The Park
Sherwood Island State Park, on the shore of Long Island Sound in Westport Connecticut,  covers 234 acres of beach, wetlands and woodlands. People come to the park to hike, bike, ski, swim, fish, study nature, watch birds, fly kites, fly model airplanes, play volleyball, picnic, or just relax under the trees.

The Friends
Like other State parks, Sherwood Island needs the support of its friends. The Friends of Sherwood Island got organized in 1995. We raise funds from public and private sources, we help plan the park's future, we work with other environmental and community organizations to give this wonderful park the TLC it deserves. All this is done in cooperation with the State Department of Environmental Protection.      

The new Nature Center
In fall 2006, the CT Department of Environmental Protection began construction of the new Nature Center on the eastern side of the park. The Friends had raised funds to share in the cost. 
   In October 2007, Builders Beyond Borders spent a weekend putting up the walls, and then the Park staff sealed off the openings to protect the interior from the elements so that work could continue during the winter.
    Now the Center is almost ready for opening in early summer 2008. Click here for a slide show of how the project has progressed.
    The new facility is adjacent to the nature trail, with access to the salt marsh and the beach front. It will have a dedicated parking area and group bus drop off. Improved design features will offer visitors and groups a congregation area for presentations, group activities, lectures, and programs in a shade-protected adjacent area. The new location will provide nature and beach walkers, birders, and shell hunters a destination site as well as a permanent place to pick up park maps, birding guides, trail marker and tree guides, and other program information.