Rahway River


The Rahway River is a river in Essex, Middlesex, and Union Counties, New Jersey, United States, The Rahway flows into the Arthur Kill, the tidal channel between New Jersey and Staten Island, NJ.
Part of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, the river is approximately long. The upper reaches are lined with several parks while the mouth serves as an industrial access channel on the Chemical Coast.
The river was once on the lands of the Lenape Native Americans, and tradition states that the name is after Rahwack, a local tribal chief.
The river is the source of drinking water for the City of Rahway. Each spring, the river is stocked with approximately 6,000 trout.

Route

Branches

The Rahway River rises in Essex County as two separate branches. The West Branch begins at spring-fed Crystal Lake in West Orange and flows south through the South Mountain Reservation in the valley between first and second ridges of the Watchung Mountains. It runs directly through downtown Millburn. The East Branch rises as a surface stream in West Orange and forms part of the boundary between West Orange and Orange, then travels through the towns of South Orange and Maplewood.
The two branches meet at Hobart Gap near Interstate 78, continuing south through the Union County communities of Springfield, Union, Cranford and Clark. In Rahway the river receives the Robinson's Branch and South Branch, which are approximately long. Before the creation of Union County, Robinson's Branch was the area's border between Essex and Middlesex Counties. The South Branch starts in Roosevelt Park in Edison behind the Menlo Park Mall, and flows through Edison, Iselin, and Rahway. The river's mouth is at the Arthur Kill between Carteret and Linden, opposite Port Mobil on Staten Island.

Tributaries

  • Nomahegan Brook rises in Mountainside along Route 22 near its intersection with Lawrence Avenue. It flows Easterly and parallels Route 22 through Westfield and Cranford, where it meets the Rahway River. Along the way, it receives five unnamed tributaries which all arise on the Southern slope of the First Watchung Mountain.
  • Gallows Hill Brook rises in Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, travels through Garwood and Cranford, and joins the Rahway River at Hampton Park
  • Orchard Brook travels through Garwood and enters Cranford by West Holly where it joins the Rahway.
  • Kings Creek, Cross Creek, and Marshes Creek joins the Rahway near its entry into the Arthur Kill

    Parks along the river

South Mountain Reservation

is home to Orange Reservoir and Campbell's Pond. A dramatic feature is Hemlock Falls: a 25-foot-high cascade of Rahway water over rock cliffs. The reservoir located in the reservation's northern tract. Within the borders of West Orange, it is owned by the City of Orange. It was originally developed during the intense urbanization of northeastern New Jersey in the late 19th century, drawing from the Rahway River. The man-made lake is no longer part of the water-supply system. It is now used for recreation. The complex abutting the reservoir includes a miniature golf course, and a restaurant, McLoone's, opened in 2011.
Just below South Mountain Reservation in Millburn, New Jersey, the river runs through Taylor Park.

Rahway River Parkway

The Rahway River Parkway is a greenway of parkland that hugs the Rahway River and its tributaries. Formed by the Union County Parks Commission in the 1920s, was designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, who were the sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
The "Friends of Rahway River Parkway," a nonprofit group, has been formed exclusively to encourage and advocate for the preservation, restoration and enhancement of the Rahway River Parkway, in accord with the Olmsted design principles inherent in its origins, and to promote appropriate public enjoyment of the Parkway.
  • *Springfield, New Jersey. Briant Park.
  • *Westfield/Mountainside. Echo Lake Park is situated on a lake formed on Nomahegan Brook, a tributary of the Rahway.
  • * The Cranford, New Jersey section of the Rahway River Parkway follows the banks of the meandering river as it flows south through Lenape Park, Nomahegan Park, Hampton Park, MacConnell Park, the Cranford Canoe Club, Hanson Park, Sperry Park, Josiah Crane Park, Droeschers Mill Park, and Mohawk Park. The land for Sperry Park was donated by William Miller Sperry.
  • *Clark/Winfield. Formerly Osceola Farm, owned by Thomas Sperry.
  • *Rahway, New Jersey. Rahway River Park abuts a graveyard along the river here. Milton Lake Park is popular for fishing.

    The Robinson's Branch Reservoir

The Robinson's Branch Reservoir, also known as the Clark Reservoir, is the largest body of water in Union County, and sits on that tributary in Clark.

