Mount Tom State Park

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title: "Mount Tom State Park" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["state-parks-of-connecticut", "parks-in-litchfield-county,-connecticut", "litchfield,-connecticut", "washington,-connecticut", "morris,-connecticut", "national-register-of-historic-places-in-litchfield-county,-connecticut", "towers-in-connecticut", "buildings-and-structures-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-connecticut", "protected-areas-established-in-1915", "1915-establishments-in-connecticut"] description: "State park in Litchfield County, Connecticut" topic_path: "general/state-parks-of-connecticut" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tom_State_Park" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary State park in Litchfield County, Connecticut ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox park"]

Field	Value
name	Mount Tom State Park
photo	2013-06-22 Mt. Tom State Park (37).JPG
photo_caption	Mount Tom Tower
photo_width	280
photo_alt	Tower
map	USA Connecticut#USA
relief	1
label	Mount Tom State Park
location	Litchfield, Morris and Washington, Connecticut, United States
coordinates
coords_ref
area	231 acre
elevation	1289 ft
established	1915
designation	Connecticut state park
administrator	Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
website
embed	yes
name	Mount Tom Tower
location	Mount Tom State Park, Litchfield County, Connecticut
built	1921
builder	John DaRoss from Litchfield, CT
architect	Alfred M. Turner
architecture	Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Jacobean Revival
added	December 12, 1993
area	20 acre
refnum	93001247
::

| name = Mount Tom State Park | photo = 2013-06-22 Mt. Tom State Park (37).JPG | photo_caption = Mount Tom Tower | photo_width = 280 | photo_alt = Tower | map = USA Connecticut#USA | relief = 1 | label = Mount Tom State Park | location = Litchfield, Morris and Washington, Connecticut, United States | nearest_city = | coordinates = | coords_ref = | area = 231 acre | elevation = 1289 ft | established = 1915 | free_label = | free_data = | designation = Connecticut state park | administrator = Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | visitation_ref = | status = | website = | embedded = | embed = yes | name = Mount Tom Tower | nrhp_type = | image = | caption = | location = Mount Tom State Park, Litchfield County, Connecticut | locmapin = | built = 1921 | builder = John DaRoss from Litchfield, CT | architect = Alfred M. Turner | architecture = Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Jacobean Revival | added = December 12, 1993 | area = 20 acre | refnum = 93001247

Mount Tom State Park is a public recreation area lying south of US Route 202 in the towns of Washington, Litchfield, and Morris, Connecticut. The state park occupies 231 acre on the southwest shore of Mount Tom Pond and is home to the Mount Tom Tower, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. It is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

History

The park is one of the oldest in the Connecticut state park system, having been among the 15 created between 1913 and 1918 by Connecticut's first State Park Commission. The park's land had been donated in 1911 for use as a state park by Charles H. Senff. Following Senff's death, his widow, Gustavia A. Senff, saw the transfer of the property through to completion, with the state legislature finalizing the action in 1917. It was the first to open.

Mount Tom Tower

A condition of the Senff gift was that a permanent observation tower be maintained at the summit of Mount Tom. The State Park Commission recommended that a stone tower be built to replace a wooden structure that had stood at the spot since 1888. The commission's secretary, Alfred M. Turner, drew up plans which were not closely followed. John DaRoss (John DaRoss & Sons) of Litchfield constructed the tower of rough black gneiss found at the site. The tower stands 34 ft high and 15 ft in diameter; it was completed in 1921. Visitors can climb to the top for views that extend to Mount Everett in Massachusetts, the Catskills in New York, and Long Island Sound.

Geology

The park is notable for the presence of the metamorphic rocks gneiss and schist, the minerals quartz, garnet and hornblende, and boulders carried to the site by Ice Age glaciers.

Activities and amenities

The park offers fishing, swimming, and canoeing on 56 acre Mount Tom Pond, hiking the nearly one-mile-long loop trail that ascends Mount Tom to the observation tower, and picnicking.

References

References

1. {{cite gnis. 211500. Mount Tom
2. Ransom, David F.. (June 19, 1993). ["Mount Tom Tower"]({{NRHP url). National Park Service.
3. "Mount Tom State Park". Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
4. (July 2014). "Connecticut State Parks: A Centennial Overview". Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
5. (January 27, 2016). "Mount Tom State Park Map". Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
6. (September 2011). "Mount Tom Pond". Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
7. (January 23, 2014). "Appendix A: List of State Parks and Forests". Connecticut General Assembly.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::