Merritt Parkway Transportation buffs will especially enjoy this corridor`s significant design, which brilliantly integrates the craft of the engineer and the artist. Everyone will take pleasure in its recreational offerings and aesthetic beauty.
Northfield Brook Lake Northfield Brook Lake is a scenic day use park with a swim beach, horseshoe pits, picnic shelters, tables and fire grills located throughout the park. The 1.7-mile-long self-guided hiking trail winds throughout the park. The 8-acre lake is stocked with trout by the State and supports warmwater fish species. Reservations for group picnic shelters are accepted in summer.
Quinebaug & Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor The Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor in northeastern Connecticut and south central MA has been called "the last green valley" in the Boston-to-Washington megalopolis. Close to Hartford, Providence, and Worcester, but far enough away to avoid urban sprawl, this 1086 square mile region remains predominately rural. It?s rivers wind through rolling hills linking region?s many small towns, farmlands, forests and mills.
The past 50 years have brought many changes to the Corridor. Factories have been recycled into housing, antique and craft shops, and high-tech industry. Despite this, the region has retained its fundamental character, with farms, lush woodlands and clean waterways, authentic sites representing distinct periods of American history, and opportunities for individuals and families to enjoy a rural, small-town lifestyle.
The Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor is a special kind of park. It embraces 35 towns, numerous villages and a total population of about 300,000. The federal government does not own or manage any of the land as it does in traditional national parks. Instead, citizens, businesses, nonprofit cultural and environmental organizations, local and state governments, and the National Park Service work together to preserve and celebrate the region's cultural, historical and natural heritage.
For more information or to request brochures. Please visit our website: www.thelastgreenvalley.org
Stewart B. McKinney NWR The refuges consists of four separate units along the Connecticut coast: Sheffield, Chimon, and Falkner Islands, and Milford Point, a barrier peninsula.The refuge provides important resting, feeding, and nesting habitat for many species of wading birds, shorebirds, songbirds, and terns, including the endangered roseate tern. Adjacent waters serve as wintering habitat for brant, scoters, American black duck, and other waterfowl.
Thomaston Dam Vista picnic area offers visitors an excellent view of the dam and portions of the Naugatuck River Valley. The streamside environment is popular for fishing, hunting, trail bike riding and snowmobiling.
Weir Farm National Historic Site American Impressionist painter, J. Alden Weir (1852-1919) summered at this country retreat for nearly 40 years. The 60 acre site includes Weir's home, studio, barns and outbuildings, a visitor center, and a second studio built by sculptor, Mahonri Young. Additionally, the landscape that served as subject matter for many of Weir's paintings and other works of art by Childe Hassam, Albert Pinkham Ryder and John Twachtman, remains largely intact. The Historic Painting Sites Trail allows visitors to actually stand where the artists did and compare paintings with the scene that inspired them. Ranger led tours of the studio buildings are also available to walk-in visitors.
