Things to Do in Milford, CT: Silver Sands State Park, a 379-Year-Old Green, and a Submarine
Milford's first market page on things to do covers what is actually documented here: Silver Sands State Park, a 297-acre state park with a tombolo to Charles Island that is legally closed to crossing for most of the summer, along with the island's long-told "cursed island" legend, presented strictly as folklore; Milford Point and the Connecticut Audubon Society's Coastal Center, a real birding destination on Long Island Sound; the Milford Green, a public common dating to at least 1646; the Milford Oyster Festival, a real annual event at Fowler Field established in 1975; Lisman Landing and the history of submarine pioneer Simon Lake, including his submarine Explorer displayed on Milford Harbor; and Walnut Beach and Gulf Beach as additional named public beaches. This page does not have current hours, admission prices, tour-operator names, or event-calendar dates for any venue below, and none of that is invented here - confirm those details directly with each organization before visiting.
Silver Sands State Park: A 297-Acre Park, a Tidal Tombolo, and Charles Island's Curse Legend
Silver Sands State Park is Milford's headline attraction: 297 acres of beach, dunes, restored salt marsh, and woods, plus a 14-acre bird sanctuary on Charles Island just offshore. Travel + Leisure has rated it Connecticut's best state park. On land, the park offers a three-quarter-mile all-weather boardwalk, roughly two miles of hiking trails and bridges, and about half a mile of shoreline. Accessibility features include free, first-come-first-served beach surf chairs, along with portable restrooms and picnic areas - the picnic areas are the only part of the park where leashed pets are permitted.
Charles Island connects to the mainland by a tombolo, a natural sandbar that is exposed at low tide but overwashed twice daily as tides rise up to 10 feet in under two hours - conditions that have stranded unprepared visitors. To protect nesting birds, crossing the tombolo is legally closed every year from May 1 through September 9. The island also carries a documented, long-told "cursed island" legend - tied to a Native leader's curse, an 1721 treasure story, and a tale of Captain Kidd burying treasure there before his 1701 execution - presented here strictly as local folklore, not as fact. Ruins of a Dominican-friar retreat built on the island in the 1920s and 1930s, now abandoned, remain visible from a distance or during permitted crossings. This page does not have current tide tables, park-ranger contact information, or tombolo-crossing permit details, and none is invented here - check directly with Connecticut DEEP State Parks before planning any crossing.
Milford Point and the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center: A Major Shorebird Stopover
Milford Point is a 23-acre barrier beach that has recorded roughly 315 bird species, making it one of the most important shorebird migration stopover points on Long Island Sound - Silver Sands State Park's own bird sanctuary on Charles Island, with more than 200 migrating species recorded annually, adds to Milford's standing as a genuine birding destination rather than an incidental one.
At Milford Point, the Connecticut Audubon Society operates its Coastal Center in the former Milford Point Hotel building, offering real nature-education and visitor programming. The site is jointly managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Connecticut DEEP as one of ten units of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. This page does not have current Coastal Center hours, program schedules, or admission prices, and none is invented here - confirm those directly with the Connecticut Audubon Society before visiting.
The Milford Green: A Public Common Since at Least 1646
Downtown, the Milford Green has served as a public common since at least 1646, making it one of the area's oldest continuously used civic spaces. It was listed on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places on July 11, 2018, and a Patch report has described it as the "second-longest" town green in New England.
The Green sits at the center of historic downtown Milford, within reach of Lisman Landing and the Milford Harbor waterfront covered below, making it a natural starting point for exploring the town's downtown history on foot. This page does not have current downtown walking-tour schedules or historical-society hours, and none is invented here.
The Milford Oyster Festival: An Annual Festival Since 1975
The Milford Oyster Festival is the area's signature annual event, held at Fowler Field and established in 1975 - a real, dated civic and food festival rather than a generic "summer event" claim. Its long run makes it one of the more established annual gatherings in this stretch of the Connecticut shoreline.
This page does not have this year's festival date, current vendor lineup, or ticket pricing, and none is invented here - check directly with the Milford Oyster Festival's own event calendar for that detail before planning a visit.
Lisman Landing and Simon Lake: A Real Submarine on Milford Harbor
Near historic downtown, Lisman Landing sits on Milford Harbor and is home to a genuinely tangible piece of naval history: the Explorer, the last submarine built (in 1936) by Simon Lake, a father of the modern submarine. A barnacle-encrusted salvage chamber that Lake designed also remains visible in Milford Harbor at low tide near Rogers Avenue, giving visitors two distinct, real sightseeing landmarks rather than one.
