Walk in the Park: History of South Mountain Reservation

"Wow." I always say that word when admiring the views from Crest Drive in South Mountain Reservation and can never resist thinking back on the Reservation’s history, which is truly more than we sometimes think it is.

South Mountain Reservation is located in the Newark Basin in the Watchung Mountains. Watchung meant "the high hills" to the Lenape Native Americans. Located in the West Orange portion of the Reservation on Walker Road is Turtle Back Rock, which dates back 2 million years and was created when lava cooled and separated into large columns that look like a turtle’s back. Turtle Back Zoo is named for Turtle Back Rock.

Washington Rock is a central piece of the Reservation's history. Located at the end of Crest Drive, it was the site of Beacon Signal Station 9 during the American Revolution, when George Washington also had 23 beacons to observe British troops on Staten Island. On June 23, 1780, Washington observed Hessian troops moving towards Hobart Gap, which is now crossed by Route 24. Washington alerted the Essex militia, which fought against the Hessians at the Battle of Springfield on Vauxhall Road. During the War of 1812, the U.S. Army used Washington Rock as a lookout.

The Rahway River, which travels through the western side of the reservation, was originally dammed by an immigrant from Scotland named Samuel Campbell, which is the origin of its name: Campbell’s Pond. The dam was used as a paper mill. In the 1820s, at the site of the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, the Diamond Paper Mill Company was established.

Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park and Maplewood’s Memorial Park, landscaped the South Mountain Reservation, which was then mostly on private land. As the first county park commission in the nation, created in 1895, the Essex County Park Commission purchased most of the land. Trees were planted, and under the New Deal, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) added trails, picnic areas, shelters and foot bridges. The shelters and picnic areas at Summit Field, near the dog park, were created by the CCC. Only a few overlooks were created because there was a fear that a high-rise apartment building would be built in front of the proposed overlooks.

On Sept. 11, 2001, people gathered at Bramhall Terrace on Crest Drive to watch the World Trade Center collapse. Today, a 9/11 memorial stands there.

Jared Kofsky is an 11-year-old student in the SO-M school district, who is a local history buff and train historian.