Wadsworth Falls State Park, or simply Wadsworth Falls, is a public recreation and preserved natural area located on the Coginchaug River in the

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Middletown and Middlefield,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

's offer trail hiking, fishing, swimming and picnicking. It is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

History

The park bears the name of Colonel Clarence S. Wadsworth (1871–1941), an academic, linguist, conservationist, and member of the New York National Guard. Wadsworth developed the property that the park occupies in the early years of the 20th century as part of his Long Hill estate. He established the Rockfall Corporation as a charitable foundation to administer his properties and further his conservationist interests. Following his death, the corporation gave of Wadsworth's estate to the people of Connecticut for preservation as Wadsworth Falls State Park. In 1996, the portion of the park that lies within the town of Middletown, some 130 acres, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as part of the Wadsworth Estate Historic District. The district's central feature, the Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill, lies adjacent to the park and may be reached from the park by way of the purple-blazed hiking trail.

Waterfalls

Two natural waterfalls lie within easy reach by park trails: the Big Falls, on the Coginchaug River, and the Little Falls, on Wadsworth Brook. The larger of the two, Wadsworth Big Falls, drops the 52-foot breadth of the Coginchaug River some over a shelf of Hampden

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. Wadsworth Little Falls is found along Wadsworth Brook and descends approximately over an outcrop of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

known as Portland arkose.

Activities and amenities

In addition to scenery and heavily forest lands, the park features stream fishing, and trails for hiking and mountain biking.

References

External links

Wadsworth Falls State Park
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Wadsworth Falls State Park Map
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection {{authority control State parks of Connecticut Parks in Middlesex County, Connecticut Protected areas established in 1942 Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Middlefield, Connecticut Middletown, Connecticut Waterfalls of Connecticut Landforms of Middlesex County, Connecticut 1942 establishments in Connecticut

History

Waterfalls

Activities and amenities

See also

References

External links