Secaucus Plans Big Improvements To Duck Pond, Schmidt's Woods

SECAUCUS, NJ — Get ready for some nice improvements to the beloved Secaucus Duck Pond and Schmidt's Woods!

If a requested grant from the state comes through, Secaucus will be building a gazebo-type structure at the Duck Pond, adding benches, putting a walkway around the entire shoreline and adding landscaping, said Mayor Mike Gonnelli.

"It's going to be really nice, really, really beautiful," said Gonnelli on Friday morning. "It's one of the last parks that we have to do something with. It won't be a gazebo exactly, more like a more modern gazebo and it will go in the area of where the caboose is now."

Secaucus requested the grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and Gonnelli said the town will find out if it got the money in June. So, finger's crossed, expect the work to start after that. The Duck Pond is located off Metro Way.

As you might recall, the Secaucus Duck Pond is also where someone illegally dumped a small alligator or more likely a caiman two summers ago, in May of 2017. A Secaucus DPW worker said he spotted the reptile on May 3, 2017 while he was preparing for the town's annual fishing derby, held every year at the Duck Pond. But he said it slipped back under the water before he could capture it, or even take a photo.

Gonnelli said the alligator was estimated at roughly 2-and-a-half feet, and a search was conducted, but nobody could find ever find it. Both Gonnelli and state DEP workers said the reptile would very likely not survive New Jersey's bitter cold winters. Let's hope that's the case, as many children play at the Duck Pond. The animal has never been seen since.

Also on Friday, Gonnelli said he just received confirmation that the town received a $500,000 grant to put new trails in at Schmidt's Woods. Schmidt's Woods is a popular 14-acre wooded area in the North End of town, near the town swimming pool. Secaucus high schoolers host their haunted forest there every Halloween.

Mayor Gonnelli said improved pathways will be put in and exercise equipment will be added along the trails. That work will start this summer. Schmidt's Woods is actually one of the last preserved wooded areas in all of Hudson County.

The Secaucus Fishing Derby is a very popular annual event, held at the Duck Pond in early May every year. Registration is from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on May 4th at the Duck Pond (Metro Way) and the derby goes from 9 a.m. to noon. The pond will be stocked with fish. Learn more here: https://patch.com/new-jersey/secaucus/calendar/event/20190504/547402/annual-fishing-derby

Past Patch reporting:

Alligator Seen in New Jersey Duck Pond (May 2017)