TL;DR: "Park" is a bit of an exaggeration; this place is a merely a forest in the middle of suburbia that someone didn't want bulldozed.
Established in 2000 to commemorate Metuchen's 100-year anniversary, the aptly named Centennial Park might be the largest natural open space in Metuchen, but during half a dozen visits I've never seen any locals here. (The only human footprint seems to be the occasional stray beer bottle.) Maybe it's because of the massive mosquito population or the poison ivy, but even animals seem to avoid this place.
Centennial Park has one sparsely blazed trail and benches by each entrance, and can be accessed either via a set of stairs by the overpass on Grove Avenue or the dead-end on Highland Avenue. These seem to be all that Metuchen is willing to put forth into making a neglected 13-acre forest into a user-friendly park. I suspect that there are other reasons for the park designation: mitigating noise from passing trains, wildlife preservation, air pollution reduction, etc.
The nearby Middlesex Greenway, Oakland Park, and Roosevelt Park (which is less than a mile away) all provide larger, cleaner, and safer alternatives for outdoor recreation. read more