UNION, NJ — Father Time and Mother Nature have not been kind to the long-forgotten, three-quarters of a mile dirt trail that still straddles the border of Suburban Golf Course and the murky edge of Kawameeh Swamp. For generations of Kawameeh Junior High School students — now known as Kawameeh Middle School — ‘The Path’ was the location of either your first kiss or your first fistfight, depending upon how well your week was going.
The overgrown route along the west branch of the Elizabeth River also provided relatively safe passage and a nifty shortcut from serene Kawameeh Park to the long-defunct Fox Theater and Two Guys Department Store, currently home to Lowe’s Home Improvement Center on bustling Morris Avenue.
Will ‘The Path’ and it’s soggy surroundings ever be designated as a state wildlife refuge? Only the ‘World’s Tallest Watersphere’ knows for sure and the silent sentinel of the swamp isn’t talking.