The Deserted Village in Hopatcong Hills

Love all the signs with historical information. A fun place to explore with a paved road and other off road trails! You cannot go in any of the buildings but theyre fun to look at.

Id been meaning to go there & explore. The day we chose to go there was some kind of a festival day, so it was a little bit crowded, especially for parking, but it was an enjoyable fall day to walk around and see what used to be...(pics to follow)

Pleasant walk thru, quaint general store with some historical displays. Starting point for exploring the trails

Been waiting to go for quite a while. Enjoyed the audio tour. Learned quite a bit. Very interesting experience

The deserted village of Feltville, Great location for hiking with a lot of trails and history, the houses are getting very dilapidated. Very easy to get there exit 44 on route 78, wear comfortable shoes.

If you love history then this place is for you. The houses make you feel like you live in the 1860s

Every time I go love this place more

Great historical site! There are a bunch of different trails to hike, so you can go multiple times, and have a different experience. Also, they have clean restrooms, which is nice.

Bit of a hike off the beaten path but definitely fun. The old saw mill and factory are long gone, the buildings that are there are clearly 1900s but the layout of the old town is visible.

Very interesting place with a great hike! Be careful as the trails are not marked well in spots. Overall great place for history and a little fresh air and exercise!!

My fiancee and I took our two kids (3&10there for a little hike. It was easy for both kids and a lot to look at and learn a little history of the area.

Great place to escape the summer heat with the children.

went here today and it was alittle underwhelming. however, it is very well maintained, clean and a great spot to walk around on a nice day. kid friendly, dog friendly. there is a parking lot up above with a map of trails. there are also clean public bathrooms in the back if the main building I posted a photo of. there is a small cemetery in the woods behind that house as well.

There is not a lot to actually see. Sadly most of the buildings are in disrepair.The unique story behind the town is what makes it worth the visit.Take the time to stop and read the story boards.

Not a particularly interesting place for kids to go, but there’s a small river to explore.

Nice walk through the village. Good place to take pictures

Follow Chasing Shots on IG for more photos!Explorers Dream✨This place was pretty cool. I liked that there are restrooms and many places to sit if you wanted to rest or take in the views. There are trails through the woods which are fairly easy to navigate if you stay on the main paths. It was interesting and recommended for those who like to explore a bit!

One of the best places you can go to when you want to be alone with your thoughts and catch a breather. Plenty of trails to hike on and streams where you can skip rocks. Its fun looking at the dilapidated houses and reading about the history of Feltville. Theres also Trailside museum not too far from here if you want to take your kids or friends.

Great place to go for a walk. Most of it is paved road.

Great for hiking and to learn some history. Wear comfortable shoes, bring water and a snack. Dress appropriately for the weather. Please do not litter and take your water bottle/garbage.

A lot of spring flowers, lovely walk and easy access. Most of the Houses are in very bad shape and you can’t go close/into those.

This is a really nice place to hike, added bonus is the history of the family.

The park is a bit under construction to keep the houses up but this was such a lovely stop and walk!

We expected a ghost town vibe at this place but it felt busy-ish when we visited, with construction work on one of the buildings and a steady stream of visitors. We hiked for about an hour, passing by old houses and a cemetery remembering the early inhabitants of the village. The terrain is hilly in places but the main walk path with the largest concentration of houses was pretty flat and should not be daunting for the average person. Parking was free and there is a restroom in one of the buildings.

The Deserted Village of Feltville is on the NJ and National registers of historic places, mostly for its development as a self-sufficient mill town in the mid-1800s. The site dates to the colonial era settlement of Peters Hill. In 1845, it was developed by David Felt as a company town that ultimately had 175 residents, but by the 1870s the village was abandoned. In the 1880s, it was purchased and turned into a Victorian summer retreat named Glenside Park. During the 1920s, the Watchung Reservation was created to protect undeveloped natural land, and during the Great Depression the government did rent out houses in Feltville. Today, it appears NJ is restoring and preserving the site, with many buildings off limits for stabilization and preservation. Well definitely be back to explore more of the site! It is a great location for photos.

It can be a little busy but a cool place to visit and explore.

Feltville had a bizarre history dating to the 19th century. A self proclaimed leader later abandoned the location. In intervening decades industries and even a resort took root here. As vehicles expanded vacation options the area passed into decline again. Today some unique buildings with Adirondack camp features remain. Some were even being restored with new cedar shake roofs when we visited fall 2021. Definitely worth a visit and exploring the trails, including the copper mine gorge and nature center that are within walking distance.

Everything was fenced off, boarded up, old worn down tarps. Not sure if they were renovating, but would have been cool to see more of the buildings or known what was going on.

About 45 mins from my home, but worth the drive, It ended up to be a perfect Sunday, such beautiful hiking trails and some great historic sites, definitely worth paying a visit. Very unexpected, plenty of parking and pretty easy trails.

My new favorite place ! It was so historical and educational. My kids loved it also. Never knew it existed. But glad I found it.

