May 2013
1 post
Haley Farm State Park
Once again, it’s been a while since our last State Park venture. The spring has been full of visits from overseas, and so we’ve revisited tried and true favourites (Sleeping Giant and Dinosaur) rather than risked something new. On a sunny Sunday a week or so back, we took the trip along the shoreline to Haley Farm for a bit of quiet time. Haley Farm is a small State Park but somewhat...
April 2013
2 posts
Haddam Meadows State Park
We were pretty sure when we looked up Haddam Meadows on the map, that we were in for a pretty short, and rather dull time. There’s no map on the DEP website, which is never a good sign. The park occupies a floodplain alongside the Connecticut River, and was used historically for growing hay and animal pasture. Once The Connecticut River Valley was industrialised it became an excellent...
Haddam Island State Park
There it is, hiding in the shadows. But we still can’t get to it, because it’s in the middle of the Connecticut River. One day we will acquire flotation based transport and revisit all these waterlogged Parks we’re skipping.
March 2013
3 posts
Gillette Castle State Park
I’m just going to say it outright. Gillette Castle is completely mental. It’s an absolute monstrosity of a mansion. Whoever describes this as a “medieval” style castle lifted from the banks of the Rhine must have been taking some serious LSD at the time. Commissioned by William Hooker Gillette, a turn of the century actor most famous for giving Sherlock Holmes his...
George Dudley Seymour State Park
It’s a bit weird that there are two State Parks named after men called George, but of the two, George Dudley Seymour was definitely the most auspicious, at least where State Parks are concerned. This George worked as a patent attorney in New Haven in the late 1800s, and used his patenting wiles to acquire numerous bodies of land in Eastern CT for the State to preserve, including the awesome...
George C. Waldo State Park
There’s two reasons we’ve been putting off visiting this state park. The first is access, having been significantly snowed out of the woods for the last month now here in CT. We’re not the most graceful cross country skiers and snow shoes always seemed a bit pointless, so trudging through two feet of wet stuff was not appealing. The second reason is emotional, as to get there...
February 2013
1 post
Gay City State Park
It’s a few weeks since CT A to Z visited Gay City State Park. Real life got in the way of the write up until today, when I find myself with a few spare hours having been sent home pre Winter Storm Nemo. The storm hasn’t really revved up yet, but we already have a couple of inches of powdery stuff. In fact, it’s pretty similar ground conditions to our Gay City visit.
Gay...
January 2013
4 posts
Gardner Lake State Park
It was a bit of a coup for the State to get their hands on some waterfront property near the town of Salem, in the form of a small strip of land abutting the southwestern edge of Gardner Lake. The problem is, it’s such a small bit, and the neighbours seem so desperate to keep you out, that the whole thing is a bit of an eyesore. I’m sure that on a summer’s day, when you can...
Fort Trumbull State Park
The second of today’s Forts is more modern, but saw no battle action since it was built. Finished in 1852 it’s an enormous tombstone of a building, impenetrable looking and lacking in any ornate detail. The architecture is supposed to echo an Egyptian style, which it certainly achieves in grandeur alone.
The Fort forms part of the Third System of Defence, built to protect the...
Fort Griswold State Park
Sunday brought a double whammy of military history (actually a triple, as we combined the parks with the Submarine Force Museum in Groton - definitely worth a visit) to CT A to Z, with a couple of Forts alongside the mouth of the Thames River. The mouth at New London is seriously deep for an outlet, making New London a critical location for trade and defence on the northeastern coast. Possession...
Farmington Canal State Park Trail
Well, it’s been a while! CT A to Z spent the last month or so frantically beavering in the lab, before heading back to the homeland for a while. When we returned to CT things were decidedly British, foggy and damp, with icy patches all over, so it was with trepidation that I headed out on the Farmington Canal Trail to test out my exciting new road bike in a traffic free situation.
The...
November 2012
3 posts
Farm River State Park
First off the bat, I’m really not sure that Farm River comes before Farmington. But the DEP website reckons it does, and who am I to argue?
After an exciting ten days where CT weathered not only a hurricane come super storm, but also a 7 inches of snow dumping Nor’Easter, CT A to Z was able to get back on track with the arrival of the Thanksgiving break. Worried that this one...
Enders State Forest
Despite Enders State Forest taking up a rather large portion of land near Barkhamsted way up in the North-West corner, it’s another of these parks that is generally curiously absent from the internet. There’s no maps, nothing on the DEP site, and a few online reviews talking about waterfalls. So on a damp and grey midweek morning, I set off with my parents and a vague idea of where...
Eagle Landing State Park
Land next to the Connecticut River comes at a premium, whether you’re Mr Rich investment banker or the State itself. For this reason, the CT DEP are incredibly happy to have secured their very own portion of riverfront, right next to the East Haddam swingbridge, enabling access to the public. So many public in fact, that they decided to pretty much make the whole thing a car park. Yup...
