Deserted Village

Deserted Village, located in the Watchung Reservation, Union County, New Jersey, is a historical part of this area which still stands to this day. It includes eight houses, a church, a carriage house and a general house. Over the years this ‘deserted village of Feltville’ has become a mill town, farming community, and a summer resort. Only three families remain in this village and this site is visited for people to learn the history of it or to enjoy the surroundings.

History

The first settler of this area was Peter Willcox, an Englishman who moved to this area about 1736 from Long Island. The area he inhabited was a frontier and her built a sawmill, but eventually his building were knocked down and more people came to the area. A man named David Felt, in 1825 had a business in Boston, but decided to move to New York City. By 1844, production was growing, but not fast enough for the store to sell them. Therefore, he began to look at property in New Jersey to build another factory, which would be the second one. He ended up buying the land from the descendants of Peter Willcocks. David Felt had built a mill along the Blue Brook only taking two years, two dams for the mill, and a town for the workers of his mill. Feltville was the name of this town. Within this little town, he became nicknamed “King David” where the residents had to attend a mass in the church, and children had to go to school in a one-room schoolhouse.

Around 1850, about 175 people lived there, where four families would live in the bigger houses and two families in the little ones. After fifteen years, he sold the property and several businesses became unsuccessful, therefore it became known as the Deserted Village. In 1882, it was bought by Warren Ackerman where it became a summer resort called Glenside Park. Interest soon dwindled due to vacationing to the Jersey shore instead. After it became deserted once again, the Union Country Park Commission bought it and included it to the Watchung Reservation, where they rented the houses to families. Recently the houses were stabilized and now they are trying to restore what was the carriage house to a school lecture hall.

Today, many of the main structures have been torn down, therefore preserving the buildings left standing is important to see the way the people of Feltville/ Glenside Park lived. The main buildings missing are the mill, the Felt Mansion, the dormitories, and the school. The foundation of the mill, which is the whole importance of building this village still stands today. Preserving these structures allows for the history of Feltville/ Glenside Park to still be a main part of the legacy of New Jersey.

Tourist attractions

County staff also provides activities on certain weekends where they have children’s games, a demonstration of apple cider pressing, and a display of archaeological artifacts.

During the month of October, two weeks before Halloween, there are haunted hayrides for families, and David Felt actually returns to give the tours. They ride through this town, explaining the noted people throughout this town’s history and of course adding special effects.

This is open to the public daily and there is a visitor center where brochures are given.

References

[Union County, NJ- Parks] Union County. Retrieved 2008-04-20

[Mountainside History ] Mountainside Public Library. Retrieved 2008-04-20

External links

*Deserted Village [http://www.mountainsidelibrary.org/HistoryFiles/DesertedVillBBValley.pdf]
*Watchung Reservation [http://www.purdes.com/njhiking/watchung/index.html]
*Union County official website [http://www.unioncountynj.org/]