Having two names for what is essentially one park feels silly. Bushnell Park, Elizabeth Park, Keney Park, and Pope Park are all interrupted by streets, yet their separate parts do not get brand new names. Rocky Ridge Park is the slice of land north of New Britain Avenue; Hyland Park runs south of that intersection. From here on out, I will refer to both as Rocky Ridge because it’s a more descriptively accurate name, and historically, that is what it was called.
Rocky Ridge is definitely underrated. The more interesting segments of it did not get those fancy pants signs that were even installed on glorified medians.
That feels appropriate. Before it was a park, Hartford used it as the City Quarry for rock to macadamize roads.
Yes, a quarry, right next to Trinity College. Right next to homes. Its blasts rattled building foundations. Stones wound up on top of college buildings which were presumably built after the quarry opened, but nobody seems to know when it started for sure. Some sources say it was working around the time of the Civil War. Others estimated it opened decades before that. Blasting disturbed chapel services, prompting a change in its hours of operation. There was at least one “civilian” casualty — a pedestrian on Flatbush Avenue who was hit by rock thrown during a blast.
By 1891, there were talks of turning the quarry into a park for those not served by Bushnell Park. It took thirteen more years of complaints from the college and others, combined with the operation no longer being cost effective, to finally shut it down. Blasting ceased in 1904, though the materials already produced were stored on site for awhile longer until used up. The park was developed a few years later, with walking paths developed along the top of the rocky ridge.
From atop the ridge, there are nice western views.
Well, in some places. In others, there are benches made for times like this, when keeping physical distance from others is crucial. It’s uncommon to pass anyone on the ridge trails, but the sports fields and playgrounds below get plenty of use.
