Preston v. Bridgeport



This is the Preston Trading Post.  It was actually a trading post for many years when
Preston was first established.  Today it has become sort of the local furniture store,
though items are ordered through catalogs.  It is also the wood furnace place, the
odds and ends store as well with different trinkets.  This is also the beginning of the
road my house is on! The key landmark guiding all who visit that they are on the
right path:)

As I have begun to pick apart Bridgeport and Preston visually.  I thought it was important to bring out some of the statistics that seperate them even further. 
For instance the population of Bridgeport is 137,298 , whereas Preston is a mere 4,995 strong! This obviously contributes to the amount of families that exist, the median incomes, unemployment rates, and the amount of people in the workforce in general.
The amount of people in Bridgeport that are unemployed, 6,682, exceeds the amount of people that live in my town, with those unemployed in my town equalling 85. 
It is very common in Preston that one of the parents stays home, or has a part time job, with increasing amounts of both parents working over the years, yet the number of families with both parents in the workforce is approximately 145 out of 1,358 families and 1,286 people not in the workforce at all.  In Bridgeport this number is much more dramatic with 7,549 families having both parents in the workforce, out of 33,042 families, and a hugely more significant number of 40,409 people not in the workforce at all. 
The piece that completes the puzzle in a sense of understanding why the quality of life is so different is that the median family income in Bridgport is 39,571, a number that is 48,000 dollars less than the median family income in Fairfield County (77,690).  In Preston the median family income is actually slightly higher than the New London County median salary of 59,857, at 62,554.
In Preston we have large companies around that sort of fuel the economy.  Farms are not as big of money makers as they used to be, but we are lucky enough to have Electric Boat, two casinos, Phizer and many other companies that sort of stimulate the area.  We are located close to major towns, but most of Southeastern, CT is quiet farm towns with people that go about their day as they need to to provide for their families, there is not much of a distraction.


Almost every teenage girl starts her first job here! It is Buttonwood IceCream
Farm. People come here from hours away, especially in the summer when
they have the Sunflower for Wishes, they grow thousands of sunflowers, then
sell them, as well as have hayrides and raise all the money for Make A Wish.
They raise incredible amounts of money, and everyone is drawn to the amazing
homemade icecream they make, right in the back, from the milk of their own
cows.  I myself had the opportunity to help when I worked here.
It is the best ice cream around, and on a nice summer day, each of the 7 windows
will have lines all the way down to this stone wall in front, all day! Delicious!

Bridgeport is in a much different area, where they have a huge amount of people in a bigger city, but an area that does not necessarily have huge corporations that can help out the little man.  Fairfield county is very wealthy, but much of that wealth is divulged from jobs and professions that stem from New York City, wall street, or high profile jobs that require years of education.  For the kids in the Bridgeport, as a result of their parents working hard to provide for their families, are not always given these opportunities because they are forced by natural law to begin working at a young age to help the family with bills.  I never had to experence these things, though I had a job at 16, I was able to keep my money for myself or to pay for myself to do things.  Though I could never picture myself living in Bridgeport, I am sure that a Bridgeport teen could never imagine themselves in my situation either.  These stats really make me think I am fortunate to be where I am from, and for my parents to have been as succesful as they were in establishing their own business, but I cannot say that a Bridgeport teen would want to change their life because perhaps they appreciate all that they have, or could not picture their life different from living close to everything they need.


I have put some more pictures in of my area, I am working on getting pictures of Bridgeport, it is a little bit more difficult because at times I feel a little creepy taking pictures with tons of people around watching me! Haha but I will share with some thoughts as I compile them.