Discover 20 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Bridgeport (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Discovery Museum and Planetarium, Beardsley Zoo, and Seaside Park. Also, be sure to include Webster Bank Arena in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Bridgeport (Connecticut).
Table of Contents
Discovery Museum and Planetarium
Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Discovery Science Center and Planetarium is a hands-on science center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that serves as both a tourist destination and an educational resource for area schools. The Discovery Science Center provides dynamic, hands-on STEM experiences designed to resonate with the innate curiosity, learning desire, and spirit of exploration of visitors, encouraging young learners to ask questions, solve problems, and engineer solutions today so they are better prepared to embrace the challenges of tomorrow.
Its mission is to inspire wonder and ignite creativity through the exploration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through interactive experiences, unique exhibits, and dynamic STEM learning programs. The science center seeks to enhance public understanding of STEM through a variety of resources including education programs, planetarium presentations, the Challenger Learning Center, Science on a Sphere and a variety of permanent and traveling exhibits.[1]
Address: 4450 Park Ave, 06604 Bridgeport
Beardsley Zoo
Animals from North and South America. Beardsley Zoo, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is the only AZA-accredited zoo in the state of Connecticut. It includes one of the few carousels in the state.[2]
Address: 1875 Noble Ave, 06610-1600 Bridgeport
Seaside Park
Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Seaside Park, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is a 2.5-mile long crescent-shaped park bordering Bridgeport Harbor, Long Island Sound, and Black Rock Harbor. The park lies within Bridgeport's South End neighborhood.[3]
Webster Bank Arena
Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Total Mortgage Arena is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States.
Managed by the Oak View Group, the arena was built alongside the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater and opened on October 10, 2001. Webster Bank entered into a 10-year $3.5 million agreement on January 6, 2011 with the City of Bridgeport for the arena naming rights. When this agreement ended, the City entered into a new one that granted the naming rights to Total Mortgage of Milford, Connecticut on March 8, 2022.
The arena houses 33 executive suites, 1,300 club seats, 3 hospitality suites and a Sony Jumbotron serving as a scoreboard. The arena offers luxury boxes to corporate sponsors.
The arena is home to the Bridgeport Islanders (originally the Sound Tigers) of the American Hockey League. Since 2008, the Fairfield University men's and women's basketball teams play select games at the arena. Starting in 2013, the arena hosted regular season Connecticut Huskies men's and women's basketball games. The UConn men's hockey team, a new member of Hockey East, were also scheduled to play five regular season games in Bridgeport during the 2014–15 season.[4]
Address: Bridgeport, 600 Main Street
Lakeview Village Historic District
The Lakeview Village Historic District encompasses a historic World War I-era housing project on the east side of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Located northeast of Boston Avenue and west of Lakeview Cemetery, the development was built in 1918–20 to provide emergency housing for an influx of workers to the city's war production industries, and is a good early example of a Garden City movement subdivision. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[5]
Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial Fountain
Fountain in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial Fountain is located in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the intersection of Fairfield and Park avenues. The fountain was built in 1912–1913 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1985. The fountain consists of four elements: a central bronze figure of a mermaid rising out of a polished granite pool and three individually ornamented polished granite watering troughs at the angles of the triangular parcel of land raised above the street. The mermaid holds aloft a lamp in her right hand, and a baby in her left. Its tail is wrapped around two dolphins, and the faces of four babies appear in relief around the rim of the pool. The three surrounding troughs are each adorned with individualized figures.[6]
Barnum Museum
Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Barnum Museum is a museum at 820 Main Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. It has an extensive collection related to P. T. Barnum and the history of Bridgeport, and is housed in a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building and its exhibits are connected to a portion of Bridgeport Center, a complex of buildings completed in 1989 on the same grounds as the Barnum Museum.[7]
Address: 820 Main St, 06604 Bridgeport
McLevy Hall
Building in Bridgeport, Connecticut. McLevy Hall is a historic municipal building at 202 State Street in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut. The building was built in 1854 to house both the City Hall and the Fairfield County Courthouse, and served as Bridgeport City Hall into the 1930s. It was renamed McLevy Hall after Bridgeport mayor Jasper McLevy in 1966. The current city hall on Lyon Terrace was built in 1916, however municipal offices continued to occupy McLevy Hall through the 1970s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 19, 1977.[8]
Address: 999 Broad St #2, 06604 Bridgeport
Ephraim
Synagogue in Bridgeport. The Bikur Cholim Synagogue is a historic religious building at 1545 Iranistan Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Built about 1894 for a Congregational church, it housed two different Jewish congregations from 1929 to 1989. After serving as a commercial establishment for a time, it now houses a Seventh-day Adventist congregation. The building is a distinctive example of the Shingle Style of architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.[9]
Address: 1541 Iranistan Ave, Bridgeport (West Side - West End)
Mountain Grove Cemetery
Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut, was laid out in 1849 in the then popular rural cemetery design in a park-like, rural setting away from the center of the city.
