Ferber Road

It seems like an odd name. Ferber Road. What is a Ferber, and why is this trail named as such?
In 1931 an Austrian named Fred immigrated to the US. He was by all accounts... A dreamer.

In 1952 Fred invented a ball point pen. Not just any ball point pen, but an "Affordable" ball point pen. Fred was a manufacturing genius, and before Fred came along, ball point pens were hard to manufacture, and expensive. In the 40’s a ball point pen was a lavish gift. Because of Fred’s ingenuity, he found a way to make it cheaper, and built a successful company, and fortune manufacturing his pen.

In 1961 Fred purchased a 6800 acre timber land tact from the NJ Zinc Company. The NJ Zinc Company used the land for Timbers for mining endeavors, but had since stopped using the land altogether well before this. Fred was conservation minded and fell in love with the area. He wanted to make it a wild life refuge and a place that people could visit and be one with nature.

However, by 1963 Fred was in trouble, and had defaulted on loans for the piece of land in question. He owed 1.5 million dollars to the bank, and his dream of a wilderness nature center, as well as campsites, bicycle and hiking trails, and other recreational programs, was about to see the way of the dodo.

He petitioned the state of NJ to purchase the land for the 1.5 million he owed on the land under the “Green Acres Program”. However the state had already used up its budget for the program. The state wanted nothing more than to purchase the land, but did not have the funds to do so. At the same time, A commercial entity offered to buy the land for 4 Million dollars. This would pay the loan and leave Fred with 3.5 million dollars in his pocket.

Instead of taking the 4 million dollar buy out, Fred stayed true to his dream, and petitioned other wealthy conservation minded families to help. Through donations, Fred raised 1.5 million dollars, and subsequently paid the loan off in full. Once the land was no longer in foreclosure, Fred graciously donated the land to NJ as part of the “Green Acres Program”.

Today this tact of land is a large and beautiful NJ State Park that you may know as, “Wawayanda State Park”, and Fred’s last name was “Ferber”

Fred Ferber is the reason we all have this amazing park to visit and explore. Without him and his dream, we wouldn’t be talking about where this trail got it’s name. He was an amazing an generous man, and this trail is named after him. Some where off this trail, which was once a road, Fred lived in a home until his passing. Today the house is gone. But his memory lives in the park. By Don Reiman June 2023

This trail is unsanctioned.