The park is free and open daily. The domed Exhibit Center the park's main attraction is open 9 am to 4:30 pm (closed Monday); admission to the center costs $2 for adults, $1 for children six to 17. Lake Com pounce Theme Park onnecticut's answer to Disneyland is a delightful tOO-acre theme and amusement park set on the shores of a pretty lake in the Colonial architecture on Providence's Benefit town of Bristol, 18 miles southwest of Hartford. Lake Compounce Theme Park, at the junction has two roller coasters, a whitewater raft ride, a historic steam train, an interactive haunted house and many other amusements. Splash Harbor Water Park, with its pools, jets and waterslides, is perfect for a hot summer's day, and the 180foot free-fall 'swing' will thrill even the most jaded of extreme sports enthusiasts not to mention the rest of us. Every member of the family will find something fun to do here. The park is open from late May through late September; call for days and times. Admission (including unlimited use of most rides and amusements) costs $22 for adults and $16 for children under 52 inches tall.
Admission to the park alone (no rides) costs $6; there's a $4 parking charge as well.Thus a day's amusements here cost a family of four $80 a decent value for the money. Lower Connecticut River Valley Unlike New York's Hudson River and New London's Thames, the Connecticut River has escaped the bustle of industry and commerce that so often mar the heavily used rivers of the Northeast. The Connecticut is the longest river in New England (with its headwaters near New Hampshire's Canadian border), but it is surprisingly shallow near its mouth at Long Island Sound. This lack of depth led burgeoning industry to look for better harbors elsewhere, and thus the lower end of the Connecticut has luckily preserved much of its alluring 18th-century appearance. Fine old Connecticut towns grace the river's banks, including Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Essex, Ivoryton, Chester, Hadlyme and East Haddam. Each is charming on its own, and together they offer visitors a combination of attractions that include fine dining, theater, river excursions, art museums and more.
The sections below on places to stay and places to eat include information on all these towns as a group. Lower Connecticut River Valley 385 o Long Island Sound 386 Lower Connecticut River Valley Old Lyme Lower Connecticut River Valley East Haddam 387 If possible, plan to visit this area during the week. Lodging prices are substantially higher on weekends (Friday and Saturday nights), and campgrounds fill up early on those days. Information For information on the towns of the Connecticut River Valley, contact the Connecticut River Valley and Shoreline Visitors. For information about Old Lyme, contact the Lyme and Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce. OLD LYME Near the mouth of the Connecticut River, on the east bank, is Old Lyme (1-95 exit 70), which in the 19th century was home to some 60 sea captains. Since the early 20th century, however, Old Lyme has been better known as a center for the American impressionist art movement.
Artists such as Charles Ebert, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalfe, Henry Ward Ranger and Guy and Carleston Wiggins came here to paint, staying in the mansion of local art patron Florence Griswold. The house (which her artist friends often decorated with murals in lieu of paying rent) is now a museum containing a good selection of both impressionist and Barbizon paintings. The Florence Griswold Museum is closed Monday in summer, Monday and Tuesday the rest of the year. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and students. The neighboring Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and the Lyme Art Association Gallery, regularly feature recent works by local artists. Both are closed on Monday. OLD SAYBROOK A colony was founded at Old Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River on the west bank, in 1635. Exhibits at Fort Saybrook Monument Park, Saybrook Point, tell the story. The park, open for free daily from sunrise to sunset, also offers panoramic views of the mouth of the mighty Connecticut River. For even better views, hop aboard a boat run by the Deep River Navigation Company for a cruise up the river.
