By: Maria Moore
On a beautiful spring day this past Thursday, April 9, our reporter was taken on a tour of Brodie Park by Jayson Beechinor, a loyal Friend of Brodie Park (see our upcoming article on the volunteer group, Friends of Brodie, and their ongoing contributions to the park). Please join Jayson and our reporter on this visual tour of Brodie Park.
Background on Brodie Park:
Brodie Park, which is located up high on West Hill on the shores of West Hill Pond, is one of New Hartford’s premier parks. The 50-acre park was created in 1986 when the town bought the 200-acre Camp Berkshire facility from Richard Brodie for $1.7 million. The Brodie family had operated the sleep-away camp from the 1920s through 1970. When Mr. Brodie sold the property to the town, we were told, he did so with the the stipulation that the land should always be preserved for the recreational use of the people of New Hartford. The remaining 150 acres of the Brodie property, also town-owned, is located across the road from the park and is the site of the Franklin P. Kearney Conservation Trail, established in 1988.
The Tour Begins:
Our reporter parked in the lot on West Hill Road. This parking lot adjoins the Brodie House on the corner of Niles and West Hill roads. The house is also town-owned and it is presently the center of a controversy in town due to its having been rented to a town employee at substantially below market value; see our April 6 article First Selectman Draws Fire on Brodie House… Opposite Brodie House, also on the corner of Niles and West Hill, is the larger parcel of the Brodie property, The Kearney Conservation Trail, which is available for hiking and horseback riding.
On the other side of the parking lot is Berkshire Hall where Jayson Beechinor, our guide for this tour, was patiently waiting. Berkshire Hall is a large, wooden building where the Recreation Department is located. The building has been renovated since our reporter was last inside it many years ago, 
and the change is amazing! The inside of Berkshire Hall now has a well-lit, clean look and yet with its large stone fireplace, it still retains its old camp atmosphere. The Hall also now has a fully equipped kitchen. The building can accommodate about 140 people and is available for rental for weddings, parties and other occasions. The rental income goes directly to the Recreation Commission which can then use it to maintain and enhance the town’s recreational facilities. Keep Berkshire Hall in mind next time you’re looking to rent a large space for your special gathering or, as Jayson pointed out, if you don’t need to rent a building, the green - the large grassy area in front of Berkshire Hall - is perfect for family gatherings and you’ll also have the use of the basketball court, the volleyball court, and other recreational facilities all for free.
The sides of the green are lined with small wooden cottages, a number of which have been rented out to local non-profit groups. Some of those groups include the Lions Club, the Cub Scouts, and most recently, the Friends of Brodie. The remaining cottages are used by the Rec. Dept.’s summer camp program. Our reporter returned to Brodie Park with her husband on Sunday, April 12 to make a complete inventory of the cottages, which is something she has been wanting to do for years. As they walked around, she taking photos and Bob writing down the cottage numbers and description, they met another couple who had left their children playing in the Funlandia playground while they went from cottage to cottage, looking inside the ones they could. Our reporter asked if they were local and they said yes, they were from West Hill. They then added that they’d always been curious about the cottages, who used them and what they were used for. For all the town residents who like us are curious about the Brodie Park cottages, we will publish a photo of each cottage, clearly numbered and with a short description of who uses the cottage, etc. Please see our Brodie Park photo album in our Photo Gallery.
Funlandia:
Jayson was justifiably proud of the Funlandia playground which the Friends of Brodie had erected in the park. The Friends had masterminded every detail of that project, from obtaining a $180,000 grant from the State of Connecticut for the playground, to bringing together 250 volunteers for a 4-day marathon to build the playground. The series of signs erected in the playground are a testament to all the individuals and businesses who had worked to make the playground a reality. Even the name, Funlandia, had been chosen from among hundreds submitted by students of local schools.
To say that the Funlandia playground is an asset to the park doesn’t come close to describing how much enjoyment that playground brings to our community. On the day Jayson was showing our reporter around the playground, at about midday on a school day, the playground was filled with preschool children playing on bright, interesting play equipment, while their parents talked with other adults, sat on the beautiful benches, or played alongside their children. On Sunday, when our reporter went back to the park, there were school-aged children and their parents swinging on the swings and rock-climbing on the wall. Jayson has every right to be proud of the small group of Friends who made such a wonderful contribution to New Hartford families.
