Two Thimble Islands Up For Sale

NEW HAVEN (AP) — A woman who amassed a collection of small islands off the Connecticut coast is selling two of them.

Christine Svenningsen, a widow of a party-goods magnate, is selling Belden Island for $3.95 million and Jepson Island for nearly $2 million, her real estate agents said. They are part of the Thimble Islands off Branford, which have attracted celebrities and the wealthy for generations.

“For anybody looking for privacy it’s got great appeal, yet it’s very close to the mainland,” said Clint Rodenberg, an agent at William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty in Madison, where listing agents Margaret Muir and Tony Nuzzo are handling the sale.

Svenningsen, an artist who has restored many of the properties, spent around $33 million to buy about ten islands in Long Island Sound.

“They’re like little pieces of art. I get to put my brush to them,” Svenningsen said in 2006.

The houses are seasonal and rely on gas lights and solar power, Rodenberg said.

Jepson Island is a little over one-quarter of an acre and has a 1,100-square-foot house with a wraparound deck. Belden is slightly over an acre and has a 1912 colonial with about 2,100 square feet and clam beds.