This cache brings you to Big Brook Park on Rt. 520, home of the newest trailhead for the Henry Hudson Trail (HHT). This cache is a short walk from the trailhead and is a few steps off the paved pathway. The cache name was inspired by the history of the park's grounds, where a piggery grew into the legend of a haunted slaughterhouse!
Please note: Big Brook Park itself is relatively new. It is different from the nearby Big Brook Reserve in Colts Neck where people go fossil-hunting.
No need to cross the No Trespassing signs onto Camp Arrowhead, which is a YMCA camp on leased land within Big Brook Park.
The Myth of the Haunted Slaughterhouse
According to local lore, the piggery was once owned by a farmer named Mr. Allen. The State of New Jersey seized the man’s property through eminent domain to supply foodstuffs for the nearby psychiatric hospital. Bitter at the government, Farmer Allen eventually went insane and was committed to the hospital! As a patient, Farmer Allen ironically worked on the property he once owned. But Farmer Allen soon disappeared and unsolved crimes followed. According to some, a hospital night watchman was murdered at the slaughterhouse, while others believe a worker was mysteriously mauled to death by pigs after falling into a pen. These events have been blamed on vengeful fugitive Farmer Allen, who was never recaptured.
About Big Brook Park
The original 379 acre parcel of land that established Big Brook Park was formerly used as farmland for patients at the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, located across the street from the Rt. 520 entrance. This property once contained a piggery, dairy farm and other agricultural operations. Named for Big Brook, which drains into the nearby Swimming River Reservoir, the park contains forest but is better known for its rolling fields made up of grasses and goldenrod.
Big Brook Park Website
An image of a 1972 map of the grounds, including the piggery and slaughterhouse, can be found at this website. The slaughterhouse, which was not near this cache, is labeled as building 140:
1972 Map of Grounds
About the HHT
The Henry Hudson Trail (HHT) is a Monmouth County park which is a 24-mile rail-trail built primarily on an abandoned railroad right-of-way. Some caches refer to the HHT as the Henry Hudson Highway, but that term is only used within geocaching circles. The HHT is primarily a paved asphalt trail with some exceptions. The parks system describes 2 sections of the HHT, the 12-mile North section from Aberdeen/Keyport to Atlantic Highlands/Highlands and the 12-mile South section, or extension, from Aberdeen/Matawan to Freehold. But this South section is really 2 sections; it is not continuous in Marlboro where the trail crosses Rt. 79. The new trailhead at Big Brook brings trail users to where the South section resumes for its last 5 miles.
Henry Hudson Trail Website