Twin Lakes Picnic Grove. List this ?? It is the only known 'Park' of the Central New England Railroad or the railroad stopped at. I think such a place is a total unknown as of modern days but I ran across this old photo. Twin Lakes is within the town of Salisbury, Connecticut.

After the Civil War, there was a railroad that ran along South Shore Road and across Lake Washinee. The Connecticut Western Railroad ran from Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA through Twin Lakes and stopped in Maybrook, NY. On December 21st, 1871 the first train left Hartford at 8:40a.m. and reached Millerton, NY at 3:30p.m. The railroad station in Taconic was a mile south of the post office and it required a bridge that was built on a wooden trestle. This trestle was filled in 1915 which created a causeway and pond that separated the two lakes. This pond that was created attracted many turtles so the pond was named Turtle Pond. The name was changed to Lily Pond after water lilies were planted by Helen Miles. During the late 1800's, the lake became a popular place for recreation. There was a place called Picnic Grove on the south shore that provided a great place for locals to gather. People from the east and west took the train which stopped at Picnic Grove. There was a store, boats to rent, a snack bar and picnic pavilion that had a capacity of several hundred people. Before people had cars, they would place grocery orders with local merchants in Canaan and the train would deliver the orders. Out of area residents from NY and Philadelphia began purchasing cottages on Twin Lakes and the mothers and children would stay the summer and the men would commute to work and rejoin their families on the weekends. In 1967, the railroad went bankrupt and it sold the land to property owners. (Webmaster: The railroad line was a remaining spur of the New Haven Railroad that was abandoned in the 1960's. It was part of a larger line that continued to Millerton, New York and beyond and this section was abandoned in the 1930's. i.e. this individual line did not go bankrupt but was part of a larger system. In fact there was an effort to turn the line into a tourist railroad in the 1960's but there was so much resistance by property owners the effort failed.

CREDITS: Last entry courtesy of the Twin Lakes Association