City: West Redding, CT

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (203) 938-2285

Address: 492 Black Rock Tpke.

Description: Up the gorgeous Black Rock Turnpike from the Merritt, past some very well-kept old houses and a Congregational church with its front yard cemetery, is Connecticut’s oldest state park, actually an archaeological preserve worth your time and your respect. This is the site of the 1778–79 winter encampment of part of the Continental Army watching New York City, Connecticut’s own Valley Forge. General Israel Putnam, Washington’s second-in-command, sheltered his troops in over 100 small cabins here that winter, and the evidence of the crumbled chimneys still exists in two long rows in the park. There are also reconstructions of a camp guardhouse, an officer’s cabin, two blockhouses, and a huge memorial, all of them already 120 years old themselves. The visitor center and a small museum contain relics like pipes, fifes, and cannonballs picked up from the site, as well as a bronze cannon and Putnam’s own plow and horse bridle.