The Park River (Bushnell Park). Yes Its Real.....

Park River flowing thru Hartford

Check out the picture above. Something seem strange to you? How bout a river running right down the center of Bushnell Park. The Park River once entered Bushnell Park near the State Armory and crossed where Asylum, Ford and Jewell Street now are. The river was a great source of energy for mills in Hartford, but it was also the source of large flooding especially in 1936 and 1938. The Army Corps of Engineers decided to construct an underground tunnel covering the river. The tunnel runs under the park-Pulaski Circle, Main Street, Hartford Public Library and the Conland Whitehead Highway before it empties into the CT River. The entire project was completed in the early 1980s, it spans more than 9 miles and cost an estimated $100 million. If you feel adventurous you can access the river by the University of Hartford and kayak or canoe for about 6 miles in the very polluted river until you reach the tunnel just before the Mark Twain House. 


Here is an article from the New York Times about a journalists voyage down the river:


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/31/nyregion/paddling-hartford-s-scenic-sewer-abused-underground-river-up-close-noxious.html