“My son is in second grade and we come up here on our way home,” marveled Lauren Zonies, of the J Fithian Tatem Elementary PTA. Her son wanted to know when renovations to the borough’s Hopkins Pond – including its gazebo – would be finished.
“The fact that small children are commenting on the actual architecture of this gazebo really means that it’s impressed every level of town folk,” Zonies added.
Camden County unveiled details of the $325,000 in renovations on May 26, including a new brick walkway, picnic tables and a 28-foot pavilion. After recounting the history of the pond – from John Hopkins building a dam to power a gristmill in 1789 to James Pennypacker writing a poem about the site in 1922 – county Commissioner Jeffrey Nash said the area will be enjoyed for generations.
“Now here we are, 100 years later,” he noted, “taking this beautiful property and bringing it to the next level so that … our children and grandchildren and great great-grandchildren will enjoy this beautiful piece of property as we have done, as John Pennypacker has done and John Hopkins did almost 250 years ago.”
The project, which Nash said the county has been talking about for about two years, is part of Parks Alive 2025, a $100-million investment in parks across the county. For Hopkins Pond, that means picnic table and bench replacements, trail improvements and a gazebo. The pavilion itself made up most of the renovation costs at $169,000.
Scott Traynor, director of the county’s parks department, said there are still four parking areas around the pond yet to be finished; that is expected to happen by the start of the new school year. There is also a plan to expand the parking lot near the pavilion, though the number of spaces may be determined by the amount of trees there.
Mayor Dave Siedell announced that the first celebration in the new space will be on Flag Day, June 14. County Commissioner Colleen Bezich, Haddonfield’s mayor from 2020 to 2025, said the pond renovations are “a significant investment.”
“We want to prioritize this not just in Haddonfield, but we prioritize it as a county from Camden, all the way down south to Gloucester Township and Winslow and everywhere in between,” she noted. “So this significant investment of $100,000 to have this beautiful pergola and these beautiful brick work and benches, they don’t just represent an investment in our past, but they represent our communities, strengthening them for the future.”
Zonies is glad to know there’s a new space in the community.
“To know that there is buzz on the sidewalk that is not about a game or a screen, it’s about the infrastructure that is being put into their neighborhood, is truly, truly special,” she related. “And we thank everyone for creating this new space where we can hope to see field trips and classrooms and spaces for grandparents and parents and those in the neighborhood to enjoy.”
Zonies said her son was in school when the renovations were unveiled; she plans to surprise him with a visit when school is out.
“I think they’re going to be very excited to see that it’s done, open, that they can use it,” she said of all kids. “That there are benches. Benches are a big deal.”
County Commissioner Colleen Bezich (left to right), Haddonfield Mayor Dave Siedell, J Fithian Tatem Elementary PTA member Lauren Zonies and county Commissioner Jeffrey Nash at the ribbon cutting for pond renovations.