Editing Cranford, New Jersey (section)

=== 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>