Boat Ride Rediscovers Past

By Allison Rovner
Contributing Writer

Middlesex County residents interested in a relaxing and informative boat trip aboard the Silver Star filled the Harborpark dock on Sunday.

The three hour round-trip boat ride departed from the dock at 4 p.m., cruising down the river past the Haddams, through the swing bridge at Goodspeed Landing, to Chester and on to the Gillette Castle.

The Deep River Navigation Company is responsible for these cruises, which depart from docks at Hartford, Middletown and Old Saybrook. The Silver Star and the Becky Thatcher are the vessels which operate out of Harborpark in Middletown.

This particular trip was a chartered run which is offered by Deep River from July 4 until Labor Day, seven days a week, and on weekends until Columbus Day. The charter is paid for by the hour.

"It can be chartered by any group you can imagine. We give a narration of the highlights of the river, when it was discovered, some of the statistics of the river; such as in the winter some whole areas are underwater. The river itself will flood 150 times its normal volume due to all of the melting snow and ice up North," said Richard Alden, a four and a half year employee of Deep River.

The history of the river also contains information such as the environment, animal life, ecology and commerce on the river.

"The people traveling along the river do like to know what they’re looking at and a little bit of the history about it," said Ellen Woodward, an historian, narrator, and deckhand who has worked for Deep River for three years.

The history behind the river is quite extensive. In the 1800s, Harborpark was a large shipyard. It was also initially Middletown’s yacht club. The club was closed and relocated in Chester because of the constant flooding.

"This particular trip we’re on today is a chartered cruise. It’s from the Haddam Historical Society. Probably 90% of the people on board are from the Haddam area, so it’s pretty much a history of Haddam. It is the river’s contribution to the development of the town of Haddam," Alden said.

People did not always have the luxury of boating on the Connecticut River. In the 50s and 60s the river was labeled a "D river"; this is the worst grade a river can receive. After the Clean Water Act of 1972 the water was cleaned enough to make the river into a "B river." The only problem with a grade B river is that the water is not drinkable. Only mountain springs can be labeled grade A.

"We also had difficulty with access to the river. The Harborpark commission came along and put up bulkheads here to make Harborpark beautiful for people. So now the river is very attractive to come down to. It’s open for fishing again. It’s become a wonderful spot to enjoy watching nature, watching the boats go by. We regained access to it. It’s pretty nice to have a great river running by us here," Woodward said.