The Founding of Sleeping Giant State Park

In 2024, Sleeping Giant State Park turned 100 years old! Creating the park was not easy nor quick. This is a dynamic story of early 20th-century conflicting priorities and hard-reached resolutions: destructive commercial interests, the public’s passion for preservation, and thorny legal battles. The cast includes Mt. Carmel businessmen, Yale scholars, captains of industry, and the Park Association’s founding members whose love for the Giant ultimately prevailed. This talk will follow twenty-five years of fascinating twists and turns that culminated with the beautiful park we love today.

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Trina Learned’s passion for Sleeping Giant State Park came out of a photography course, when assigned hikes led to curiosity led to curiosity about the origin of park buildings and the abandoned quarry. When not on the giant, Trina is the Executive Director of Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven and sits of the Sleeping Giant Park Assoc. board.

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