Today we headed to a relatively new park, the Hilltop Reservation. It's relatively new
because the land was occupied for most of the 20th century by the Essex Mountain Sanatorium, which cared for patients with tuberculosis and later, in the 1970s, for
overflow patients with mental illness from the nearby Overbrook Hospital. The complex was closed in 1977 and gated in 1982, at which time it fell into disrepair. Incredibly,
most of the huge buildings stood there for two decades, into the 21st century, at which time they were all demolished. The Hilltop Resevation was created in 2001.
Click here for a terrific website dedicated to the history of this sanatorium.
Following this map, we parked near the ball field at the Verona Community Center (amazingly, this was the second hike in a row for us that began at a baseball field) and headed for left field, where we found the trailhead for the Old Hilltop trail (diamond blazes). We took this to the White Rock trail, passing the lovely Prisoner's Pond, then north where we could see construction of "The Highlands at Hilltop" apartment complex. At the end of this trail we turned left on the Hilltop Trail and took it north to the Spruce Inner Loop, which we took north, then east to the Peace trail at the northern tip of the reservation. We headed back south on this trail until we came back to the Hilltop Trail, which we took back to the ball field. Total distance hiked today was 4.8 miles in 3 hours.
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Passing the bleachers |
3rd baseline |
Trailhead in left field |
Partially paved White Rock trail |
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Lovely ... |
... Prisoner's Pond ... |
... on the White Rock trail |
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On White Rock |
A curious buck |
Turtleback rock |
Closeup of Turtleback rock |
Road to the construction |
Large water tank |
View north ... |
... to construction |
Wilderness right next door |
Overgrown in places |
Trail intersection |
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Abandoned tank |
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Abandoned sanatorium road |
The meadow ... |
... where most of the ... |
... sanatorium complex was |
Parking lot and wall (compare) |
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Wall in parking lot |
The E.D.'s spot |
Front court of administration building |
Water tank |
Bat house |
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Pump (?) in 'open' position |
Steel frame |
Storage box? |
Young doe and buck |
Older buck |
Pile of rubble |
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Turtleback rock covered in green |
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Blaze for Spruce Outer loop |
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Narrow Peace trail |
Piles of rubble |
Turtleback rock |
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Small abandoned building |
Crossing ... |
... abandoned road |
Huge Turtleback rock |
[Photo by Laura] |
Water tower bases |
Continuing on Peace trail |
A mini Palisades |
Several manholes ... |
... along this stretch |
Old pipe along trail |
Felled telephone pole |
Drill mark |
Downy woodpecker |
Blaze-eating tree |
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Cute |
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Abandoned building |
View inside |
Cabinet |
View from inside |
Combination lock |
Stand-alone gate |
Climbing back to the car |
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