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Keeney Cove Marsh State Wildlife Area

Paddling Keeney Cove

From where you put in, the small pond-like area is not the entire cove, as you paddle away from the launch area you will see side-by-side passageways under a highway, leading to a larger and even more remote area.

You’ll see riprap that had been along the shore to reduce erosion as you approach the concrete structure and hear your voices echo as you paddled through it.

The northern part of the cove is more open and more marshy than the part where you started. To your right was the mouth of Porter Brook, which runs through the Home Depot property on Putnam Boulevard into the cove.

You’ll  paddle through a stand of  "full-bodied" water plants. By this time you’ll be in East Hartford, where a couple of housing developments are fairly close to the cove, although not visible because of the trees along the edge of the water.

Paddle back through the bridge passageway and into the first section of cove.

You can also put in on the south side of Point Road in the part of the cove that flows into the Connecticut River

Site History:  

Thousands of years ago, what is now Keeney Cove was part of the main course of the Connecticut River as it flowed from northern New England to Long Island Sound. At some point, the river meandered into what’s known as an oxbow, alternatively eroding sediments from the outside of the bend and depositing them on the other side. If the original body of water had been cut off completely from the river, an oxbow lake (also known as a bayou in Louisiana and a billabong in Australia) would have formed, but in this case it’s still connected to the river and therefore known as a cove.