The Great Outdoors

If you're like us, there's only so much time you can spend cooped up in a carrel in the library or pouring over books in a coffee shop before you start to slowly lose your mind. Thankfully, the New Haven area offers a several parks and green spaces to go get a breath of fresh air and do some hiking, biking, and other -ing things. Here are four popular locations in close proximity, but there are many others throughout southern Connecticut.


East Rock Park

East Rock is known for providing some rather
dramatic views on a regular basis

East Rock is the most immediate source of outdoor fun in New Haven. The "rock" itself is a traprock ridge that has been exposed by millenia of erosion. The park sits just four blocks from the Div School, and is even closer for students who live in the East Rock neighborhood. At the base are fields, playgrounds, tennis courts (at the Wilbur Cross HS), and pavilions for picnics. There is also a hidden gem in the Pardee Rose Garden, which has one of Connecticut's best rose displays. There is an paved road all the way to the summit, (the final portion of which is closed during the winter and early spring) which makes for easier biking for the hybrid or road bikes. There are also several trails at different intensities, including Giant Steps which hits a nearly vertical pitch at one point. Many of these trails are great for trail runners, even if you're not into running fierce inclines.

The East Rock neighborhood and Downtown
New Haven seen from East Rock

The views from the summit of East Rock are magnificent. You can see the entire city of New Haven, the steeple of Marquand, and look out over the New Haven Harbor into the Long Island Sound. Because he lives so close and is from the mountains, Patrick makes a regular point of going up to the summit as a retreat from the hecticness of the semester, and you'll see many people doing the same. The column at the very summit (visible from almost everywhere in the city, and into Hamden) is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, erected in memory of the residents of the city who died in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War.






The Farmington Canal Trail

We briefly discussed the Farmington Canal Trail as part of our post on biking, but it deserves more than that. The Canal Trail is part of the East Coast Greenway, an interstate system of bike paths aimed at establishing a continuous paved bike path from Maine to Florida. The Canal Trail is an 84-mile trail between New Haven, CT, and Northhampton, MA; about half of that distance is currently paved. The trail was originally an actual canal which began in the New Haven Harbor, built to compete with the Erie Canal, but was later turned into a railroad. The rails fell into disuse after flooding in the early 1980s, making it no longer usable. In 1987, most of the actual rails were pulled up and much of the land itself was sold, but in the 1990s what was remaining was turned into a trail. The East Coast Greenway also continues south of downtown along the Harbor and into West Haven, Orange, and Milford as it goes down the coast—with several beaches in West Haven and Milford along the way.

Tell us you don't want to go for a bike ride there. We dare you.

The paved section that begins in New Haven goes for approximately 15 miles into Cheshire, CT, and is mostly flat and straight (except for a couple of salient hills). The path begins at Hillhouse Ave. (but has a closer access point to the div school on Sachem. St past the Ingalls Rink, aka "the Whale") in New Haven, runs parallel to Dixwell Ave. through part of the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods of New Haven. This part of the Canal Trail has many street crossings, which can be somewhat annoying. The Trail continues beside Dixwell Ave. into Hamden, which is a major shopping road, including two of the three Stop and Shop grocery stores in the area. The Trail eventually moves to parallel Whitney Ave. in Hamden for awhile (passing Sleeping Giant, see immediately below), before quite literally going into the middle of nowhere until it ends in southern Cheshire.

This is probably one of Patrick's favorite parts of New Haven because it provides a fun ride mostly without having to negotiate traffic. The Canal provides for rides (or walks, or skates) of various lengths and paces, depending upon what you're looking for.


Sleeping Giant State Park

That just yells, "climb me!"

If you like to escape to the great outdoors but don't have time to go far, you should definitely check out Sleeping Giant State Park. This gem of a state park is only about 7 miles from the Div School, located in Hamden, CT. In Esther's opinion, far too few students take advantage of what the park has to offer. There are many trails, of varying intensity and incline, some pretty great views—you can see the Div School on a clear day!—and the park is also family, fisherman, and dog friendly.

Be careful on the ridge!

The term "Sleeping Giant" comes from the ridge's resemblance to a person laying flat on their back when viewed from many points around the area. The ridge is officially called "Mt. Carmel" (see, Puritan roots of the New Haven Colony), but the individual crests are given names related to the body: "head", "chin", "chest", "hip", "knee" and "feet." The highest point is the Left Hip.

Sadly, this day was rather overcast.

Trails are clearly marked in a variety of shapes and colors, making it simple to devise your own route through and around the park. Maps are available, and they mark great views and landmarks as well as trails, roads, and waterways. There are picnic areas scattered throughout, but also plenty of lovely areas where you could pull out a sandwich with friends off the beaten path.If you can find parking outside of the official parking lots, or bike up the Farmington Canal Trail, you'll save yourself a surprising fee ($15 for out-of-state plates), but other than that it is a free adventure in beautiful woods!




Lighthouse Point Park

Five Mile Point Light

The New Haven Harbor used to be a major port along the Long Island Sound, back before the Erie Canal made the Port of New York and New Jersey the major port along the Sound. Part of what made the New Haven Harbor such a great port was that the Harbor was protected by a peninsula on the eastern side originally known as  "Little Necke" (yes, that makes us think of the Land Before Time, too). A lighthouse was constructed on the peninsula for navigation purposes, which lead to the peninsula being remained "Lighthouse Point." ("Point" is a common name for small peninsulas along the coast in New England). The original lighthouse constructed in 1805 was too short and was difficult to see, so the current 65ft lighthouse (the Five Mile Point Light) replaced it in 1845. This lighthouse was then replaced by the offshore Southwest Ledge Light in 1877. (Eventually another lighthouse was added in 1899, the Sperry Breakwater Lighthouse, a skeleton of which can be seen from the Point.)

Ultimately, the Lighthouse is really nothing to write home about, especially if you're used to the towering lighthouses of other parts of the East Coast—as Patrick is with the North Carolina lighthouses (the Cape Hatteras Light is 200ft as compared with Five Mile Point's 65ft) or Esther is with the many lighthouses of Maine. However, the beach at Lighthouse Point is the most easily accessible beach in New Haven at roughly 6mi from the div school. For this reason, the beach also tends to be very crowded even though it isn't the greatest. On the way, you pass through the Annex and Morris Cove/East Shore neighborhoods of New Haven, which provide a glimpse at what's left in New Haven of the New England coastal town style seen along the rest of the shoreline. Like Sleeping Giant, parking is surprisingly expensive for nonresidents (they check for residential parking passes), but there is a CT Transit bus that stops inside the park and bikes are free!

Another major attraction at Lighthouse Point is the Carousel, which dates from 1916. It is one of only 100 carousels in the country that dates from that period, is one of the largest carousels in the country, and is a rare example of American folk art from the period. Rides cost 50¢ apiece...you know you want to.