Message from Councilwoman Elizabeth Stamler | February 17, 2023
As we mark Black History Month, the Township hosted our new congressman, Rep. Tom Kean, at the Shady Rest Golf and Country Club on Feb. 11. The congressman was interested in learning more about the first-ever country club in America for African Americans.
Township leaders were there to provide Congressman Kean with a personal tour, as well as to encourage the congressman to secure federal funds for ongoing preservation work.
The Township has high hopes to secure more state and federal funding for the preservation of Shady Rest, as the National Park Service granted the country club a listing on the National Register of Historic Places on July 7 last year. That came shortly after the great news on May 18 that Shady Rest had been placed on New Jersey’s Register of Historic Places.
These listings further solidify the 283-year-old Shady Rest as a landmark, among all the buildings, sites and districts across the nation worthy of preservation because of their significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering and culture.
For a number of years, the volunteers of the Preserve Shady Rest Committee, chaired by Tom Donatelli, had been steadily working toward achieving these important designations. Shady Rest will remain an American landmark for perpetuity, enjoyed for generations, protected from development and a living reminder of a dark era in this nation, when African-Americans faced segregation.
Donatelli led a contingent of Township officials on Feb. 11, as the congressman was shown the Shady Rest museum, the famous dance hall, a basement that was rumored to be a speak-easy and the second-floor living quarters of John Shippen, hailed as America’s first professional golfer who then competed in a U.S. Open in 1896.
The Golf Channel aired “The Inspirational Story of John Shippen” on February 6 as part of Black History Month. Click here to see it.
Under Mayor Josh Losardo, there has been a concentrated effort in Scotch Plains to celebrate the history of this local landmark. In September 2021, the Township Council voted unanimously to restore the original name of the golf course, Shady Rest Golf and Country Club. In 1964, it had been renamed as the Scotch Hills Golf and Country Club.
That well-received announcement was made exactly 100 years from the day the nine-hole golf course was purchased from the owners of a whites-only country club. A group of Black investors, led by Henry Willis Sr. of Scotch Plains, created the first African American-owned golf and country club in the United States, built out of necessity because private clubs continued to deny membership to African Americans and other minority groups.
During its heyday, Shady Rest was a center of African American recreation and culture, hosting icons like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ella Fitzgerald and Althea Gibson.
Shady Rest offered six tennis courts, a baseball diamond, skeet shooting and horseback riding. Tennis and baseball facilities were removed after Scotch Plains took over the site in 1964. Shady Rest would forever be known as one of the longest-lived African-American country clubs in the nation.
In recent years, there has been a strong effort to reclaim and celebrate Shady Rest history.
The clubhouse underwent a $1.1 million, three-phase rehabilitation in 2015 to restore the building to what it appeared like in 1925, based on historic photos. Aluminum siding and aluminum windows were replaced with wood windows and historic features of the building were restored.
The 1830s-era chimneys were repointed. In the ball room, the historic walls were restored; the fireplace was replastered per the historic photos. In the dining room, the exterior north wall of the 1830s house – covered up since in the 1960s – was revealed again, showing the clapboard and window sash. The fireplace was restored and the framing exposed.
Architects located three windows from the 1830s that were refurbished and moved to the lobby to be seen and experienced in the oldest space in the building. Original wide-plank flooring from the third floor was relocated to the lobby, as well. Moreover, the original ballroom wood floor from the 1920s was uncovered, re-sanded and restored.
Black History Month is an ideal time for Scotch Plains residents to revisit Shady Rest and explore its recreational opportunities, such as the public, nine-hole course and the miniature golf course. With this snowless winter, there is plenty of opportunity to hit the links. Moreover, the clubhouse is also used for social gatherings, community meetings and historic tours.
In closing, I want to express my gratitude to the diligent work of the Preserve Shady Rest Committee. Members include: Kasib Byers; Jimmy Checchio; David Bierman; Deanna Dell-Bene; Gabriel Donatelli; Nina Donatelli; Tom Donatelli; Joanne Glover; Kevin Glover; Sylvia Hicks; Gary Jones; Marie Leppert; Kimberly Nix; Christopher Pergeron; Sheenah Pergeron; Kelly Price; Thomas Read; Ruby Simmons; Thurman Simmons; Steve Steinbergher; Judy Terry; Pete Terry; Chris Thompson; Dennis Bordeaux; Angelica Diacheysn; Bernard Johnson; Michele Saliola; Michael Price; John Thompson and Councilman Roshan “Roc” White.
Founding members include Mauro Checchio; Lamont Davis; Richard Green and the Rev. Kelmo Porter.
Thank you, to the committee, as well as the many Scotch Plains residents over the generations that recognized the importance of Shady Rest as a community gem. We are proud and honored to have such a wonderful landmark right here.
