The Saugatuck River issues from Sugar Hollow Pond, its headwaters located at exactly 41°20'50.4"N 73°28'06.4"W approximately southwest of downtown
Danbury. It flows generally southeast, passing through the
Saugatuck Reservoir ( above sea level), then turns south-southwest. In
Westport, it broadens into a navigable
estuary along its lower and enters Long Island Sound approximately southeast of
Norwalk.
Interstate 95 crosses the river near its mouth downstream from
Westport center. The river is wadeable along much of its course and is a popular seasonal destination for
trout fishing, with the state of Connecticut stocking the river annually. In the 17th century the river was the site of a
Paugusset settlement. The name of the river means "river that flows out" in the Paugusset language. The land east of the river was opened to white settlement in 1637 after the defeat of the
Pequots by
John Mason in the
Pequot War. After treaties with the local tribes, members of the
Connecticut Colony began to settle the area between the Saugatuck and the
Norwalk rivers to the west between 1639 and 1661. In the 18th century farming villages sprang up along the river, which was the principal means of transportation. During the 19th century, the lower river became the site of warehouses and shipyards, as well as an important hub of maritime commerce. The town of Westport was incorporated out of the existing village of
Saugatuck at the mouth of the Saugatuck River and several surrounding communities in 1835. In 1908, the author
Samuel Clemens moved into a villa he named "
Stormfield" built on a hill overlooking the Saugatuck River in
Redding, Connecticut. Clemens died in 1910, and the original Stormfield was destroyed in a 1923 fire. Bridgeport Hydraulic Company Holdings (now owned by Aquarion) flooded portions of the Saugatuck River Valley in
Weston,
Redding, and
Easton after 1938, displacing the villages of Hull and Valley Forge to create the Saugatuck Reservoir. == Crossings ==