Sandy Moy Executive Director
Address:	70 Southern Blvd. Danbury, CT
Telephone:	203-744-3130
Webpage:	Tarrywile Park & Mansion

Description
    Tarrywile Park is the answer to any nature lover’s dream. The Park offers 722 acres of fields and meadows giving way to spectacular views, dense forests of hemlock, oak and maple, steep hillsides punctuated by dramatic outcrops of granite, and glistening streams and ponds. There are twenty-one miles of cleared hiking trails and several picnic areas. The Park allows opportunities for observing wildlife, enjoying the scenery or an aggressive workout on rugged terrain. There are also many structured activities that the park is home to, such as, National Trails Day, Winterfest and the Boy Scout Klondike & Jamboree. Several area high schools use the park as their home course for cross-country meets. The Tarrywile Park Authority and staff, which manage the Park for the City of Danbury, are proud to offer most Park events free of charge. Guided hikes are offered monthly and a story hour for preschoolers is held three months out of the year all free of charge. Other programming opportunities are offered through out the year and published in the Calendar of Events which is available on the Park’s website. 
    Within the boundaries of Tarrywile Park stand both the Tarrywile Mansion and Hearthstone Castle. These structures are listed on the National Register for Historic Preservation. The Mansion is a community center for the City of Danbury where many meetings, weddings and social events are held. It is surrounded by formal gardens, an orchard and beautiful specimen trees. The Authority has set up a fee schedule for use of the building that allows Danbury residents and non-profits very reasonable rates.
    A children’s garden is located along the Mansion front lawn and is the site of many an exploration by young botanists. An adaptive reuse study has been completed for Hearthstone Castle through a grant from the CT Trust for Historic Preservation and a Castle Task Force has been set up to look into the possibility of restoration of this magnificent structure. 
    A comprehensive Master Plan for the Park was developed by the Tarrywile Park Authority and adopted by the City of Danbury in 2004. The plan calls for the continuation of the original mission of the Authority to promote the preservation of historic sites and structures; to provide passive recreational opportunities and appropriate community activities; and to protect the environment and promote a greater appreciation of natural resources.
    Many folks are surprised to hear that the 722 acres of land and seventeen buildings are cared for by a staff of four, which includes the Executive Director, our Administrative Secretary/Event Coordinator, a Grounds and Buildings Foreman and a Grounds and Buildings Caretaker. The staff works very closely with many volunteers who help to maintain the Park including Eagle Scouts, Girl and Boy Scouts, its nine member Volunteer Hike Leaders, as well as corporations and those looking to complete community service hours – be it school, church or court appointed. Without the help of these fine volunteers the Park would not be able to maintain this Park as the largest municipally owned Park in the State of Connecticut. The Park sends out a big round of applause to all of our volunteers for their efforts no matter how large or small. Our motto is “many hands make light work”.

Successes
     Over the past year, the Authority and staff has worked to reinvigorate the Friends of Tarrywile, Inc. which held their first fundraiser in the spring and will host an Octoberfest at the Mansion this fall. Staff also assisted the Danbury Fire Department with a fire that happened in the spring, burning over 7 acres of Park land. 
    Junior Girl Scout Troop 50545 spent several days in the Park this past spring hiking all of the trails and submitted feedback to the staff on the state of our trail markings. The project was just what Park staff were looking for – fresh eyes – to see where they needed to make improvements. The Park has started the process of remarking the trails system and including items that these Park volunteers offered as suggestions. 
    In the fall of 2008, the City will construct the Gerald J. Daly pavilion named in honor of the Authority’s recently retired chairman of nineteen years. It will provide space for small public and school events, including bird watching as well as other environmental education programs. Also in the fall of 2008, the City will build a storage facility in the farm area for Park staff use. The Park silo, rebuilt after a windstorm took it down several years ago, will be opened as a gallery/farm museum to provide Park visitors with a sense of the history of the Park as one of Connecticut’s largest privately owned dairy farms once known as Tarrywile Dairy.