Located where the Pequonnock River empties into the Long Island Sound, Bridgeport became an important coastal city before land transportation was significant. It developed a thriving sea-based trade and industry, and with its proximity to New York City, invited visitors who were looking for excitement and people who were searching for a place to settle.
Bridgeport on the Sound portrays Bridgeport as not only an interesting and beautiful coastal city but also a historically significant one. By showing how the early inhabitants lived, worked, and played, it offers insight into how the past affects those connected with the city today. While coastal trade was booming, Bridgeport played an important role in the manufacture of wartime equipment during World Wars I and II. However, Bridgeport may be best known as the chosen hometown of America's greatest showman, P.T. Barnum, and as the site of a grand oceanfront park designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.