October 2012
1 post
Dinosaur State Park
There’s not many State Parks in Connecticut that lead to full blown existential crises (other than the why do I live here and not in California kind?), but Dinosaur State Park manages this feat easily. Because what you’ll find here is not only magnificent an astonishing, but so mind blowing that it’s almost impossible to comprehend. As you take their invitation to Step into The...
September 2012
6 posts
Devil's Hopyard State Park
So, just why does the Devil’s Hopyard have such a menacing name? Did the devil try to leap across the river, catch his tail, and then get so hopping mad that his hooves burned big pot holes between the cascades of Chapman Falls? Was there a tenant farmer named Dibble, who owned a portion of land and raised hops, who through chinese whispers and a bit of a reputation became the Devil? No...
Lunch Recommendation: Station Place Cafe, Norfolk →
Dennis Hill State Park
Dennis Hill is the smaller, lesser well known brother of Haystack Mountain in the northwest corner of the state. They fall either side of the lovely little town of Norfolk, and were likely both formed from the same geological processes, both being rather conical shaped. Unfortunately the descriptions of the geology provided by the state are very small scale, focussing on the rocks by the side of...
Day Pond State Park
Day Pond is a rather teeny State Park, which forms a small corner of the much larger Salmon River State Forest. It’s a man made pond which was dammed by the Day Family in order to drive a sawmill, at an undisclosed “colonial” time in history. The park was obtained by the State in 1949, and there’s now a cute sandy beach with swimming area, picnic pavilions and the...
Dart Island State Park
Well, readers, this will be a quick one. Because I will confess now, we weren’t actually able to make it to Dart Island.
There’s three islands in the Connecticut River that are State Parks. There’s Dart, Haddam, and finally Selden Neck. They’re only accessible by the water, and here at CT A to Z we are without boat. We could have borrowed one from friends in north...
Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park
The Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park is pretty awesome. It’s really fun to have a State Park that’s a real attraction, with actual things to do that aren’t solely outdoor recreation oriented (similarly looking forward to Dinosaur, for that very reason). While the claim on the tourist leaflet that it’s “One of the last great places on earth” may be a...
August 2012
3 posts
Ferris Acres Creamery →
Great place for ice cream. Sundaes a little heavy on the cream, but Peach flavour is absolutely divine!
Collis P. Huntington State Park
The summer heat is finally subsiding here at CT A to Z, and we were headed to a corker of a location. Collis P. Huntington State Park is another park a little like Cockaponset - rather than specific points of interest it’s full of small rolling hills for recreation. Ponds for fishing, mountain bike trails for every level of rider and many days’ worth of hiking. And unknown to most,...
Cockaponset State Forest
For being the second largest parcel of land that comprises a State Forest, there’s actually very little to say about Cockaponset, other than it was named after a local Indian Chief. There’s a ton of trails, but from the perusing of the interwebs, none of them are outstanding, even by CT standards. A lot of the early development work of the Forest was done by the CCC (Civilian...
July 2012
4 posts
Chatfield Hollow State Park
This week, CT A to Z is suffering. It’s been sticky, humid, and remarkably unpleasant in CT for the last week now. Monday was kind of nice, but by Wednesday the blue skies had clouded over and the heat was trapped. We’re currently awaiting a mega thunderstorm of salvation, whilst sitting in front of air con with as few clothes as possible. I know, I know, too much information. But...
Centennial Watershed Part 2: The Saugatuck Trail
And on to Day Two. Today was to be a much happier occasion: not only was I joined by Rob, my usual partner in crime, but we even found a couple of friends mad enough to join us. Gili and Michael drove up separately to ease the logistics of the day, because yet again, we were faced with a cunning, traffic limiting linear hike along the Saugatuck Trail. We met up at the south end of the reservoir...
Centennial Watershed Part 1: The Aspetuck Valley...
Be warned readers. Today was not a good day for CT A to Z. At the start of today’s adventure, I did something really stupid that made me so mad, that Centennial Watershed Mk. 1 was going to have to work really hard to shake my bad mood. I closed the boot of the car on my beloved Garmin Forerunner 305. It’s huge informative LCD screen is cracked in multiple places, and though the...
June 2012
7 posts
Interactive map link! →
CT A to Z now has a fun map to explore. I’d welcome suggestions for more red marker “future spots.” If you want to play with it yourself, leave a comment and I’ll invite you as a collaborator. I don’t think I want to open it up to all comers… alternatively, give me a name and address of places I should visit, and I’ll add them too.
Campbell Falls State Park
It’s quite difficult, here at CT A to Z, to avoid covering the same ground that Steve Wood covers on his excellent blog, the CT Museum Quest. Unfortunately, I only wandered into his incredibly informative, methodical and perhaps a little obsessive world when I was well into the A to Z mission, looking for websites on Beckley Furnace. Since then he’s provided plenty of guidance, and more than a...
Camp Columbia State Forest and Historic Park
Camp Columbia is a double whammy for the CT A to Z. Not only is it a State Forest, but it’s also a Historical Park. And despite being listed as undeveloped, its a relatively recent acquisition by the State, and development is certainly underway. There is an interpretive trail in the works, some of the more dilapidated structures have been torn down, and the trails are actually remarkably...
