The Israel Putnam Campground (later renamed Putnam Memorial Park) was created in 1887 to commemorate the place of the 1778 - 1779 winter encampment of General Putnam and his Revolutionary War soldiers. The park today serves both interpretive and recreational functions. After years of neglect, the State of Connecticut undertook an effort to renovate the major park structure, an 1893 picnic pavilion, into a four-season interpretive facility.

Site design elements included a newly designed park entry, visitor parking lot, realigned roadways, walks, as well as the restoration and relocation of a 1967 Anna Hyatt Huntington sculpture of General Putnam to a more appropriate location.