Events

In 1962, Spicebush Swamp Park was West Hartford’s first park to be set aside as a natural area for nature study and walking, and as a 33-acre outdoor classroom for schools to use. Later, in 1968, McGovern Pond was created in the park by excavating an area of approximately one acre.  The West Hartford Garden Club's Civic Project Committee has made the restoration and preservation of Spicebush Swamp Park its key long-term ecological project. In 2020, the garden club upgraded a rundown garden near the park sign with native pollinator plantings. During 2020 and 2021, that work continued. Beginning in 2022, an area further inside the property was restored through the removal of invasive plants and installation of a bird sanctuary garden designed with native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials, all with the help of Master Gardeners and volunteers from local Sierra Club and other community and municipal groups. A group has continued to meet for about 2 hours most weeks throughout the year at Spicebush, and periodically on weekend dates, to identify and tag remnant native plants, remove invasive plants, manage the pollinator and bird sanctuary gardens, install new native plantings, and set priorities for the future. A new wet meadow, funded in part by a Hartford Audubon Society grant, will be installed this fall. We hope to install interpretive educational signage and to improve plant labeling. The terrain is uneven in places, the area is subject to flooding, the invasives are formidable, and it is heavy work. However, we enjoy the birds, the insects, the native flora, and the beauty of this natural setting.  The walk will be led by Beth Ann Loveland Sennett.  

A small parking lot is located just north of the intersection of Mountain Road with Farmington Avenue.  

Free and open to the public.  Registration is requested to aid planning.

Questions?  Contact Beth Ann Loveland Sennett by text (860-729-4150) or email ([email protected])