Weequahic Park
Weequahic Park Historic District | |
 Weequahic Lake | |
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| Location | Roughly bounded by Meeker Avenue, Dayton Street, Elizabeth Avenue, Union County border, |
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| Coordinates | 40°42′07″N 74°12′11″W / 40.702°N 74.203°WCoordinates: 40°42′07″N 74°12′11″W / 40.702°N 74.203°W |
| NRHP reference No. | 03000013[1] |
| NJRHP No. | 1342[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | February 12, 2003 |
| Designated NJRHP | December 12, 2002 |
Weequahic Park is a park located in the south ward of Newark, New Jersey, USA, designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, (who also designed Branch Brook Park in Newark). Weequahic Park has the largest lake in Essex County. The park is 311.33 acres including an 80-acre lake.[2]
The East Coast Greenway runs through the park.[3] West of Weequahic Park is Weequahic, a middle-class residential neighborhood. East of Weequahic Park is Dayton and Newark Airport.
History[]
The park opened on what had been the Waverly Fairgrounds. The word "Weequahic" is from the Lenni-Lenape Native American term for "head of the cove". Tradition holds that the lake in the park (once a cove) stood as the boundary between the Raritan and Hackensack bands of Lenape Indians.[4]
In 1923, the park hosted the first American Track & Field championships for women.
Divident Hill pavilion[]
A visual feature of Weequahic Park, along with the Weequahic Golf Course, is the miniature Roman-style stone temple serving as the park's gazebo and pavilion on Divident Hill.[5] It was placed to mark the local hill where, on May 20, 1668, Robert Treat and other commissioners of the town of Newark met with the commissioners of Elizabeth-town to fix the boundaries between the settlements.[6] "Divident Hill" is not a typographical error; rather, "divident" is simply an old-fashioned term for "divided". The hill is also called "Bound-Hill".[7]
On that date and on that hill, the founders of Newark and Elizabeth entered "a religious covenant ... to protect their generation and 1,000 generations to come".[5]
The gazebo was designed by the famed Beaux Arts design firm Carrère and Hastings for Newark's 250th anniversary in 1916.
Advocates from The Weequahic Park Sports Authority, a non-profit conservancy group, along with the Newark Environmental Commission and local spiritual leaders, began advocating for the pavilion's restoration to its former glory in 2018.[5]
References[]
- ^ a b "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Essex County". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "Weequahic Park", Project for Public Spaces.
- ^ East Coast Greenway New Jersey Committee[dead link]
- ^ "Weequahic Park". County of Essex. Retrieved September 21, 2006.
- ^ a b c "Praying for a Newark treasure - Di Ionno". NJ.com. May 31, 2018.
- ^ Elisha Boudinot (1913). "Chapter XXV". A history of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913. New York, Chicago: The Lewis Historical Publishing Co. – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Weequahic Park", Newarkology
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Weequahic Park. |
- http://www.weequahicpark.com
- http://www.newarkhistory.com/weequahicpark.html Newark history: Weequahic Park
- County of Essex: Weequahic Park
- Video from East Coast Greenway about Weequahic Park
Essex County Park System | ||
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- Geography of Newark, New Jersey
- Parks in Essex County, New Jersey
- Tourist attractions in Newark, New Jersey
- New Jersey geography stubs