Best Parks For Picnics In Hartford Near Me

4worldlovers: Visitors can enjoy the formal gardens, green spaces, picnic areas, and recreational facilities in Elizabeth Park. Also, at various times throughout the year, the Elizabeth Park Conservancy presents special events, outdoor concerts, tours, lectures and garden workshops in the Park—many of them free to the public. Dining is available at the Pond House Café.

Elizabeth Park has several entrances: one on Prospect Avenue and another on Asylum Avenue near the Hartford-West Hartford line. The address of the Elizabeth Park Conservancy is 1561 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT. Click below for directions.

4worldlovers: Great River Park features a 350-seat amphitheater, public boat launch, and pedestrian access to the Charter Oak, Founders, and Bulkeley Bridges. Great River Park is open from sunrise to sunset.

Charcoal grills: These are the only grills allowed to be used in the parks – no personal grills are allowed.


Driving from points North: Take I-91 South to exit 30, merging onto I-84 East. Take exit 53. Keep right. Park entrance is on right.


Driving from points South: Take I-91 North. Take exit 29 to merge onto CT-15 North. Take exit 90, merging onto CT-2 West. Take East River Drive exit (Exit 4). Turn left onto East River Drive extension. Park entrance is on left.


Driving from points East: Take I-84 West to exit 57. Continue onto CT-15 South. Take East River Drive exit (Exit 90). Turn left onto East River Drive Extension. Park entrance is on left.

4worldlovers:
The Helen S Kaman Rose Garden is the center of Elizabeth Park. It is the first municipal rose garden in the United States and the third largest rose garden in the country today. Theodore Wirth began the design of the Rose Garden in September of 1903, and it opened in June, 1904. The Rose Garden began with about 190 varieties of roses; this eventually grew to almost 1,000 by the 1950s. Today, the Conservancy oversees and manages the Rose Garden, and needs to raise over $100,000 annually for rose expertise, full-time summer gardeners, contractor services, and fertilizer, mulch, lime, and replacement roses.

The original main garden, the “square,” is an acre in size and has 132 rose beds. The logo of the Conservancy is patterned after the square. Mr. Wirth’s original design of a square with a center circle and eight pathways remains today. The North and South gardens, which are semi-circular sections, were added later to make up a total of 2.5 acres of roses, 475 beds, and eight grass pathways. The wide paths were designed to accommodate larger crowds.

There are over 15,000 rose bushes and 800 varieties of old and new roses in the garden. Featured are hybrid tea, climbers, hybrid perpetual, and floribunda, shrub, and pillar roses, among others. Ramblers grow on arches that radiate from the “gazebo,” or Rustic Summer House, which is covered in Virginia creeper. The gazebo was built in 1904 as a part of the original plan. In 2005, it was reconstructed with the original plans using red cedar.

Elizabeth Park's Rose Garden became the first official test garden in 1912 for the American Rose Society founded in 1892, with the idea to test and to provide accurate information about roses for the public. This is when the half-circular section of the garden was added on the south side of the main square. In 1937, the American Rose Society asked the Park to add another semi-circle, which completes the garden of 2.5 acres as it stands today.

The arches are in full bloom in mid-June into early July, and are just spectacular. They only bloom once. Many of the other roses in the garden continue to bloom until the fall. The Rose Garden, the gazebo, and the arches in the Park are probably the most photographed and painted subjects in the Park, and are a recognized symbol of Hartford.

4worldlovers:
Wickham Park is open 7 days a week from the first weekend in April through the last weekend in October. Find specific events under calendar. Regular Park hours are from 9:30AM to Sunset with the exception of Cabin functions until 11PM.