NOTE:It’s been brought to our attention by our readers that the remaining buildings of the amusement park were mysteriously demolished sometime in late August or the first week of September, 2009. The public is being urged to avoid visiting the area.
What: Connecticut’s largest ghost town
Where: Pleasure Beach, Bridgeport & Stratford, CT (map)
Admission: Private Property, “No Trespassing” Posted. Violators risk arrest.
Best Time of Year: Spring through Fall
Abandoned Since: 1996
Prints: To purchase prints of the photos below, click here.
Pleasure Beach is the Bridgeport portion of a Connecticut barrier beach that extends 2-1/2 miles westerly from Point No Point (the portion in the adjoining town of Stratford is known as Long Beach). The area is Connecticut’s largest and most recent ghost town and abandoned recently in the late 90’s after arsonists torched the bridge connecting it to main land.
From 1892 until 1958, it was home to a popular amusement park of the same name. From 1904 to 1919, it was called “Steeplechase Island.” The amusement park was accessible primarily by ferry service and a wooden swing bridge built in 1919 to carry automobiles and pedestrians. Remaining structures from the amusement park are the carousel, dodge-’em car enclosure, and beer garden (the latter was substantially altered for use as a summer theater in the 1960s).
After a portion of the bridge burned in 1996, Pleasure Beach was cut off and became accessible only by a lengthy trek along the shoreline, or by small private boats from the mainland. This has severely limited access and allowed nature to be undisturbed.
The transmitter towers for radio station WICC (AM) are located on Pleasure Beach. The station has to use amphibious landing craft when it needs to deliver cargo.
The area is a protected refuge for endangered birds (piping plover, osprey) and plants (prickly pear cactus, southern sea lavender). Sections of the beach are roped off seasonally to protect the plover nesting areas. There is also an abundance of white-tailed rabbits, deer, foxes, raccoons, and other mammals. The sand spit is estimated to contain more than 25% of the remaining undeveloped beachfront in the state.
The Town of Stratford owns 45 cottages on the Long Beach portion of the peninsula. For a decade, the town considered ending the leases of the seasonal homes, in part because of difficulties in protecting them. The town ended renewal of leases, and in May 2007, the remaining occupants agreed to give up their claims and moved their possessions away by barge. The cottages are now open to the weather and vandals, which has led to The Town Closing access and making it illegal to trespass and violators risk arrest.
As of July 2008, three of the 45 cottages have suffered arson attacks and burned completely, and every building located on Pleasure Beach has suffered vandalism. Four vehicles have been removed, and the area is littered with trash from squatters and party-goers. The mayor of Stratford is working to clean the land and possible transactions exist to sell the Long Beach land to the Department of Environmental Conservation or to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
On July 25, 2008 the governor of Connecticut M. Jodi Rell endorsed spending $150,000.00 to study the feasibility of restoring access to Pleasure Beach, possibly by rebuilding the bridge.
The Carousel: One of the few remaining structures from the old amusement park.
Tags: Abandonded Places, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Fairfield County, Ghost Towns, Haunted Places, New Haven County, Spooky Places, Stratford, Unusual Activities, Unusual Locations
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May 4th, 2009 at 2:58 am
prickly pear grows in CT? amazing.
wonderful post!
of course, just knowing the place is closed off makes me want to visit. there’s something about abandoned amusement parks that brings back the haunting writings of ray bradbury, no?
May 4th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Yes it does. It was one of the first things I noticed there. Seems very out of place.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:31 am
These ghost towns are a sad reminder of what is happening all across America, and it is
not just in older towns. There are new developments that are modern day ghost towns.
We have them very close to us here. New, and no owners. Where did the 5,000 people go
that lost their homes in our area? They lost their spirit perhaps. Typical of a Ghost I
imagine. And the living, where is their spirit?
May 18th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Uh… why didn’t they just rebuild the bridge?
Anyway, very cool pictures.
May 21st, 2009 at 4:20 pm
One reason was that the cottages were owned by the town, and they had already been considering ending the leases for about a decade prior to the fire, in part because of difficulties in protecting them.
Thanks for the compliment about the pictures.
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:17 am
wow, this is kindof creepy/weird. I think i have been there…like these pictures gave me a deja vu feeling. It’s kindof freaking me out. i think i was really little or something, thats what it feels like
June 20th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
i wouldnt call it a ghost town at all. i was there today. its just an abandoned island, with old cottages and a ton of cool stuff.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:42 am
I love these pictures! Why hasn’t anything been done about this plae? You would think that it would be prime location. I wish I could go visit,
July 4th, 2009 at 5:27 am
I’m from Bpt. I remember as a kid going fishing on the peer with my father. Thanks for the pics. Brought back memories.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:17 am
reminds me of chernobyl pics. eeeeerrrriiiieeeee….
July 19th, 2009 at 10:40 am
i went to pleasure beach ghost town just yesterday and it was great. rather creepy at first though. everything was left in the houses completely trashed. looks like the people that lived there left everything they owned. i found some papers from a trial in a home that belonged to the Mcdonold family. there were all kinds of family history papers and many of the homes were religous.. there were really really old phones and bikes in some of the homes.. since they left in the 90’s i find it strange they had things so old.. at the abandoned resturaunt birds were tearing up the roof we could hear.. everything was trashed but like i said we did see lots of papers on the families that lived there.. very cool
August 7th, 2009 at 10:25 am
WENT TO PLEASURE BEACH AS A KID IN THE FIFTIES.
