Best Hiking Area Bridgeport Near Me

4worldlovers: In 2002, Connecticut, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), acquired ownership of roughly 6,000 acres of public supply watershed lands, as well as, conservation and public access easements on an additional 9,000 acres. The Centennial Watershed State Forest is a patchwork of hundreds of scattered parcels throughout mostly Fairfield County of varying size. Most of the parcels are hard to find, not well marked and have limited public access.

Sixty parcels, consisting of roughly 864 acres and ranging in size of less than an acre to over 100 acres, are located in Monroe and Trumbull, several near the Pequonnock River Trail. None of these parcels have designated hiking trails or public access. The primary function and purpose of the parcels is to protect water quality, wetlands and woodlands.

A wooded community park featuring hiking and shared equestrian trails. Parking available.

The town started buying and developing. Wolfe Park in 1967 and has added to It significantly over the years. The park features a swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts, football field, several baseball diamonds and soccer fields, playgrounds and picnic areas with tables, grills and pavilions. Several buildings provide food and drink, lockers, restrooms and showers. The Great Hollow Lake is located on the western side of the park and offers a sandy beach, fishing, and boating (non-motorized). Hiking trails are scattered throughout the park

The park was the site of a tungsten mining operation from 1897 to about 1916. Today, it features hiking trails to the old mines, an open multi-purpose field, two pavilions and picnic areas. The Pequonnock River flows through the park. A small dam impounds the river creating a small pond. A recent riparian restoration was completed along the west side of the pond. The PRT passes through Old Mine Park.

The area is the site of an historic amusement park built by the Housatonic Railroad as a way of promoting the rail line. Located north of present-day Whitney Avenue, Parlor Rock Park was named for the large rock outcroppings in the area. Accessible only by train, the park first provided only a picnic area, but was expanded to include a dance hall, roller skating rink, gazebos, a carousel, croquet grounds, a man-made lake for boating, and a toboggan slide. It was the first area in Trumbull to use electricity, generated by an on-site grist mill. Parlor Rock operated from 1878 to 1908.

The PRT passes over the historic rail through Parlor Rock Park. A small "rest area" is located within the park area for users of the PRT.

This community park contains various active recreational uses. Including an open to the public 18 hole golf course and a 9-hole golf course, swimming pool, playground, and lighted tennis and basketball courts. A public clubhouse and restaurant is located adjacent to the golf course.

A high activity park hosts large municipal family-events and concerts at its amphitheater stage, including the Town's annual summer concert and Fallen Heroes Recognition Event. It also has a BMX race track and hosts national BMX races Other facilities include a regulation sized lighted softball field, two multi-purpose fields, an artificial turf field affording four-season field play for soccer and lacrosse, community playground with picnic areas, sledding hill and bocce courts. The Town's Youth Drop-In Center and Teen Youth Center are located in the park, and is home of the Trumbull dog park.

The Pequonnock River Valley is a scenic, wooded area offering a rugged and varied landscape within a steep walled valley. It provides a secluded environment with large outcrops of granite rocks and cliffs.

4worldlovers:
Twin Brooks Park is contiguous with the Vietnam Memorial Park which is maintained by the Park Department.

4worldlovers: Blue blazes: Old Field, 0.67; The Cutoff, 0.2; Oak, 0.4; Wall, 0.25; Hardwood, 1.3; Power line: 0.56

Background: Probably no scenic spot in Redding is so widely known as Falls Hole, the huge woodland pool in the Saugatuck River with the overhanging cliff on one side and hemlock woods on the other. This is the heart of the Saugatuck Falls area. Generations of young people once came from miles around to plunge into its cool depths, sun themselves on the high rock, and wander in the surrounding woods. Swimming, however, is not permitted in the great pool, which drains into Bridgeport's water supply.

The Saugatuck Falls area was the Town's second, and remains the largest, purchase of open space. In March of 1968, with the aid of federal and state funds, the Town bought the property, which otherwise would have been sold for development, at a net cost to Redding taxpayers of $82,037, or $263 an acre. The vote to buy the property with or without government aid had been virtually unanimous at a Town meeting the previous October.

Key Features:A network of trails reveals the beauty and diversity of the area. Included in the network are two horseback trails-Knapp Way, and Burn Trail via The Cutoff. Knapp Way, 150 years ago, was the Johnathan Knapp Highway, a thoroughfare running from Diamond Hill to what is now Route 53. It crossed the Saugatuck River over a bridge, of which partial stone abutments still remain. Entering opposite John Read Middle School and crossing the footbridge over the Saugatuck, walkers may turn left onto Old Field Trail and stroll beside the river. Look for a white oak, 12' 10" in circumference, and a shagbark hickory eight feet around (very large for the species). The soil on this floodplain is said to be 40 feet deep. In early May, marsh marigold, rue anemone and red trillium are abundant along the trail. Just off the trail, on private property, a "kettle" (glacier-made pond without inlet or outlet) may be observed.

Turning off lower Falls Trail onto Hemlock Trail, you are in fragrant evergreen woods with the music of a sparkling brook to accompany you. There are magnificent rock formations and cliffs on upper Falls Trail, which is perhaps best reached via Knapp Way and Oak Trail and then traversed from north to south. Falls Trail leads to Saugatuck Falls (a bit off trail to the east) and, below them, Falls Hole. Both are sights to see. In June, deep pink, shell pink and white laurel under the power line are worth a special trip.

4worldlovers: With its 325 acres of lush lawns, shady glades, and sports fields rolling toward Long Island Sound, Seaside Park is a park without peer on the Eastern Seaboard. Visitors are delighted by the beaches, surf, and sunshine along three miles of sparkling coastline. The park was laid out just after the Civil War by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, whose other efforts include Manhattan's Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Their 19th century landscapes have proved timeless as they entice each new generation of park-goers.

At the western end of the park is Fayerweather Island. Walkers can visit this natural wildlife preserve by crossing the breakwater rocks. The island's lighthouse guided navigators into Black Rock Harbor from 1823 to 1932.

Bridgeport's most famous resident, the 19th century circus impresario P.T. Barnum is largely responsible for the development of the park. Once pasture land, wood lots, and salt marshes, Barnum envisioned the first marine “rural” park in the United States. He recalled the landscape of Seaside before its transformation in his autobiography:

“Up to 1865 the shore of Bridgeport west of the public wharves, and washed by the water of Long Island Sound, was inaccessible to carriages or even to the horsemen, and almost impossible for pedestrians. The shore edge was in fact strewn with rocks and boulders, which made it like 'JORDAN' in the song, and exceedingly 'hard road to travel.' A narrow lane reaching down to the shore enabled parties to drive near to the water for purposes of clamming, and occasionally bathing; but it was all claimed as private property by the land proprietors, whose farm extended down to the water's edge... I was satisfied that a most lovely park might be, and ought to be, opened along the whole waterfront as far as the western boundary line of Bridgeport... I immediately began to agitate the subject in the Bridgeport papers, and also in daily conversations with such of my fellow citizens as I thought would take an earnest and immediate interest in the enterprise...”

The park took its present shape between 1865 and 1920. Before 1869 the land west of the statue of Elias Howe was under water. The area between Park and Iranistan Avenue was the first to be drained and dyked (The Mirror Lake, also known as the Mummy Pond, is an essential part of that drainage system). In 1878, the land between Iranistan Avenue and the former bath house took its present form. The city acquired the water-bound area that comprises the west beach and Fayerweather Island in 1911, and completed construction of a seawall in 1919 that connected to the mainland.