Perched atop the Kittatinny Mountains, in the northwestern corner of New Jersey, lies one of the most beautiful parks in the state. High Point State Park is visited by thousands annually and from the highest peak in New Jersey visitors can see three states and enjoy a vista for miles around. This park, one of the oldest in the state, has a rich history that is more than seventy-five years old. The park was a gift of Colonel Anthony and Susan Kuser to the people of New Jersey in 1923 as was the High Point monument built in 1930.
The famed landscape design firm, Olmsted Brothers, from Brookline, Massachusetts, was retained to design the park’s facilities after the initial gift. The job of carrying out many of the proposals in that plan fell to the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era federal agency that combined work relief efforts with conservation work, which developed the layout of the park from 1933-1941. Much of their work remains and is still used by visitors today.
For High Point State Park And The Civilian Conservation Corps, Peter Osborne has selected about two hundred images that have been mostly preserved by High Point State Park and former CCC enrollees. Using these unique images, many published here for the first time, he has compiled the only photographic history of the park and the work of the CCC. Together with his We Can Take It! The Roosevelt Tree Army at High Point State Park 1933-1941 they tell the complete story of the history of the park.
Date Last Revised: 02/14/2003
Copyright©Janis Osborne 2003