Issues → September/October 2009 → Home and Garden →
House For Sale: Brockway Island, CT
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As Ned was about to answer, Dave Hyde stopped by, and the answer to our question was delayed while the four of us enjoyed coffee and fresh blueberry muffins. On all the walls around us were paintings, photographs, and beautiful models of tugboats, including, of course, the one Ned had owned for many years. It's now in Maine--still working, he said.
Why weren't we out on the island? Well, Ned and Carol's home was a more convenient meeting place that day. Besides, we'd already come within 50 yards of Brockway Island, having passed by it on the RiverQuest, a comfortable cruise boat out of Essex that we'd recently been on.
"Coming up on our port side is Brockway Island," the captain had called out over the loudspeaker. "The only island house for sale on the river--and a licensed seaplane station, too." Of course, our moseying hat is always on. So we took photos of it and then scrambled up to the bridge, where the captain gave us Dave Hyde's number at his hardware store. Voilà.
"How much?" we asked again, this time to both Ned and Dave.
"Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine," said Dave with a wink over at Ned.
"He means we're asking just under a million dollars," explained Carol. Would they take less? It was hard to tell from the amused look on the faces of these two lifelong friends. So we switched to another practical question: "How will the new owners get out there? Does a boat come with all those nines?"
"Well ..." Ned replied slowly, "Dave has a couple of boats and so do I. I guess we could come up with something." And he added that the island is only about a 10-minute boat ride from several marinas and yacht clubs. Getting out there isn't going to be a problem.
Last summer Ned and Dave rented out the island for the first time, and it was rented again this summer, too. But now it's the fall of 2009. What's next? Well, who knows? Anyone ready to write a new chapter in the Brockway Island story?
For details, contact Carol and Ned Libby at 860-526-3248; cwlibby@snet.net. Or call Dave Hyde at 860-767-1557 (Essex Hardware Co.) or 860-767-0410 (home); dchyde@snet.net
Read more: Explore the Connecticut River Tidelands
Reader Comments
Comment from margaret petzel on October 28, 2011
spent the summer there. My dear friend was Ernie and betty\'s neice. What a special vacation it was and how wondrous they were! Much coleslaw and little electricity except a small windmill Ernie had erected to power a tiny refrigerator. The house was built as an \"attic and floodable cellar\" to slow down tax potential. And then there were the planes he built. What a guy and when he asked her on their marriage what she wanted, she replied \"an island\"
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