Walking in the Woods: Parker Memorial Park

An excellent way to spend a fine summer day is taking a walk through with local history buff and member of the Parker Memorial Park Commission Al Russell. Though we'd spoken over the phone about the history of the park previously, it wasn't until we took a walk on the grounds that I got a real feel for where the park began. The story starts with a hotel.

Branford Point House was purchased by George Parker in 1885. As town historian Jane Bouley reports, the hotel was really the place to be: it had a three story main building, several guest or staff cottages, a ballroom, and a bowling alley. He and his wife, Alice Lanphier Parker, owned the hotel during its heyday. The hotel was a large, L-shaped building; narrow but long. It began where the wall is on Harbor Street and went straight out to nearly where the flagpole stands. The other part of the L ran along where the wall is now to where the swings are located.

There were three major ways to get to the hotel: there was a stop on the trolley line at Stannard and Harbor street; visitors could take a horse and buggy from the train station (which was in a different location than the current station); or by steamship. The steamship Victor used to tie up to the dock, which was located where our modern dock is situated.

But, while plenty of people would come in to stay at the hotel and relax awhile, the Sound wasn't the primary draw. Instead, people in formal dress would sit and enjoy the view to the north side of the hotel, admiring the woods. The beach was no beach to be admired at that time: it was a rocky shore, and it didn't get the same attention the beach gets now. (Parker Memorial Park has three members of a caretaking staff, and during the summer, the beach is raked daily.) Urban guests to the hotel were more likely to take a walk in the woods than take a dip in the Sound. There was a wooden platform near where the flagpole stands currently that was a very popular photo location; Al noted that.

The Parkers willed the hotel to their son Frank, who was a notable opthamologist in New York City. He died quite young – he was only in his 40s – and he willed the hotel and several of the 25 acres on which it was situated to the town of Branford. (Some of the other land was sold off before the park was willed to the town; the cottages that border the park were originally a part of the hotel property but now belong to private owners.) While the town couldn't operate a hotel, the administration at the time was quite interested in developing a town beach. In 1915, the hotel was demolished, and work began creating a park named after Frank Parker and his parents.

Early on in the park's life, in the 1920s, there was a diving board off the rocks near the dock to highlight the use of the park for swimming. When a man died jumping off of the board, however, the town quickly removed it. Many of the features that are familiar to modern park visitors came about during the 1930s, including the road that enters the park. The wall along Harbor Street and the sea wall were both projects that were part of the Works Progress Administration in 1935. The restrooms, built where there had previously been stables to serve the hotel, were also put up as a WPA project. The stairs from the lower park to the upper park -- which led to a watch tower, where citizens watched for enemy planes during World War II and the Korean War – may also have been a part of the WPA works.

The most recent additions are the 350th Anniversary Monument on the dock (which, along with the monument, are maintained by ); the playground, which was donated by the Rotary Club in 2008; and the handicap swing, which Rotary donated in 2011.