Town dedicates its newest park on Saturday

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield officially opened a small park at Oaktree Lane on Saturday, May 14. Called a pocket park because of its size, its location was once a route for the Morris Canal. The dried bed of the former waterway and forgotten mule path is now a trail for hikers, having been cleared of a crisscross of fallen trees, tossed refuse and stubborn undergrowth.

The name given to the new facility is the Morris Canal Park and it is confined between a quiet, residential street and a chain link fence that borders the whizzing Garden State Parkway. But like the proverbial thousand-mile journey that begins with a single step, it is hoped this sliver of land becomes the first link of a pedestrian pathway which will connect the various remnants of the canal system that once crossed Bloomfield.

The transformation of the canal bed was achieved thanks mainly to the initiatives of three Bloomfield Boy Scouts who, along with volunteer help, reclaimed the township-owned parcel as projects for Eagle Scout consideration.

Councilman Carlos Pomares, who provided the political impetus, credited Scouts Julian Londono, Kyle Richards and Eli Domine with getting the job done. Resident Rich Rockwell, a Bloomfield historian, along with Pomares, created the Morris Canal Greenway Commission to direct a Morris Canal effort which is ongoing.

According to Pomares, Julian was first on the scene at the future park. With volunteer help, including workers from the Department of Public Works and Parks and the Recreation Department, he cleared the area of debris. Kyle followed, putting mulch on the canal bed and defining the path with a border of tree branches. Eli extended the pathway to go outside the park boundary with a pathway south to Pilch Street, a distance of two blocks. Pomares said the next step would be to get a pedestrian down to Broughton Avenue.

“We want to get to Polanski Park and then to the Collins House,” he said of the ultimate goal.

The Collins House, one of the oldest homes in Bloomfield, was at the site of an inclined plane which towed canal boats overland to a higher elevation. This was around the present site of St Valentine’s Church. Here the boat entered the canal again and headed westward to Pennsylvania. On the return trip, a canal boat would be towed down to the base of the inclined plane and head east to Jersey City.

Pomares said the Collins House could possibly be reached by a proposed pathway going around Brookside Park or down JFK Parkway. The house is currently being restored by the Morris Canal Greenway Commission.

The township applied for and received $24,000 for Morris Canal signage, Pomares said. This amount will have to be matched with $21,000 of township funds.

The Morris Canal Park project was started in late 2013. There is a visitor’s display, providing historic information, at the entrance to the small, rustic park.

“I’m very proud of it,” Rockwell said. “It turned out to be a really good project.”