Watchung Reservation, bound by Summit, the borough of Mountainside, and the townships of Berekley Heights, Scotch Plains, and Springfield, is the largest nature reserve in Union County. The reservation consists mainly of the upper valley of Blue Brook, between the ridges of First Watchung Mountain and Second Watchung Mountain.
Tags: Blue Brook Feltville Historic District Feltville The Deserted Village The Deserved Village of Feltville U.S. National Register of Historic Places NRHP U.S. Historic District historic district national register of historic places Watchung Reservation Berkeley Heights Union County NJ New Jersey brook
The small cottages at 10, 11 and 12 Cataract Hollow Road housed the village's mill workers. Originally fifteen similar duplexes stood, each housing two families side by side with their own entrance. Each dwelling unit consisted of two small rooms on each of the two floors, and large families were likely cramped in their lodging. Feltville houses had no bathrooms, electricity, central heat, running water or closets.
The Feltville Historic District, known as the Deserted Village of Feltville, consists of a cluster of buildings, mostly long abandoned, dating to the 18th century. Around 1736, Peter Willcocks built a sawmill along the Blue Brook, clearing hundreds of acres of forest to support farmers as they settled the surrounding frontier area. In 1845 David Felt purchased 760 acres of land from the Willcocks family and built an entire town on the bluff above the brook to support the mill operation. By 1850, 175 people were living in Feltville. After Felt retired in 1860, may other business ventures were attempted int he area but failed. In 1882, Warren Ackerman bought the property and converted the town into a summer resort called Glenside Park. As mountain resorts gave way to the Jersey Shore, Glenside Park closed in 1916, and in 1921 the area was incorporated into the Watchung Reservation, one of America's first county parks.
Watchung Reservation, bound by Summit, the borough of Mountainside, and the townships of Berekley Heights, Scotch Plains, and Springfield, is the largest nature reserve in Union County. The reservation consists mainly of the upper valley of Blue Brook, between the ridges of First Watchung Mountain and Second Watchung Mountain.
Feltville Historic District National Register #80002522
Tags: 12 Cataract Hollow Road 10 Cataract Hollow Road 11 Cataract Hollow Road cottage Cataract Hollow Road Feltville Historic District Feltville The Deserted Village The Deserved Village of Feltville U.S. National Register of Historic Places NRHP U.S. Historic District historic district national register of historic places Watchung Reservation Berkeley Heights Union County NJ New Jersey
Boxwood Hall, at 1073 East Jersey Avenue in Elizabeth, was the home from 1772 to 1795 of Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ending the American Revolution. Boudinot and others met George Washington here for a luncheon and then escorted him to Manhattan for his inauguration on April 30, 1789. Boudinot sold it to Jonathan Dayton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who lived here until his death in 1824. In 1824, Dayton entertained Marquis de Lafayette at this house.
National Register #70000397 (1970)
New Jersey State Register (1971)
Tags: boxwood hall elias boudinot house boudinot mansion Elizabeth Union County New Jersey NJ National Register of Historic Places landmark NJRHP State Register of Historic Places New Jersey State Register of Historic Places New Jersey Register of Historic Places SRHP NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Summit Diner, located on the corner of Union Place & Summit Ave., is an O'Mahony diner with wood paneled walls, eight booths and 20 stools, known for its Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese sandwiches.
Local legend says author Ernest Hemingway visited the diner and later used it as a setting for his short story "The Killers". In the story, two men are sitting at a lunch counter in a diner, and one turns to the other and says, "This is a hot town...What do they call it?" "Summit," says the other. The Summit Diner, however, is a O'Mahony 1938 model and Hemingway published the story in 1926. Carlos Baker, in his definitive biography of Hemingway, also noted that thereference was to a small town outside Chicago--not to the Summit in New Jersey
Tags: summit diner diner restaurant new jersey nj summit union county O'Mahony diner
The First Presbyterian Church of Springfield dates to 1745. Three families who composed the total population of the crossroads settlement of Springfield joined with their neighbors from the outlying farmlands to form a Presbyterian congregation, under the Presbytery of New York. For sixteen years, the congregation gathered in a small log cabin at what is today Spring Street and Main Street in Millburn under pastor was Rev. Timothy Syms. In 1761, a second, larger sanctuary was built on the site of the present building.
In November of 1778, as the American Revolution drew to a climax, the congregation opened the sanctuary for use as a public storehouse, while worship services were moved to the garret of the parsonage. On June 23, 1780, the Battle of Springfield was fought to prevent the advancement of British and Hessian soldiers to Washington's Headquarters in Morristown. Rev. James "Fighting Parson" Caldwell was serving as the Chaplain of Colonel Jonathan Dayton's regiment of the Continental Army. As the Patriots ran out of wadding for their guns during the crucial battle, Rev. Caldwell rushed into the church, ripping pages from the hymnals written by Isaac Watts for use as wadding, shouting, "Give ‘em Watts, boys!" An original Watts hymnal is on display in the entrance of the sanctuary.
After burning the church to the ground, the British were forced to retreat to Staten Island, and fighting on New Jersey soil was ended. Today, the smallest state park in New Jersey, measuring only ten square feet, is located on the front lawn of the church. Here, a monument of the Revolutionary Soldier was commemorated in 1905. Following the destruction of the church, the congregation met in the parsonage barn, where Rev. Jacob Van Arsdale added more balconies to accommodate the growing congregation.
In 1791, the present building was constructed, using labor and materials from the congregation. While women prepared food for the volunteers in booths flanking the site, men brought their tools and the best timber their farms could furnish. Contributions were solicited from churches in the Presbytery of New York. In 1892, the clock tower was donated by a descendant of Rev. Van Arsdale.
In the 1980's, a major restoration project was undertaken, as the church was outfitted with an aluminum replica of the original bell tower, foundation reinforcement, steel tie rods and posts to support the sanctuary, insulation, and hand-hewn cedar shake shingles, exactly like the originals.
New Jersey State Register (1990)
National Register #90000668 (1990)
Tags: nj new jersey union county church presbyterian First Congregation of the Presbyterian Church at Springfield first presbyterian church springfield Greek Revival Federal federal style colonial First Presbyterian Church of Springfield National Register of Historic Places State Register of Historic Places New Jersey State Register of Historic Places New Jersey Register of Historic Places NJRHP SRHP landmark NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places