the Delaware Valley port complex. It is located on the west bank of Delaware River in Chester, Eddystone and Ridley Park. It is upstream of the Trainer Refinery and downstream of Philadelphia International Airport. Stoney Creek, Chester Creek, Ridley Creek, Crum Creek and Darby Creek mouth along the shore.

In the "project of 1885" the U.S. government undertook systematically the formation of a 26-foot (7.9 m) shipping channel 600 feet (180 m) wide from Philadelphia to deep water in Delaware Bay. The River and Harbor Act of 1899 provided for a 30-foot (9.1 m) channel 600 feet (180 m) wide from Philadelphia to the deep water of the bay.

Since 1941, the Delaware River Main Channel was maintained at a depth of 40 ft (12 m).

History

Port Reading was built in the late 19th century by the Reading Railroad of Pennsylvania to serve their shipping needs, especially coal from the Pennsylvania anthracite coal fields. In 1892 Port Reading was connected to the Reading Railroad system via a new branch line from Port Reading Junction near Bound Brook, New Jersey, known as the Port Reading Secondary. The Port Reading Refinery was located in the district.

Geography

Port Reading is in northeastern Middlesex County, in the northeast part of Woodbridge Township. It is bordered to the north and east by the borough of Carteret, to the northwest by Avenel within Woodbridge Township, to west by Woodbridge proper, and to the south by Sewaren, also within Woodbridge Township. It is bordered to the southeast by the tidal Arthur Kill, across which is Staten Island, New York.

The New Jersey Turnpike passes through Port Reading, with the closest access being Exit 12 in Carteret.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Port Reading has an area of 2.20 square miles (5.70 km2), including 1.98 square miles (5.13 km2) of land and 0.23 square miles (0.60 km2) of water (10.26%) lying within the Arthur Kill.

History

Bass Harbor is most famous for its Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built because of an annual report by the Lighthouse Board, declaring that ships required light to assist them in entering the harbor.

Description

"Sheffield Harbor", whereas the narrower and shallower eastern approach is known as "Cockenoe Harbor.

widens to 250 feet (76 m) along the wharves to the Washington Street (Stroffolino) Bridge.

100–200 feet (30–61 m) wide until it terminates at the head of the harbor at the Wall Street bridge in central Norwalk. There is an anchorage area 10 feet (3.0 m) deep and 17 acres (6.9 ha) in area on the east side of the channel in the vicinity of Fitch Point in East Norwalk. There is also a 0.6-mile (0.97 km)-long, six-foot-deep channel, 125–150 feet (38–46 m) wide, extending northeast from the 10-foot (3.0 m) anchorage opposite Fitch Point to the head of the harbor at East Norwalk. Another six-foot-deep anchorage area lies adjacent to the head of the harbor at East Norwalk.

Geology

The harbor is a "drowned river valley" flooded as the sea rose at the end of the last ice age. Bedrock under the harbor and in the Harborview and Calf Pasture Beach area is interlayered Ordovician trap falls gneisses and Harrison Gneiss with dark minerals hornblende, biotite and garnet. The bedrock has two folds in the harbor area. The earlier, more southerly one was formed at the same time as the Taconic Mountains. That fault runs from Bell Island through Manresa Island to Sprite Island. The second (created during the Acadian mountain-building event of 485–440 million years ago) runs along a line north from Noroton Point on Sheffield Island Harbor toward Exit 15 on Interstate 95.

History

In 1660, three settlers from Greenwidge (now Greenwich, Connecticut)—Thomas Studwell, John Coe, and Peter Disbrow—arranged to buy Manursing Island and the land near the Byram River from the Native Americans. This First Purchase on Peningo Neck comprised the lower part of the present town of Rye, on the east side of Blind Brook. Over the next decade, additional purchases filled in the shoreline from Rye to Greenwich, made via land agreements with the Native Americans in the area.

Shanarocke was referred to by the others as their leader, or "sachem". These elder tribe members or "sagamores" made many of the tribal decisions, and there were several instances where agreements could not be signed because he was not present. Shanarocke was a Wiechquaeskeck Native American.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has an area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km2), of which 2.33 square miles (6.0 km2) is land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2), is water.

Port Chester has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). Due to its location on the coast, temperatures are neither extremely cold nor warm, and precipitation is plentiful for the entire year. Winters are usually cool (around 4 °C [39 °F]), and powerful nor'easters can occur, sometimes dropping large amounts of rain and snow on the village. Average annual snowfall is 76 centimeters (29.8 inches), significantly more than New York City's 64 centimeters (25.3 inches) Snow cover is sporadic as the sea moderates temperatures, which melt snow.

Economy

The Life Savers Candy Company operated a factory in Port Chester from 1920 until 1984. The factory building, which now contains apartments, is one of Port Chester's prominent landmarks. National Collector's Mint was headquartered in Port Chester, and Port Chester was the home of the chili restaurant Pat's Hubba Hubba (also known as "Hubba's").

History

The original settlers, the Someses and Richardsons, arrived circa 1761. The Asticou Inn—today's Asticou Hotel—was built by Augustus Chase ("A.C.") Savage (1832–1911), grandson of Glaswegian John C. Savage (1756–1816), who moved to the United States in 1770 and to Northeast Harbor in 1792.

