What is now the 247 acre Skillman Park started out in 1898 as the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics. It contained nearly 100 buildings and was completely self sufficient, including a power house, fire station, theater, and a cemetery (another cemetery belonging to it, is located south of the park) In the 1950 it became known as the North Princeton Neuropsychiatric Institute and later as the North Princeton Developmental Center which closed its doors in 1998. By then a lot of the buildings had deteriorated and fallen into severe disrepair. It was known as “The Snake Pit of New Jersey”. In 2007 the property was bought by Montgomery Township, which demolished most of the buildings, and placed an elementary school on it in hopes to attract a developer. No one was interested, in part because of the economic down-turn, and in 2011 Somerset County came to the rescue and bought the property and turned it into the largest recreational park in the southern part of the county. Most of the existing roads were turned into 12’ wide asphalted paths stretching for about 2.2 miles. Rock Brook flows through the park, but the dam that had created Sylvan Lake was removed. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held in April of 2015.
More information about the interesting history of the property can be found on the related webpage: http://www.twp.montgomery.nj.us/departments/recreation/parks-pathways-maps/skillman-park/
For a cool video of the village in 2013 watch the following YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUuP4zkTHBw (linked with permission).
Right now the park is dissected by the building of a pipeline.
There is lots of Poison Ivy all over the park. Please come prepared.
All caches are placed with permission and knowledge of the Somerset County Park Rangers.
The park is open from dawn to dusk year-round.
This cache is certified Central Jersey!