Bulkley Park

Bulkley Park is a completely wooded park that overlooks the Connecticut River and offers visitors one mile of easy to moderate hikes through hills and valleys.

Description

Bulkley Park is an area of 24 acres to enjoy for its unspoiled natural hills, woods and history. The eastern border of the park follows the Connecticut River, just west of the old Connecticut Valley Rail Road (now the seldom used Providence Worcester Railroad line).

From the parking lot, follow the Entrance Trail to the Fern Valley, where the Outer Trail Loop begins. To the east, the loop runs parallel to the trail line, providing some river views. About halfway, a Connector Trail cuts through the woods to the western side of the park, where it reconnects with the Outer Loop.

History

Tradition has it that in the late 1600s, the pirate Captain Kidd sailed up the Connecticut River and went ashore on a small peninsula jutting out into the river, later called Tryon’s Landing. He selected a hillside and buried two chests of gold, silver and jewels. “Tryon’s Landing” is on the river adjacent to the eastern border of park, it is not marked today. Up from Tryon’s Landing was a grove in a natural hollow and amphitheater which was a well used picnic ground up to 1871, when the building up of the railroad made a high embankment and cut off direct access to the river. Joseph E. Bulkley deeded the land to the town in 1919 for use in perpetuity as a “natural park [to] be kept as a wooded plot – that no trees be cut except those necessary to keep it in good condition.” In 1970-71 the town improved access to the park by purchasing 4 acres adjacent to the park, allowing for a road and a parking lot to access the park from Michele Drive. More details in the Bulkley Park brochure.