NY/NJ Trail Conference Executive Director Ed Goodell and Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet cut the ribbon to open the organization’s new headquarters at the renovated Darlington Schoolhouse.
The old fieldstone Darlington Schoolhouse used to teach Mahwah children, until the 1940s and $150 cost per pupil caused the Mahwah school district to abandon the building.
After use as a dance studio and onetime carpentry workshop, the building languished for years in disrepair. Even though it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, one appraiser suggested the whole building be demolished to make way for housing — according to Edward Goodell, executive director of the non-profit NY/NJ Trail Conference.
Trail Conference Executive Director Edward Goodell discusses the people and partners who joined the Trail Conference to help relocate the organization to the Darlington Schoolhouse.
On Tuesday April 7, the Trail Conference held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the newly restored Darlington Schoolhouse, which will serve as the group’s new headquarters. The journey to Darlington, which borders the Ramapo Valley County Reservation in Mahwah, NJ, cost the organization $2 million dollars in grant money But the arduous, nearly 10 year effort was worth the work. The 3-acre property, purchased in 2007 in partnership with the Town of Mahwah, now consolidates the Trail Conference offices and activities in a magnificent space that will help attract public attention and participation.
Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet said the building will become an entrance point to the region’s “magnificent infrastructure of parks and grounds and trails,” serving as a magnet for area parks and trails. Mayor Laforet helped Goodell cut the ribbon to officially open the building to the public. The Trail Conference publishes trail maps of NY/NJ parks, which can be purchased at the Darlington Schoolhouse trail store.
A day-long grand opening ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, September 12, to acknowledge the supporters, builders, and friends who made this remarkable restoration a reality.
Running alongside the building is the Darlington Brook, an environmentally sensitive and picturesque tributary of the nearby Ramapo River.
See the Darlington Schoolhouse Trail Conference gallery.
Geoff Welch contributed to this article.
