Riverside Park

A large public park with plenty of parking. Close to the parking lot is a children playground area and a bunch of BBQ pits. Great place to hang out on a lazy weekend when the weather is not so cold. The park actually connected to the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza (near the Science Center) through a nicely kept walkway along the western bank of the Connecticut River. The sculpture garden between the two bridges (Bulkeley and Founders) has a few small metal sculptures.

Clean park. Plenty of parking. Easy to access water. There is walking trail to walk around the park. Portable restrooms are available. Playground is also available for family.

We love going here. It's usually empty. We bring bikes and scooters, and like to ride into downtown Hartford. Sometimes we'll ride as far as Bushnell Park from Riverside Park. It's a fun little adventure with the kids.

The trails here are beautiful, with areas of flora and fauna missed by those who overlook the area. North of the boathouse are thoughtfully maintained trails, giant trees, and access to the railroad bridge with its metal pedestrian walkway and unparalleled views south of Hartford. (The railroad bridge is not great for little kids, as it only has a double-wired line for protection from the edge.) The entire riverfront trail system makes a large loop of approximately 5 miles taking you through Charter Oak Park over Putnam Bridge through great River Park in East Hartford up over either the founders bridge or the railroad bridge and then through Riverfront Park and back to charter Oak or wherever you started from. Getting to the railroad bridge on the East Hartford side can be a challenge, and there’s the added issues of water during wet periods and also there’s a lot of poison Ivy around, but we think it’s always worth it! This beautiful loop takes you through the locations of ancient First Nation settlements, past long lost colonial river ports, and through some of the last great spots of nature in Hartford.

So today I walked around Riverside Park and it was actually fun to walk around and look at the different things that they had their. My dog enjoy walking alongside the river which is very beautiful. I definitely will be coming back because there is a lot more that I want to explore and look around I also got to see what under the highway looks like. I actually have the park ranger come to me at about 7:40 and told me that the gates are closed at 8 p.m. so I had to hurry back jump in my car and take off before I got locked in.

This place is so beautiful. Picture perfect and so fulfilling and breaking. I say by the water today. I cry some mornings when I'm there because it's so restorative to my soul. Winter, spring, summer or fall in there

3.26.22 Lots of free parking. Some parts of the Riverwalk were flooded on the 3.4-mile paved trail we wanted to do from Riverside Park to Charter Oak. So had to move car once. Otherwise it was absolutely wonderful as we had a perfect spring day. The trees are starting to bud. The park and walk were not busy at all.