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Health & Fitness

Hammonasset's Future Part 4: Meigs Point Nature Center

Note: This is part four and the final part of a four part series regarding the future of the Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT. Part 1 reported on the new Shoreline Greenway Trail parking lot, part 2 reported on the new rustic cabins, part 3 focused on the new West Beach Pavilion, and part 4 explains the new Meigs Point Nature Center.

 

After sunbathing at Hammonasset Beach, some visitors enjoy seeing the animals at the Meigs Point Nature Center, which will soon have a new home. 

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History

The Meigs Point Nature Center website states that the park’s first nature center opened in 1952 “when the teenage daughter of the camp manager converted the first room of the old farmhouse, where her and her family lived, into an amateur nature center.” 

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In 1972, it officially became the Megis Point Nature Center, a summer facility. The building was winterized in 2005, with the help of Friends of Hammonasset, allowing it to have a year-round schedule of events. 

Animals

Henry Alves, Parks and Recreation Supervisor of Hammonasset, said that animals in the nature center include parrots, blue jays, skunks, snakes, turtles, lizards, woodchucks, monk parakeets, a touch tank, and a number of aquariums with various species of fish.

The nature center website states that they have “many permanent residents, most of them are non-releasable due to injury or having been raised in captivity…many of our residents are temporary, we will only keep them for a few weeks until another similar species is found and the original animal can be released.” 

Hours

Meigs Point Nature Center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays from March to November and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays from December through February. The center is open year round for class visits and staff can visit schools throughout the school year. 

New Center

Alves is looking forward to a new nature center that will be built behind the current facility. “The new structure is being built as an environmental educational center from the ground up making it more conducive for education and exhibits,” Alves explained.

The 4,000-square-foot building will be three times larger than today’s facility and it will have more animals.

According to the April 28, 2014 minutes of the State Properties Review Board, the project will include a 1,000 to 1,200-square-foot partial basement for amphibian displays.

Alves confirmed that the nature center’s gift shop that sells t-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, and books, run by Friends of Hammonasset, will relocate to the new center.

Meeting minutes indicated that the project will include a bus drop-off area, a multi-purpose seating room for up to 100 people, large restrooms, outdoor reception area, and “integration of green and passive energy technologies.”

Those technologies, according to Jul. 11, 2013 minutes of the State Properties Review Board, include a “geothermal well to air heat pump system” and “a photovoltaic electrical array system as an alternative source of power”.

The latter, which will act as an emergency generator, is expected to be a big help for animals, Alves explained, adding that “our care for them is our number one priority.”

Cost

Tom Tyler, Director of the State Parks and Public Outreach Division from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said that groundbreaking for the new center will be in Fall 2014 with estimated completion sometime in 2015.

Tyler explained that it is expected to cost $2 million, which includes $463,000 in Federal Land & Water Conservation Funds and $224,000 in State Renewable Energy Funds, with State General Obligation Bond Funds providing the balance.

Friends of Hammonasset will be paying for interpretive signs and displays in the new nature center, Alves said.

Parking Fees

Alves confirmed that the new nature center will not have a separate admission charge though visitors will have to pay the seasonal Hammonasset parking fee.

Weekends from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, it is $13 for residents and $22 for non-residents while on weekdays it is $9 for residents and $15 for non-residents. After 4 p.m., it is $6 for residents and $7 for non-residents.

Weekday fees are charged on several weekends before Memorial Day and after Labor Day. 

Those looking to avoid the fee can visit their local library to borrow the State Parks and Forest Pass which waives parking fees at all state parks and forests. Additionally, the center is about a two mile walk from the new free Shoreline Greenway Trail parking lot on Route 1.

Future of the Current Center

After the new center opens, Alves hopes the current nature center will eventually be turned into a conference center for the park.

However, Tyler said that “for the time being it will be utilized as a support building for the new nature center providing for a staff prep area and storage of materials associated with the nature center.”


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