BLOOMFIELD — The popular walks along the old route of the Morris Canal have resumed with former township councilman and Historical Society of Bloomfield member Richard Rockwell again conducting them. They had been suspended since November 2024, Rockwell said, during which time he took a short break, developed walks for the NJ Canal Society and programs for the township’s historical society and its YouTube channel. The walks Rockwell conducts are sponsored by the NJ Canal Society and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection.
“I’m doing new, different walks now,” he said. “We had been doing four-and-one-half mile walks. The Canal Society decided on shorter ones. But we also wanted to include, with the Morris Canal Greenway walk, a walk along the abandoned train track right-of-way. We’re calling this area the Essex-Hudson Greenway.”
The Morris Canal Greenway, a joint venture of the NJ Transportation Planning Authority and the Canal Society of NJ, when completed, will be a pedestrian and bicycle trail connecting the Delaware and Hudson rivers. It will go through six counties and be 111-miles long. The Essex-Hudson Greenway, an NJ Department of Environmental Department project, will repurpose an abandoned train track corridor going through eight municipalities, from Montclair to Jersey City, including Bloomfield and Glen Ridge. This corridor is nine miles long and is designated a state park and envisioned as a pedestrian and bicycle path. As a state park, it is as of yet unnamed.
Rockwell began his walks in June and there was one in July. The next one is Saturday, Aug. 15.
“I’m focusing this year on the section of Morris Canal Greenway that intersects with the Essex Hudson Greenway,” he said, “and we have dates scheduled through the rest of the year, one a month, but I’m only publicizing the one for August now.”
This walk, he said, is three miles long and takes two hours. It will follow the Morris Canal Greenway from Wrights Field to JFK Drive near Beach Street. It continues onto the Bloomfield segment of the abandoned train corridor to return to Wrights Field.
“There’s another canal walk, through Belleville,” he said, “but the one including the Essex-Hudson Greenway proved very popular, so we decided on doing this monthly. Some of the people who come are real railroad fanatics.”
For the participant, Rockwell said the walk includes a mix of paved sidewalks and the unmaintained gravel railroad bed.
“Some areas may involve passing through tall grass or other vegetation,” he said. “And there is also a wooded section which requires climbing a moderate slope.”
Historic sites will be pointed out along the route and participants will be able to scan a QR code for historical photographs of these sites on their cell phone.
The train track part of the tour required DEP approval and so a staff member is present during the walk. This is because where the train track passes over the Garden State Parkway there is a DEP locked gate.
“The only way you can do the walk now is with the DEP’s permission,” Rockwell said.
Another possible walk may be from Oakside Cultural Center to the Collins House.
The Collins House is a late-18th century dwelling on the NJ Registry of Historic Places, It was near the Collins House, which is off Hoover Avenue, that canal boats were taken from the water, moved uphill and returned to the canal to continue the westward journey.
Rockwell, who is a trustee of the canal society, said the society was interested in providing more walks in the eastern part of the state.
The walks are free although they do require registration through eventbrite. For more information, go to: connecting greenways in bloomfield. This will take someone to the eventbrite link.
Photo Courtesy of Historical Society of Bloomfield
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