Throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries, the Connecticut shore changed from a place considered unstable, smelly, and sickly into a place of health and leisure where city dwellers could sea-bathe, recuperate, and have fun. Edward and Mary Harkness spent May through September each year on the Connecticut coast. Edward, who inherited wealth from his father’s investment in Standard Oil, married Mary Stillman in 1904; she was the daughter of New York attorney Thomas E. Stillman and the granddaughter of shipbuilder Thomas S. Greenman, who co-founded the George Greenman & Co. shipyard in Mystic, now the site of Mystic Seaport Museum. Sharing a strong interest in philanthropy, the couple eventually gave more than $129 million, over $2.42 billion in 2020. In 1907 they bought the Harkness Estate, including the recently completed Eolia Mansion, named for the mythical island governed by Aeolus, keeper of the winds in Greek mythology. The mansion had both fresh and salt water plumbing because salt water was thought beneficial to health. In 1920 Mary used part of the estate to begin Camp Harkness for children with polio. She left the property to the State of Connecticut in 1950 with the requirement that the grounds be used to promote good health, and it entered the State Park system in 1952. Camp Harkness is managed by the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services for dedicated use by individuals with disabilities and their families, one of only a handful of such facilities in the United States.

Photo: Michael Herrick