164 Crystal Lake Rd, Middletown, CT 06457

Direct waterfront on Crystal Lake! Enjoy living at the lake either year round or summers! Convenient to Route 9, schools or shopping. Features include a brick fireplace in living room with vaulted ceiling, shed & more. Crystal Lake is a 32 acre state owned lake offering boating, fishing, swimming and hiking trails. Before the New England forest reclaimed it, the area around Crystal Lake was once home to a place known as Lakeview Park in Middletown. In 1895, Lakeview Park, the creation of the Middletown Street Railroad Co., opened its gates for summer picnics, vaudeville, baseball games, band concerts, amusements and — of course — swimming and boating. A large, covered stage in the middle of a pine grove provided entertainment from vaudeville acts to miscellaneous troupes. Acts entertained parkgoers daily with parachute jumps, high-diving exhibitions and minstrel shows. Today, this 100-acre park on state-owned Crystal Lake offers fishing, hiking, swimming, a large sand beach, picnic pavilion, picnic tables, horseshoe pits, a handicap accessible fishing dock, restrooms and buildings with amenities. There is also a Little League field, a softball field and a soccer field. The paved, state boat launch is for electric motors only and fishing is allowed, but not ice-fishing. McCutcheon Park is also the scene of many summer youth programs sponsored by the city's recreation department. The park is restricted to Middletown residents during the summer and proof of residence is required for admittance. The hillsides surrounding the park are filled with trails. A half-mile "orange-blazed" trail starts near the first baseball diamond and goes through a wooded area with huge trees. A 1.3-mile "red-blazed" trail goes through some beautiful specimens of mountain laurel and past a large rock overhang. The red trail entrance is near the parking area. Visitors along the red trail can also take a half-mile green trail that travels through a forest and along a field. A yellow-blazed trail farther along the path and about a mile long can be also accessed off the red trail. According to a guidebook put out by the city, the trail passes rock formations dating back to the early Jurassic period about 201 million years ago.