Toms River Township’s First Park

Huddy Park began as a tiny marsh island near the northern bank of the Toms River. Starting in the 1890s, the owner of what was then called Gowdy Island began filling in the marsh with material excavated from the hill on Robbins Street, and over the following decade the property adjacent to the river continued to be filled without federal permission until warnings stopped the illegal landfill activity. Principal owner Ralph B. Gowdy then planned to sell the improved island for private development, but when that failed he sold it to the township in 1905 for $3,000, after which it became the township’s first park, called Gowdy Park. The park was later renamed for Captain Joshua Huddy, commander of the Toms River Blockhouse when the British destroyed it on March 24, 1782. The township made modest improvements in 1911 and acquired adjacent land to provide dockage for larger vessels, and in 1915 residents led by the old Reliance Band raised about $600 to improve and beautify the park, including construction of an octagonal gazebo for band concerts. The gazebo was restored years later because of age and weathering, then was destroyed by a fire of undetermined origin in 2010. Over more than a century, the grounds were enhanced with trees, shrubs, flowerbeds, paths, and a brick service building with food preparation facilities and public restrooms, and the park became a popular place for weddings and community events such as festivals, wooden boat shows, picnics, craft fairs, art shows, and reenactments of the Toms River Blockhouse Fight. For the township’s 250th anniversary in 2017, the park was completely renovated with new bulkheads, refurbished benches, gazebos, pathways, decorative colonial soldier silhouettes, and improved illumination, and interpretive historical signage was added in 2019. The park’s footbridge, Luker Bridge, recalls Thomas Luker, an early English settler who around 1702 operated a ferry across the river, then known as Goose Creek; as the village on the north bank grew, both it and the river became known as Tom’s River, a name that eventually became Toms River.

Toms River, New Jersey · United States