Save Cockenoe Now!
Naiad Einsel (created by)
Silkscreen poster
Poster board
36 3/4 inches H
X
26 3/4 inches W
Silkscreen poster. Located a mile off Compo Beach shore, Cockenoe (pronounced KuhKEEnee) is a 28-acre uninhabited strip of sand and scrub. It is named after a Native American man—Cockenoe or Checkanoe—from Montauk, Long Island, who signed a deed giving the island to Norwalk in the mid-1600s. The Town of Westport gained ownership of the island in 1835 when the municipality emerged, in part, from the eastern sector of Norwalk. In 1967, United Illuminating Company acquired Cockenoe Island from Westport and announced plans to build a nuclear power plant. “Save Cockenoe Now” became the rallying cry of local activists. For two years, Westporters battled UI’s plan with rallies and silkscreen posters, like Save Cockenoe Now by Naiad Einsel. The grassroots activism paid off. Westport re-purchased Cockenoe in 1970 for UI’s original purchase price of $200,000 and designated it “open space.” Life magazine called the campaign “one of the most significant conservation victories in the nation.
The Estate of Naiad and Walter Einsel
1860