Rededication and new historical attractions planned for the first municipal parkland ever set aside in what is now Toms River Township sets the stage for the community's Semiquincentennial Celebration in 2017.

(L-R) Toms River Twp. Clerk J. Mark Mutter, Councilman Kevin Geoghegan, Sami Card, Mayor Thomas Kelaher, Allison Ruppe (Tom Mongelli, Townsquare Media)
(L-R) Toms River Twp. Clerk J. Mark Mutter, Councilman Kevin Geoghegan, Sami Card, Mayor Thomas Kelaher, Allison Ruppe (Tom Mongelli, Townsquare Media)
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With a symbolic shovel fronting a genuine backloader in Joshua Huddy Park Friday, Mayor Thomas Kelaher, Township Clerk and Historian J. Mark Mutter unveiled plans for new sights that will rise near the park's Block House commemorative site in the course of the next year.

The park renovations are part of a broader, $2,200,000 allocation that will bring upgrades to nearly 20 properties around the township, according to Township Engineer Robert Chankalian.

The new additions stem from the fertile minds of Toms River North high schoolers Aubrey Binkley, Sami Card and Allison Ruppe, with guidance from teacher and township Historic Preservation Commission member Kim General.

At the ceremonial groundbreaking, Mutter read the 1905 records of Municipal Clerk U.S. Grant (not the general) that detailed the special referendum for $3,000 to turn the marshy Gowdy's Island into parkland. Dover Township voters approved, 191 to 12.

The park commemorates Captain Joshua Huddy, who led a determined defense of the block house, or supply storage site, against the British in the Revolutionary War. Huddy was captured, whisked away to Sandy Hook and summarily hanged without a trial by the Redcoats.

Huddy Park, manufactured with fill from the Toms, was rededicated in 1992 during the township's 225th anniversary, and again in 2007 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark 225 years since the Battle of Toms River.

Huddy Park Enhancement Diagram (Tom Mongelli, Townsquare Media)
Huddy Park Enhancement Diagram (Tom Mongelli, Townsquare Media)
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Chankalian says that the finished design is a combination of several bright ideas that flowed from the students who turned the idea sessions into their own competition, creating schematics and miniatures to illustrate their visions.

He says that what visitors will see is "...a metal statue...replicating the walls of the fort...and each side will have a monument for the American versus the British soldier."

Bulkheads, benches, sidewalks and the gazebo will be spruced up, Chankalian added, and there will be seaport-themed streetscape additions along Water Street to Robbins Avenue, and silhouette-type statues, including a Towne Crier replica on which notices of township events are to be posted.

The consulting engineering firm is French & Parello Associates, and R. Kremer & Sons Marine Contractors won the bid for the physical work.

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