Editing Cranford, New Jersey (section)

== Parks ==
=== Township parks ===
Parks run by the township and overseen by the Cranford Recreation and Parks Department include:<ref name=Parks>[https://www.cranfordnj.org/recreation-parks/pages/parks-facilities Parks and Facilities], Township of Cranford. Accessed October 3, 2017.</ref>

* Adams Park – Adams Avenue and Lambert Street. [[Morses Creek (New Jersey)|Morses Creek]] dips into Cranford behind this park.
* Buchanan Park – Centennial Avenue and Buchanan Avenue
* [[Cranford Canoe Club]] – Springfield Avenue and Orange Avenue<ref>[http://www.cranford/ Canoe Club.com/ Home Page], Cranford Canoe Club. Accessed November 8, 2016.</ref> The Cranford Canoe Club rents canoes and kayaks for trips on the [[Rahway River]] in Cranford. The current structure was built as a private canoe club in 1908.<ref>Fridlington and Fuhro, Cranford Vol. 2 (1996) p. 52.</ref>
* Community Center – Walnut Avenue. The Cranford Community Center, adjacent to the Cranford Public Library, offers classes, sports, speaker series and other recreational activities.
* Josiah Crane Park – Springfield Avenue and North Union Avenue. In 1971, the Cranford Historical Society marked the farm and village home of Josiah Crane Sr. (1791–1873)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.westfieldnjhistory.com/greavesfiles/fam02221.html;|title=Location of Josiah Crane Park Genealogy of Josiah Crane}}</ref> in a park across from the First Presbyterian Church on the [[Rahway River]]. This park now features Cranford's 9/11 Memorial.
* Cranford West – Hope, N.J. Originally the home of the Cranford Boys Club on Silver Lake from the 1920s to the 1960s
* Girl Scout Park – Springfield Avenue and Orange Avenue. This was once the site of a canoe club, later the Neva Sykes Girl Scout House, demolished in the 1950s.
* Hampton Park – Eastman Street and Hampton Street
* Hanson Park – Springfield Avenue and Holly Street. Home of the Hanson Park Conservancy.<ref>[http://www.hansonparkconservancy.com/about.html About], Hanson Park Conservancy. Accessed November 8, 2016.</ref>
* Johnson Park – Johnson Avenue. The Johnson Avenue playground opened in July 1957.<ref>Staff. [http://www.digifind-it.com/cranford/DATA/newspapers/chronicle/1957/1957-07-03.pdf "Plan Johnson Avenue Playground; Supervised Areas Opening Monday"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201080947/http://www.digifind-it.com/cranford/DATA/newspapers/chronicle/1957/1957-07-03.pdf |date=December 1, 2016 }}, ''Citizen and Chronicle'', July 3, 1957. Accessed December 1, 2016.</ref>
* Lincoln Park – Lincoln Avenue at South Union. What is now Lincoln Park was the Cranford Golf Club in 1899, now moved to Westfield and called the [[Echo Lake Country Club]]. The Lincoln Avenue grounds were designed by [[Willie Dunn (golfer)|Willie Dunn]]. Lincoln Park was also originally a former estate said to have supplied lumber to build the [[USS Constitution|USS ''Constitution'']] ("Old Ironsides") in the 1700s.<ref>[http://cranfordhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/HistoricTreeBooklet2011.pdf ''A Guide to Union County College's Historic Tree Project''], Cranford History. Accessed November 8, 2016.</ref> The grounds, at the corner of the [[Old York Road]] and Benjamin Street, also included the largest sour gum ever recorded in the Northeastern states, known as the Cranford Pepperidge Tree or "Old Peppy". The cultivated shoots from Old Peppy's root system now form a grove of saplings offering shade to the [[Deborah Wolfe|Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe]] Reading Garden in the park.<ref>https://patch.com/new-jersey/cranford/reading-garden-coming-portion-lincoln-park</ref><ref>https://unionnewsdaily.com/news/reading-garden-dedicated-in-lincoln-park</ref> The park has hosted [[bocce ball]] tournaments since the mid-1960s.
* Mayor's Park – Springfield Avenue and North Union Avenue
* Memorial Park – Springfield Avenue and Central Avenue, in 2014, the Cranford Historical Society dedicated a civil war monument.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-05-16|title=Cranford Historical Society Dedicates Civil War Monument on Memorial Day|url=https://patch.com/new-jersey/cranford/ev--cranford-historical-society-dedicates-civil-war-mfebf8574fc|access-date=2021-03-28|website=Cranford, NJ Patch|language=en}}</ref>
* Roosevelt Park – Orange Avenue and Pacific Avenue
* Sherman Park – Lincoln Avenue East. Former site of Sherman School and located on the [[Old York Road]].<ref>Report of the Survey of the Schools of the Township of Cranford, New Jersey: School Year, 1924–1925</ref>

