Branch Brook Park, the nation’s first county park, is located in the North Ward of Newark, between the neighborhoods of Forest Hill and Roseville. A portion of the park is also located within the Township of Belleville. The park is noted for the largest collection of cherry blossom trees in the United States. The Newark Light Rail runs on the park’s west side providing multiple access points to the park from Downtown Newark. Branch Brook Park is listed on both the New Jersey (1980) and National (1981) Registers of Historic Places.
This park contains a segment of the 36-mile Lenape Trail, a unique urban/suburban trail connecting 18 parks and 11 municipalities in Essex County. A guide to the trail, including comprehensive trail maps, has been written by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference in close collaboration with the Essex County Essex County Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs and can be found here.