Lower river

  • Hawk Rise Sanctuary in Linden, New Jersey. is a 95-acre ecological preserve and wetland complex.
  • Joseph Medwick Memorial Park in Carteret is named for baseball player Joe Medwick and offers scenic river vistas plus ball fields, tennis courts, playgrounds & picnic groves.
The salt marshes and mudflats along the lower Rahway are high priority habitats and are the most extensive in the watershed and span four communities: Carteret, Linden, Woodbridge Township and Rahway. Encompassing over, this priority habitat contains 434 acres of salt marsh and 238 acres of brush and shrub lands. Gulls, many species of shorebirds, breeding clapper rail, egrets, ducks, plovers, hawks, pheasants, wintering northern harrier and marsh wrens utilize the site.

The Rahway River Watershed Association and RiverFest

The Rahway River Watershed Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the river. RRWA works in cooperation with local river communities to provide opportunities for river education, curriculum support activities, community awareness of the river, and environmental stewardship of the watershed. The RRWA Watershed Learning Center is located on the river at Lower Essex Street Park in Rahway.
The RRWA organizes an annual event in celebration of the river, RiverFest, featuring live music, art, food and other vendors, dance and environmental educational events.

Recreation along the river

Canoeing and boating

The Cranford Canoe Club, built in 1908, rents canoes and kayaks for trips on the Rahway River in Cranford.
The Rahway Yacht Club, founded in 1904, is a private boating club docked on the river in Rahway, New Jersey.
Echo Lake, off Nomahegan Brook in Westfield and Orange Reservoir in South Mountain in Maplewood offer paddle boating.

Rahway River fishing

Fishing is popular along the Rahway. Many local fishing enthusiasts are among the biggest local champions of keeping the Rahway River and its parkland clean and vibrant for wildlife.
Fishermen who enjoy Rahway River fishing are encouraged to take home all fishing line to avoid injuring osprey and other large wildlife via entanglement which has caused deaths along the river.
On the third Monday of each month the Rahway River Trout Unlimited Chapter holds its monthly general meeting at the Cranford Community Center at 7:30pm to discuss Rahway River fishing. Fly fishermen may be seen casting lines in the Rahway along the dams in Cranford.
Brown trout, brook trout and rainbow trout 9 to 11 inches long are stocked for Rahway River fishing from late March to mid-May. Along with these good-sized trout, much bigger breeders are also stocked to excite those anglers skilled or lucky enough to catch one.
Large numbers of sunfish and catfish are present in the Rahway River.
Smallmouth bass and largemouth bass, some quite large, are found when fishing the Rahway, as are channel catfish and bullhead catfish.
Striped bass and eels also surge up the river from Raritan Bay and encountered during Rahway River fishing. Large and very powerful carp appear as well.
Mark Modoski, angler and contributor for Field & Stream magazine, has written about fishing for catfish and carp on Nomahegan Lake off the river.
The Rahway River is home to four anadromous fish species and one species of catadromous fish species.
There are long-discussed plans to install a fish ladder at the Rahway City Water Works to aid these fish during their spawning migrations. Fish ladders are inundated structures with small underwater steps that allow fish to navigate around a dam and continue their migration. Other approaches include removing obstructions that are inoperative or no longer serve their purpose, or improving water quality and reducing debris that obstructs passage.
The fish targeted for upstream passage at the Rahway River Water Supply Dam are alewife, blueback herring, gizzard shad, white perch and the endangered American eel. Alewife and blueback herring are collectively referred to as river herring due to their similarity in appearance, range, and life histories. River herring, gizzard shad, and white perch are all anadromous ; whereas American eel are catadromous.
Historically, anadromous spawning runs of alewife, blueback herring, striped bass, and American shad and catadromous runs of American eel were common in the NYC/NJ harbor estuary. However, poor stream conditions and an increased number of obstacles to upstream migration, like tide gates, culverts, and dams, have reduced these species’
migration opportunities. Restoring fish passage on major tributaries like the Rahway can be accomplished through the construction of fish ladders.

Birding on the river

is a frequent activity along the Rahway. The Friends of Lenape Park often birdwatch along the banks of its streams such as Nomahegan Brook.

Other activities on the Rahway

Cranford's The Riverside Inn and the River and Rail Cantina sit aside the river with outdoor seating near parkland. McLoone's Boathouse is located on Orange Reservoir in South Mountain Reservation. The famous Paper Mill Playhouse sits aside the river.
The Hanson Park Conservancy hosts an annual "rubber ducky race" in the river, over the Hansel Dam falls next to Sperry Park, as a fundraiser for the park.
The Great Pumpkin Sail is held in Echo Lake on All Saints' Day. At this annual event, on the day after Halloween, families bring their Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns, light them, and set them afloat on Echo Lake Park's lower lake. The glowing firelit faces reflect in the water as families enjoy free hot chocolate, marshmallows, and entertainment around the campfire.