Park in Lawrence, Hopewell to Offer Passive Recreation

Lawrence Township residents and others in Mercer County who enjoy taking in the beauties of nature will soon be flocking to the county’s new Mercer Meadows park to take advantage of about $2 million worth of improvements – including a bird observation tower and an astronomy platform – designed to make the property a premiere venue for passive recreation.

At its monthly meeting on Feb. 23, the Mercer County Park Commission and consulting firm ETM Associates of Highland Park revealed plans for the 1,700-acre Mercer Meadows – which will be created by combining the existing Mercer County Park Northwest, Rosedale Park and the Mercer County Equestrian Center.

(Click on the photo above to view a PDF copy of the Interpretive Plan for Mercer Meadows that was presentated at the meeting.)

More than half of the 812-acre Mercer County Park Northwest is located in Lawrence Township. The land, commonly referred to as the “Pole Farm,” was previously owned by AT&T and in the 1960s was the site of the world's largest radio telephone station. The station was dismantled in the 1970s and the land leased to local farmers before it was purchased by the county in 1995. The remaining Mercer County Park Northwest land, Rosedale Park and the equestrian center are all located in Hopewell Township.

Among the features planned for Mercer Meadows are:

• an off-leash dog area with tunnels, rolling green hills, and custom water-drinking features for both small and large dogs
• blinds and a 10-12-foot-high observation tower that will offer visitors great views of the park’s wildlife
• new trails (including a farm history trail) and links to the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, with trailheads, directional signs, park directories and interpretive panels
• an insect-education walk offering visitors “up-close encounters” with butterflies, crickets, bugs and spiders
• shaded areas and picnic grounds
• solar-powered, waterless restrooms
• an astronomy viewing area ideal for stargazers in the community
• more functional entries into the park and improved parking

Improvement work to Mercer Meadows is expected to be done in three phases over the next two years or so. Phase one of that work, expected to begin this spring, will likely take nine to 12 months to complete.

Park Commission Executive Director Kevin Bannon estimated that the final cost of all the improvements will be between $1.8 and $2.1 million.

In attendance at the meeting were the Mercer County freeholders and County Executive Brian Hughes.

“We have certainly got something right,” a satisfied Hughes said after plans for Mercer Meadows were revealed.

Hughes, clearly proud of the planned improvements, said Mercer Meadows will be “a very unique place” and “a place in nature unlike any other in Mercer County.”

Saying he was happy the park land was not going to be turned into another golf course, Hughes told his freeholder colleagues that Mercer Meadows will be part of their public service “legacy.”  

Bannon noted that funding for the Mercer Meadows improvements is contingent on the county’s budget being approved.