Burr Pond State Park
And so, to the final one of the many Bs Connecticut has to offer. And be still, beating hearts of readers - this one is exciting. It’s home to a World First. Connecticut has a few firsts to it’s name, though some of these are of the US only variety. First constitution, first Public Library, newspaper, dictionary, hamburger, artificial heart, nuclear submarine, helicopter, frisbee...
Brainard Homestead State Park
Now, I hadn’t really done my research before we headed to Brainard Homestead - a quick check of the DEP page, and that’s all. Our plans for a Memorial Day in New Hampshire were scuppered, and we decided to check it out on the way back from Massachusetts. The signs weren’t promising: on the DEP website it’s one of those “other” undeveloped parks, and clocking...
Bolton Notch State Park
Bolton Notch State Park is a park of mystery and legend, if you believe the old stories. Sitting just at the end of the I384, (only accessible if you’re travelling west, there’s a useful U-turn spot just past it if you’re coming from the Hartford direction) it is home to one of Connecticut’s very few “real” solution caves, which was used to shelter a white...
May 2012
3 posts
Bluff Point State Park
This weekend here at CT A to Z, we were lucky enough to be joined by a pair of our English friends, Anne and Naeem, who live in the big city down the road and don’t make it out to the green so often. They’re big fans of the sea and beach fun, so we were very lucky that Bluff Point was the next Park on the list. Bluff Point is nestled in the coastline just past Groton airport, not too...
Black Rock State Park
There’s lessons to be learned from Black Rock State Park for today’s politicians, some of whom were clearly fast asleep through their modern history classes at school. Black Rock was donated to the state in 1926 by a local citizens’ conservation group. It was turned into a vacation spot with camping, access roads, trail systems and facilities by the work of the Civilian...
Bigelow Hollow State Park
With the orienteering season kicking off in style, including trips to the jungles of Georgia and the rocky, concertina wire strewn slopes of West Point, there’s not been much time in this house for the CT A to Z. But the foggy and damp Wednesday just passed presented the perfect opportunity to continue our mission. I screwed up my primer order and made some entirely random PCR products...
April 2012
3 posts
Bennett's Pond State Park
At last! A wooded State Park with a proper map, available online! We’re certainly going up in the world, here on CT A to Z. Bennett’s Pond is the remainder of the estate of Louis D Conley, who made his money manufacturing tinfoil in New York, before heading for the countryside and starting up Outposts nursery, and buying up property. Before dying of meningitis at the age of 56 in...
Beckley Furnace Industrial Monument
I was pretty excited about visiting Beckley Furnace, after the nigh on disastrous Bs that preceeded it. It is Connecticut’s First and only State Industrial Monument, and marks a small region that was incredibly important in the development of railways across the whole north east. Not only that, but at my Upper School part of the chemistry syllabus, and a recurring question in our General...
March 2012
5 posts
Lunch recommendation - Willimantic Brewing Company →
We stopped in for the Sunday lunch special and were delighted to find well cooked meat, a generous helping of veg, and seriously tasty gravy. Win! Great building too, a converted Post Office with great light and fun decoration.
Beckett Hill State Park
Did you know that when you drive along I95, towards Rhode Island, there’s a mountain?! Neither did we! It’s 57.91 metres above sea level, and just north of Old Lyme. That’s right kids! 57.91 metres! A whole 153th the height of Everest. It’s called Beckett Hill, and there’s apparently a State Park there. Problem is, you can drive a square around it, and there...
Beaver Brook State Park Scenic Reserve
Well, we just spent ten days or so in California visiting Yosemite, San Francisco, Pinnacles and a few other bits and pieces. So after all those National Monuments, History Places and Parks, getting back to the task at hand was always going to run the risk of being more than a little underwhelming. And Beaver Brook was another of those undeveloped, no info, complete absence of internet presence...
February 2012
6 posts
Open to comments!
We’ve added comments to the blog now, so please add notes about your favourite trails, lunch spots, history, anything! Beaver Brook State Park is up next, but it will be a few weeks before we get round to it. Who knows, we may be able to conquer a little more of the Air Line when we do!
American Legion State Forest
Today was a pretty special day in the world of CT A to Z, because there was the possibility of a double whammy. Algonquin and American Legion are next to each other both alphabetically and spatially, enabling both to be bagged, even on a slightly grey February Day. Where Algonquin was a mystery location, there’s much more out there about American Legion. It even appears in the Connecticut...
Lunch Link! →
If you visit Algonquin or American Legion/People’s Forests, you simply have to eat here, The Green Room, for brunch or lunch. Possibly the best food I’ve had since I moved to CT, fresh and simple but very tasty, good service and excellent music taste. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Algonquin State Forest
I’ve had a couple of weeks to plan this trip, but unfortunately, Algonquin State Forest is rather resistant to internet based planning. Googling throws up little information. It’s near Colebrook, there are a few parts to it, the biggest being along Sandy Brook Road, there’s a letterbox (geocache) in one of the smaller bits, and Algonquin is an Indian name. But were there...
