New Somerset County park opens after transformation

MONTGOMERY – What used to be one of the saddest places in New Jersey has undergone an "amazing" transformation to become "another jewel" of the Somerset County park system.

A formal ceremony on Thursday morning marked the official opening of 247-acre Skillman Park, the former site of what was once known as "the snake pit of New Jersey."

Driving around the site and walking on the 2.5-mile trail around the park's perimeter, you would never guess that 100 buildings used to occupy the property, first as the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics established in 1898.

At its beginning, because of its community structure, the facility was considered progressive, but conditions deteriorated through the decades.

After the introduction of drugs to treat epilepsy, the facility became known as the North Princeton Neuropsychiatric Institute in the 1950s and then the North Princeton Developmental Center before it closed in 1998.

The property even has a cemetery, where patients whose families were unknown are buried.

In 2007, a decade after the state shuttered the facility, the property was purchased by Montgomery, which demolished more than 90 buildings on the site. The township's school board built Village Elementary School on the property.

Three years later, the township solicited proposals for development of the site, but because of the downturn in the economy, no proposals were made, and the Montgomery Township Committee began considering other plans for the property.

In 2011, Somerset County came to the rescue, acquired the property and began planning for its use as a park, the largest recreational facility in the southern part of the county.

"This is an amazing place," said Freeholder Director Mark Caliguire, who previously served on the Montgomery Township Committee. Caliguire remembered when the facility served as a training facility for the Somerset County SWAT team and the Navy SEALs asked about using it, too.

"The transformation of this property has been phenomenal. When you look at pictures of the old power plant and other run-down structures that were languishing here, you can't help but be impressed by the amount of careful and thorough work that has brought us to this point today."

Calling it a jewel in the county's "crown of beautifully preserved parkland," Caliguire congratulated the Somerset County Park Commission for doing an "amazing job" that has left few traces of the site's forlorn past.

Montgomery Mayor Christine Madrid said development of the park was "truly a community effort," with the county soliciting input from the township, and local groups volunteering to help.

"What a contrast to what was here before!" the mayor said.

As an example of the partnership between the community and the county, Madrid said, three members of Girl Scout Troop 236 — Sophia Sharpless, Jenna Devchand and Claire Decker — cleaned up and replanted the cemetery and fenced it with the assistance of the park's maintenance staff.

Volunteers have also planted more than 50 trees as part of a reforestation project along the Rock Brook.

Ray Brown, the park commission's executive director, said the park was the product of a "good partnership" between the county and the local community.

Like the county's development of Natirar in Peapack-Gladstone, Brown said, Skillman Park will provide residents of southern Somerset County with a park that will be focused on passive uses.

Much of the park will remain in its natural setting. The county has set aside certain areas as a wildlife habitat. Wide and natural buffers will be maintained along stream corridors.

Overlooks with benches have been built along the former Sylvan Lake that had been created by a dam on Rock Brook. With the dam removed, that area will be the object of a wetlands restoration project funded by a state grant.

"This is great for the southern part of the county," said state Sen. Kip Bateman, R-16th District. "It's been a long time coming."

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com