Secret splendor

DoMost recreation in town comes courtesy of the Niantic River and Long Island Sound. The town's most central waterfront property lies around McCook Point Park (off McCook Place, which is off Main Street), a large, grassy bluff overlooking the water between two beaches: McCook Point Beach, west of the bluff, and Hole-in-the-Wall Beach, to the east. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, town beaches require passes bought from the town's Parks and Recreation Office (41 Society Road, 860-739-5828, eltownhall.com). The town beaches are relatively small, but the beach at the 710-acre Rocky Point State Park (see STAY) doesn't require you to sidle up quite so close to other sun-worshipers. Go early, though; the parking lot fills quickly in summer. The park also includes some caves that once hid Tories during the American Revolution and bootleg liquor during Prohibition. The Niantic Bay Boardwalk, part synthetic "boardwalk" and part gravel path, stretches a little more than a mile along the sound. You can park for free at both ends of the boardwalk, which ends on the west at Hole-in-the-Wall beach. The Niantic River Estuary Canoe/Kayak Trail (a map is available at eltownhall.com/Maps/Kayak%20Trail.pdf) leads boaters past the sites of old shipyards and historical spots in town, including the former home of the Golden Spur Amusement Park, where in the early 1900s the World Famous Diving Horses leapt from a 20-foot tower. As you paddle along, you may catch a glimpse of a bald eagle, an osprey, or a seal. If you're happier on land, hike through the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve (main entrance at Veterans' Memorial Park, off Pennsylvania Avenue, oswhills.org), where trails circle through 400 acres above the river and the sound.