Lake Zoar

The Stevenson Dam Hydroelectric Plant is a hydroelectric power plant located on the Housatonic River at the boundary between the towns of Monroe and Oxford, Connecticut. The Connecticut Light and Power Company began construction in 1917 (completed 1919) and FirstLight Power has since gained ownership. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and is considered to have high hazard potential by the National Inventory of Dams. The site includes three contributing structures: the Stevenson Dam, the Stevenson Dam Bridge, and the Stevenson Powerhouse.The Stevenson Dam Bridge, a reinforced concrete bridge that is integral with the dam, carries Route 34 across the river, making it unique among period dams in the eastern United States. The Stevenson Powerhouse is a 160 ft by 80 ft building rising 131 ft in height. Its exterior includes "massive" pilasters. The hydroelectric plant began producing electricity in 1919 with 3 turbine/generator units, for a total of 19 MW. A fourth unit of 12 MW was added in 1936 and, with improvements over the years, the plant now produces a total of 28.9 MW of power. Bedrock characteristics required the powerhouse to be built on the Monroe side of the dam and it remains Monroe's biggest single-site taxpayer. The plant was covered in a Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) study, record CT-183. Completion of the dam impounded the Housatonic River and created what came to be Lake Zoar, a lake with 27 miles of shoreline, and covering an area named "Pleasantvale" or "Pleasant Vale", which had been part of Oxford and Stevenson.The Stevenson plant was developed by the Rocky River Power Company, founded in 1905 by J. Henry Roraback to produce hydroelectric power on a tributary of the Housatonic, with operating rights expanding to the entire Housatonic watershed in 1909. Roraback's company was a predecessor to the Connecticut Light and Power Company, now part of Eversource. The dam was the first high dam on the river. The project was designed by Birkinbine Engineering Office, Charles T. Main Associates of Boston, Massachusetts, and J.A.P Crisfield Co., and was built by C. W. Blakeslee Co., a local contractor.A work camp, Camp Crisfield, was developed around the 800 men employed to work the site day and night, including a church, carpentry shops, and hospital.An urban legend exists that asserts a worker fell into the cement as it was being poured and was never heard from again. This originates from a worker who signed in one day, and then never signed off.

The Stevenson Dam Bridge carries Connecticut Route 34 over the Housatonic River in the U.S. state of Connecticut, connecting the town of Monroe to the town of Oxford. The Stevenson Dam Bridge sits on top of the Stevenson Dam, constructed by the Connecticut Light and Power Company. It is a concrete span featuring 24 arches. The current bridge was constructed in 1919 and is 1213 feet in length by 42 feet in width, featuring one lane in each direction for automotive traffic. It is the only highway bridge in Connecticut on a dam spillway. In 2009, the DOT estimated the dam carries approximately 10,300 vehicles per day.It has been claimed to be one of two dams in the country with a public road over top, but this is false.

The Paugussett Trail is a 14-mile (23 km) Blue-Blazed hiking trail "system" in the lower Housatonic River valley in Fairfield County and, today, is entirely in Shelton and Monroe, Connecticut. Much of the trail is in Indian Well State Park and the Town of Monroe's Webb Mountain Park. The mainline (official "Blue-Blazed") trail is primarily southeast to northwest with three short side or spur trails. The Paugussett Trail today is composed of four (4) trails of which one is the upside-down V-shaped Southeast-to-North-to-SouthWest mainline trail (13.3 miles) plus three shorter side or access spur trails. The northernmost point on the trail is at Connecticut Route 34 and Lake Zoar's southern shore. Notable features include the initial steep climb near the Indian Well waterfall, a steep climb with stairs at Princess Wenonah Drive and semi-obscured scenic views of the Housatonic River. The Paugussett Trail is maintained largely through the efforts of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association. The Paugussett Trail was a much larger trail in the 1930s and 1940s but it has been one of the Blue-Blazed Trails most drastically shrunk by post-World War 2 housing developments.

