Bennett Park

Bennett Memorial Park is located at 14 Shelter Rock Road, Bethel CT. It has beautiful scenery and wildlife. The park is great for taking a walk or even photography purposes. There is a path to reach the Enchanted Trail as well. Another great thing is that it connects to Meckauer Park.

The Large Pavilion

The Pavilion is available for rental. There are 23 Picnic tables, and it is fairly sheltered. More information on rental fees is available here.

The Small Pavilion

This is another Pavilion! It is smaller than the other, but it's still great to use! It has a picnic table and some grills. The Pavilions are both right next to each other.

Trail to Meckauer

There is a point in the park where there is a pathway to Meckauer park. Meckauer is another great park to go to, it has playsets and lots of space!

You can easily access the Enchanted Trail from Bennett Park. This trail is very expansive, and it is amazing scenery. While walking on it from Bennett, there is a powerplant right near there. However, there are arrows to guide you around it and direct you back on the trail.

Bocce Court+Horseshoes

This is a Bocce Court, and a spot to play Horseshoes as well. This could be a lot of fun to play with the family, or just one other person.

The Bridge

The bridge is a great spot to overlook the park!

Beautiful Scenery

Bennett Park truly is a beautiful place. There are all sorts of wildlife, from the land to the pond. There is also a lot of greenery and beautiful plants. If you're into photography, particularly wildlife, Bennett would be an amazing place for you!

The park is so green and beautiful.

The Bridge has a lovely view. Along with that, there is a shaded spot under it where you can sit.

The bench by the bridge dedicated to Michael Thomas.

Bennett also has bathrooms, which is very useful! It makes it much easier when you have a kid, so you don't have to stop at home just to use the bathroom.

Things to do at Bennett!

Scenic/relaxing:

  1. Take a walk along the Enchanted Trail.

  2. Sit under the bridge.

  3. Listen to music and walk around the park (Sometimes there is water blocking one spot, so make sure to watch out for that).

  4. Sit under the Pavilion and relax.

  5. Set up beach chairs by the pond and sunbathe.

Games:

  1. Play Horseshoes in the area for it.

  2. Use the Bocce Court.

  3. Play soccer (or another game like that) in the open grass area.

With kids:

(To be clear, Bennett isn't always the best park for kids, so if you are there, I would recommend walking over to Meckauer instead. The park demographic is more for adults, as there is not a lot of kid entertainment.)

  1. Let them dip their feet into the water a bit.

  2. Play I Spy with them (Or other games like that).

  3. Play Hide and Seek.

  4. Play Tag! There is a lot of open space for this game.

  5. Show them a bit of the trail.

  6. Pick flowers.

Other:

During lockdown, my friend and I would have "Social Distance Hangouts". Over the summer of 2020, we met up at Bennett every Saturday. We mainly hung out from afar, but we would also sometimes do activities. We brought towels and beach chairs, and we would set up our own "houses" under the bridge. It was a lot of fun for us at the time, so maybe a kid could enjoy that.

Here is a map of Bennett Park. Please note that the playset (the square with the X over it) is no longer there.

Here is the path you walk along for the Enchanted Trail (The white is the path).