McCook Point Park | |
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McCook Beach | |
![]() McCook Point Park Beach | |
Location | East Lyme, CT |
Coordinates | 41°19′10″N 72°11′46″W / 41.31956°N 72.19623°W |
Area | 21 acres (including adjacent Hole-in-the-Wall Beach) |
Created | 1954 |
Operated by | Town of East Lyme |
Open | Year round, daily or seasonal passes must be purchased for access from Memorial Day through Labor Day |
Website | [ Town of East Lyme |
McCook Point is a public park and beach located in the village of Niantic in the town of East Lyme. It adjoins the town's Hole in the Wall Beach to its east and the private Crescent Beach to its west. Combined the two parks encompasses 21 acres of land. The bulk of the 21 acres are within the section known as McCook Point Park.
McCook Park has the following facilities:
McCook Point Park consists of the point itself which stands about 40 feet above sea level, and a beach area that is the eastern most point of the Crescent Beach area. The point represents an example of the geological forces that created the northern shore of the Long Island Sound: a combination of three mountain building events creating bedrock units with a north-south grain, and subsequent glacial action that eroded the softer rock structure to create the existing coastline including McCook Point and adjoining Black Point [1]
McCook Point has been used by humans for fishing and recreation for centuries.
McCook Point served as a summer camping site for Nehantic Indians. The Nehantics would camp along the Niantic River and the Niantic Sound, including McCook Point, during the summer months where they would grow crops of corn, beans and squash as well as live off of fish and shell fish captured in the Sound, the river, and other streams that feed the Sound. [2]
When European settlers arrived, McCook Point along with much of the area surrounding it was left to the Nehantics as settlers chose reside closer to the King's Highway, now known as the Boston Post Road, in what is now the village of Flanders. At this time McCook Point was known as Champlain's Point.
The Nehantics continued to occupy the area along the Niantic River, McCook Point, and Black Point and supported the colonists in the Pequot War of 1634 to 1638. The victorious colonists issued land grants to Captain Thomas Bull and four of his soldiers around McCook Point [3]
With the construction of the Shore Line Railway that connected New Haven to New London in 1852 by the New Haven and New York Railroad the village of Niantic began to grow as it opened up the shoreline to summer tourist. One of those tourists was the Reverend Professor John James McCook who was the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of East Hartford in 1869. He and his family began spending the summer in Niantic for the benefit of their eldest son's health. [4] The family purchased 16 acres of Niantic shoreline in the Crescent Beach area including Champlin's Point. The family built a house on the point itself, which they occupied only during the summer month.
In the 1920s, the State of Connecticut entered into a legal dispute with the McCook family when the state attempted to condemn a portion of the land to expand its Seaside Sanitarium tuberculosis facility that it had opened in 1919 [5] State officials initially purchased a bankrupt White Beach Hotel in the Crescent Beach area and opened it with a maximum of 45 beds to treat children with tuberculosis. [6]
The commission members quickly recognized that the facility needed to expand as indicated into their report for 1920 to 1922.
The commission approached the McCooks about their property.
The State Commission decided it was imperative that it acquire at least a portion of the McCook property to expand the sanitarium, but the McCooks were living up to their name the "Fighting McCooks." The commission was becoming frustrated by the McCooks' refusal to sell as expressed in their 1922 to 1924 report.
The McCooks, represented by Attorney Anson McCook, fought the state's efforts to condemn their property. [9]. The case found its way to the state Superior Court that ruled in favor of the McCook's. In 1930, the state gave up on the Niantic site, and instead purchased property in nearby Waterford, CT to build a new facility that opened in 1934.
The Town of East Lyme purchased the McCook property in 1953 to stave off acquisition by a Hartford Real Estate firm. The town voted in a town meeting on Dec. 28, 1953 to purchase the property for $87,500. [10]
McCook Point Park | |
---|---|
McCook Beach | |
![]() McCook Point Park Beach | |
Location | East Lyme, CT |
Coordinates | 41°19′10″N 72°11′46″W / 41.31956°N 72.19623°W |
Area | 21 acres (including adjacent Hole-in-the-Wall Beach) |
Created | 1954 |
Operated by | Town of East Lyme |
Open | Year round, daily or seasonal passes must be purchased for access from Memorial Day through Labor Day |
Website | [ Town of East Lyme |
McCook Point is a public park and beach located in the village of Niantic in the town of East Lyme. It adjoins the town's Hole in the Wall Beach to its east and the private Crescent Beach to its west. Combined the two parks encompasses 21 acres of land. The bulk of the 21 acres are within the section known as McCook Point Park.
McCook Park has the following facilities:
McCook Point Park consists of the point itself which stands about 40 feet above sea level, and a beach area that is the eastern most point of the Crescent Beach area. The point represents an example of the geological forces that created the northern shore of the Long Island Sound: a combination of three mountain building events creating bedrock units with a north-south grain, and subsequent glacial action that eroded the softer rock structure to create the existing coastline including McCook Point and adjoining Black Point [1]
McCook Point has been used by humans for fishing and recreation for centuries.
McCook Point served as a summer camping site for Nehantic Indians. The Nehantics would camp along the Niantic River and the Niantic Sound, including McCook Point, during the summer months where they would grow crops of corn, beans and squash as well as live off of fish and shell fish captured in the Sound, the river, and other streams that feed the Sound. [2]
When European settlers arrived, McCook Point along with much of the area surrounding it was left to the Nehantics as settlers chose reside closer to the King's Highway, now known as the Boston Post Road, in what is now the village of Flanders. At this time McCook Point was known as Champlain's Point.
The Nehantics continued to occupy the area along the Niantic River, McCook Point, and Black Point and supported the colonists in the Pequot War of 1634 to 1638. The victorious colonists issued land grants to Captain Thomas Bull and four of his soldiers around McCook Point [3]
With the construction of the Shore Line Railway that connected New Haven to New London in 1852 by the New Haven and New York Railroad the village of Niantic began to grow as it opened up the shoreline to summer tourist. One of those tourists was the Reverend Professor John James McCook who was the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of East Hartford in 1869. He and his family began spending the summer in Niantic for the benefit of their eldest son's health. [4] The family purchased 16 acres of Niantic shoreline in the Crescent Beach area including Champlin's Point. The family built a house on the point itself, which they occupied only during the summer month.
In the 1920s, the State of Connecticut entered into a legal dispute with the McCook family when the state attempted to condemn a portion of the land to expand its Seaside Sanitarium tuberculosis facility that it had opened in 1919 [5] State officials initially purchased a bankrupt White Beach Hotel in the Crescent Beach area and opened it with a maximum of 45 beds to treat children with tuberculosis. [6]
The commission members quickly recognized that the facility needed to expand as indicated into their report for 1920 to 1922.
The commission approached the McCooks about their property.
The State Commission decided it was imperative that it acquire at least a portion of the McCook property to expand the sanitarium, but the McCooks were living up to their name the "Fighting McCooks." The commission was becoming frustrated by the McCooks' refusal to sell as expressed in their 1922 to 1924 report.
The McCooks, represented by Attorney Anson McCook, fought the state's efforts to condemn their property. [9]. The case found its way to the state Superior Court that ruled in favor of the McCook's. In 1930, the state gave up on the Niantic site, and instead purchased property in nearby Waterford, CT to build a new facility that opened in 1934.
The Town of East Lyme purchased the McCook property in 1953 to stave off acquisition by a Hartford Real Estate firm. The town voted in a town meeting on Dec. 28, 1953 to purchase the property for $87,500. [10]