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01/10/2024 08:30 AMChatfield Hollow State Park is one of the state’s most popular recreation areas, known for challenging rock climbing opportunities, its 18 miles of hiking trails, fishing spots, and swimming hole. Holden Buckley of Clinton started a petition last year to urge officials to repair the park’s most beloved feature, the covered “Kissing Bridge” that crosses a small creek on the property. And Hartford legislators have just announced his efforts have paid off.
According to Holden, word came last month from Hartford that the state will repair the quickly deteriorating span this coming year with the help of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and the dedication of volunteers like Holden, who coaxed officials to fix the beloved landmark.
Holden says he and his family have cherished Chatfield Hollow for decades. His grandmother, Cheryl, was instrumental in developing his appreciation for the park, and she and her late friend Rhonda Barker-Levine created the Friends of Chatfield Hollow in 2017 to help bring attention to the park’s needs, according to the first-year Fordham University student.
“It is such an iconic bridge. You see it in all of the brochures. When you come and see it, there are not many bridges like this, and it is really a jewel of the park,” says Holden. “This is supposed to be a park to come to and relax and to ease your mind about things; sometimes it’s nice to see something beautiful. And the bridge really fits into that. It blends right into the woods, and it fits so effortlessly into the environment. There are so many cool structures in the park; there’s waterwheels and creeks, and the bridge is definitely one of them. It’s an incredible park. I absolutely love coming here. I come here with my dog alone sometimes and just hike and it’s a nice hour to just relax and destress from the day. My family has been coming here for years, and they love it too.”
The bridge has been a popular backdrop for wedding photos, its “kissing bridge” reputation for lovers seeking a discrete PDA, and for marriage proposals. Holden says getting it restored is simply something that needed to be done.
“It really is the jewel of Chatfield, but unfortunately, over the years, it had kind of become an eyesore. It’s gotten moldy and run down. It used to be something you wanted to look at and then became something you really didn’t want to look at, so it was just about giving the park a facelift, and that’s what the Friends of Chatfield Hollow organization’s all about,” says Holden. “The group sponsors activities throughout the whole year, doing things to help out the whole park, not just in getting help with getting the petition out there.”
According to Holden, with the guidance of his grandmother, his family, and the Friends of Chatfield Hollow, they slowly began to develop momentum to restore the bridge. He began his involvement in 2022 but says that when his grandmother began showing him photos of the bridge and its condition in 2017, he was inspired to find a solution.
“She brought me down here because we hike down here a decent amount, and we were down here one time, and she pointed out to me all of the deterioration and the damage and said that we were having trouble getting money to repair it. So, we came up with the idea of starting a Change.org petition together," Holden says. "She is just so passionate about this, and it inspired me to help out too.”
Change.org is a nonprofit organization that assists citizens in mobilizing campaigns for all manner of causes to “drive solutions” for community issues, chiefly by developing petitions. Holden says the group was crucial to helping the Friends of Chatfield Hollow focus their efforts and effect a response from elected officials.
“You really kind of find that people want to help,” says Holden. “But a lot of times, things just aren’t brought to their attention. So, when we created the petition and started sharing it, it really started exploding and got a lot of support for the bridge. We had heard about their organization and saw some petitions that went places, so we decided why not give it a whirl?”
Holden says he and the team of Friends are extremely grateful to the elected officials who responded to their concerns. According to Holden, the assistance of Change.org in helping to focus their efforts and the response from Hartford made all the difference in saving the bridge.
“Together, we made a push to write to two senators, Senator [Christine] Cohen (D-12) and [former] Senator [Christine] Goupil (D-35), of the state senate and try to bring this to a legislative level to get some attention for it. They were able to help get the funding needed for the survey and repair, and it looks like that the repairs will be finished sometime in the fall of 2024,” says Holden. “We eventually got over 1,000 signatures on our Change.org petition. They definitely were helpful and, obviously, in getting the project to go through, it was great to see state legislature listen to us and understand what we were trying to accomplish.”
Holden says the organization’s efforts aren’t over yet, and the park is facing future challenges and opportunities.
“We hope people still keep looking at Friends of Chatfield Hollow because this is just the start of what we want to do in the park,” says Holden. “There’s always an annual cleanup of the lake, and they are always looking for volunteers for various projects. “It is a place for the whole state of Connecticut to come to. Connecticut has a lot of great state parks like this, and it’s important to keep them there for everyone to use and for everyone to enjoy.”
Chatfield Hollow is located at 381 Route 80, Killingworth. Considered to be one of Connecticut’s most beloved parks, it features a section of the famed CT Blue Trail and a host of recreational opportunities for all abilities. For more info, visit www.ctparks.com/parks/chatfield-hollow-state-park.
For more information about The Friends of Chatfield Hollow, visit www.facebook.com/friendsofchatfieldhollow.