Located in a beautiful Olmsted-designed park in our capital city, Keney Park Pond is the ideal place for kids to learn paddling and safe canoeing and kayaking. Originally called “Waltermere Pond” it was once named for the brother of the park’s donor, Henry Keney. It’s only 10 feet deep in certain parts and has shallow sandy areas from which to easily launch boats. Although it’s a small body of water, it has a few small islands that provide interesting obstacles to navigate, and plenty of reeds to explore and sneak up on birds, or find a giant goose egg. And on a really hot day, who doesn’t like to race and paddle near the pond’s fountains for a cool summer shower?
We are so grateful to the Friends of Keney Park (FOKP), who partnered with us in our first year to help us get started. We couldn’t have done it without them.
Batterson Park in Farmington has a lake-sized body of water to which we can “graduate” after conquering our new skills learned at Keney. The kids are amazed they can cross Batterson in two trips and get out and walk around on the park land. They feel a great sense of accomplishment looking across from shore to shore. Both parks are owned by the City of Hartford.
And now, following a $10 million investment by the Connecticut Legislature, Batterson Park is partially being restored to the gem that it is. The project is being overseen by Riverfront Recapture. Since the 1940’s, it was the local “beach” where many Hartford families spent the day swimming, fishing, playing, picnicking and relaxing. Allowed to fall into disrepair, the park was closed in 2015 during Hartford’s financial crisis. While swimming will not yet be allowed, City Paddles plans on partnering with the City of Hartford to bring recreational canoeing and kayaking to Batterson Park in the near future. Until that becomes a reality, CITY PADDLES will use the convenient CT state boat launch on the New Britain side from which to shove off on our lake excursions. Look at us previously exploring Batterson land on a snack break from our paddling!
