Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T! 

Cheesequake State Park is in Middlesex County, New Jersey on the site of former farmland. The state purchased the land in the 1930s and the Civil Conservation Corps developed it into a park. It opened to the public in 1940.

The park has five hiking trails. Four of them begin at the trail-head parking lot. I headed there with Take a Hike NJ to walk the Green Trail.

The Green Trail is a three mile loop. We followed the boardwalk section to the nature center where they have some resident turtles and displays on the history of the area. The name Cheesequake is a derivative of a Lenape word (Chesaque) and has nothing to do with Cheese.

Continuing around the trail, we descended into the white cedar swamp.On the other side we ascended into the upland woodlands.  Cheesequake State Park is known for its variety of Atlantic ecosystems.

Location: 300 Gordon Rd, Matawan, NJ 07747

Designation: State Park

Date designated or established: 1940

Date of my visit: 11/10/2019