Essex

ESSEX (Continued from other side) Men from the Essex area became captains and seamen in large numbers and sailed all over the world on voyages lasting many months. During the War of 1812 the British raided Essex in 1814, burning twenty-eight vessels at anchor and under construction before retiring. Since the total loss amounted to $160,000 the newspapers of the time called this raid the worst disaster to befall the new country since the war began, nearly two years earlier. The steamboat era opened in 1823 with small boats running between Hartford and Saybrook, later with larger vessels between Hartford and New York. The Steamboat Dock building, the third landing place since 1656 that has been in use at the site, was built in 1878. Centerbrook and Ivoryton became part of Essex in 1859. The meetinghouse of the Second Ecclesiastical Society (1722) still stands in [illegible: approximately one further line of text, obscured by a boxwood hedge; partial letters suggest "...and ivory piano ... long-time..." but the line cannot be resolved]