Community Corner
Somerset to Add 10 Acres to Washington Valley Park
$525K purchase is near the outlook where Washington watched British troops during the Revolutionary War and thousands of birdwatchers flock each year to see the raptor migration.
Somerset County will add 10 acres to Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater with a purchase of a lot at the top of the First Watchung Ridge.
The county freeholders voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase the 9.95-acre property at 799 Miller Lane, near the park’s Hawk Watch area, for $525,000.
A two-family house on the property owned by Pierce Estates Corp., with an address on Hawthorne Avenue in the Thomae Park section of Bridgewater, will be razed, said county Administrator Michael Amorosa.
The owner of the property first approached the freeholder a dozen years ago to talk about selling the property, Freeholder Director Peter Palmer said.
Washington Valley Park consists of approximately 719 acres along the First Watchung Mountain.
The park, at the geographic center of Somerset County, consists of pine and hemlock forests, more than seven miles of trails, freshwater wetland marshes, rock outcroppings, numerous historic features and a 21-acre reservoir.
Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army camped in the area of the park. Its vista over the sprawling Raritan River valley gave Washington a vantage point to keep an eye on British troops which were stationed near New Brunswick. The steep slopes of the Watchung ridges also gave Washington’s troops a natural defense.
Washington Valley Park’s Hawk Watch area, about a half-mile from the land purchase, is one of the East Coast’s premier locations to watch thousands of raptors migrate south every autumn. From August through November, the Hawk Watch Area is host to several hundred hawkwatchers who flock to witness the thousands of hawks, falcons, and eagles flying overhead, sometimes just over the treetops.
According to the Somerset County Park Commission, after a cold front moves through the area and the winds shift from the northwest, the stage is set for a day of effortless flight. In mid-September when the hawk migration is at its peak, more than 10,000 raptors can be seen in a single day
The Hawk Watch Area can be reached from Vosseller Avenue north of Route 22 and then left onto Miller Lane. At the end of Miller Lane is a parking lot; the trail to the Hawk Watch Area is through a gate and down a short trail to the overlook.
