Five Mile Point
A beacon on the shore
At the edge of New Haven Harbor, where the coastline bends toward the Atlantic, a light was first raised in 1805. The tower was modest, built with wood to a height of thirty feet, to steady the course of ships making their way to port. Amos Morris Jr., who sold the land and briefly tended the flame, lived close enough to watch vessels pass, relying on that light to find safe entry.
Four decades later, time and weather had worn down the original tower. In 1847, a new structure rose in its place, built from East Haven brownstone and brick, standing more than eighty feet tall. With its twelve lamps lifted nearly one hundred feet above sea level, the new light marked a different scale of ambition, its reach extending well beyond the harbor mouth.
A haven for the community
For years it kept watch, its keepers known not just for maintaining the lantern but for the rescues carried out in storms, quiet acts that made the harbor safer and the city’s commerce steadier. New technology followed: a Fresnel lens, a fog bell, improvements that reflected the era’s growing confidence in durable works.
By the late 19th century, the offshore Southwest Ledge Light had assumed the harbor’s navigational duties, and the older tower passed into other hands. It endured. When the city of New Haven acquired the property in the early 20th century, the surrounding grounds became Lighthouse Point Park. Families came to walk the shoreline, watch the water, and gather in the shadow of a structure that had once been purely utilitarian. In time, it was restored, repainted, and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.
A compass for the future
Today, the Five Mile Point Light stands as it has for more than 175 years - a weathered, enduring, and central pillar of the story of New Haven. What began as a private venture grew into a public landmark, shifting purpose as generations changed, but never losing its place as a fixed point on the horizon.
Just as the lighthouse has stood through centuries of change, we look for businesses with foundations strong enough to endure, but flexible enough to adapt. Haven Point Capital invests in companies that matter to their communities. Enterprises with deep roots and untapped potential. We provide the capital and partnership that allow them to remain steady points of reference in a shifting landscape.
