Seniors Find Old Bridge Loaded With History

I was watching a TV show and a participant was from Old Bridge, New Jersey.  I discovered that Old Bridge was not just a hidden older town, but a city of 65,000 and a Township in Middlesex County. Senior travelers will find Old Bridge just off I-95 and 24 miles south west of Newark, a bedroom suburb of New York City.

Due to its favorable geographical position located on the navigable part of the South River, the area attracted settlers as early as 1685. Old Bridge derives its name from the fact that the first bridge built spanning the South River was known as “the Old Bridge.”

Through its long history the village had numerous names but none were as meaningful or as permanent as Old Bridge. “(Old Bridge) East Brunswick is tremendously significant both historically and culturally because it was the center of an industrious community of people whose lives epitomized developments of the 18th and 19th centuries in Middlesex County.”

Seniors Find A ‘Best Place’ With Quality Clay

Old Bridge Township has a lot going for it as evidenced by the fact that it was named a contender for the title of one of the best places to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2005 and again in 2007.

The red clay soil surrounding Old Bridge in the past was used for pottery and bricks way before the first European settlers. Fine clay had surrounded Cheesequake Creek when the Lenni Lenape Native Americans lived there.

The early discoveries of clay along the banks opened the clay industry to Middlesex County as well as the state of New Jersey. By the 1800s clay was a major industry. The clay deposits found along Cheesequake Creek are reported to be some of the finest stoneware clays in the country.

 Seniors Enjoy A Landmark, Hiking Trails and Hooks Creek Lake

The Cottrell homestead is a landmark in Old Bridge. It was built in 1831 and was loaded with apple orchards. The Cottrells produced apple brandy for twenty years on the farm and sold it wholesale to distributors under the name Browntown.

So what can senior visitors do in Old Bridge? Cheesequake State Park features marshes, forests, camping areas and hiking trails. Hooks Creek Lake provides fishing opportunities for trout, bass and catfish.

The Monmouth Battlefield State Park includes wetlands, wooded areas, trails for hiking and horseback riding and a old Revolutionary War farmhouse. The visitors center at the park has many relics from the Revolutionary War battlefield.

An Historic District of Old Bridge was formally placed on the New Jersey State Register in 1975 and on the National Register, June 1977. Cedar Grove School is one of the more famous Historic Places. The single track train built in 1832 still passes through the village.  Seniors, as you are driving up the East Coast, drop by Old Bridge and enjoy the sites. -jeb