Johnson Park

My husband and I had the pleasure of taking our children out to this beautiful park. The park was awesome. They have a mini petting zoo and a food stand if you like to snack. While riding looking for the petting zoo part of the park, we noticed people barbecuing. They have grills posted all throughout the park, which I found to be very convenient. I also noticed that kid parks and bathrooms were located throughout the park near the grills as well. Disposing of garbage looks easy with no fuss. The park is HUGE. They also have an area to fish. This park is perfect for my family. I love to cook, my younger kids love parks and my older son and husband love to fish. The best part, ALL FREE FREE FREE. Gotta love that. I recommend this park for families to have a good time together

Big fan of Bruce the Donkey @ the Johnson Park Zoo — he loves apples if you visit
Dali the llama — not such a big fan…

I live 2 blocks away from here and drive by here on a regular basis. I never had an issue with this place until today. It’s in the negatives and all the animals are still outside and not enclosed in a warm area. As I drove by they were all huddled together by a shed for warmth, They should not be left out like that on day especially like today. I understand that they are able to withstand some of the elements but this is ANIMAL CRUELTY. The ground is frozen with ice and snow, their water is frozen, and they are freezing to death.

I love coming here! There’s so many animals you could be here for hours. It’s fun feeding all the animals and just walking around. It’s set up very nicely and the animals seem to be well taken care of and in proper habitats.
I also bring my dog here, who loves all the animals and her long walks around this place. If you keep walking across the road/​path past the animals you then come to a track on the perimeter of a body of water (river, lake, pond, I don’t know lol). It’s all very scenic and a great place to just relax and walk around.
In the spring and summer there’s usually people picnicking here and there’s a playground right across the parking lot. There’s so much to do here for any age. Lovely place to go to.

Came here to start part of the D&R trail (over the bridge and across the bed of rocks to cross the stream). Very enjoyable trail. Long and straight, so a little boring, but you always have water on both sides to keep the tranquility.

Kids can pet and feed animals. Bring your own lettuce, cabbage or cabbage, the animals like vegetables best. The food they sell you is just dried corn, and only the birds like that.

Very nice park. I take my dog for long walks here and is usually a very nice and tranquil experience. Plus, there’s a nice breeze most of the time so it’s a great place to go to on the summer. There’s a lot with of room on the sidewalks so I don’t really have to worry about my dog tangling herself around anyone.

This area in the lowland so temps lower with a breeze. Dress warm except during summer.
A nice place to take a stroll, excercise, look at trees, and avoid canadian geese byproduct when they travel during that certain time of the year hehe.

This park convieiently located close to the heart of NB lies on the western side of the mighty Raritan river.
Animals in cages a nice enough variety to keep the kids wanting more. Multiple playground swing sets & climby things. BBQ pits galore. Bike & jogging paved & off road trails. Several open fields. Tennis courts all over.
.
A great way to spend a lunch break, date, afternoon, or swing by to observe at any time.

A nice park that borders the river. There are plenty of places to picnic. I have gone there to play soccer games and the fields are not of good quality. I think that may need to improve their lawn care and field rotation.

Very nice. Not too crowded. I go here on my lunch break to walk. I do feel safe as there are other women walking and jogging just like me. Always clean and maintained. Quiet enough to concentrate on your exercise. They also have stations set up along the pathway with exercises with explanations on how to do do them. My favorite spot to either work out or relax.

Nice little riverfront park, it would feel downright tranquil if it were not for the highway bridge next to it. there is some really cool graffiti under the bridge by the river.

Decent park. A lot of tennis courts, most in good shape two have a decent size crack tho. The have a bike path and a running sort of military style path. There are various checkpoints and tasks, pull ups etc. The petting zoo is really cool for kids. My only beef with this park is you have to watch out for geese poops. Shit everywhere. Some homeless guys live under the bridge too so ladies don’t jog that way at night.

Johnson Park was a staple for me during my undergraduate days (and beyond actually), and thus I have numerous fond (as well as some strange) memories.
This is definitely a solid spot to get some running in whether you limit your run to the park boundaries or incorporate the park into a larger running route (especially if coming off the D+R Canal). In fact, the HipHop 5K is a wonderful race held annually in the park. Running through the park offers a taste of nature and some good views of the breathtaking (I’m not being sarcastic) Raritan River. Just be sure to avoid the hissing geese (especially in the spring after their baby geese have just been born) and frequent floods of the Raritan following rainfall. If you’re not into running, you can also utilize the park paths to bike, walk, or rollerblade. Yes, some people still rollerblade…
Aside from the running path, there are also a few baseball fields, picnic groves, tennis courts, and playgrounds. There is also an «animal haven» that houses the likes of wolves, foxes, deer, ferrets, and ducks. Ok, I know that the animals aren’t kept in the best of conditions and there seems to be little upkeep of the area, but the animals always seemed healthy and happy to me (in my novice opinion) and I always enjoyed visiting them.
Should you desire a bit of history, there is also the «East Jersey Olde Towne» village at one end of the park where old school buildings have been maintained and recreated in the olden fashion. You can walk through the grounds and buildings at certain times of the day, and also indulge in guided tours as well.
Yes, Johnson Park offers more than meets the eye and yes, you should check it out.