The cemetery was founded by showman P. T. Barnum, who himself is buried there. "The original grounds were surveyed and designed by Horatio Stone and Mr. Moody," the cemetery's first superintendent.[10]
Address: 2675 North Avenue, Bridgeport (West Side - West End)
St. Augustine Cathedral
Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. St. Augustine Cathedral, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.[11]
Address: 359 Washington Ave, 06604 Bridgeport
First Baptist Church
Baptist church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The First Baptist Church is a historic church at 126 Washington Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Built in 1893, it is a distinctive local example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, designed by local architect Joseph W. Northrop for a congregation founded in 1837. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[12]
Address: 126 Washington Ave, Bridgeport
Tongue Point Light
Lighthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Tongue Point Light Lighthouse, also known as Bridgeport Breakwater or Bug Light, is a lighthouse on the west side of the Bridgeport Harbor entrance, in the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut in the United States. Built in 1891 and moved to its present location in 1919, it was instrumental in the development of the city's inner harbor as a transshipment point connecticut rail and water freight transport systems. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[13]
Bijou Theatre CT
Concerts and shows, Theater
Address: 275 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport
Black Rock
Neighborhood in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Black Rock is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut. It borders Fairfield and the Ash Creek tidal estuary on the west, the West Side/West End of Bridgeport on the north and east, and Black Rock Harbor and Long Island Sound on the south. Black Rock comprises census tracts 701 and 702 and part of census tract 703. It includes two historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Residences comprise 86% of properties in Black Rock, 10% are commercial, and 4% are industrial or other property classes.[14]
Black Rock Harbor Light
Lighthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Black Rock Harbor Light, also known as Fayerweather Island Light, is a lighthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States which stands on the south end of Fayerweather Island and marks the entrance to Black Rock Harbor. The first lighthouse at the site, built by Abisha Woodward under contract with the United States government, was a wooden tower that was lit and made operational by 1808. A storm destroyed the tower in 1821 and the current, stone lighthouse was erected in its place in 1823. The Black Rock Harbor Light was an active navigational aid until 1933 when it was replaced by two automatic lights offshore. The beacon was subsequently given to the City of Bridgeport in 1934. Two significant efforts during the 1980s and 1990s served to restore the aging tower and the light was relit as a non-navigational aid in 2000. Black Rock Lighthouse is listed as a contributing property for Bridgeport's Seaside Park historic district.[15]
St. Patrick's Church
Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. St. Patrick Church is a Roman Catholic church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, part of the Diocese of Bridgeport.[16]
Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Management Area
Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Management Area is a 625-acre brackish tidal marsh, nature preserve and hunting area owned by the state of Connecticut located in Devon, Milford, New Haven County, Connecticut.
The Charles E. Wheeler WMA is located on the eastern shore (Milford side) of the mouth of the Housatonic River. It is protected from Long Island Sound by a barrier beach known as Milford Point.
The main channel of the Housatonic River flows north and south to the west of the Charles E. Wheeler WMA, however a substantial amount of the water flows into and through the estuary itself particularly with the tide.
The US Army Corp of Engineers dredged the Housatonic River channel between the WMA and Stratford in both 1976 and 2012. Without dredging, sediment from upriver would expand the Nells Island salt marsh area into the main channel of the river, obstructing recreational boating and commercial shipping.[17]
Park Apartments
The Park Apartments are a historic apartment building at 59 Rennell Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Built in 1916 during the First World War, it was the first development of the Bridgeport Housing Corporation, established to provide emergency housing for workers in the city's war-related industries. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[18]
St. Peter Church
Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. St. Peter is a Roman Catholic church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, part of the Diocese of Bridgeport.[19]