Few old houses are present. There is no historic museum. Lots of trails to walk in the whole area.

This was a great place to explore and learn about. We went hiking and would like to explore more trails. A good visit to take the kids for a history lesson

4.10.21 Bathrooms were not open, not sure why. Everyone was trying to get into the building.Cool place to hike, few trails that branch off with pretty clear blazes. Deserted village on main paved trail, cemetary and other dirt trails run off this trail. Hiking is pretty rocky and uneven but beautiful/peaceful next to the water. Spent about 3 hours here but if youre only hiking the paved trail and reading all the signs, would probably only be about an hour. Definitely worth it. This was my 2nd visit but first time really hiking, did 5 miles and still did not cover all the trails.

Nice place to visit with family and kids. They have good trails for trail lovers . One can spend 3 hours here hiking and chilling .

Great trails for hike along historic landmarks 🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️🧑‍🦯

I loved the church/general store. Nice easy paved trail though the village. Great signs that explained the history. Fun trails to hike. Nice picnic area at Seely pond near by.

Been coming to visit this village since I was young and decided to take a ride and shoot some photos. Very busy there. Lots of trails for hiking and biking. The village itself is beginning to really fall apart. Only a few buildings are being kept up on. The rest nature is reclaiming and torn tarps litter the landscape. The place has a very interesting history, its a shame its fallen into such disrepair.

Great place to take a hike with your dog. Pull up a map of the place on your gps because its a rather large park. Certain trails are more treacherous than others so wear good shoes and dont forget water and bug spray!

Its a great place to walk around and learn about history. Its a little small, but its a good socially distant activity!

Deserted or Neglected?The idea of a Village from the 1800s still preserved with a walking trail, nature and Historic Sites is enough to get you to this sliver if Watchung Reservation. But boarded up and disintegrating neg lect is what you find as a result.It appears they make money off the Pergola and Barn so they keep those in ship shape. But if the building cannot be made a profit center, expect blue tarps as roofs and plywood as windows.You can hike here, and apparently someone lives here. But ultimately the informational placards show descriptions of things that should be but are no longer.You won’t find the dams they mention, or many of the buildings described.It’s a fun date place but don’t stop to read as you’ll both wonder why there’s nothing to see.

This was fascinating to see the historical information and details regarding what this used to be and what significance it had as part of the town. Google maps is a little off for the location. There is an access road to get over to this area, and it is about halfway around the History trail. The trail is overall very mild. The buildings are unfortunately at a very dilapidated state, it seems they havent been updated since the 70s

Beautiful place if you are a nature lover, there are multiple trails available for you to complete, historic trail is bigger one. You can come here with your family and restrooms are also available. Highly recommend !! For public parking search for Berkeley Heights parking lot.

Nice little mini town. Theres a trail in the back of this house that leads through the woods to a historic cemetery. Nice scenery with many original houses, whole thing takes about 45minutes at most, about a half mile of walking.

A place where nature and history meet for the delight of travelersAll residents of the Union County and neighbors should feel proud of having this beautiful piece of history around the corner of Glenside Avenue. If you do not want to travel through 78 West or East from Summit to Berkeley Heights, you should consider doing so through Glenside Avenue which runs parallel to 78. On your way, you will find several road signs pointing to both, Watchung Reservation and Deserted Village. The second one is within this reservation.You have to leave you vehicle on the first parking lot once you enter. It is prohibited to visitors to drive their own car while in the Village. That is a great thing to be banned so you can actually enjoy the view of the tall trees, visit the cemetery where the first pioneers were buried and then witness and walk around the village. There are several old houses which were abandoned the the settlers. One thing I liked a lot was to imagine it was one of the first mountain resorts or intended to be.You can find all the information while walking around the area. Lots of urban legends too.Enjoy your ride.

Having never been there I was looking forward to a nice hike in the woods punctuated by some historical sights. Unfortunately the trail markings were horribly confusing and we got lost. A pleasant walk ended up being an exercise in frustration, and ultimately a 2 mile walk on the side of the road back to the parking lot.

While hiking through Watchung Reserve, I recommend visiting The Deserted Village. I never realized that this park had such a varied history.

Seems to still be unknown even to people who live nearby, this place is really cool! Great for hiking, urban (ishexploration, and history fans. Biking is not allowed, but there are horse trails. Great for a half-day or longer ramble, and the park attached to this area is huge and full of trails.

I want to come out here one day and just play a game of badminton. Beautiful walk. Next time getting there earlier to do some hiking and exploring.

Glad to have found this place when looking for "things to do in Union NJ"!Im here on holiday from the PH and my relatives from Union didnt even know this was here. Pleasant surprise for us all.Its a nice, quiet place to walk around and learn a little bit of some NJ history. The visitor center was closed when we were there, but there were brochures and markers everywhere, so a self tour was easy to do.

Good place to for a walk/hike. Starts with a paved path and then has the hiking trails. We may go back.