The New Jersey Meadowlands was actually once mostly a very larger forest of white cedars, particularly the area where today the Meadowlands Sports Complex sits and the areas south all the way to Kearny. The first white settlers in what are the Meadowlands today were primarily British merchants from Barbados, so for time during 1700’s, the meadows were known as New Barbados. The growing metropolis across the North (now Hudson) River, New York had an ever growing need for lumber, so many a lumberman live in the Meadowlands and the ravaging of Cedars for New York City was in full swing. The northern portion of the meadows, to the north of the sports complex was exploited for it clay that lied beneath the meadows, creating a vibrant brick-making industry from 1870-1950’s. The brickyards in the town of Little Ferry in 1895 at its peak produced one hundred million bricks. Those bricks contributed to building in New York City, Newark & Paterson NJ and Providence Rhode Island. As land barons looked to expand to build more housing, pig slaughterhouses and garbage dumps, 2/3’s of the meadows were landfilled, include the aforementioned Meadowlands Sports Complex. The industrial age used the meadow as a dumping ground until 1968 when the newly formed Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission(HMDC) was charted by New Jersey to put into place severe restrictions on what could be dumped into the rivers and meadows. This park Richard W. Dekorte Park which spans Lyndhurst and North Arlington allows visitors to walk around the meadows and view the wildlife that has returned as the waters have gotten cleaner because of concerned conservationist. In this image take at Dekorte park behind the water and phragmites is the New Jersey Turnpike I-95 and even further back the tall spires are New York City. iPhone 13 Pro Wide 26mm #developportdev @gothamtomato @developphotonewsletter @omsystem.cameras #excellent_america #omsystem @bheventspace @bhphoto @adorama @tamracphoto @tiffencompany #usaprimeshot #tamractales @kehcamera @mpbcom #ihone13pro @mrri_njmeadowlands @visit_nj @newjerseyisntboring @apple @newjerseyisbeautiful