* At the corner of Elizabeth and North Union Avenues sits a memorial bench dedicated to the Cranford Dixie Giants, the town's semiprofessional baseball team organized by and composed entirely of African-American players, which played in the early 1900s.<ref>https://www.tapinto.net/towns/cranford/sections/sports/articles/the-cranford-historical-connection-cranford-s-all-black-baseball-team-the-dixie-giants</ref><ref>https://cranfordhistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Cranford%E2%80%99s-Black-Baseball-Team-%E2%80%9CThe-Dixie-Giants%E2%80%9D.pdf</ref>

=== County parks ===
[[File:Bridge and trees near lake in Nomahegan Park NJ.jpg|thumb|View around a lake in [[Rahway River Parkway|Nomahegan Park]] across from [[Union College (New Jersey)|Union College]]]]Parks run by the county inside Cranford's borders (overseen by the [[Union County, New Jersey]] Parks and Recreation Department) include:<ref name=Parks /><ref>[http://ucnj.org/parks-activities/ Parks, Activities, Locations & Maps], [[Union County, New Jersey]]. Accessed November 28, 2016.</ref>

* [[Lenape Park]] in Cranford, [[Kenilworth, New Jersey|Kenilworth]], [[Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey|Springfield]], [[Union Township, Union County, New Jersey|Union]] and [[Westfield, New Jersey|Westfield]].<ref>[http://ucnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Lenape.pdf Lenape Park map], [[Union County, New Jersey]]. Accessed November 28, 2016.</ref> Two tusks from an ancient American [[mastodon]] were found in 1936 north of Kenilworth Boulevard in what is now Lenape Park (other sources name the swampy area directly behind what is now the parking lot of [[Union College (New Jersey)|Union College]]'s main building).<ref>1993 Township of Cranford National Resources Inventory, pg. IV-6.</ref>
*  MacConnell Park (formerly known as Liberty Park and frequently misspelled as "McConnell Park") is named after the township's first physician, Joseph Kerr MacConnell. It is located on Eastman Street and was known as the Peninsula during the Victorian era due to its position nearly encircled by the [[Rahway River]].<ref>[http://ucnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/McConnell_Park.pdf McConnell Park map], [[Union County, New Jersey]]. Accessed November 28, 2016.</ref>
*  [[Rahway River Parkway|Nomahegan Park]] (off Springfield Avenue across from [[Union College (New Jersey)|Union College]]) is named for a tributary of the Rahway River that runs through it, to Lenape Park to Echo Lake Park in Westfield and Springfield, called Nomahegan Brook.<ref>[http://ucnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Nomahegan.pdf Monahegan Park], [[Union County, New Jersey]]. Accessed November 28, 2016.</ref> The name "Nomahegan" has had many different spellings in the historical sources (such as "Normahiggins") and may mean "she-wolf" or "women Mohegans." According to the [[Federal Writers' Project]], ''The WPA Guide to New Jersey: The Garden State'' (1939): <blockquote>"CRANFORD is an old residential town spread along the [[Rahway River Parkway]], a link of nearly 7 miles joining a series of county parks and playgrounds with the Essex County park system. There are facilities for summer and winter sports, a rifle range, and picnic grove. The Fourth of July canoe regatta is an annual affair. Gardens of fine old Victorian houses line the edge of the parkway on the riverbank. A broadening of the river parkway at the northern end of Cranford is known as Nomahegan Park. The name Nomahegan is a variation of Noluns Mohegans, as the New Jersey Indians were called in the treaty ending the Indian troubles in 1758. It is translated as women Mohegans or she-wolves and was applied to them in scorn by the fighting Iroquois.<ref>Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, Issues 112-121 (1894) The "Nomahiggin" or "Normahiggin" is a brook in Westfield and Cranford townships, Union County, tributary to [Rahway River].</ref></blockquote> In 2019, the county purchased a long-abandoned house and demolished it, adding the land to the park's footprint.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Brianna|last=Kudisch |date=2019-08-01|title=Abandoned house won't be an eyesore anymore. County just bought it for $515K.|url=https://www.nj.com/union/2019/08/abandoned-house-wont-be-an-eyesore-anymore-county-just-bought-it-for-515k.html|access-date=2021-06-11|website=nj.com|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Droescher's Mill]] Park, located near the dam at [[Droescher's Mill]] on High Street. Also called Squire Williams Park.
* Mohawk Park is located on Mohawk Drive in Cranford's Indian Village section of town.
* Sperry Park (named after [[William Miller Sperry]]), located off North Union Avenue. Home of annual rubber duck derby as a fundraiser for Hanson Park further upstream on the [[Rahway River]].
* Unami Park (located at Lexington and S. Union Avenue).<ref>[http://ucnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Unami.pdf Unami Park map], [[Union County, New Jersey]]. Accessed November 28, 2016.</ref>

