Morning journal and courier., 1891-05-30
AT LAKE sALroNsrALL.
Changes and Improvements of Gel
 Arav InfAraef

 Changes and Improvements of Gem
 era1 Interest.
 It were indeed hard task to imagine 6 | more delightful and beautiful sheet of water than that little lake which bears it name from Gurdon Saltonstall, one of Connecticut's ablest, as we'll as earliest governors. Few cities are as well favored by dome nature as New Haven in having such an attraction. Almost on her border lines, and perhaps from that very close ness it has been only too little appreciated. People, weary and worn with the stirring change seek it far from homo as rule.
 The wild, unciyilized condition of maine wood, and the scenery of the Adirondacks,
 are alluring to recreation seekers. Those places are all well and good, but hardly. practicable for trip of one or two days. The citizens of New Haven
 have always known of such a
 thing as Lake Saltonstall, but how many l are there who have even faint conception 1 of all the attractions it has to boast, as it lies there nestling in the lap of mother
 nature, surrounded more than half by . l densely wooded range, and all quiet and still. A better place for tired mind and
 excited nerves could not be found even in the camp on the shore of Canadian
 lake. One leaving the city half hours time is free from the chatter and
 racket of the active world, amid quiet and calm.
 Just little way from the foot of the
 lake stands the old Governor Saltonstall
 mansion, almost now as it was in TOY, l when he was called to his official position,
 which he filled so ably until the day of his
 death about sixteen years later. At the | foot of the lake but few feet away from
 the railroad station is pier and to it is
 moored the little steam launch Cygnet.
 This is the second season of her appear l ance there. The owners of the property
 about the lake have made and are making improvements which are of 8 public na- 1 ture. Imagine park of nearly 700 acres
 surrounding the lake, and that is what they
 are doing.
 Take trip up the lake in the little
 steamer. The distance up and back is ! about seven miles and will eventually have
 four stops. The first stop will be Regatta
 Point, well known to Yale students who
 have congregated so many times there
 watching the class races. A wharf will
 soon be made here for those wishing to
 picnic at this point landed. The grass has
 been put in excellent order for such pur-
 pose.
 A little further up on the opposite side
 another wharf is to be made, this place
 particularly adapted for fishing parties. A
 few feet only from this shore the water
 runs off suddenly to depth of forty feet , l or more
 Chestnut Grove is about a mile above this point and has been for years 8 favor ite camping ground. It is situated on a high bluff and just at one side is little natural harbor, just adapted for the light skiff or canoe. This point also will be
 numbered among the regular stopping
 places for the steamer.
 : Of the many pretty places all along the lake the prettiest of all is Glen Grove, which is at the very head. Up here one is , practically buried in solitude, not sigr of civilization anywhere in the shape oi
 farm houses or ploughed fields. All that surrounds is grim old forest, the lake : and, just across new three hundred foot 8 causeway, an old Indian corn field
 About this field there is much g that is interesting. It has beer 9 added to the grove in the past year anc d will prove desirable as an athletic field. Il contains about fourteen acres, all of i :, nearly on dead level. The story has al s ways been connected with it that it was j. what looks like old corn hills. At an, 8 rate, within the memory of the oldest in q habitant of that region, no white man ha d ever ploughed or used it for other thar o grazing purposes. This park wa h opened to the public last sea
 son, and much since then ha @ been done of an artificial nature to add t. n it. A connections house for picnickera e benches, seats, swings, dancing pa Il vilion and many other accessories whicl are necessary where such assemblage
 for the stroll off through the forest prime @ val. Take the old Indian trail leading u n from the corn field just across, and follow 70 it's meanderings up the slope, passing I. through ravines, fairy grottos, an 't at last arrive at the summit C It the western ridge. In place
 perhaps it may be little rough climbing e e'e but it will pay. You go little furthe s along the trail, across the narrow plateau t. when suddenly an opening in the foliag n appears, and here you find yourself on y bluff two hundred and sixty feet u almost in a straight line, and taking i d in view that is magnificent. Just bt a. low, at the very foot, is the little village C 'r Foxon, for all the world like rural seen "a in England; further over loom up East an t. West Rocks, with here and there New Hs
 of the harbor, while on the other hand th le Meriden hills are in plain sight This blu r. afforded the Indians an excellent watc v, tower. Here their sentinels were poste 't to scan the neighboring country in time y of tribal war. Just at the left of the blu 'a the trail goes down to the other side re While one has gotten up on the top b le would do we'll to go little further alon t, on the summit of the ridge to the mort Il and see another interesting place. Th
 is the. hut of the Old Leathe n man, that character well known in Ne le England for many years. This hut was ie favorite retreat of his, and several times 1t was seen cooking his fish there over 1t small bed of coals just outside the hu y The hut, if it can hardly be called tha
 was made under a shelving rock, wit z- rough walls on two sides, a few boughs fc D. covering, tree with limb convenient fc le binding a blanket in front, and that is a 10 | there was to it.
 is Just above is an old gray rock which y called "the Old Leather mans watch tov le er." From this point the lake is seen b.
 low nearly it's entire length, and furthe 'd away the blue waters of Long Island soun e for nearly half circle and the farn d houses and church spires of neighborin le towns.
 1t By the time one has finished this clim d and returned to Glen Grove he will | n hungry. Two regular trips are made dail by the steamer-1o a. m. and p: m.-an n as often more as parties desire. The pret ,e tiest trip of all is moonlight excursion u Il | this lake. .
 h The most extensive portion of the parl proper about the lake is the high ridge O. e the west side. Extending for 8 distanc d of more than four miles, varying i l. height from 270 feet down and heavil l, wooded with hemlock, pine, white ca > and in fact every tree found in Ney England forest, it can even now be tray
 eled from one end to another with hors and wagon, though at the present time might be g rough journey fo T ladies. But among other i'm Il provements it is the intention l. to have first-class driving road the entir length of the ridge upon the summit.
 reminds one of a big mound with the to r. squared of. This plateau variesin width T some places but little broader than tn d roadway and again several hundred fee IT wide. One driving along it's back tha a way has peculiar sensations-he doesn 3, l know just when the big hole will suuiru