After the Pond House Closes: Who Runs Grover Cleveland Park in Winter

The Pond House at Grover Cleveland Park holds more than sixty pairs of figure and hockey skates in assorted sizes. Neighbors donated them, and anyone can borrow them for free. The county doesn't hand them out. On days when Essex County approves skating on the pond, volunteers from the Grover Cleveland Park Conservancy keep a fire going in the fireplace and pour coffee, tea and hot chocolate.

That detail explains how the park runs after Halloween. On the Conservancy's Pond House page, the building is staffed by Essex County caretakers from May until October. Once that stint ends, the park's own calendar belongs to its volunteers. Most of the county's late-season programming moves a short drive south, to the Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland.

The Handoff at the End of October

Grover Cleveland Park runs along the Caldwell and Essex Fells border. It covers 41.48 acres. For Essex Fells, the park starts at the Runnymede Road and Buttonwood Road lots. Brookside Avenue is the Caldwell side. The county acquired the land between 1913 and 1916, named it for President Grover Cleveland, and had it planned by the Olmsted Brothers. That firm was founded by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park.

The county still owns and maintains the park. The Conservancy describes itself as a partner to the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs in maintaining and improving the grounds. Much of what visitors use today came out of that partnership. The Conservancy won the NJ Green Acres grant behind the 2006 Pond House renovation, and Essex County matched it. The four lighted tennis courts were replaced in 2003 the same way, through a Conservancy-won Green Acres grant with county matching funds.

The tennis courts give the clearest timetable for the season change. Their lights come on automatically from dusk until 9 p.m., but only from May until November. November is the last month of evening tennis, coming right after the caretakers' season ends.

Four Dates on the Fall Calendar

Late October is the busiest part of the park's fall. The Conservancy's events page lists four dates from October 19 through November 9. One of them is a county event:

1. Monday, October 19. A Conservancy nature walk, promoted with a 2026 forest-bathing flyer.
2. Saturday, October 24. Essex County's Strut Your Mutt canine Halloween costume contest at the Pond House on Brookside Avenue. Registration opens at 1 p.m., the parade starts at 1:30 p.m., entry is free and there are prizes.
3. Saturday, October 31. The Conservancy's Halloween event, with music, dancing and costumes for kids and all ages. The Conservancy is accepting sponsorships and donations for it.
4. Monday, November 9. A second nature walk, under the same forest-bathing flyer.

The list ends after November 9. Holiday events and winter walks don't appear on it, because the park's next big moment depends on the weather.

The Pond That Waits for Ice

The pond is about 5.5 feet deep. Pine Brook feeds it through an intake, and the water drains back into the brook through the weir beneath the stone bridge at Runnymede Road. It holds fish, turtles, frogs, ducks and birds. It's also stocked. New Jersey's 2026 spring trout schedule listed Grover Cleveland Park Pond for stocking on April 2, 2026.

The county decides when people can skate. The Conservancy describes the rule this way:

"Ice skating is available in the winter months when the pond freezes and the ice reaches a safe thickness of 5.5 inches. The County tests the ice thickness and stability daily to determine if skating can take place."

The ice threshold, 5.5 inches, is the same number as the pond's depth in feet. Skating starts when the county approves it. The volunteers handle the rest: the fire, the hot drinks and the loaner skates. The Conservancy's site carries the Pond House details, and the county's Grover Cleveland Park page is the authority on park operations.

The County Calendar Moves to Eagle Rock Avenue

The Essex County Environmental Center sits at 621-B Eagle Rock Avenue in Roseland, inside the county's West Essex Park. West Essex Park is a 1,360-acre wetlands preserve that touches Livingston, Roseland, West Caldwell and Fairfield and follows six miles of the Passaic River. The county opened its Center for Environmental Studies at the Eagle Rock Avenue site in March 1972.

The Center's hours changed this month. Under the Fall 2026 brochure, it switched to a Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule and closes on Mondays from Saturday, October 17, 2026, through Monday, March 8, 2027. Its weekday schedule returns March 15, 2027. Saturdays are open, though, and most of the dated programs fall on them.

For ages 2 to 5, the Little Explorers club meets on Fridays from 3 to 4 p.m. Its remaining dates are November 13 and 20 and December 11 and 18. Families sign up for the full eight-class series at $160. Groups of up to 10 can book a private 45-minute session at $15 per participant. Fall topics include Backyard Birding, Frog Pond Science, a Swamp Tromp through the wetlands, and Fire Making and Hot Chocolate, which carries an extra fee. Sessions are booked through the Center at 973.228.8776.

The Center's outdoor features work in any season. They include a self-guided half-mile Lenape Trail through wooded wetlands, an interpretive trail, a frog pond, a pollinator garden, a forest garden, beehives, a boardwalk, and access to the Passaic River with a public canoe launch. Its fall brochure asks families to dress for the weather, since every Little Explorers class includes time outside and the paths can't take strollers.

What Stays Open on the Essex Fells Side

Back at Grover Cleveland Park, the paths stay open all year. Perry's Trail starts at the corner of Buttonwood and Runnymede roads and winds through the lower woods. It appeared on the original Olmsted plan but wasn't built until an Eagle Scout took it on as a project. The Conservancy calls it a safe route that keeps walkers off busy Runnymede Road. Up the hill, walkers, runners and cyclists use the Linden Allée. Mile markers along the running paths came from another Eagle Scout project.

According to the Conservancy, dog walkers use the park all day and are most common early in the morning, at lunchtime, after work and in the evening. It asks that dogs stay leashed and that owners clean up after them. Walkers loop the flat ground around the pond, and the paved paths are lit after dark.

The Conservancy's planning also continues through the winter. In its announcement of the 2026 board, it listed community volunteer days and repair of the park dam among the projects under consideration. Its commemorative-brick program takes orders twice a year, on March 15 and July 15. A 4-by-8-inch paver costs $150 and an 8-by-8-inch paver costs $175. Each batch needs at least four orders, and installation takes about ten weeks after the order date. The next window after this winter is March 15. The brick order form is posted on the Conservancy's site.

One borough note for anyone heading out on foot this season: Essex Fells' 2026 fall leaf letter sets curbside loose-leaf collection from October 19 through December 4. The borough asks residents to keep leaf piles away from drains, hydrants and intersections, and says repeat pickups may come two to three weeks apart.

At The Wright Group, we think a home's story includes the places around it, like an Olmsted-planned park at the end of Runnymede Road. If you'd like to know how features like that factor into what your Essex Fells home is worth, request a complimentary home valuation and we'll prepare a valuation that reflects them.