No. 16 Vol. 10
www.mypaperonline.com
October 2018
Roxbury Welcomes Park With Historical Significance
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By Jason Cohen tract of land with historical significance was recently unveiled as a park in Roxbury Township. On Sept. 16, the township and the Canal Society of NJ opened Riggs Canal Park on Main Street in Ledgewood. The newly renovated 5.8 acres of land, was once home to a mansion by a renowned 19th century Roxbury businessman Silas Riggs. Tim Roth, the vice president of the Canal Society, explained that the area is primarily wooded, but it now features a carved-out trail for walking, signage explaining the historical significance and a renovated parking lot. Now that this 12-year project has finally come to fruition, Roth feels it can benefit the entire community. “The parking lot was very overgrown,” Roth said. “There was mud and it was dirty. For the Canal Society, this is what we do; we improve places like this all across the state.” In the early 1800s, Riggs moved to Ledgewood from Mendham, started a leather tanning business, and lived along the newly built Morris Turnpike. The area was then known as Drakesville. He eventually sought and was awarded a contract to build the section of the canal running through Drakesville. This may have been the first length of the canal to
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be completed. He later owned and operated two boats on the canal. The original Riggs home survived, and in 1962 was moved a short distance to be part of the Drakesville Historic District. It survived into the mid-1900s and was used as a newspaper office until it was destroyed by fire. The land on which the house stood contained an intact section of the canal and the lower end of Lock 1 east. In 2006, the Canal Society used Green
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Acres funding to acquire the land and donated it to Roxbury Township. However, due to many years of inadequate funding, plans to turn the property into a park always fell through. But, in the past year the ball finally got rolling. The Canal Society donated $4,000 to Roxbury and Netcong’s Grace Church Grace held a cleanup of the land in May 2017. “A lot of work went into it and it looks real nice,” Roth remarked.
Free Thanksgiving Dinner
lease come and Be Our Guest on Thanksgiving Day! We will be hosting a Traditional Thanksgiving Family Dinner for anyone who will be alone or any individual or family facing financial hardship on Thanksgiving Day at the Mt. Olive Senior Center starting at 1:30 p.m. MUST CALL TO RESERVE! Please call Mary at 973-768-1815 or email at mary. lalama@gmail.com to reserve your seat now.