MY FATHER AND UNCLE WRE MUSICIANS THAT HAD GIGS THERE.
IT`S SAD TO SEE IT THE WAY IT IS NOW.
I HAVE GREAT MEMORIES OF THAT GREAT PLACE.
August 19th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I used to live 2 blocks from this beach on Deforest Avenue. I live in Atlanta now. I remember jumping off the pier as a kid and swimming at the beach. I also remember walking on the rocks all the way to the end. It’s just makes me sad that the State of Connecticut, will all the money it gains from highest in the country tax revenue, doesn’t do anything to fix this park to provide more things to do in the city.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:25 am
I was at pleasure beach today with some friends. Its creepy but really really cool. You would never think all that was just sitting there at the end of a beach. Def goin back soon!
August 25th, 2009 at 3:15 am
Man i walked their a few days ago imma go again but the animals scared me lol no joke
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I just went there recently and the carousel actually collapsed; the only bulinding from the amusement park that is still standing is where the bumper cars were.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 am
It appears all of the buildings in the pleasure beach section have been demolished. The cottages will follow soon.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I was contracted to go out there and had no previous info on the area. I was surprised to see how it appears the owners just stopped coming. All the appliances are there, many personal items (mail, books, documents etc..). Access was easy, although I went the first time alone, quickly turned around and went back to Strafford to get reinforcements. It was apparent that someone has or was living there. Cool Place quite a shame. I was told the reason they didn’t fix the bridge, which didn’t look that bad. was because the land is in Strafford and the bridge is in Bridgeport. So the city of Bridgeport would need to fix the bridge and yet not receive any taxes or be able to recoup any cost from anyone.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I used to go fishing with my Dad there in the 60’s. We would go almost every day after my Dad got home from work at Bridgeport Metal goods. Of course being a kid I played more than I fished. I remember the snack bar that was close to the Bridgeport side bridge entrance. Sometimes my Dad would let me get some snack to eat there. Back in the 60’s you could still look in the Carousel and see the carousel horses still in there.
From what I was told there was a small train that would pick up people by the bridge that is near the burned up one. In the 60’s you could find the train tracks under the sand on that side of the island.
I also remember that the Police used to have a place to train their dogs at one time back then on the island.
Lots of good memories hanging out on Pleasure beach.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
That’s a perfect photography.Great art and Craft. you shows the real scar of this place!You done a very good work Carry on~!bye.
November 21st, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I was there last week with a friend…. got a real taste of history…. in its day it must have been the place to live and just be… so sad that it is what it is today…. I am so glad i got to walk it. I really hope to get out there before they tear the cottages down… rumer has it that this will start in the spring.
November 21st, 2009 at 9:25 pm
went there last week. very depressing, its sad to see what happened there. as a kid in the late 60s and all through the 70s me, my sister and father would walk pleasure beach, fish off the pier and the rocks. i remember the hotdog stand at the begining pf the pier. the old lady there used to serve you food and bait. hahaha. the good times those people must of had….
December 11th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I grew up in the south end of bpt by seaside park,but we use to ride our bikes and go fishing at pleasure beach,even after i was older i would always take a drive there.I was sad when the brdge burnt down(rumors has it someone thru a lit cigarette on the brdge)dont’t know if that’s true. I also went to camp there.As a kid in the 70’s I always wondered how fun it would have been to come to the amusement park.they said it was too expensive to biuld a bridge or repair the old one.good pictures!
December 11th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
They say the reason to throw the residents out was , because the bridge burned, the town could not provide fire and police protection. They said there was no vehicular access. Now that the town voted to sell the land to the feds, lo and behold, by moving one rock in the parking lot, the town now regularly drives pickup trucks into the area. For one small rock, those people were thrown out of their homes. Something stinks about this deal, and the townspeople will find out what too late.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Growing up there I spent much time fishing with my father and grandfather around the area. My Grandfather owned 197 Hollister Ave where we all lived and we spent much time at the amusement park on Pleasure Beach. I remember when the amusement park closed and was very sad. I still remember the snack shack near the turret bridge, fishing on the Lewis Gut side and off the pier. I once caught a nurse shark off the pier but when my grandfather saw it he cut the line and that was that! I remember fishing on the north side just east of the bridge early in the morning there was a short Italian gentleman who would set his row boat and load four eel traps in it with a burlap bag of horseshoe crabs. He would then row out into the weeds pull out the crabs and split them with a hatchet, put them into the traps and over the side they went. Later around noon he came back and pulled out the traps and leave. There were quite a few eels in these traps so I can only imagine he took them to sell at market. I don’t know if the fishing is any good anymore but back then we always came home with more than enough fish or eels to eat. My Grandmother would pickle the excess fish and eels we caught and they were very good. It’s very sad to see what has happened to this area as I have many fond memories growing up there. I hope I can visit again before the place is totally gone. By the way my family moved to central New York in 1963 and I’m still here but miss the ocean very much.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Where was the access from Stratford to take the bridge to Pleasure Beach? If you were to go there via walking along the shore in Stratford where would you start from? Lordship? Thanks for the info. Great Pictures!!!