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Charlotte L. Evarts
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The Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives
The First Policeman at Hammonasset State Park
By Allin Miller
Back in the early 1920s my father, Homer E. Miller, was hired by the State Park to be a policeman and also by the State Police, to become the first State Police Officer from June to September. He was on call 24 hours a day. From September to June, he was just a patrolman at the Park.
The state gave him an auto to use for patrolling the park. My father bought a motorcycle which he used to patrol. My sister had a riding stable with 6 horses. My father used one to be a mounted policeman at the park.
Now, one Saturday morning when I was around the age of 14, I went to my father and asked him if he could give me a quarter to go to the movie in the afternoon. He look at me and said, "I think you could go to work for it."
I looked at him and said, "Dad, I can't go to work because I am too young to work."
So he said to me, "Come. Do you see this board walk. It was about 3/4 of mile long and about 12 to 14 feet wide. But between each board there is a space of about 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide. Now you go under this board walk and crawl the length of it. You will find what you are looking for. I found it. Money,
Within a couple weeks I went under the board walk and didn't find anything. So, I went to my father again and told him I didn't find anything. So, he said come with me. Now, you see this beach. It is about 2 miles long. You will walk and look at every inch of it. So, I did and I found everything I needed.
After about a couple of weeks crawling and walking the beach I couldn't find anything. So, what did I do? I went to see my father again. He looked at me and said come with me. We walked down the board walk and there were two big bathhouses. The first one was the men's bathhouse. The second was the ladies. You don't have to go near that one.
Now you go under the men's bathhouse and look up at the long beams that hold the building up. They area about 1 foot wide. So, you feel along the top of the beams and knock the money off.
After that I never went to my father for money.
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