Liberty Love: A FreeWalker’s Monthly Journey
For the last five and a half years, I have been coordinating (for both FreeWalkers and Everwalk) a monthly seven-mile walk in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. The park has so much to offer: extraordinary views of the New York skyline, the George Washington Bridge, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and the Verrazano Bridge as well as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
We walk along the Hudson River Walkway through a wetland and tidal flats with great seasonal birdwatching—everything from laughing and herring gulls, great blue herons, and great white egrets to goldeneyes, common loons, and, my favorite, buffleheads. During the winter we also walk through the Caven Point Bird Sanctuary and a beach across from Manhattan. The walk also visits Port Liberte, a residential community with canals and private docks for yachts and sailboats.
The park has an interesting history. After twenty years of lobbying by Morris Pesin (with continued lobbying by his son, Sam Pesin, President of the Friends of Liberty State Park), New Jersey declared this beautiful spot a state park in 1976. The oldest structure on site is the Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal which operated from 1892 to 1954. It has been beautifully restored. This is where our walk starts.
Directly across from the terminal is the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial, which is the official State of New Jersey Memorial that honors the memory of the 750 people who lived in or had ties to New Jersey that lost their lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA on September 11, 2001.
One can combine history and science after the walk by taking the ferry from the park to the Statue of Liberty and visiting the Liberty Science Center. By the way, we also visit the Nature Center with additional information available about the park’s flora and fauna.
The park is accessible by walking or taking the light rail from Exchange Place in Jersey City or by car from the NJ Turnpike.
Coordinating this monthly walk over the years has been something I enjoy tremendously and always look forward to. We hope you will join us for our latest upcoming journey through Liberty State Park on Sunday, February 11.