Eichler’s Cove May Welcome Swimmers

By Next Summer

By Kendra Bobowick

Eichler’s Cove no longer looks like the former private marina and boat launch that it had been before the town purchased the rustic, tucked-away property along Lake Zoar. In past months Parks and Recreation Department workers, Newtown Highway Department crews, and contracted workers have reconfigured the beach and boating areas to make room for swimmers eager to slip into fresh water since Dickinson Pond was closed and filled in.

“We’re moving the [boat] ramp to create a division for swimming,” said Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson. The once privately owned marina and picnic grounds offered 60-plus boat slips, a boat ramp, and small swimming area, but the configuration placed the swimming spot too close to avenues for boat traffic.

In past months site work has expanded the beach area and relocated the ramp. Currently crews have also dredged sediment from a sandbar and piled the material onsite, which will be sifted and used on the beach, thanks to a $160,000 Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCIP) state grant. Mr Samuelson is aiming to open the beach this summer. “Once it’s finished it will be a nice facility.”

The pocket of land stitched along an inlet where Lake Zoar meets the Halfway River to form Eichler’s Cove would also make a nice picnic area. Mr Samuelson is hoping that any remaining LoCIP funds might pay for additional picnic tables for the grounds surrounding the beach and boating areas.

The cove sits at the end of Old Bridge Road in an out-of-the-way spot off Route 34 nearly into Monroe. Mr Samuelson believes the public will like it. “It’s a nice property. It’s isolated and so remote you don’t know how close you are to other things.” The approaching summer will find private management handling the town-owned marina, which the recreation department will take over completely in coming seasons.