Based on the writing of: Lisa O.Neill, 2003.

Recreation Supervisor for the Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation

Ocean County Park has a colorful, rich history and an elegant past. It became the chief member of the Ocean County Parks and Recreation Department in 1941.

John D. Rockefeller Sr. and his 'Golf House'

The owner and founder of the Standard Oil Company, John D. Rockefeller Sr., otherwise known as 'Rocky', purchased the Ocean County Park property for $12,500.00 in 1902. Rockefeller was considered the richest man in the world in the year 1900. Later in life, he gave away more than $500 million to educational, scientific and religious organizations.

Rocky's original property included a golf course, stables, kennels for fox hunts, various outbuildings and the famed 'golf house'. Over the next 35 years, his Ocean County Park residence served as a respite for his trips between his other homes in Cleveland, New York and Florida. Rockefeller spent his summers in Lakewood up until his death in 1937.

In 1895, George Jay Gould, head of the Ocean County Hunt and Country Club, purchased the golf house and its' adjoining properties and developed a country club complete with a nine-hole golf course, fox hunting and trap shooting. Gould's main residence was located where Georgian Court College, on Lake Carasaljo, is located today.

After the death of John D. Rockefeller Sr., the Rockefeller family donated their 634 acre property to the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders in June 1940. The final deed conveyance was recorded on September 15, 1941.

Since then, the Freeholders have maintained the property and developed it into, what is now, the premier park in the county. For years, residents continued to play golf on what was Rocky's private golf course. Social functions, such as Lakewood High School's formal prom and various wedding ceremonies, were held in the golf house, the oil king's former three story residence.

In his time, former owner John D. Rockefeller Sr. invested $100,000.00 to remodel the existing clubhouse in the same Dutch Colonial Revival style as the original structure. By the time the county acquired the property, the golf house was three stories high and entirely surrounded by glass-enclosed porches. The golf house contained forty-two rooms: twenty bathrooms and sixteen servant's quarters. It was demolished, even after much protest, in 1966.

The Ocean County Fair Site

Ocean County Park's large open fields served as the original site for the Ocean County Fair from 1947 until the early 1980's, when it was moved to the Miller Airpark in Berkley Township. The fair included 4-H exhibits and livestock competitions. A portion of the fields was devoted to large apple tree groves.

Because John D. Rockefeller's prime interest was agriculture landscape, during his time as owner of the property, he planted thousands of evergreens, including spruce, cedar, white pine and hemlock, many of which are still standing today. Many of the trees from Rockefeller.s other estates were planted here, in Ocean County Park, because of the adaptability of the soil and the climate to the raising of evergreens. Fifteen thousand trees, from Canada and New England, were planted under the direct supervision of John D. Rockefeller in 1904. (Back then, workers made $1.65 for a 10-hour workday.)

Today, the park remains the home of the Police Academy, which underwent a massive addition that was completed in 1999. In the mid 1950's, when the county donated acreage to expand the Lakewood School system campus, the size of the Ocean County Park property diminished from 634 acres to 323 acres. The county also sold property, on the park's east, to private developers for, what is now, the Woodlake Complex.

The New York Giants Training Site

The New York Giants baseball team and its farm club, the Jersey City Giants, held their spring training sessions at Ocean County Park for three years during World War II. Hall of Famers, Mel Ott and Carl Hubbell, played and coached the legendary New York Giants baseball team. Many local, Lakewood sports fans find this part of the park's history to be paramount. (The property was also headquarters for the USO during this time.)

The Ocean County Park Fairway

In 1902, the Ocean County Hunt and Country Club merged with the Lakewood Golf Club and formed the Country Club of Lakewood. The new owners purchased the Hyer Farm, where the present country club is located, and laid out an eighteen-hole golf course. However, the former clubhouse and links of the Ocean County Hunt and Country Club did not lose their charm. The new owner was automatically attracted to the area because of its secluded recreational atmosphere. You can still see evidence of the former fairways of the Ocean County Hunt and Country Club. The golf course was the site of the first P.G.A. golf tournament, hosted on January 1, 1898, where ten golfers played for a purse of $150.

While hunting and pigeon-shooting contests still occupied the club member's leisurely days, golf gradually became the club's main outdoor sport. The club's fox hunting excursions were a club member's favorite past time, run by George Jay Gould, three times a week, during fair weather conditions. Gould even donated a pack of fifteen bloodhounds to the club. The club's running trails were carefully planned and encompassed miles of farmland and roads outside of the village.

For those members who preferred the 'fine art' of target shooting, they could make use of the club's variety of electric pigeon shooting traps. At all times, nearly a thousand birds were stocked in the pigeon house.