Double Trouble State Park

Double Trouble State Park, New Jersey, offers its visitors both a natural environment with about 8,000 acres of woodlands along the Cedar Creek River. It also has a perfectly preserved historic village built around the lumber industry, that was later associated with cranberry agriculture.

History

Between the 1700s and the 1900s the Double Trouble Village was a self-sufficient community whose inhabitants used the rich surrounding cedar forest and the waters of the Cedar Creek River to create the basis of a successful local lumber industry. Starting with the mid 1800s, the community grew cranberries in the surrounding swamplands. At the beginning of the 20th century the Double Trouble Company at the heart of this community was among the largest cranberry companies in the state of New Jersey. The village was purchased by the state in 1964 and in 1977 was added to the state’s historic places list.

What is in a name?

The source of the park’s name is not attributed to any particular circumstance or personage. Most stories are related to the damages to the dam on the sawmill pond that usually happened in pairs. It seems that the name was already in use at the beginning of the 19th century.

The park today

Today, the visitors to the historic district can walk through a complete and well-preserved company town with a restored sawmill and a cranberry sorting and packing house with nearly intact operational equipment. Until 2010 the cranberry bogs were leased to local farmers, but they retired, leaving the bogs uncultivated at present. The park is also available for hiking through the natural landscapes and historic areas, horseback riding and mountain biking on the existing sand roads and kayaking on the Cedar Creek River.

Both a historic and a natural treasure, the Double Trouble State Park is not only an invitation to peek through the lenses of time at a community that made its own history, but an occasion to delight in the wonders of a beautiful natural environment.