Gardner Lake State Park, Recreational park in Salem, Connecticut.
Gardner Lake State Park is a recreational area along the Gardner Lake waterfront in Salem featuring a beach and boat launch. The park spans about 10 acres and provides access to a large freshwater lake for swimming, fishing, and boating activities.
The site was once a private resort before Connecticut's state government acquired it in the early 2000s. The lake itself has been a long-standing destination for local anglers and boaters.
The park lies on the southern shore of Gardner Lake, a 529-acre water body that Connecticut designates as a bass management lake, so anglers come for bass fishing. The site was a private resort for most of the 20th century before the state bought it in 2001, and today the beach and boat launch draw swimmers and boaters from Salem and nearby towns.
The park occupies 10 acres on the southern edge of Gardner Lake, with a swimming beach and a boat launch on the 529-acre lake. A $1 million state project in 2008 rebuilt the boat launch and parking area. Visitors are expected to pack out their own trash; authorities have asked for more cooperation after reports of disruptive behavior and litter in 2012, 2013 and 2016.
The park covers 10 acres on the lake's southern edge, and the lake itself spans 529 acres as a state-designated bass management lake. The state bought the site in 2001 for $550,000, then spent $1 million in 2008 on the boat launch and parking area, after which public use rose noticeably.
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