Washington Village (Norwalk, Connecticut)

The Norwalk Oyster Festival is an annual fair in the city of Norwalk, Connecticut, United States, held on the first weekend after Labor Day in Veterans Park, near Long Island Sound. Funds raised by the festival help the Norwalk Seaport Association maintain the Sheffield Island Lighthouse as well as develop science education classes. The festival is also used as a fundraiser by more than 20 other local non-profit organizations. The festival has been run by the Norwalk Seaport Association, a non profit organization, since its inception in 1978. Average annual attendance exceeds 90,000. Each year, the Oyster Festival contributes over $5 million to the local economy.It features various food, vendors, and entertainment, and celebrates the history of the oyster industry based in Norwalk. In the past, featured performers have included the Village People, Kansas, Charlie Daniels Band, Joe Walsh, Willie Nelson, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tito Puente, Cheap Trick, Little Feat, The Monkees, Judy Collins, Up with People, and Little Richard.

St. Joseph is a Roman Catholic church in South Norwalk, Connecticut, part of the Diocese of Bridgeport.

Beth Israel Synagogue was an historic Orthodox synagogue building located at 31 Concord Street in the South Norwalk section of Norwalk, Connecticut. Built in 1906, the Moorish Revival style building is the only known synagogue building in Connecticut displaying Moorish onion domes, and is an unusual example of an urban wood-frame synagogue. Since 1972, the building has been owned and occupied by the Canaan Institutional Baptist Church. (Beth Israel's original Orthodox congregation is now known as Beth Israel Chabad of Norwalk/Westport and worships in a new building in East Norwalk.) The building was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1991.

The Haviland and Elizabeth Streets–Hanford Place Historic District is an irregularly shaped 4.3-acre (1.7 ha) historic district in Norwalk, Connecticut that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It encompasses a neighborhood that developed in the late 19th century following the introduction of railroad service to South Norwalk.

Norwalk is a city located in southwestern Connecticut, United States, in southern Fairfield County, on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. Norwalk lies within both the New York metropolitan area and the Bridgeport metropolitan area.Norwalk was originally settled in 1649, and is the sixth most populous city in Connecticut. According to the 2020 United States Census, it has a population of 91,184.

The South Norwalk Railroad Bridge is an 1895 bridge in Norwalk, Connecticut. It carries the four sets of Metro-North railroad tracks across the busy intersection of Main Street and Washington Street in the South Norwalk section of the city. The bridge is adjacent to the South Norwalk Switch Tower Museum, which showcases the railroad switch tower where tracks were physically switched at the intersection of the Danbury Branch and the New Haven Line. The bridge is a contributing structure in the South Main and Washington Streets Historic District.

SoNo Switch Tower is a preserved switch tower in Norwalk, Connecticut, in the United States. It was originally constructed in 1896 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (The New Haven) to control switches at the junction between the New Haven Line and the Danbury Branch. The tower operated until 1986, when it was decommissioned by Metro-North Railroad following the centralizing of dispatching at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. It has been preserved as a museum.The museum includes a webcam allowing viewers to watch trains passing the tower on the Northeast Corridor; it has been noted for its popularity among railfans online.

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, United States, approximately 21 miles (34 km) long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".

South Norwalk station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line and CTrail's Shore Line East located in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is owned and managed by the Norwalk Transit District. Nicknamed "SoNo" by riders and staff, the station is the point where the New Haven Line's Danbury Branch connects to the Northeast Corridor, as well as a peak-hour terminal for some express trains. It is the last stop for New Haven super-express trains before they run non-stop to Grand Central Terminal in New York. Just east of the station is the South Norwalk Railroad Bridge, and next to that is the SoNo Switch Tower Museum, a preserved switch tower which is open on summer weekend afternoons. Amtrak uses the inner tracks as it does not stop at South Norwalk. The predecessor station in the same location was named Norwalk & South Norwalk in timetables of the New York, New Haven and Hartford and successor Penn Central.

