River Highlands State Park is a 177-acre public recreation area on the west bank of the Connecticut River in Cromwell, valued for its scenic river setting, trails, and primitive camping for boaters. The land sits on a river bend once known as “the blow hole,” where sailors said favorable winds helped move ships along until silting altered the channel and the phenomenon disappeared by the mid-twentieth century. After the property passed to the family of Ulia Allegretti, it was sold to the state in 1995 through an open space acquisition fund, prepared for public use, and opened as a state park in 2001.