What is your favorite place to go to during summer break? For many, it’s spending the day at the beach. The town of Waterford has many beaches. Some of the popular beaches are Waterford Beach, Harkness Memorial State Park, Ocean Beach, and Pleasure Beach. Outside of Waterford there are many other local beaches you can visit, such as McCooks, Hole in Wall, Esker Point, Sandy Point, Seaside, and Bluff Point State Park. These are a few of the gorgeous coastline spots to hang out and relax at.

Leona Podeszwa is the current waterfront director for Waterford Beach. She enjoys both of our town beaches: “The Waterford community is lucky to have two beautiful town beaches. Waterford Beach is great for families with the new facilities and picnic areas. Pleasure Beach is a small fun little spot for beach goers.”

Waterford Beach is cheap and affordable, costing only $25 for the season pass for town residents. For out of town residents it costs $125, five times more for residents. It’s decently sized being about a one third of a mile long, and is staffed by about six lifeguards at a time in the summer season. Freshman Jenna Dunkerly says that the walk to the beach is too far, but it’s good for families and to see people you know.

Pleasure Beach is a small public beach that is open to everyone. There is no paid parking or entrance fees. There will be one lifeguard on duty between mid-June and Labor Day. There is a public and private side to this beach. Freshman Boden Fagan says, “The private side is better because it has a raft, but it’s expensive to join.” The public side is small, but it is good for people in the neighborhood.

Another beachy spot would be Harkness Memorial State Park, with gorgeous views and a nice beach to walk alongside. Unfortunately it is illegal to swim in the water at the Harkness, but this is not a problem for some beachgoers. Harkness has large lawns that are good to fly kites, have picnics, and play frisbee on.

Hole in the Wall beach is in the neighboring town to Waterford. It’s located in Niantic right by Gumdrops and Lollipops off Main Street. It gets the name from the tunnel that you must cross through to enter the beach. It’s a huge attraction, as it has so much to do by it, including the Niantic bay boardwalk that stretches over a mile. It costs $30 for onsite parking for non-residents and $10 for residents.

While the weather is still nice it is the perfect time to visit one of these beautiful areas.