Meigs Point Nature Center is an exciting and vital environmental learning center open to all ages at Hammonasset Beach State Park, one of the most beautiful sites within the Connecticut State Park system. Many of the programs at the Nature Center are funded through donations from the Friends of Hammonasset.
The Meigs Point Nature Center is an environmental education facility run and operated by the Department of Environmental Protection. It is our belief that one of the best ways to protect and preserve our environment and natural resource is through education. The more people know about the importance and uniqueness of Connecticut’s environments the more they will want to preserve them.
The first nature center at Hammonasset Beach State Park was in 1952 when the teenage daughter of the camp manager converted the first room of the old farm house, where her and her family lived, into an amateur Nature Center.
In 1972 the Meigs Point Nature Center was opened as a summer facility. Then in 2005 with the help of The Friends of Hammonasset the building was winterized and began a year round schedule. This has expanded every year until the current schedule.
The Nature Center is host to a variety of native animals, including: turtles, snakes, amphibians, crabs and fish. Most of the animals at the Nature Center cannot be released because of previous injuries or for other reasons, but are well cared for.
In season, there is a Touch Tank that allows some of the smaller wonders of the sea to be brought inside for up-close viewing and learning. All creatures in the Touch Tank are regularly rotated and then returned to Long Island Sound.