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A deliberate effort turned Essex the yachting town it is today, or it might have remained a backwater. And the change can largely be traced back to the actions of one man, James Parmalee. So successful were this Essex native's efforts (and those of his fellows), that by the mid-1930s, Connecticut newspapers were hailing: "Essex is Mecca of Sailing World."
Here's what writer Fred C. Boyle said about Essex, his "siren queen of the Connecticut River Valley," in the New Haven Register, July 31, 1938: "The phrase ... 'Essex is a Veritable Paradise for Yachtsmen' has gone a'rippling up and down the Atlantic coastboard ... from Maine to Florida and beyond ... The unsuspecting mariner who steers a course towards Essex out of idle curiosity is a lost soul the moment he drops anchor in her harbor. He plans to stop for provisions but winds up lingering for days beneath her spell. Finally, when he does break away, his conversion complete, he sings the harbor's praises as he mingles with his cronies ... they, too, become tricked by curiosity and in turn become willing victims of her charms."
New England towns have always had to re-invent themselves as industry patterns changed. Essex was no different. By the 1920s, shipbuilding had long since ceased, the town's deep-water coves had silted up, and just a few local watermen plied the river. Local industry suffered, too. The piano factory that sustained hundreds of local families was slowing to what would become a standstill. The company even tried to build boats, a two-year experiment that failed. All that kept Essex going, it seemed, was the Hartford-New York steamboat line. Faltering before the automobile's competition, it would soon stop in Essex for the last time.
Yachting was practically non-existent. In 1925, Boyle noted, there were three pleasure craft in Essex harbor and "private waterfront enterprise dwindled as interest in boating declined."
That same year, Parmalee, nephew of the steamboat terminal's dockmaster, began by sprucing up the building (now the Connecticut River Museum) for the yachting trade; he gave the two-story clapboard edifice a coat of white paint and laid in "fresh stocks of supplies, yachting- and ship chandlery of the latest type," wrote Boyle.
He fixed the docks, adding bumpers and painting the piers white. "Yachtsmen appreciated this mark of whiteness to steer for when darkness had descended upon the river ...," Boyle noted.
Others got involved. The village did have a boatbuilding reputation, thanks, in part to Prohibition. (Of the Dauntless Shipyard, one reporter noted, "many fine boats have been built in this yard ... [including] several of the fastest rum runners known to the Coast Guard.") But, mass production was taking over, and the Dauntless, Essex Boat Works and the Essex Marine Railway (on Middle Cove) adapted by selling new boats. Soon, customers could choose big yachts from Chris-Craft, Wheeler and Fairform Flyer (Huckins).
"Essex is an ideal place to demonstrate and sell boats, and the yards here are doing a big business," the New London Day reported in July 1937. "This has been the best year for this particular line of business which the local yards have known."
Another spur to the harbor's growth was the formation in 1933 of the Essex Yacht Club ("where the pleasures of boating are enjoyed to the fullest extent ..." says Boyle) and the exciting new sport of frostbiting, or winter dinghy sailing, which was developed there. Soon as many as 300 sailors were coming to the club for regular frostbiting regattas, helping spread the Essex gospel.
The transition to recreational boating was well underway. Yacht designer Frank Huckins kept an office in town, comedian and movie star, Ed Wynn, and industrialist Philip Crosley had yachts in the harbor (the latter, a 100-foot "house boat") and the yards were thriving. Yachting was even bringing new people to town. "Essex has added nearly two dozen permanent residents to its year-around population directly attributable to the gaiety, good-fellowship and excellent advantages offered those who love the water ... " wrote Boyle.
It's a trend that continues to this day; Essex is home to hundreds of pleasure boats in four major marinas, as well as a host of waterfront businesses.
