Named for James Baker Williams, founder of JB Williams Soap Company, J. B. Williams Park is located on Neipsic Road in

Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is on the banks of the Connecticut River, southeast ...

, just off Route 2. It is a popular park for hiking, softball, fishing, ice-skating, and cross-country skiing.

History

James Baker Williams, born in 1818 in Lebanon, Connecticut, operated a soap factory at his general store in

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester (CDP), Connecticut, Manchester census- ...

. In 1842 he moved his business to

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

owning much land, including a mill on Williams Street and the land where the park is currently located. By the turn of the 20th century, JB Williams Soap Company was known worldwide for its shaving soap.

Recreation

With the exception of a softball field, the entire of the park is wooded. The park's many trails are used by hikers, cross-country skiers, and the park is the home course for the

Glastonbury High School Glastonbury High School is a public, co-educational high school located in Glastonbury, Connecticut, United States. It is the only high school in Glastonbury, and serves roughly 2,000 students and employs roughly 150 faculty members. The school i ...

cross-country team. The trails feature a wide .9 mile (1.4 km) loop. Near the entrance is a pond used for fishing and ice-skating, with a pavilion and playground nearby. Deeper into the park is the smaller "dog pond."

The Lost Ski Area

The town operated a small ski area at JB Williams up until the 1970s. A rope tow run by an old jeep brought skiers to the top of one main trail and several smaller woods trails. Now overgrown with a narrow hiking trail running up the main slope, one can still see the old rope tow.http://www.nelsap.org/ct/jbwilliams.html New England Lost Ski Areas Project

Gallery

File:Little Free Library, Glastonbury CT.jpg, Little Free Library Box File:Pileated woodpecker JB Williams.jpg,

pileated woodpecker The pileated woodpecker (''Dryocopus pileatus'') is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the ...

File:Eastern tiger swallowtail on flower jb williams.jpg, Eastern tiger swallowtail File:20230709 eastern phoebe jb williams PD31755.jpg, Eastern phoebe

History

Recreation

The Lost Ski Area

Gallery

References

Further reading