Shelton, CT
Day Adventure: Shelton
A waterfall on the Housatonic, a proper deli sandwich, farm ice cream, and a pick-your-own farm that changes with the seasons. One town, one tank of gas barely touched.
Drive time
You're already here
Difficulty
Easy all day
Distance
Maybe 12 miles of driving total, all day
Admission
Indian Well is free for CT residents; everything else is pay-for-what-you-eat
Parking
Free everywhere on this route
Bathrooms
Indian Well seasonally, downtown at Veterans Park, farms have portables
Picnic
Indian Well picnic grove or the Riverwalk benches
Dogs
Trails and Riverwalk yes; not at the food stops
The trip
This is the first entry in what I'm calling Day Adventures: one town, one day, stop by stop, the way we actually do it. And it starts in Shelton because that's home, and because home towns are criminally underrated as adventure destinations by the people who live in them.
The shape of the day: waterfall energy in the morning, a real deli sandwich at lunch, farm ice cream as the afternoon anchor, whatever Jones Family Farms is growing as the seasonal wildcard, and a golden-hour walk on the Riverwalk to land the plane.
The best adventure day we've had this year started and ended within fifteen minutes of our driveway. Nobody believes you until they do it.
The trick that makes a hometown day work is treating it like you're visiting. Pack the backpack, fill the water bottles, take the pictures. The kids don't grade on distance. A waterfall fifteen minutes away and a waterfall two hours away are the same waterfall to a five-year-old, except one version ends with everyone home for bedtime.
The plan
Stop by stop
- 1State Park
Indian Well State Park
Morning · 2-3 hrsStart with the falls: the short trail to Indian Well Falls is a proper little cascade in a rock hollow, best in the morning before the lot fills. Then the river beach on the Housatonic for rock throwing and (in summer) a swim. The picnic grove works if you'd rather carry lunch in.
Rainy swap: Skip the falls trail, keep the covered pavilion stop short, and move lunch up.
Map - 2Deli
Gaetano's Deli
Lunch · 30-45 minThe sandwich stop. Order ahead if it's a Saturday because the line is the town's worst-kept secret. Take the haul back to the Riverwalk benches or eat in; either way get the fresh mozzarella on something.
Map - 3Farm Ice Cream
Wells Hollow Creamery
Early afternoon · 45 minFarm ice cream on the farm that makes it. The kids get cones bigger than their heads and there are animals to watch while they lose the race against the drips. This is the stop the day secretly revolves around.
Map - 4Pick-Your-Own Farm
Jones Family Farms
Afternoon · 1-2 hrsThe seasonal engine of the whole day: strawberries in June, blueberries in July, pumpkins and hayrides in the fall, cut-your-own Christmas trees in winter. Check what's in season before you go, and accept that you will leave with more produce than planned.
Rainy swap: Fields close in heavy rain; slide the Riverwalk up and add the Sports Center of CT (mini golf, arcade) instead.
Map - 5River Walk
Shelton Riverwalk & Veterans Memorial Park
Golden hour · 45 minFlat, stroller-friendly walk along the Housatonic downtown. The kids are tired enough to hold hands by now, the light is doing its thing on the river, and the day gets its closing scene.
Map - 6Rec Path
Shelton Lakes Recreation Path
Wildcard · As long as the legs lastThe flex stop, if anyone still has energy: a flat gravel path through the Shelton Lakes greenway, good for bikes with training wheels and the last of the snack supply. Skip guilt-free if the crew is done.
Rainy swap: Sports Center of CT: mini golf, arcade, and ice rink under one roof.
Map
Checking this weekend's weather…
Kid rating
★★★★★
Snack rating
★★★★★
Dad rating
★★★★★
Would we go again?
Absolutely
“This is just called Saturday at our house. Next up in the series: the Valley, town by town.”
Dad tips
- ▸Do Indian Well FIRST. The lot fills on summer weekends and the falls trail is better with morning energy anyway.
- ▸Call Gaetano's ahead on weekends. The line moves, but not with a hungry four-year-old attached to you.
- ▸Check the Jones Family Farms crop calendar the night before. The farm sets the season's version of this day.
- ▸Ice cream BEFORE the farm, not after. Contrarian, but a kid with a cone is patient, and a kid picking berries after ice cream isn't sticky-handed in the fields... okay, they are, but less.
- ▸Keep stop 6 optional and say so out loud early. A day that ends at five stops feeling like a win beats six stops ending in a carry-to-the-car.
What the kids enjoyed
- ◆The falls at Indian Well and the rock-throwing beach
- ◆Cones bigger than their heads at Wells Hollow
- ◆Whatever was pickable at Jones that week
- ◆Spotting fish from the Riverwalk railing
What to bring
- ✓Water shoes for the river beach
- ✓A cooler in the trunk for the Jones haul
- ✓Wipes. This is a high-stickiness itinerary.
- ✓Bikes with training wheels if attempting stop 6
Best time to visit
All four, and the itinerary changes with them: strawberries in June, blueberries in July, swimming in August, pumpkins in October, trees in December
While you're out there
Nearby stops
Keep exploring
Related adventures
Day AdventuresGroton & Mystic, CT
Day Adventure: Groton & Mystic
A real nuclear submarine (free), lunch by a drawbridge that performs on the hour, the best ice cream timing trick in Connecticut, and a bookstore with goats on the way home. The eastern cluster, assembled.
Day AdventuresBranford, CT
Day Adventure: Branford
A boat tour through an archipelago of tiny pink-granite islands with pirate-treasure legends, a village that time forgot, seafood-shack lunch, and ice cream on the green. Episode three goes to the shoreline.
Family AdventuresMontville (Oakdale), CT
The Dinosaur Place
Over forty life-size dinosaurs on wooded trails, a splash pad, and a maze. For the dinosaur-phase years, this is the promised land, and it's an hour from home.