Stonington Awarded $500K State Grant For Boathouse Park

STONINGTON, CT — The town has been awarded a $500,000 grant Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant for Boathouse Park. The funds will go toward creating "a vibrant public park along the Mystic River," according to a statement from the town.

First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough put forward a grant application this summer, which highlighted the "range of positive benefits the park would bring and noted the many key partners that have and will make this vision a reality."

The property adjoins Mystic Seaport Museum. The town-owned and maintained location, a reclaimed brownfield site, offers public access to the river through the park grounds and a public dock for kayaks, canoes, and rowing. It will also be home to the nonprofit Stonington Rowing Center.

“For more than seven years, Stonington has been working hard to establish Mystic River Boathouse Park with the goal of giving the public access to the water in a safe and eco-friendly way. This vital state funding will allow that dream to come true,” State Rep. Aundré Bumgardner(D-Groton, Stonington) said in a statement.

The town of Stonington will provide $2.2 million in town funds to purchase and develop the park, and there is another $753,889 going into this project, according to Bumgardner's statement.

For more information, go to the town's website.