Towering Beauty in Sleeping Giant State Park: Structure Has Unique Characteristics and History

A giant greets visitors at the peak of Mount Carmel with a historic observation tower in the Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden, Connecticut. 

Here, two miles of mountaintop resemble a large man at rest.

On his left hip is a large open-air fieldstone building 739 feet above mean sea level, the highest point of the 1,500-acre park. The square four-story tower was built in the Romanesque-style between 1936 and 1939 by 60 workers through the Works Progress Administration as a Depression-era relief and recovery project. 

Designed for the un-athletic, Henry Webb helped build a gradual ascent to the Tower Trail and installed ramps, rather than steps, inside the castle-like tower.

Stone material from the 1900 Park house, the first house built on the third ridge, was used to construct the tower.

Loose crushed rock found at the old Mount Carmel Trap Rock Quarry, in the back of the giant’s head, was used to make the Tower Trail, which has views of the giant’s chin. 

The Sleeping Giant Park Association (SGPA) celebrated the tower’s opening in 1939 with a plaque dedicated to the pioneers who tirelessly worked to get the property designated as a state park in 1924. 

Two directional markers and one National Geodetic Survey marker were installed on the top floor in 1940.

According to Julie Hulten, SGPA Outreach Chair and Assistant Archivist, “during World War II, the tower was ‘manned’ and there was a telephone installed to notify authorities in the event that any ‘enemy planes’ were spotted.” 

Tree trunks were attached to the outer wall of the patio around the west, south, and east sides. Vines and a wooden shed roof formed a canopy sheltering the stone terrace. 

It is unknown how long it lasted but a 1968 tower photo does not show the canopy. Hulten speculates the canopy was removed for safety reasons. Footings and support bolts can still be seen on the patio. 

Reinforcing rods were constructed in two of the west windows.

A spider web and a spider were installed in the third floor window, a feature added to all structures built by Webb.

The spider has since gone missing.

The monogram “CSP”, which stands for Connecticut State Parks, was constructed in the second floor window. 

The book “Born Among the Hills” stated that a Doberman dog carved in the stone on the east side, between the second and third floors, was meant as a pun on the name of Webb’s architect friend, Russell Barker. 

Hulten explained that the dog might have also resembled Webb’s Doberman “Count Felix von Lucknow” whom he brought to the job site everyday. 

On the first floor, there is a large room with two fireplaces.

While both fireplaces were built to work, Hulten admitted that only one works today while the other is closed due to structural issues. 

In 1986, the tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places. 

Agency officials called the 50’-by-50’ tower with a 30’ high observation deck “the most ambitious of the three major mountaintop observation towers in the state” and the “second largest state park structure built by federal relief labor.” 

Restrooms used to be in the one-story flat roofed section but were bricked off in the 1960’s, Hulten said, adding that fixtures were removed in the 1990’s.

The rooms are now open to the public for exploration. 

While both rooms have window and door holes, one still has a bench with cemented-over toilets. There are marks on the room’s walls where partitions used to exist. A closet-sized room was used for restroom supplies. 

Additional weather protection and safety features were added to the tower during a $250,000 renovation project in 1996. 

Walls were sandblasted, joints remortarted, new handrails were installed along the ramps, and three small bars were installed above each windowsill.

A year later, a 600-lb. picnic table was added to the large first floor room.

A pit toilet was built outside the tower in fall 2009. 

While there are observation windows on the tower’s second and third levels, the best views are at the top, on the fourth level. 

For an even higher view, a ramp gives access to a small area above the observation window near the northwest pillar. 

SGPA recommends visitors looking for a “gentle climb, on a wide, clear path” to use the 1.6-mile Tower Trail from the park’s main parking area.

Experienced hikers can use the 5.1-mile Blue-blazed Trail, also known as the Quinnipiac Trail, which has “hard, steep climbs” according to SGPA. It is accessible from the park’s picnic area.  

A combination of trails such as the Red Triangle Trail to Tower Trail or the Violet Trail to Red Triangle Trail to Tower Trail could be taken for a more moderate experience. 

Don’t forget to bring your camera to take pictures and visit the SGPA Trading Post for souvenirs of this amazing park.