Cockenoe Island is a 27-acre uninhabited sanctuary located about one mile south of Westport’s Compo Beach. Owned by the Town of Westport since 1969, it serves as a protected habitat for nesting birds and offers limited-day and overnight access via kayak or boat.

Historical Highlights

Origins:

Named after a 17th‑century Native interpreter, Cockenoe transferred the island to Norwalk; it became part of Westport in 1835

Agriculture & Distillery:

In the 1800s, it hosted farming, then a whiskey distillery—raided by federal agents in the 1870s

Conservation Victory:

In 1967, United Illuminating proposed building a nuclear power plant on the island. A grassroots campaign led locals to block this, prompting the town to purchase the island in 1969 for conservation—viewed by Life magazine as “one of the most significant conservation victories in the nation”

Ecology & Wildlife

Bird Sanctuary:

The largest nesting site in the Norwalk Islands chain, with herons, egrets, black cormorants, piping plovers, terns, willets and American oystercatchers

Habitats:

Vegetation includes salt marsh grasses, sea lavender, phragmites, beach rose, dunes and successional forest. ­Visitors may encounter terrapins and other shoreline wildlife