Sherwood Island is actually a peninsula, and its earliest known inhabitants were the Pequot Indians, not the Sherwoods, English settlers who arrived in Connecticut in 1643. Acquisition of the land that was to become Connecticut's first state park began in 1914. Today, summer visitors crowd the park's mile-long East and West Beaches to swim and sunbathe. Other summer activities include volleyball, kite flying, baseball, roller-skating, and bicycling. One corner of the park is an airfield for model-airplane enthusiasts, while Sherwood Point is popular with anglers.
Snowy winters bring cross-country skiers.
A promenade on the roof of the main pavilion offers fine views of Long Island Sound. More than 280 species of birds have been recorded at Sherwood Island, which lies within the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migratory birds. In May of 1996, two birders tallied 114 species on a single day. In the breeding season, herons and egrets, which nest on nearby islands, forage in the park's tidal wetlands, in numbers that few other coastal areas in the state can rival. Least terns, another island nester and a threatened species in Connecticut, visit the park in summer to fish Sherwood Mill Pond, the tidal creeks, and the beachside waters.