No Fun at Pleasure Beach
Jackson Kuhl
Saltwater views at Pleasure Beach - but it's strictly off limits.
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Just off the coast of Bridgeport lies the lonely barrier peninsula of Pleasure Beach. In the waning days of summer, you can wander through the remnants of the old amusement park here, listen to crying ospreys or watch the tide run in crystalline streams from Long Island Sound into a small lagoon. Whatever you do, you will be utterly alone on these 60-something acres. Pleasure Beach is deserted, and has been for the past 14 years.
On June 16, 1996, a cigarette butt or match ignited the swing bridge leading from the mainland to scenic Pleasure Beach. It was spun to the open position, where the fire reduced it to charred bones and ribs. Stranded cars were evacuated on the Port Jefferson ferry and, two weeks later, Bridgeport’s Board of Park Commissioners closed Pleasure Beach to visitors. It’s been closed ever since.
Today, Pleasure Beach can only be accessed by boat or a two-mile hike along the narrow strand from Stratford. Those willing to make the effort will find an abandoned place of weed-cracked pavement, wild turkeys and wind sighing through the dune grass—and to think, this is in Fairfield County, where beachfront lots run $1 million plus. According to the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Department, simply setting foot upon Pleasure Beach will get you a $99 fine (a questionable assertion, considering the land below the high-tide mark is open to all).
Even before the bridge fire, Pleasure Beach had been in decline from its heyday, when thousands used to flock here to enjoy waterfront fun. Bridgeport purchased the land in 1919 for $220,000, and 18 years later assumed control of the amusement park founded in 1892. But in the 1960s, the park went bankrupt and most of the rides and equipment were sold at auction. In 1973, the ballroom burned and by the 1980s, newspaper accounts described the former summer destination as neglected and vandalized, with hypodermic needles dotting the shore and crack vials littering the parking lot. Plans in the 1980s for a local group to build a marine-centric “Amazement Park” or Donald Trump to develop a theme park on the site went nowhere.
No Fun at Pleasure Beach
