Anthony Licciardello | June 19, 2026
Mountainside, NJ
Outdoor Living · Mountainside, NJ
The single thing that defines Mountainside is the land it wraps around. The Watchung Reservation is Union County's largest park — a 2,065-acre nature preserve of forest, trails, lakes, and history, draped across the ridge that gives the borough its name. For most New Jersey towns, a park is an amenity. In Mountainside, the preserve is the whole point: it's why the streets are quiet, why the lots are wooded, and why so many residents say they bought the setting as much as the house. Here's what's actually out there, and what it means if you're thinking of living beside it.
This guide is part of our complete coverage of the borough. For the full picture, start at our complete guide to buying and selling in Mountainside.
The Reservation packs a lot into its acreage. Miles of hiking and bridle trails wind through the woods and around Lake Surprise, with the Watchung Stables offering horseback riding and lessons at the heart of it. The Trailside Nature & Science Center anchors the educational side, with exhibits, nature programs, and a planetarium that make it a year-round draw for families. Just beyond, Echo Lake Park adds two lakes and a flat, popular loop favored by walkers, runners, and cyclists, plus pedal boats and fishing in warmer months and ice skating when it turns cold. Between the two, an active outdoor life is quite literally at the doorstep.
From the Broker
“When I show Mountainside, I tell buyers to walk into the Reservation before they walk through the house. If the trails and the quiet land with you, the rest of the town makes sense. If they don't, no kitchen renovation is going to change why people live here.”
Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
Tucked inside the Reservation is one of the area's true curiosities: the Deserted Village of Feltville. What began as a mill settlement in the 1700s later became a summer resort known as Glenside Park around the turn of the twentieth century, before fading into the preserved “deserted village” you can hike to today — a cluster of historic houses, a former church, and a general store standing quietly in the woods. It's the kind of hidden, slightly storybook place that makes the Reservation more than just trails, and it gives Mountainside a sense of history most suburbs can't claim.
The most sought-after homes in Mountainside are the ones that border the Reservation. Backing onto protected land means no neighbors behind you, a wall of trees for privacy, and direct access to the trails — and from some ridge-top lots, a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline beyond the canopy. That combination commands a premium, and for good reason: it's a setting that can't be built or replicated. If a preserve-backed lot is on your wish list, it's worth understanding exactly what you're buying before you fall for the view.
Watch Out
“Backs onto the Reservation” deserves a closer look. Confirm the actual property line and any easements, and weigh the realities of preserve-adjacent living — abundant wildlife, and low-lying lots near streams or lakes that can sit wetter. The premium is real; so is the due diligence.
A 2,000-acre preserve is the kind of amenity that holds its value through every market cycle, because it's permanent and finite. For buyers, the Reservation is the reason to choose Mountainside over a more conventional suburb, and proximity to it is a feature worth paying for. For sellers, a preserve-adjacent or trail-accessible home has a story that markets itself to the right person — especially the nature-seeking buyers coming out of the city. To see how the preserve fits the borough's housing, read our neighborhoods and homes guide, and for the relocation angle, our case for New York buyers moving to Mountainside.
Want a home that backs onto the trails?
Preserve-adjacent homes are the most coveted — and the trickiest to evaluate — in Mountainside. The Prodigy Team helps buyers find and vet them (boundaries, easements, and all), and helps sellers tell that nature story to the New York and Staten Island buyers most drawn to it. We work both sides of the water.
Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
See What Your Mountainside Home Is Worth
The Watchung Reservation is Union County's largest park, a roughly 2,065-acre nature preserve in and around Mountainside. It offers hiking and bridle trails, lakes including Lake Surprise, the Trailside Nature & Science Center, the Watchung Stables, and the historic Deserted Village of Feltville.
Yes. The Reservation has miles of hiking and bridle trails, including routes around Lake Surprise and a hike to the Deserted Village ruins. Adjacent Echo Lake Park adds a flat, popular loop trail and lakeside paths for walkers, runners, and cyclists.
It's a preserved historic village within the Reservation that began as a mill settlement in the 1700s and later operated as a summer resort known as Glenside Park. Today its surviving houses, church, and store can be visited on foot, giving the preserve a layer of local history.
Some do, and they are among the most coveted in the borough, offering privacy, trail access, and occasionally a distant Manhattan skyline view. If a preserve-backed home interests you, confirm the exact property boundary and any easements, and consider the realities of living beside protected land.
Prodigy Real Estate is an innovative real estate company offering high-end video production, home valuation services, purchasing, and home sales. Serving New York and New Jersey.
