If you blink, you will miss it. Union Grove is a tiny enclave off Pottersville Road between Pottersville and Peapack-Gladstone. Farms and residences line Union Grove Road, which forms one side of a triangle with Pottersville Road and Lisk Hill Road. To the north, the defunct Rockaway Valley Railroad line once connected the region and
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THSSH recently acquired a bridge spike that was part of the Rockaway Valley Railroad. The spike was donated by Peapack and Gladstone and was found in the borough. It measures 10.25” in length and was used to fasten wooden ties to the wood structure of railroad bridges. Bridge spikes are typically longer than the spikes
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Construction of the Rockaway Valley Railroad, which crossed the Somerset Hills, concluded in 1892, and the route remained in service until 1914. Predominantly used to transport peaches, the railroad struggled financially from its inception due to the unreliability of peaches and the lack of major city connections. A peach blight actually occurred soon after the
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Peaches became a major cash crop in the Somerset Hills during the late 19th century. Farmers gained new markets with the arrival of the New Jersey West Line Railroad in Bernardsville (1872) and the Rockaway Valley Railroad in Pottersville and Gladstone (1889-90). Railroads were used to ship peaches and other commodities to cities all along
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