I just love this park!!! The scenery and atmosphere is just absolutely beautiful. I come into the…read morepark for my walks and to sit by lake for a few minutes to clear my mind. Osbornedale State Park has a hiking trail, fishing, picnic areas, and t nearby Osborne Homestead Museum. The prominent Osborne family owned numerous metal working and fabric product factories in the area. At the young age of 31, Frances Osborne, later Mrs. Waldo Kellogg, took over the family business when her father died in 1907. Miss Osborne decided to take over the family business instead of selling it. Additionally, it was contrary to the advice of the executers of her father's estate, and a brave undertaking for a woman in the early part of the century. Despite the prejudices against woman in business at that time, Mrs. Frances Osborne Kellogg was very successful in her many businesses and investments. By adhering to the belief that one should always buy land but never sell it. Mrs. Kellogg gradually acquired numerous separate farms which now comprise the 350 acre Osbornedale State Park, an unusually large property in the Derby-Ansonia area.

Since I was in the area on a beautiful sunny day, I decided to finally check out the Osborndale…read moreState Park, which many people have enjoyed for years. It is small and has beautiful trails. It is a great place to have a picnic. It was peaceful and very relaxing to spend some time outside in nature.

Enjoy my time. nice views. Well sized beach playground included. good time to bring your kids to…read more Momaguin area.

Little did I know that when I wrote my review of East Shore Park 8+ years ago that I would move/buy…read morea house right across from the street from it. In those 8 years I have had 3 different dogs and all loved East Shore Park. My current dog thinks the park is all for him: he would go there multiple times a day if I let him, but we usually aim for once or twice a day at most. There are multiple areas to explore including tennis courts, a playground, several ball fields and overgrown bocce courts. Unfortunately the sewage treatment plant smell still lingers. Definitely a down fall to living in this neighborhood. But the water views and park itself can't be beat.

I love this park! It is really nice and pretty, pleasant for a walk or just watching the marsh and…read moreboats. There are also kids playgrounds, fields for games. The park is always taken care of. The main parking is for Branford residents only, non residents can park before the main entrance.

I love this park! It has playgrounds, tennis courts, places to run, baseball diamonds, soccer…read morefields, the works. Or if you just want to sit and enjoy views of the river running to the ocean, that's awesome too. There's a nice walking trail. We like to walk to the park from our house, walk around the trail, sit for a bit and then come home. A good hour of exercise in a beautiful park. If you have kids there are amazing playgrounds all over the place.

Big playground with lots of shade, plenty of parking, and loads of different play structures. A…read morecouple minutes from a few hotels in the area or the beach. There is a playground on the beach about two minutes away, but this one is much nicer for actually playing on (Charlotte Bacon's playground).

Awesome park!!!!!! Lots of things for kids to play on!!!! Plus a spot for parents to sit onread more

Super cute idea for kiddos of all ages. It is Ina pretty round down plaza if you park in back you…read moreare almost lost. The staff is super sweet and full of energy that's why I give it a 3. The bathrooms, floors, station room walls, window sills, and highly touched areas are pretty dirty. The place needs a commercial scrubbing. Nothing w the slime itself is dirty just the surroundings. Everyone must wash hands before they are able to participate. Pricing is pretty fair They do take cc Ample parking all over Suggestion to reserve a time online as it gets crowded

This is such a nice spot to take the kids especially if they love slime ! It was a fun experience.read more

One tradition that I look forward to every Christmas season is the A.C. Gilbert Holiday Train…read moreDisplay at the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop. The New Haven-based A.C. Gilbert Company (known for originating the Erector Set) introduced their 'American Flyer' line of model trains just after World War II. The trains were very popular throughout the 1950s, but the rise of popularity with television sets and the death of company founder A.C. Gilbert created a decline in sales. The company was defunct by 1967. The Eli Whitney Museum has a large collection of old A.C. Gilbert products, including several American Flyer trains. Each year, the museum sets up a model railroad display from Thanksgiving to mid-January. Walter Zawalich is the museum's American Flyer Curator and he meticulously restores and maintains the trains and the display each year. I've been going to see the Holiday Train Display at the Museum since I was a young boy. My father used to collect American Flyer trains and we went to see the display often. I later introduced my wife to the tradition and now our two sons. In addition to the trains themselves, we love the attention to detail of the layout which resembles a miniature landscape of New Haven. You can continue to see the Holiday Train display on Saturdays and Sundays until January 14th and admission is FREE!

We had our son's birthday party here. We couldn't be happier with their service. It's a great place…read morefor kids and they all had fun.

My husband and I stumbled upon Earthplace today while in Westport. We are so happy we did. Upon…read moredriving up you could see two distinct spaces; nature trails and main animal building. We weren't prepared for nature walks so we just viewed the trails. That is absolutely something we will come back to do. Today we decided to do the animal sanctuary. When you first go up to the building, make sure to look down and see the animal prints in the sidewalk. The price was $10 per adult (less per child) and we were happy to pay it since it went directly for the care of the animals. We started in the hall with the small critters. There is also a playroom for smaller kids. They have some centers and a huge tree in the middle of the room. There is a smaller kid section and a little nature movie theater. Very cute. We loved the critters and birds. Two in particular were VERY social. Pecans (an artistic dancing pigeon) and E.T. (a lovable turkey vulture). We spent a lot of time interacting with these two. We had some interactions with the staff and caretakers and it was pretty obvious these animals are well loved. The animals there are either surrendered or injured. We left with some items from the little shop-including art from Pecans. We will absolutely be returning. This was such a happy find!

62 acre peaceful nature sanctuary with easy, mostly flat and well marked, clear trails to enjoy…read morethe outdoors. Earthplace is a wonderful educational place for children and adults alike. The entrance to the building has a custom tile mural that is uniquely wonderful. You pay to view the animals are check out the dioramas, animals and exhibits inside.You can see the birds of prey which were rescued from the wild due to their injuries. You can go during feeding time. The entrance fees help to pay for the food and care of the animals. Wonderful space to get outdoors and appreciate nature. We saw a turtle, wild turkeys, chipmunks, birds and butterflies walking the trails. I will come back to enjoy this refuge and experience the postive effects of being out in nature.

There's a few different sections of the Naugatuck State Forest. We went to the Quillinan Reservoir…read moreBlock, which is in Ansonia. There are a few ways to access this park, we decided to go from the Ansonia Nature Center. The transition over to State Forest is pretty subtle, mainly with some markings on the trees. This park is also adjacent to some watershed land, that is also marked really well. This park has some nice hiking trails, with a lot of different loop options. We ended up doing a 10k (6 miles) hike, on the white and purple loop trails. The trails are nicely blazed, and there's a really good variety of trees. We went through some hardwoods and some pine forest, and there were lots of plants and some water views of the reservoir at various points along the hike. It's not too strenuous elevation wise, which was nice for a moderate hike. Mountain biking is allowed in the park, and we saw several people out for a ride, so it seems a pretty popular location for biking, and the trails seem not overly eroded. My only complaint is this park is adjacent to a gun club, so for a good chunk of the hike (mostly the white trail) was done to the sound of near constant gunfire. It's not the most tranquil thing, especially if you're sensitive to that sound.

This is a beautiful walk around the reservoir. The day was overcast with a threat of rain, but the…read moretemperature today made up for the darkened skies. Colorful leaves are starting to pop out everywhere, and I suppose this place will be in it's prime in a week or so. If you're in the neighborhood, you have to stop by and enjoy the scenery.