The living shoreline at the Hepburn Family Preserve in the Borough of Fenwick, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, has been named one of five recipients of the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association’s 2026 Best Restored Shore Award.

SumCo Eco-Contracting served as the construction contractor on the project, building the nature-based shoreline alongside design engineer GZA, which led the risk-based coastal engineering and wave modeling. The work stabilized roughly 480 linear feet of eroding beach and dune on the former Katharine Hepburn estate, where Long Island Sound meets the Connecticut River. The work here included in-surf rock sills to absorb wave energy and trap sand, realignment of an existing creek with a new culvert, and planting of about 26,000 dune grass plants, 14,000 salt marsh grass plants and 100 coastal shrubs across roughly three acres of restored habitat.

The award recognizes performance over time rather than construction alone. As reported by Construction Owners, the shoreline has now completed the five years of annual monitoring required under its Connecticut permit and has come through several coastal storms intact — the test that matters for a nature-based design. The property is managed by the Lyde Point Land Trust under a conservation easement. The project previously earned a 2022 Award of Honor in the Resilience category from the Connecticut Green Building Council.

See more on the Hepburn Preserve Living Shoreline project.