Brodie has much to offer sports enthusiasts on both land and water: on land there are tennis courts, a basketball court, a volleyball court, a soccer field, and soon, a SK8 [skate] park; on the water there’s a beach for swimming, canoeing (with a canoe rental area), and a marina that can accommodate 8 boats. There are also incredible trails for those who enjoy a good walk through the woods and along the lake shore.
During the summer months, the Recreation Department runs a very successful summer day camp program in which town youths are hired to work with the young campers.
Brodie Park’s operations are overseen by the Recreation Commission through its Recreation Director, Dennis Minor. The Friends of Brodie, by their constant and positive contributions, have become an indispensible presence at the park. As in other areas of life in New Hartford, it is our volunteers who help make Brodie Park such a special destination.
Note: Please see our article next Sunday, April 19, on “The Friends of Brodie Park Find Constancy Pays Off.” The article will describe how the Friends came into being, and the projects they have ongoing, including Jayson’s own special project, the rehabbing of the Field House.
Many thanks to Jayson Beechinor for his enthusiasm and goodwill in taking us on this tour of his special park.
Many thanks also to the Friends of Brodie for showing what a handful of volunteers can accomplish when they have a vision and are willing to put in the hard work to realize that vision.
The photos with this article are all of Brodie Park; they show Bob standing on the marina gazing out over the lake; the Brodie Park sign which will soon be replaced - the new sign, we hope, will include the Friends of Brodie in their text; the Brodie House on the corner of West Hill and Niles roads; the classic lines of Berkshire Hall; the Lions Club cabin; the ever-popular yellow school bus in the Funlandia playground; the path leading down to the marina on the lake. All photos taken by our photographer on Thursday, April 9, and Sunday, April 12, 2009.
Thanks to Joan Auclair for edits which have added a fresh and clean touch to this article.
Mike,
An old newspaper article says it was once “…an extinct volcano…”
From the Tribune, 1883: “The sheet of water in the northwestern part of town was called Wonk-sunk-a-mug by the Indians before the place was inhabited by the white settlers. There is a legend that an old Indian chief by the name of Sunk-a-mug once lived hereabouts and was buried on Pike Island. The wooden slopes adjoining the lake once was a hunting ground for the Indian tribe of which Sunk-a-mug was the chief.
Daniel Shepard, who came from Farmington in 1738 and removed to the east shore of the lake was known as the first white settler on its banks. From this family came the name Shepard’s Pond. As the Shepard family removed from the neighborhood and gradually ceased to be identified with it, the name West Hill Pond or West Hill Lake came into common acceptance.
West Hill Lake, whose perpendicular bottom was once an extinct volcano, is probably the most beautiful in the State for its long shoreline is heavily fringed with trees. Its setting is like Maine. The water is dark greenish cast and very clear for it is spring fed. The volcanic pit was huge for the lake measures one and one fifth miles long and one half mile wide.
West Hill Lake has its mystery for about twenty feet from the south shore of the lake is a rock well underwater which when the water is still shows as its top, the great imprint of a man’s foot. The size of the toes and the heel belong to a giant of the Ice Age and the imprint has been there for thousands of years.”
I can’t tell you how much I love being at Brodie Park. I can be swimming, hiking or going to the free concerts in July. It’s a place to relax and enjoy the clean fresh air of the outdoors of New Hartford. We are so lucky and blessed to have this little piece of heaven on earth. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Does anyone know if West Hill Lake used to be a caldrone of a volcano?
Camp Berkshire was like no other camp! I started camp there in Bunk 8 (which is still standing) in 1963 and stayed at camp until 1970. They were the BEST years! My best friend today is someone I met at Camp Berkshire. My children now go to camp across town in Torrington, but there is not a summer goes by that I don’t take them to Camp Berkshire, now Brodie Park - and walk with my girls telling them all the tales of 1963 to 1970. (I am sure they can mouth the words as I tell them each summer). I sing them the songs I learned in those years - as they are amazed that I remember every Blue and White Color War songs. These memories are just unforgetable and so precious to me and many, many others!
I just found this site. I was a camper at Camp Berkshire starting at 6 years old and went there for 10 years, starting in 1944. The memories of the camp and buildings are an everlasting tribute to my childhood and the days spent there. Of course, 8 weeks there seemed like an eternity to a 6 year old.
I can still hear the shouting when they announced in Aug of ‘45 that the war was over.
Some of the buildings in the few pictures I saw, look like the Girls Rec Hall where we had all the Dances. I would love to talk with some of the guides to help bring back the memories of those wonderful years.
Richard Brodie became a director later when he returned from the service. His father had two other partners as directors in my early years there.
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