Oak Ridge Park Explained

Oak Ridge Park is a 90acres county park in Clark, New Jersey, United States, located on the border of Edison, New Jersey managed by Union County. The park, formerly Oak Ridge Golf Course, was converted to a park in 2009.

The park is home to the historic Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge. A Celtic festival, the Union County Celtic Festival is held annually in early September.

History

The farm was a 208-acre tract with colonial boundaries that functioned as a large plantation-type farmstead until 1929. Later, a portion was converted into the Oak Ridge Golf Club in the 1930s.^[1]

According to one researcher, the park may contain New Jersey's only known slave dwelling ruins.^[2]

Park development

In 2009, the park was converted from the 80-year-old 18-hole Oak Ridge Golf Course.^[3] The conversion was met with opposition from local golfers.^[3]

The park features an archery range, the first public range in the county and the only one in Central Jersey.^{[4] [5]}

Development of the park was expected to cost $10 – $20 million in 2014.^[6]

See also

• Rahway River Parkway

Notes and References

1. Web site: [{{NRHP url|id=95001185}} National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge ]. National Park Service. William T. . Fidurski . March 1995 . With
2. In 1995, apparent ruins of slave quarters were reported in a wooded area located approximately seventy yards southeast of the third green, These apparent ruins, according to the writer, are only discernible by the linear placement of individual foundation stones that would have held up small wooden shacks. There was reported an apparent built-up rubble ledge at the site that might indicate the presence of a firebox, hearth, privy or root cellar.

   While not confirmed by archaeological study, there is some historical evidence of slave presence on the site. Sale records from June 1717 show that the owner of the farm sold a Black woman named Phebe to a Samuel Smith of Woodbridge for fifty pounds in silver currency.

   The Fagan family, who were tenant farmers renting from the owners, with a cottage to the southwest of the main house, wrote a history of the site that indicates the presence. The Fagan history notes that a burial ground of enslaved African-Americans was located across Oak Ridge Road from Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge, but that it had been lost to a housing development in the 1970s.

   The Fagan tenant farmer family history also notes that the Oak Ridge slave quarters ruins could be distinguished from stone discarded from farm operations by the deliberate lined arrangement of fieldstones on the ground. Additionally, the location of the presumed ruins -- in the woods to the rear of the property, between the main house and the tenant farmer house -- are possibly indicative of the presence of the enslaved. The ruins are similar to those found in what was the free African-American Skunk Hollow community in Alpine, New Jersey. If confirmed, it would be the first confirmed slave quarters site in New Jersey. Web site: [{{NRHP url|id=95001185}} National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge ]. National Park Service. William T. . Fidurski . March 1995 . With

3. News: Friedman. Alexi. Closed Oak Ridge Golf Course transitioning into multi-use park. January 1, 2014. NJ.com. April 7, 2009.
4. News: Celock. John. Oak Ridge Park Opens to Public. January 1, 2014. Westfield Patch. August 13, 2009.
5. https://ucnj.org/parks-recreation/archery/ Archery
6. News: Hutchins. Ryan. Possible skating rink planned for Oak Ridge Park in Clark. January 1, 2014. The Star-Ledger. September 24, 2012.