A Small Walk in My Town of New Milford (Part 2)

Saturday after I finished my errands around the Green, I drove a short distance to the newest State Park in our town, Lovers Leap State Park. The park had been dedicated in June 2007, but this was my first time to go there for a visit. I often ride past the park when I am leaving town. And before I retired in January of 2007 I drove past the bridge five days a week and was able to see men working on the bridge to preserve it. Many years ago this beautiful bridge had been saved from destruction after a new bridge was built. I can still remember driving over the old bridge with all it's creaking and groaning.

On Saturday I walked onto the bridge and took pictures of the Housatonic River looking south towards the Town of Bridgewater. this area of the river is also known as Lake Lillinonah. I saw a few people kayaking and others fishing on the river. Skyward I saw a few hawks soaring, but I was not able to capture their flight in a picture. Click on all pictures for detail.


Lovers Leap State Park New Milford
Lovers Leap is a walk-in park with hiking trails, scenic vistas and historic ruins. The 160 acre park is divided into three sections, each featuring a different appreciation for the park history.
Trails through the park will lead the walker through centuries of land-use history. Heading northeast from the parking lot the trail utilizes the 1895 Berlin Iron Bridge, one of five remaining in Connecticut, to cross the Housatonic River. Across the bridge the Lovers Leap Trail heads southeast 1,200 feet to the rock formation that gives the park its name. From here, tradition has it, that the Pootatuck Indian Chief Waramaug’s daughter, Princess Lillinonah, and her lover plunged to their deaths. The Chief himself died in 1735.
The view to the south overlooks a now submerged Goodyear Island named for an early fur trader from Derby who came there to trade with the established Indian Community. Industrial era ruins still exist near the water on the northwest section of the park.-----Google

Information Boards at Lovers Leap State Park

Lover's Leap Bridge
Lenticular through truss over the Housatonic River
New Milford, Connecticut
Berlin Iron Bridge Company, 1895 (click for more information)
Lover's Leap is the name given to a high cliff overlooking the Housatonic River gorge in New Milford, Connecticut. Bridges have spanned the gorge near here since the 1770s. The 173 foot long lenticular bridge at Lover's Leap was built in 1895 and is the last of the large lenticular bridges built by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company. The lenticular design began to decline in popularity during the early 1890s because, while structurally efficient, it required more manual labor than other truss forms.---Google

Listing of the 13 Berlin Bridges in Connecticut:
Town Bridge, Canton
Melrose Road Bridge, East Windsor
Ashland Mill Bridge, Jewett City, Griswold
Red Bridge, Meriden
South Norwalk Railroad Bridge, Norwalk
Norwalk River Railroad Bridge, Norwalk
Boardman's Bridge, New Milford
Lovers Leap Bridge, New Milford
Glen Falls Bridge, Plainfield
Hallville Mill Bridge, Preston
Sharon Station Road Bridge, Sharon
Main Street Bridge, Stamford
Turn of River Bridge, Stamford
Talcottville Main Street Bridge, Vernon
Washington Avenue Bridge, Waterbury
Sheffield Street Bridge, Waterbury
Minortown Road Bridge, Woodbury

Falls Bridge at Lovers Leap State Park

Housatonic River View South from Falls Bridge