Collis P Huntington State Park is a gorgeous state park with a mouthful of a name. It is a state park steeped in history with a truly beautiful story about a famous sculptor. The property is a true western Connecticut dreamscape that I had never even heard of until I set out on this State Park quest and for that, I am grateful. The park covers 1,017-acres and includes the towns of Bethel, Newtown, and Redding in Western, Connecticut. There are some amazing trail systems through the park, from single track paths to beautiful wide double track trails that traverse the park's lakes and ponds.
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| Collis P Huntington State Park Trails |
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| Collis P Huntington State Park |
I was in the area for work and decided to set out with Otto to explore the park on a trail run. I saw horseback riders and trail runners, hikers and walkers traversing the park as I made my way through some of the trails. There is a beautiful parking area with a decent amount of parking, a picnic area, pit toilets, and the start of the trail system. There are also beautiful statues adorning the parking lot and you can tell this property was someone's private estate and meant a lot to someone (and now, to a lot of someones). Some of the prettiest parts of the trail passes by Lake Hopewell and there are other ponds and lagoons within the park.
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| Collis P Huntington State Park in Fall |
Name/History
The park's name is in honor of Collis Potter Huntington, one of the country’s wealthiest men in the late 19th century whose wealth is tied to the first transcontinental railroad. While the park bears his name, the park also commemorates Mr. Huntington’s son’s wife, Anna Hyatt Huntington who (to me) is the wildly interesting and powerful person in this park's story.
The park has beautiful 1955 sculptures of a bear family and wolves which are a nod to her sculpture work. By 1915 Anna Hyatt was a well known artist who was listed as one of ten women in America making more than fifty thousand dollars a year. The Metropolitan Museum of Art called one of the foremost female sculptors of large-scale works in the U.S. She was famous for her equestrian sculptures and some of her most famous pieces are Joan of Arc in New York City and the statue of General Israel Putnam at the nearby Putnam Memorial State Park.
Anna and Archer Huntington acquired the land which is now the state park in the 1930's and called it Stanerigg (the Scottish word for “stony ridge”). Anna was also known for her Scottish deerhounds and had a kennel called Stanerigg Kennel on the property. There were eight miles of country roads on her farm where she ran her dogs and reportedly had a special bus that she used to bring the dogs to a second home in South Carolina. Anna and her husband donated the homestead and the land to the state following her death in order to preserve the beautiful property they called home.
C.P. Huntington State Park is a beautiful reminder of how important it is to preserve open space, that important people who truly cared about public land made the amazing decision for this place to be enjoyed by many, instead of redeveloped by few.
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| Anna Hyatt Huntington Sculpture at C.P. Huntington State Park |
Activities
Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing are all popular in the park. Trails include the northern section of the Aspetuck Valley Trail, which connects with the adjacent Centennial Watershed State Forest. Park ponds are available for canoeing and fishing. The wide double track trail are perfect for horseback riding and I have big plans to be back with the horse trailer. If you visit on foot, there are some great 2-3 mile loops which leave from the main parking lot and loops between Lilly Pond and West Lagoon, looping around Huntington Pond. You can find a trail map here.
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| Collis P Huntington State Park road/trail |
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| Collis P Huntington State Park Bridges |
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