Hartshorne Woods Park
Directions
From the Garden State Parkway take Exit 117, the closest major exit, to NJ 36 heading towards Atlantic Highlands.
The park has three parking areas:
- The Buttermilk Valley Entrance can be reached on local roads from NJ 35 or NJ 36, located at 307 Navesink Ave. Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716. GPS Coordinates: 40.401627, -74.012769
- The Rocky Point Entrance can also be reached on local roads from NJ 36, located at 1402 Portland Rd. Highlands, NJ 07732. GPS Coordinates: 40.391251, -73.988070
- The Claypit Creek Entrance is located at 259 Locust Ave. Rumson, NJ 07760. GPS Coordinates: 40.396557, -74.021766
Public Transportation: The Academy Line provides direct bus service to Highlands from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
Bus Directions
Public Transportation: The Academy Line provides direct bus service to Highlands from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
Park Overview
With multi-use trails this is a popular destination for bicyclists and hikers. Visitors can view the Navesink River on a site that is among the highest elevations along the Atlantic Coast.
Trail Overview
Trailheads and parking are at the Buttermilk Valley Entrance and, some distance away, the Rocky Point Entrance. Trails range in length from 0.6 mile to 3.4 miles. Among the six or seven trails in the park all but two short ones - the Candlestick and Kings Hollow trails, both of which start at the Buttermilk Valley parking area - are multi-use trails open to hikers, runners, bicyclists, and equestrians. The trails are heavily used by bicyclists and joggers. Park regulations provide that bicyclists must yield to all other trail users; however, many trails open to bicycles are narrow, winding, "single-track" routes. Thus, hikers should be alert for approaching bicycles. Fewer bikers use nearby Huber Woods Park. Hikers must yield to equestrians.
Typical of Monmouth County parks, trails are not blazed, although they have been classified into three categories based on difficulty. Signposts at trail junctions use colored symbols to designate three classes of trails: "easy" [green circles]; "moderate" [blue squares]; and "challenging' [black diamonds]. These designations are geared primarily towards bicyclists. Thus, while trails designated with black diamonds are stated to be "challenging ... with obstructions and steep grades," most hikers will find these trails to be of no more than moderate difficulty.
Use the Web Map link on this site for a brochure and trail map. Click here for detailed descriptions hikes in the park.
Park Description
A unit of the Monmouth County park system, Hartshorne Woods Park is named after Richard Hartshorne (pronounced "hart's horn"), the first European settler in the area, who purchased the land from the Native Americans. About two thirds of the present acres were acquired by the county in 1974. The Rocky Point section, which had been the site of the Highlands Army Air Defense Command since 1940, was declared surplus property by the Department of Defense in 1979 and acquired by the county as an addition to the park. The area was restored and opened to the public in the early 1990s.
The park rises from sea level at the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers to 274 feet above sea level. Located along an otherwise flat coastal plain, Hartshorne Woods sits astride a line of low but steep-sided hills. These hills mark the edge of a cuesta - a geomorphic landscape feature formed from sandstone layers that are slightly tilted. These layers, composed of quartz and other particles, were cemented together by iron oxides, and were thus more resistant to erosion than the unconsolidated sediments which once overlayed them. The forest is more similar to New Jersey's northern highlands than to the rest of Monmouth County. The hills support forests of oak, hickory, and tulip trees, with an understory of American holly and mountain laurel.