The Norwalk River Railroad Bridge (also known as the Walk Bridge) is a swing bridge built in 1896 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It currently carries Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad trains over the Norwalk River. The current swing bridge is located at the same site where, in 1853, a train from New York City plummeted into the river while the previous swing bridge was open, resulting in dozens of deaths. In 1896, the New Haven Railroad built the bridge and widened its route to four tracks, as it simultaneously built its South Norwalk Railroad Bridge over the intersection of Washington Street with North Main and South Main streets. The 562-foot (171 m) span, with a rotating swing span 202 feet (62 m) long was provided by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. This type of swing bridge is one of just two on the Northeast Corridor. The swing span has a rim-bearing system of 96 rollers, allowing tall vessels to pass by. The span is one of only 13 of the company's bridges (and one of only two railroad bridges) that survive in the state as of August 2001. In 1907 the rail line was electrified with overhead catenary wires, which form a prominent feature of the bridge today. It is or was also known as Norwalk River Bridge. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.It is one of eight moveable bridges on the Amtrak route through Connecticut surveyed in one multiple property study in 1986. The eight bridges from west to east are: Mianus River Railroad Bridge at Cos Cob, built in 1904; the Norwalk River Railroad Bridge at Norwalk, 1896; Saugatuck River Railroad Bridge at Westport, 1905; Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge at Bridgeport, 1902; Housatonic River Railroad Bridge, at Devon, 1905; Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, Old Saybrook-Old Lyme, 1907; Niantic River Bridge, East Lyme-Waterford, 1907; and Thames River Bridge (Amtrak), Groton, built in 1919. As a single movable span with aging mechanical mechanisms, the Norwalk River Bridge represents a frequent point of failure for Amtrak and Metro-North service and has been targeted for replacement with dual movable spans. The final design approved for the new Walk Bridge calls for a dual-span vertical-lift bridge.

The Norwalk rail accident occurred on May 6, 1853, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and was the first major U.S. railroad bridge disaster; 48 were killed when a train travelling at 50 mph plunged into the Norwalk Harbor off of an open draw (swing) bridge.The accident occurred on the New York and New Haven Railroad where it crosses a small inlet of Long Island Sound via a swing bridge. The approach from New York is around a sharp curve, so there was a signal indicating if the bridge was passable by trains: a red ball mounted upon a tall pole. At 08:00 that morning, the Boston express left New York with 200 passengers driven by a substitute driver for whom this was the third transit of the route. The train consisted of two baggage and five passenger cars. On approaching the bridge, the driver neglected to check the signal and only became aware that the bridge was open when within 400 feet (120 m) of it. The bridge had been opened for the passage of the steamship Pacific, which had just passed through. The driver applied the brakes and reversed the engine, but was unable to stop in time. He and the fireman leapt clear before the bridge and escaped serious injury. The engine itself flew across the 60-foot (18 m) gap, striking the opposite abutment some 8 feet (2.4 m) below the level of the track and sinking into 12 feet (3.7 m) of water. The baggage cars came to rest atop the locomotive; the front of the first passenger car was crushed against the baggage cars and then submerged as the second passenger car came to rest on top of it. The third passenger car broke in two; the front half hanging down over the edge of the abutment; the rear remaining on the track. Most of the 48 dead and 30 injured were in the first passenger car. A further eight people were reported missing. Many doctors were travelling on the train, returning from the Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association in New York; seven of them were killed. Amongst the unhurt was Dr. Gurdon Wadsworth Russell, who wrote an account of the accident for the Hartford Courant in which he says that the dead "presented all the symptoms of asphyxia from drowning, and were probably drowned at once, being confined and pressed by broken cars. Oh, what a melancholy scene that!" As a result of the public panic and indignation caused by the accident, the Connecticut Legislature imposed a law requiring every train in the state to come to a dead halt before crossing any opening bridge. The engineer was charged with gross negligence and held primarily responsible for the disaster. A similar accident occurred eleven years later in Canada with even greater loss of life, the St-Hilaire train disaster.

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk (formerly Maritime Center) is an aquarium located in the South Norwalk (or "SoNo") section of Norwalk, Connecticut. The aquarium features harbor seals, river otters, sharks, jellyfish, loggerhead turtles, and hundreds of other animals living in re-creations of their natural Long Island Sound habitats. Three touch-tanks feature stingrays, nurse sharks, crabs, sea stars, moon jellyfish and other coastal creatures. In addition to its exhibits, The Maritime Aquarium offers educational programs, year-round cruises on its 64-foot research vessel R/V Spirit of the Sound, special events and camps.