Hatters Community Park
East Hayestown Road, Danbury, Fairfield County, Connecticut
Directions:
Heading west on US 84 in Danbury; get off at exit 6; turn right; in a short distance turn right onto Hayestown Road; drive 0.3 of a mile and turn left onto East Hayestown Road; drive about 0.5 of a mile and turn right into the parking lot for the park.
History:
Historical Plaque. Creative Recreation Foundation of Greater Danbury. The plaque thanks the sponsors and the over 200 volunteers who worked so hard and put up in one day, the playgrounds for Kenosia, Hatters and Highland Playgrounds. 10/14/1989
Facilities:
bowling alley, banquet hall, swings, three ball fields
Trails:
6/08/05. Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I started a brief tour of Hatters Park. We parked at the parking area on East Hayestown Road. At the parking lot is a bowling alley and a Banquet Hall. The park is set by Doyles Pond. On the western side of the lake there is a lot of lawn, but on the eastern side there is a wood's edge between the pond itself and houses. We started to walk around the lake clockwise. We found an opening in the park vegetation border and saw that we could actually walk to the Danbury Town Park at Lake Candlewood by heading through a large parking lot and crossing Hayestown Road. (I thought I would keep this in mind in case I returned the next day.) We found a small trail that enters the woods on the eastern side of the pond. We were able to walk through the woods for about 200 yards or more, but at a wide path from the backyard of a house to the pond's edge, the path ran out.
We went back and forth looking for a path but only found the possible remnants of a path. We pushed onward but did not get far as we soon came to a huge tree fallen over the "path". We turned around and went back, as we were running out of time and had to return home. (Saw what looked like a huge red slider turtle, but we did not get a real close look.) Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
I returned to this park because I had not been able to get to the other end of it. I was hoping one could walk all around the lake. But I soon found out that there is at least one house and one business at the far end of the park. So now I know why there is no finished path through the woods by the lake. A path just to a private home makes little sense. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
*= plant blooming on date of field trip, 6/08 /2005 and 6/09/2005
Trees:
Acer negundo (ash-leaf maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) *waning
Salix alba var. (weeping willow)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)
Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaved dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Hibiscus syriacus (rose of Sharon)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) *
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry) *
Salix discolor (pussy willow)
Taxus sp. (yew) planted as hedges
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (smooth arrowwood viburnum) *
Viburnum sp. (plicatum?) (double-file viburnum)
Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Euonymus fortunii (Fortune's euonymus)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)
Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Antennaria sp. (pussytoes)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Cerastium vulgatum (mouse-ear chickweed) *
Chelidonium majus (celandine) *
Erigeron philadelphicus (common fleabane) *
Galium aparine (cleavers) *
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket) *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)
Lycopus sp. (bugleweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Myosotis scorpioides (forget-me-not) *
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil) *
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Rumex acetosella (sheep sorrel) *
Rumex crispus (crisped-leaved dock)
Sisyrinchium sp. (blue-eyed grass) *
Solanum dulcamara (bitter nightshade) *
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell) *
Vicia cracca (cow vetch) *
Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)
Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea (fox sedge)
Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)
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