Webb Mountain Park is a 135-acre municipal park that offers hiking trails, rock climbing, nature study, and campsites in Monroe, Connecticut. The park backs up onto land where a historic castle building and residences for nuns are located. Webb Mountain Discovery Zone nature center with its own 170 acre park is adjacent. The park has diverse flora including numerous kinds of trees, shrubs, and ferns that not only add to the aesthetic value of the place but provide an ideal setting for some amateur as well as scientific study of the local plants. The park is adjacent to the town-owned Webb Mountain Discovery Zone.

The Webb Mountain Discovery Zone is a 170 acre park and outdoor learning center in Monroe, Connecticut, United States. The adjacent 135 acre Webb Mountain Park connects up to a 13.5 mile trail network. The park covers 170 acres (0.69 km2) and has 3 loop trails, each with marked interpretive signs. There is also an outdoor classroom for schools and groups, and a scavenger hunt scorecard. There are no other visitor facilities. The park provides additional educational resources for teachers, as well as programs for school groups, daycare centers, and scouts. The park is owned by the Town of Monroe and administered by the Friends of Webb Mountain. The park is currently under the direction of Tom Ellbogen.

East Village is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Monroe, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It occupies the northeast end of the town of Monroe, extending northeast to the Housatonic River (the town border with Oxford) and southwest to Walnut Street. It is bordered to the southeast by the city of Shelton and to the northwest by the town of Newtown. East Village was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.

The Nathan B. Lattin Farm is a historic farm at 22 Walker Hill Road in Newtown, Connecticut. Founded by early colonial settlers to the area in the 18th century, it remains a good example of a rural farm property in an increasingly suburbanized area. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Paugussett State Forest is a Connecticut state forest with two separate sections located on impoundments of the Housatonic River in the town of Newtown. The forest's Upper Block encompasses approximately 800 acres (320 ha) on the western shore of Lake Lillinonah. It offers boating access to the river and hiking on the blue-blazed Lillinonah Trail. The forest's Lower Block encompasses approximately 1,200 acres (490 ha) on the western shore of Lake Zoar and offers hiking on the blue-blazed Zoar Trail.

Oxford High School is a public high school in Oxford, Connecticut, United States, operated by Oxford Public Schools. In spring 2013, there were 592 students enrolled in grades 9 to 12.

Kettletown State Park is a public recreation area on the eastern shore of the Housatonic River's Lake Zoar in the towns of Oxford and Southbury, Connecticut. Park activities include camping, hiking, picnicking, and fishing. The state park is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Masuk High School is a public high school in Monroe, Connecticut, United States, and includes grades 9 through 12. It is located on Connecticut Route 111 (Monroe Turnpike) in Monroe, between Old Coach Road and Pond View Road. The school has an indoor swimming pool and various successful clubs & sports.

The Quaker Farms Historic District is a historic district in the town of Oxford, Connecticut, United States. It encompasses a small rural village on Quaker Farms Road (Connecticut Route 188) anchored by the Christ Church Episcopal, an 1812 wood-frame church with Federal and Gothic styling, located at 470 Quaker Farms Road. The district also includes eleven houses, built between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries. The oldest houses date to the 1720s, and the church has a particularly well-preserved early 19th-century interior, albeit with some alterations. One house was built about 1800 as a carriage manufactory. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.The Quaker Farms area was first settled by English colonists in the early 19th century, primarily from Derby about 8 miles (13 km) to the south, extending along the main road between Derby and Woodbury. The name "Quaker Farms" was in use in the 18th century, but its origin is not known. Oxford was incorporated in the late 18th century, and the Quaker Farms area had grown sufficiently by the 1810s to warrant an Episcopal parish separate from that at the town center. This period of growth is reflected in the surviving architecture of the village, which mostly predates 1850. There is a single instance of Victorian Queen Anne architecture, at 489 Quaker Farms Road. A small number of Colonial Revival houses were built in the village in the early 20th century.