In December 1966, a fire destroyed Wallace's Esso Garage, the Pastime Theater, the Hillcrest Market, and Mrs. Flye’s Sandwich Shop.

In 2008, a fire destroyed three buildings on Main Street — Colonel's Deli and its upstairs apartments, and two art galleries. Five months later, in 2009, another blaze destroyed the Tan Turtle restaurant and its upstairs apartments. As of 2022, some buildings had yet to be rebuilt.

History

Bartholomew Gosnold explored the harbor in 1602, and his mate Gabriel Archer wrote: "The fifteenth day of May we had again sight of the land, which made ahead, being as we thought an island, by reason of a large sound that appeared westward between it and the main, for coming to the west end thereof, we did perceive a large opening, we called it Shoal Hope. Near this cape we came to anchor in fifteen fathoms, where we took great store of codfish, for which we altered the name, and called it Cape Cod. Here we saw sculls of herring, mackerel, and other small fish, in great abundance. This is a low sandy shoal, but without danger..."

Geology

Most of Cape Cod was created by the Laurentide Glacier between 18,000 and 15,000 years ago. However, the Provincetown Spit, i.e., the land surrounding Provincetown Harbor from High Head in North Truro through all of Provincetown, consists largely of marine deposits transported from farther up the shore during the last 6,000 years.

History

The Abenaki people that lived in the region called it Winnegance. The first European presence in the region was an English fishing outpost called Cape Newagen in 1623. An Englishman by the name of Henry Curtis purchased the right to settle Winnegance from the Abenaki Sachem Mowhotiwormet in 1666. However, the English were driven from their settlements by the Abenaki in 1676 during King Philip's War in 1676. The colonists returned after the war ended. In 1689 during King William's War, they were driven out again. Winnegance was abandoned entirely, and remained a desolate waste for 40 years.

In 1730, Colonel David Dunbar, the superintendent and governor of the Territory of Sagadahock, formed a new settlement, named Townsend after Lord Charles Townshend.

Geography

The town is in southern Lincoln County, at the south end of a peninsula in the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered to the west by the tidal Sheepscot River and to the east by Linekin Bay. The town center sits at the north end of Boothbay Harbor, which joins Linekin Bay to the south, past Spruce Point. Townsend Gut, to the southwest, separates the town of Boothbay Harbor from Southport Island. The town is bordered to the north and east by the town of Boothbay, to the south by the town of Southport, and to the west, across the Sheepscot River, by the towns of Westport and Georgetown. The island community of Isle of Springs is in the western part of the town, and West Boothbay Harbor is in the west-central part of the town.

History

The original settlers of the Town of Brookhaven, based in the neighboring hamlet of Setauket, bought a tract of land from the Setalcott Indians in 1655. The deed included the area of contemporary Port Jefferson along with all other lands along the North Shore from the Nissequogue River eastward to Mount Misery Point.

Port Jefferson's original name was Sowaysset, a Native American term for either "place of small pines" or "where water opens".

The first known home within the present village boundaries was erected in the early 1660s by Captain John Scott, an important leader in Long Island's early history. This house, named Egerton, was a grand abode on the western end of Mount Sinai Harbor at Mount Misery Neck.

Geography

The village's commerce is divided into two centers that lie 1-mile (1.6 km) apart along Main Street and at differing elevations. These are known as Lower Port Jefferson and Upper Port Jefferson, respectively the waterfront and the railroad station sections of town. The first is currently the center of tourism, while the latter is undergoing plans for revitalization to the economic viability of its historic self. Further from Main Street, the remainder of Port Jefferson consists of several residential neighborhoods defined by the hills on which they sit. In the northeastern corner of the village is the neighborhood of Harbor Hills. This neighborhood occupies the western edge of Mount Sinai Harbor and contains the Port Jefferson Country Club at Harbor Hills.

Location and access

The Port of Paulsboro is one of several in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is situated on the east banks of the Delaware River in Gloucester County, New Jersey, across from Philadelphia International Airport. The 96-acre (38.8 ha) site of Fort Billingsport was the first land purchase by the United States government, made by the Continental Congress on July 5, 1776. The port was first developed to handle petroleum products in 1917 by the Vacuum Oil Company. The Port of Paulsboro has been used to refer to the marine transfer operations at Thompson Point in Greenwich Township, Gibbstown (Greenwich Township), Billingsport, Mantua Creek, Eagle Point in West Deptford Township, and Westville.

History

Archaeological evidence indicates continuous Indigenous habitation of Mount Desert Island for thousands of years. The Wabanaki peoples, particularly the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy nations, called the island Pemetic, meaning "the sloping land." They seasonally traveled from the mainland to fish, hunt, and gather berries and shellfish in the Southwest Harbor area.

The first permanent European settlement on Mount Desert Island was established in 1761 when Abraham Somes, a cooper from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and James Richardson brought their families to the area. Somes obtained land grants from Francis Bernard, the royal governor of Massachusetts, and established Somesville at the northern end of Somes Sound.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 69.12 square miles (179.02 km2), of which 14.36 square miles (37.19 km2) is land and 54.76 square miles (141.83 km2) is water.