Thrushwood Lake—which from the air resembles nothing quite so much as a child’s drawing of a small beached whale lying on its side—is the smallest of three lakes in Trumbull, Connecticut, hidden in plain sight within walking distance of the Merritt Parkway, just off Unity Road and Booth Hill Road, on Fern Circle. It is the home of ducks and Canadian geese, an occasional turtle or muskrat, lots of
sunnies good mainly for toe-nibbling. On rainy days and at dusk and dawn, deer come down from hills and meadows and small wood groves of the bordering Nichols Improvement Association grounds (acres and acres of what’s essentially a large park with baseball fields, a playground, “Big Rock,” nature trails, a gazebo, and a frog pond) to drink or eat tomatoes, garden flowers and day lily bulbs.
“Be honest, isn’t it really a large pond?” is a usual question asked by first-time visitors to the lake. But although the difference between “lake” and “pond” has been debated by geographers for centuries, most lists of criteria that include water temperature, sources and depth make this body of water definitely a “lake.”
Thrushwood Lake it is, then—a bucolic swimming and fishing and gazing-at and ice-skating lake in the historical Nichols section of suburban Trumbull, Connecticut. One is the steady stream of water known in recent years as “Boehmke’s Creek.” This creek flows down from what was formally Parker’s Dairy Farm, a very large dairy farm in the hills above the lake’s neighborhood. Thrushwood Lake has three coves, a stone bridge over Boehmke’s Creek at its north end, a dam at its south end. It’s surrounded by a variety of willows, poplars, pines, maples, and other trees. A number of houses on the lake are more visible in winter than in summer, when they’re nearly hidden in the leaves. The lake drains into a swampland, which drains into a small river, which drains into the Atlantic Ocean by way of Long Island Sound. A number of older houses around the lake date back to the 1930s, and have been joined by newer ones as recently as some built or remodeled in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The lake itself is owned by the Thrushwood Lake Association, founded in 1944 with by-laws accepted by the State of Connecticut. The Association owes its existence to the development of the lake and its real estate in the 1930s, when properties and building lots were being advertised as far away as New York City. The original house on the land from which the subdivision was created is still on Unity Road, backed by Apple Orchard Lane. The series of holding ponds through which Boehmke’s Creek flows and descends, thanks to their Piper family designer, have an oriental feel to them. In fact, the entire lake area sometimes creates—at least according to writers and artists who frequent its shores—a feeling of Zen-like calm and tranquility. In the winter, if the lake is let down somewhat and freezes over, a large Zen boulder appears, soon surrounded by small animal tracks. The calm of Thrushwood Lake is broken in the warm summer daytime hours when a raft is anchored in the lake’s center and members, associate members and guests of the Thrushwood Lake Association gather at Fern Circle Beach. This private swimming beach is shaded by a very large ancient oak tree. In past decades, a good amount of Indian arrowheads and other artifacts were found in the soil beneath the tree. The location had long been an Indian camping ground. Thrushwood Lake creates a “neighborhood.” It has neighborhood watch areas. Its residents generally are on a first name basis and gather at the beach for the annual “Lake Day” and on other occasions for games or bonfires or even small fireworks displays. There are two picnic tables and two benches overlooking the lake, a well-maintained amount of property, docking areas for rowboats and canoes . Residents traditionally have come from all walks of life: businessmen, corporate vice presidents, lawyers, bankers, teachers, real estate brokers, musicians, tradesmen and tradeswomen, biologists, writers, engineers, supervisors, office managers, college professors, graphic designers, artists among them. Area homeowners range in age from their twenties to their nineties. The lake has small, medium and large houses, but no mini-mansions. In the evenings, with doors and windows open, you can actually still hear wood thrushes as they sing bup-bup, twit-twit, ee-oh-lay, ee-oh-lay.