Simon Lake (1866-1945) lived in Milford, purchasing a mansion at 135 North Broad Street in 1907, and is buried in King's Highway Cemetery. In 1898, Jules Verne cabled Lake about Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, writing that "while my book...is entirely a work of imagination, my conviction is that all I said in it will come to pass" - a documented exchange tied directly to Lake's Milford history. This page does not have current Lisman Landing marina hours or salvage-chamber viewing conditions beyond "visible at low tide," and none is invented here.
Walnut Beach and Gulf Beach: Boardwalks, Piers, and a Summer Concert Series
Walnut Beach connects to Silver Sands State Park by a boardwalk - a $1.5 million project dedicated in 2011 - and offers its own fishing piers. In summer, Walnut Beach hosts a concert series at the Devon Rotary Pavilion, a real recurring community event.
Gulf Beach offers a fishing pier, picnic areas, and views out to Charles Island, and sits adjacent to the Gulf Pond walking trail. This page does not have current concert-series schedules, pier-fishing regulations, or Gulf Pond trail conditions, and none is invented here.
What This Page Doesn't Cover
This page covers what is documented: Silver Sands State Park's 297 acres, its boardwalk and trail system, its tombolo mechanics and seasonal closure to Charles Island, and Charles Island's curse legend presented strictly as folklore; Milford Point and the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center as a major shorebird stopover; the Milford Green's history dating to at least 1646; the Milford Oyster Festival's 1975 founding at Fowler Field; Lisman Landing, the Explorer submarine, and Simon Lake's documented Milford history; and Walnut Beach and Gulf Beach as additional named public beaches.
It does not have, and does not invent, current hours, admission prices, tour-operator names, or event-calendar dates for any venue or event named above. Confirm current details directly with Connecticut DEEP State Parks, the Connecticut Audubon Society, and the Milford Oyster Festival's own event calendar before planning a visit.
Ready to talk to a local Milford / Silver Sands agent?
Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Silver Sands State Park's 297-acre footprint, its 14-acre Charles Island bird sanctuary, its three-quarter-mile all-weather boardwalk, roughly two miles of trails and bridges, roughly half a mile of shoreline, free first-come-first-served accessible surf chairs, and its pets-permitted-in-picnic-areas-only policy are documented independently, as is Travel + Leisure's rating of it as Connecticut's best state park. The Charles Island tombolo's exposure at low tide, its twice-daily overwashing with tides rising up to 10 feet in under two hours, and its May 1 through September 9 seasonal closure to crossing are documented independently. Charles Island's "cursed island" legend - including its ties to a Native leader's curse, an 1721 treasure story, and Captain Kidd's purported buried treasure before his 1701 execution - and the visible ruins of a 1920s-1930s Dominican-friar retreat on the island are documented independently local folklore and history; the curse legend is presented strictly as folklore, not as fact. Milford Point's 23-acre footprint, its roughly 315 recorded bird species, and the Connecticut Audubon Society's Coastal Center in the former Milford Point Hotel building, jointly managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Connecticut DEEP as one of ten units of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, are documented independently. The Milford Green's status as a public common since at least 1646, its July 11, 2018 listing on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places, and a Patch report's description of it as the "second-longest" town green in New England are documented independently. The Milford Oyster Festival's location at Fowler Field and its 1975 founding are documented independently. Lisman Landing's location on Milford Harbor, the display there of Simon Lake's submarine Explorer (built 1936), and the visible salvage chamber Lake designed near Rogers Avenue are documented independently, as is Simon Lake's (1866-1945) Milford residency, his 1907 purchase of a mansion at 135 North Broad Street, his burial in King's Highway Cemetery, and Jules Verne's 1898 cable to Lake regarding Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Walnut Beach's boardwalk connection to Silver Sands State Park (a $1.5 million project dedicated in 2011), its fishing piers, and its summer concert series at the Devon Rotary Pavilion are documented independently, as are Gulf Beach's fishing pier, picnic areas, Charles Island views, and adjacency to the Gulf Pond walking trail. This page does not state, and does not invent, current hours, admission prices, tour-operator names, or specific event-calendar dates for any venue or event named above. Confirm current, date- and price-specific detail directly with Connecticut DEEP State Parks, the Connecticut Audubon Society, and the Milford Oyster Festival before visiting. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.