I really enjoy this park, it is really convient for me and my dog. I always ride my bike down there and there are big paths and there are a lot of places to go. You can ride right into the heart of Main Street Highland Park or you can do farther down River Road by Route 18.
There is a «petting zoo» but you can’t really pet them, there are 2 fences blocking some of the animals and others only one. You can feed them, which is really cool. I haven’t really seen any caretakers when I’m there but I know people do take care of them because there is a barn farther away.
There are a lot of picnic tables and places to grill, playgrounds for kids to play on. Baseball/​softball fields. It’s a nice place, the Raritan river is right there, not the cleanest but it is what it is. Donaldson Park is a little farther away but when I just want to walk around, I like this park.

This is a very nice park straddling the Piscataway-​Highland Park border. You’re on the Raritan River and New Brunswick is across from you. If you go by the river, look for the cormorants. You will often see a reasonably large variety of ducks and geese .The zoo is fun. Yes I feed them, especially the goats. Yes it’s fun and I don’t think the animals are being abused. Actually cruelty to animals is an appalling sight. Seeing it wherever animals are kept more or less as farm animals is neurotic.

The ‘zoo’ in Johnson Park was very sad. No workers or supervision anywhere as I could see. People throwing anything they want into the small cages from dog biscuits to old bread. This zoo feels like a prison for animals. All the animals look sad and depressed. I wouldn’t be surprised if they caught these animals off the side of the road.
I’m going to look into this more as well as call them and animal welfare organizations if need be. Please don’t take your children here and teach them its not ok to abuse animals.

I love bringing my kids to Johnson’s Park, it’s especially good for the younger kids. My son thinks we are at an honest to goodness zoo when we visit, which is a huge plus for me being it’s local and free. My kids love «feeding» the animals, which is more like throwing animal feed through fencing wire and obviously not petting zoo caliber animal feeding.
The playgrounds are average, but there is tons of room for the kids to run around and throw a ball or play tag and to have a large picnic or barbecue. It’s also a great park for bicycling, walking or jogging. They have an area called East Jersey Olde Towne with historical houses and buildings transplanted from all over NJ. They give free tours of the buildings at different times throughout the week, definitely a great piece of NJ history if you are visiting the park. Even if the tours aren’t running at the time you are there, it is still worth walking around and checking out the exteriors of the buildings and peeking in the windows. My 9 year old got a huge kick out of seeing a building that George Washington once stayed in.
A warning though: The bathrooms at Johnson’s Park are not for the faint of heart! If you are squeamish use the facilities before you leave your house and lay off the liquids while you are visiting!

I agree with Jason P. on the 3 stars. Playground is average, but feeding the animals is the best part of this park. concession stand is right by animals. I reviewed it with my kids and included 8 pics, too lazy to post them here so see link.
If you want to find out more of what we thought, find out more on nj playgrounds site listed on my profile (had to remove link because of Unilocal Terms of Service)

Johnson Park has 8 tennis courts, located at the intersection of River Rd. and Rose Dr., that are in decent to good shape with some minor cracking on several courts.
Tennis courts do NOT require reservations and are available on a first come /​first served basis. However, anyone who wishes to use the tennis courts in the evening to play under the lights, after 7:00 pm (and until 10:00 pm) must be in possession of a tennis court permit pass that can be obtained at the Department’s Administration Office. Tennis light season is from May 1 to October 31. Usually the permit passes are not checked but if all the courts are full and someone complains, a ranger is usually summoned to come down to the courts to ask to see if every individual who is playing, has a permit. If not, they will ask you to leave, usually meaning that 95% of the people at the courts have to leave.
If you don’t want to be interrupted, you can obtain a pass at
which cost $ 25/​resident adult ($ 50/​non-​resident adult). Students and seniors can get a discount for $ 15/​resident or $ 30/​non-​resident.
Despite having to leave the court some evenings, whenever I visit my friends in the neighborhood, I love coming down to play here as there are not too many tennis courts that are lighted during the night.