Burr Pond State Park is a public recreation area covering adjacent to Paugnut State Forest in the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Torrington,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The

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

surrounds Burr Pond, an , man-made body of water with facilities for swimming, boating, and fishing. It is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

History

Burr Pond was created in 1851 when Milo Burr dammed several streams to create a source for power generation. The waterpower was used to operate a tannery and three sawmills. One of Burr's industrial buildings was used from 1857 to 1861 by

Gail Borden Gail Borden Jr. (November 9, 1801 – January 11, 1874) was a native New Yorker who settled in Texas in 1829 (then still Mexico), where he worked as a land surveyor, newspaper publisher, and inventor. He created a process in 1853 to make sweet ...

as his first commercially successful

condensed milk Condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of ''sweetened condensed milk'' (SCM), to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condens ...

factory. The building burned down in 1877; the remains of its stone foundations can be seen off Burr Mountain Road. Burr Pond and the area around it were once part of Paugnut State Forest. The acreage was transferred to the State Parks Division and became a state park in 1949.

Activities and amenities

Burr Pond has several small inlets and islands, a rocky shore, and deep drop-offs in several places. Its maximum depth is only . Fish species present include

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy French ...

black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie in size, shape, and habits, except that it is darker, with a pattern of black sp ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

, pumpkinseed, and

brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (''Ame ...

. The blue-blazed Walcott Trail loop goes around the pond. The John Muir Trail across Paugnut State Forest connects the park with Sunnybrook State Park. A swimming beach, picnic areas, concession stand, and boat rentals are offered seasonally. A trailered boat launch is located at the pond's north end.

References

External links

Burr Pond State Park
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Burr Pond State Park Map
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection {{authority control State parks of Connecticut Torrington, Connecticut Parks in Litchfield County, Connecticut Ponds of Connecticut Bodies of water of Litchfield County, Connecticut Protected areas established in 1949 1949 establishments in Connecticut