Millers Pond State Park is a public recreation area lying adjacent to Cockaponset State Forest 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 ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

and Haddam,

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 park's central feature is Millers Pond, whose principal source of water is large springs that create a body of unpolluted water excellent for

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

and

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

. The park offers fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and hunting.

History

Thomas Miller erected the upper dam in 1704 to make a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

to serve his downstream

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

. Millers Pond and 170 acres of woodlands were acquired by the state in 1955 from the heirs of Thomas Macdonough Russell. The acquisition was one of several made in the 1950s using funds bequeathed by George Dudley Seymour. The state's purchase of additional land around the pond was completed in 1972.

Notes

References

External links

Millers Pond State Park
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Millers Pond State Park Map
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection {{authority control State parks of Connecticut Parks in Middlesex County, Connecticut Ponds of Connecticut Bodies of water of Middlesex County, Connecticut Protected areas established in 1955 1955 establishments in Connecticut Durham, Connecticut Haddam, Connecticut