PARK AND CEMETERY, 
169 
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natural beauties of the Ten Mile Woods have been 
long appreciated by lovers of natural scenery. It 
contains pretty well all the varieties of plant and 
tree life indigenous to this section of New England. 
It would make a fine park of itself and is rich with 
the combination of hill and vale and all the little 
bits of scenic change, that make a woodland walk 
or drive of such infinite charm. It is indeed rare 
to find such park land so close to a thriving city of 
the extent of Hartford, and it is an exceedingly 
fortunate matter that the trustees of this bequest 
were enabled to secure these adjacent tracts, to the 
end of creating a park capable of improvement on 
lines of the most refined landscape art and to include 
every desirable adjunct for the recreation, pleasure 
and comfort of the people for whose enjoyment it 
is designed. The following description of this 
woody section from the Hartford Daily Courant is 
worth of repetition: “Near the Barbour street 
entrance, which is across Tower avenue, is the 
Dingle, a tangled bit of sprout land, well grown 
and very picturesque, leading to Bourne Grove’ 
which skirts along the avenue. This grove is of 
narrow width and just north of it is one of the 
beauty spots of the park, Sylvan Court, a long strip 
of open upland completely surrounded by forest. 
It has been a charming rendezvous for wood parties 
for many years, and has in it a reminder of bits of 
English scenery which have been reproduced in 
prints and are familiar to all readers. To the 
northwest of Sylvan Court there is an uninterrupted 
growth of forest nearly a mile in length and per- 
haps half a mile in width, which is broken only by 
the roadway and walks of the park. This tract of 
forest is so dense that since the park has been open 
to the public persons have been lost in it.” 
The East open comprises a variety of scenery 
and is intersected by Meadow Brook. The most 
attractive feature, perhaps, of the park as a whole, 
lies not far from the Windsor avenue entrance, and 
is called Hemlock Gorge. It is formed by Meadow 
Brook cutting through a ledge of shaley trap rock 
on the one side and a steep hill on the other. It is 
from 40 to 50 feet deep, and is overhung at intervals 
by pine and hemlock trees, through which the sun 
breaks and lights up the miniature pools and rapids 
of the brook. Ridges and plateaus overlook the 
gorge, from which are obtained lovely and far- 
reaching views of the Connecticut valley. 
Keney Park has been improved on plans pre- 
pared by Messrs. Olmsted Brothers, landscape ar- 
chitects, of Boston, under the direction of Mr. G. 
A. Parker, superintendent. 
Besides Keney Park, Hartford possesses some 
430 acres of park property, the other principal parks 
being: Bushnell Park, containing 14%' acres, Eliza- 
beth Park, of 93 acres ; Pope Park, 89 acres; River- 
side Park, 68 acres, and South Park, not yet definite- 
ly named, which includes at present 131 acres, but 
which will probably be increased to 200 acres. The 
oldest park of any extent is Bushnell, which adjoins 
the Capitol grounds, and was laid out in 1854. 
