example is the beach at Rocky Neck State Park. Tombolos and spits, on the other hand, extend away from headlands leaving open water or a marsh between the beach and shore. Tombolos connect two headlands or islands, and spits reach across but don't quite close the gap. Long Beach in Stratford is an example of a tombolo, and Griswold Point at the mouth of the Connecticut is a spit. Because they extend away from the mainland, Connecticut's tombolos and spits may be thought of as mini-barrier beaches, although they do not approach the size of Rhode Island's barrier beaches or the even larger ones on Long Island's south shore.

Beaches of any type were pretty much ignored by the hard-working, no-nonsense Puritan settlers. But with the coming of the industrial revolution, a new concept in the working world arrived: vacations. Perhaps it was the increased tensions of urban lifestyles that created a need for soothing, reflective environments, or perhaps the simple lack in an industrial city of good swimming spots where one could take a break from summer swelter. Probably many new social factors were involved. Whatever the cause, beginning in the 19th century, a wave of beach-lovers that has yet to crest hit the Coast. Railroad lines, and then highways, were built to carry the pressing horde of vacationers to the beaches, resorts, amusement parks, and marinas, contributing to the growth of the Coast into Connecticut's most populous region.

The shelter of Long Island combines with the backing up of rivers by the drowned coastline to give Connecticut a soft fringe of salt marshes. Their strength sapped by the encroaching sea, Connecticut's rivers are unable to carry much of their many-ton burden of sediment far from land, and instead are forced to dump it along the Coast. Here, the nutritious river muds nourish a fertile apron of salt marshes and mud flats, feeding grounds for many creatures of land, air, and water. Almost every tidal river and drowned valley has its associated marshes, the most notable exception being the Thames River. Some of the largest salt marshes on Connecticut's coast are Barn Island Marsh in Stonington, Hammonasset Marsh behind the state beach in Madison, West River

85