- Address
- Somerset County Park Commission Environmental Education Center, 190 Lord Stirling Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ
- County
- Somerset County
- Park System
- Somerset County Park Commission
- Activities
- birding, cross-country skiing, hiking, walking
- Geo Coords
- 40.695005,-74.531754
- Related Blog Posts
- Read Posts
Located adjacent to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the Passaic River, this Somerset County Park offers easy hiking and nature walks for all levels and ages along the park’s marshes and swampland. Over 8 miles of trails and boardwalks circle the park exposing a good mix of environments and wildlife – from cattail lined marshes to fields of wildflowers to wooded lowlands. In the winter the area is also open for cross country skiing.
Parking is available at the Somerset County Environmental Education Center on Lord Stirling Road in Basking Ridge. The Environmental Education Center is open year round and offers a nice educational stop for the kids as well as a bookstore. Maps of the park are also posted here, as well as at various intersections along the park’s trails.
Environmental Education Center
The Somerset County Park Commission runs their Environmental Education Center including educational programs, exhibits, and outdoor events in the area.
Hike Descriptions
A freely downloadable PDF trail map is provided on the Somerset County Park Commission site.
Purchase Photographs
Photos of this park taken by Chris Casciano. Photographs from parks and trails around New Jersey can be purchased at New Jersey Landscape Photography by Chris Casciano. Buy a print to support this site and take home a memory of the trails.
Learn more about this park at these other sites:
Map & Location
View directions via the Somerset County Park site or click on the map below for a link to Google Maps.
I have been corresponding with the Somerset County Historical Society and they have sent me a document that states that at one time Lord Stirling owned land in Basking Ridge formerly owned by my ancestress, Margaret Teiple. The Teeples were a very early family in the area, leaving Scotland because of religious prosecution in the early 1700’s. She once owned over 1,000 acres. Margaret Teeple’s granddaughter married my ancestor, John Staples, and I am writing his biography. Naturally, I am curious whether there is any record of that in your Park records. History has a way of leaving out records of the contribution women made, and I’d like to set the record straight!
The exact quote is:” First book of mortgages, page 57: 10 December 1766- William Earl of Stirling late Wm Alexander of New York…and William Walton of the same city Esquire…doth Grant…& sell unto the said Wm Walton Esq….all that tract of LAND situate on Middle Brook…Beginning at a White Oak Tree…standing on the south west side of the West branch of Middle brook being the Lower Corner of Land formerly of Margaret Teiple…”
Doesn’t that sound like a part of your Park? I’d love to know if once part of your Park belonged to Margaret Teeple. That makes history so much more personal and interesting!
Any information you can give would be much appreciated. Thank you, Marie