=== Rahway River Parkway – Cranford Section ===
{{Further|List of crossings of the Rahway River}}
The [[Rahway River Parkway]] is a greenway of parkland that hugs the [[Rahway River]] and its tributaries. It was designed in the 1920s by the [[Olmsted Brothers]] firm, who were the sons of the eminent landscape architect [[Frederick Law Olmsted]]. The Cranford section follows the banks of the meandering [[Rahway River]] as it flows south through Lenape Park, Nomahegan Park, Hampton Park, MacConnell Park, Hanson Park, Sperry Park, Crane's Park, [[Droescher's Mill]] Park, and Mohawk Park.<ref>[http://www.rahwayriverparkway.org/the-inception-of-a-parkway.html The Inception of a Parkway] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107155853/http://www.rahwayriverparkway.org/the-inception-of-a-parkway.html |date=November 7, 2016 }}, Friends of Rahway River Parkway. Accessed November 28, 2016.</ref>

==== Cranford Riverwalk ====
The Cranford Riverwalk and Heritage Corridor portion of the Rahway River Parkway begins at the parklands near where Orange Avenue meets Springfield at the [[Cranford Canoe Club]] and follows the [[Rahway River]] on its path southbound to the [[Droescher's Mill|Williams-Droescher Mill]] from the early 18th century. At Heritage Plaza at the southwest corner of South Avenue and Centennial, the century-old stone walls and iconic stone columns winding through woodland to Droescher's Mill are still in place, but are in need of restoration and preservation.<ref>Lissner, Caren. [https://patch.com/new-jersey/cranford/cranford-riverwalk-restoration-project-will-resume-activites "Cranford Riverwalk Restoration Project Will Resume Activities"], Cranford, NJ, Patch, September 9, 2020. Accessed September 28, 2022.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Cranford Heritage Plaza and Riverwalk at Cranford Heritage Corridor · Cranford, NJ 07016|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cranford+Heritage+Plaza+and+Riverwalk+at+Cranford+Heritage+Corridor/@40.654986,-74.3009472,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c3b37801d56595:0x780e5e340ddd4a66!8m2!3d40.654985!4d-74.3004?shorturl=1|access-date=2021-06-11|website=Cranford Heritage Plaza and Riverwalk at Cranford Heritage Corridor · Cranford, NJ 07016|language=en}}</ref>
Future plans include repairing the Kaltenbach Estate skating pond, the Victorian footbridge and Squire Williams Picnic Grove at [[Droescher's Mill]] Park.<ref>[https://cranfordparkrhcc.com/about-us/ About], Cranford Park Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. Accessed September 28, 2022.</ref>