DERBY — While the Naugatuck Valley's history is rich with industrial development, before that it was a renowned shipping port that saw large schooners sail the waters of the Housatonic River.

For years vessels came and went from the shores of the Housatonic River both in Shelton and Derby, developing a way of life that revolved around those trips in the masted vessels that carried both people and cargo.

Schooners are marked by the two or more masts that help maneuver the vessel along the waterway. They were the most common form of maritime transportation used in the early years in America and the East Coast was the hub of schooner activity.

There were several landing docks here, according to Derby Historical Society President Rob Novak. Those docks included Huntington Landing near Riverdale Avenue in Shelton, Levenworth Landing near Indian Wells State Park and Derby Landing by Commerce Street in Derby.

In the mid 1700s Derby's port was so busy it was called New Boston, Novak said. The ships were manufactured at the Levenworth Landing as well, he said, and the Hallocks family of Derby was renowned for the quality of its ships.

They were reputedly of such high quality that they received an A1 rating from the insurance industry sight unseen, Novak said. Schooners could commonly be seen sailing the Housatonic up until the late 1800s, Novak said, and were around the Valley into the 20th century. But the trip wasn't always that easy, he said.

"They had problems

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coming up and down the Housatonic River," he said. "It's a tidal river with a current coming down it."

In the early years — from the 1700s into the 1800s — the harbors in Shelton and Derby were relatively small, which worked in favor of the industry, Novak said, but soon, as ports in larger cities such as Bridgeport and New Haven, flourished, their popularity gradually dropped.

"It began to work against them, being up against the Bridgeport and New Haven harbors," he said. But Derby was one of two ports of entry in Connecticut for some time. "There was quite a maritime tradition here."

The ships would go as far as Boston to bring back manufactured goods from England, Novak said, and made regular runs to New York City. But after the War of 1812, conditions began to change as steamboats gained in popularity.

"Steamboats were not as fast as the schooners, but since they didn't rely on sails they had an easier time getting up and down the river," Novak said. The schooners took dairy, poultry and wood products to the south to trade for sugar, molasses and rum, Novak said. "That was very much in demand up here," he said, adding that at one point, part of Route 34 in Derby was known as Sugar Street.

The Derby ports were the most inland of those on the East Coast, which helped the local economy, Novak said. "There was a quite extensive trade going on," he said. "Lumber and other resources were carried both near and far from Derby."

That trade brought with it jobs and housing opportunities that were unique to the surrounding towns, he said, which were more agricultural than anything else. Boarding houses were homes to sailors and retail shops catered to those in the maritime industry, he said.

"It added a dimension to Derby and Shelton that you really didn't see in the inland towns," he said.

Shipbuilding also was a rising industry not seen in other areas, he said, and relied on businesses that supplied rope, lumber and blacksmith spikes used in the construction of the schooners.

"The way of life here was tied around [the shipbuilding industry], which is why it was so traumatic when the industry did collapse," he said. But the area reinvented itself as a center for industry, which also relied on goods brought in by ships, so it was able to rebound to some extent as the Industrial Revolution evolved, he said.

There were reports of schooners coming up the river as late as the 1880s, he said.

Aside from the transport of goods, the schooners also were used to transport people, Novak said. There were regular runs between Derby and New York City, he said. "That allowed us to have ties to Wall Street, and there were some who made it big there," he said.

The trip took a day or two, he said, but at that time it was the fastest way to travel. "The roads were a mess and there were no trains yet," he said. But the establishment of railroads as a mode of transportation sounded the death knell for the schooners, he said. Trains eclipsed shipping because they ran much more frequently than the schooners, he said, though the schooners were able to transport more at one time than trains.

"They had a pretty good run," Novak said of the schooners. "But eventually it slowed down radically until it stopped altogether."