Southport - III

This is the third and last day for showing houses and similar structures in Southport's historic district. 

The Wakeman family was one of Southport's wealthiest families, with several generations of ship owners and merchants.  In 1871 W. W. Wakeman built this house for Sarah Wakeman, the widow of one of his brothers.  Although she died a year later, her daughters lived here for four more decades.

The 1913 Wakeman Memorial Building was funded by Miss Frances Wakeman to recognize her grandfather.  For decades it housed the Boys and Girls Club before being converted to a residence after the Boys and Girls Club relocated to a bigger facility.  

This 1834 house on Harbor Road has Federal and Greek Revival characteristics.  Jeremiah Sturges and his son Henry owned and updated the house.

A woman I met on the streets of Southport pointed out this yellow house and told me that it had been owned and occupied by "shock jock" Don Imus before he sold it and built a massive and fancier house across Southport Harbor near the Country Club of Fairfield.

Southport - II

 Here are some more houses I saw on a walk around the shoreline neighborhood of Southport, part of the city of Fairfield, Connecticut.

Samuel Allen Nichols, a successful Southport merchant, had this house built in 1848.  Buildings of New England indicates that it was originally Gothis Revival in style, later modified with a Second Empire style mansard roof.  It has had other modifications over the years.

Simpler and smaller than some of the other houses in Southport's historic district, it is one of my favorites.  Buildings of New England indicates that this Second Empire house was built in 1848 for Mary Pomeroy, a wealthy widow whose late husband had been a merchant and a senator but died relatively young.

Here is one of Southport's few surviving pre-Revolutionary homes.  It was built around 1767 for William Bulkley.  In 1797 Tory loyalists in Fairfield burned to the ground the homes of colonists.  This is one of only four in Southport that survived the burning. 

Oliver Perry built this house in 1843.  Buildings of New England reports that Perry was a merchant, ship owner, banker and politician.  It is a Greek Revival structure with a pediment overhanging and supported by four Doric columns.

The Charles Gilman house was built in 1871 in the "stick style."  Gilman was a Bridgeport lawyer.  Buildings of New England notes that a later owner was also a successful lawyer.

Southport - I

 I drove to Southport on the Connecticut shore to walk around the historic district.  There were many beautiful and interesting houses, so I will post a few each day for three days.  There is a Buildings of New England website from which I got information about some of the houses.

This 1830 Greek Revival house was built for Austin Perry, a successful merchant.   Buildings of New England notes its balanced, symmetrical design with massive Corinthian columns surmounted by a carved anthemion motif ornamenting the gable pediment.

This is the Henry Perry house from 1832. 

I don't know anything about this house, but I do admire the columns and balustrade.

This is an 1861 Victorian Gothic house built in 1861 for Moses Bulkley.

Another Perry house!  Buildings of New England notes that this one was built around 1830 for Charles Perry, a successful ship owner and sea captain.

More tomorrow.

Run Like a Mother -- Helping Mom Finish

 I like watching kids join their moms for the finish of the Run Like a Mother 5K.

My first grade granddaughter joined two of her friends and their mother for the finish.

Another impressive sight was seeing a volunteer pushing a "prospect" to the finish.  "Prospects" are disabled adults who work at the Prospector Theater in town.

Run Like a Mother -- Adult 5K

The adult 5k of "Run Like a Mother" starts with throngs passing the starting line.

The runners do a loop and pass the starting line a second time. 

They eventually wind their way down the hill.

Cheered on by friends and family and townspeople.

By the time they get to Main Street, there is a lot more spacing between the runners.

After running a long distance on Main Street, they turn into Ballard Park and circle the gazebo to finish.  I didn't get there in time to see the early finishers.  Tomorrow I will show some of the runners as they approach the end of the race.

Run Like a Mother -- Kids' One Mile Race

"Run Like a Mother" is a very popular Ridgefield road race on the morning of Mothers Day Sunday.  Kids ten years old and under line up at 8 a.m., half an hour before the adults begin.  I had two granddaughters in this one mile race. 

The third grader just turned nine years old two days before the race.  She competed in the 9-and-10 year old category and finished third.

The first grader is very sociable.  She saw that a girl near her had the number next to hers, so they immediately became best friends and ran together the whole race, right behind two other good friends.

World Migratory Bird Day

 Yesterday I took a walk with a group near Spectacle Brook on the Ridgefield-Wilton border with a naturalist from Wilton Land Trust and another from Woodcock Nature Center.  The idea was to spot migrating birds on the day when folks around the world list the birds they see and hear.

After a winter photographing the big birds in Southwest Florida, it was quite a challenge spotting and photographing the little birds that populate New England.  We heard far more than we could see clearly, and I could photograph hardly any at all.

Is it cheating to photograph a female bluebird looking out of a bird house instead of in the wild?

A red-winged blackbird perched in a tree at the edge of the swamp.  You can't see it?  I know.

A scarlet tanager spent some time flitting around the top of some nearby trees.

The naturalist from the land trust specializes in plants, while the naturalist from the nature center is a birder.  The land trust naturalist pointed out some very old oaks and tulip poplars.  He had some people in our group hold hands around the base of an old tree to measure its girth.

Today is Mothers Day.  Best wishes to the mothers out there.  The females in my family will participate in "Run Like a Mother," a one mile race for girls and a 5K for the adults.  I hope to end up with some photos for tomorrow's post.