Thompson Park (Monmouth County)

Take the Garden State Parkway South to Exit 109 (Red Bank/Lincroft). Turn left at the end of the ramp onto County Route 520 West and continue for 2.3 miles to the entrance to Thompson Park (the entrance is 0.3 mile beyond the traffic circle at the entrance to Brookdale Community College). Turn left into the park, continue past the first parking lot, and turn left into the Old Orchard parking lot.  GPS Coordinates: 40.331562, -74.139372

An unusually wide variety of activities are available at this park including hiking, birding, cross country skiing, crafts, historic visitors center, playground, an off-leash dog area, fishing, athletics and summer theatre.

Eight trails offer 13 miles of "easy" to "moderate" hiking with circuits viewing Marlu Lake and the Swimming River Reservoir.  The Thompson Loop trail at 4.2 miles is the longest in the park going around its perimeter.  Some trails pathways are paved, others on old farm roads or in a former horse exercise ring.

Use the Web Map link on this site for a park brochure, trail map and synopsis of each trail.   Click to view detailed descriptions of loop hikes in the park.

This park was established in 1968 with a 215-acre bequest from Geraldine Livingston Thompson (1872-1967), a social welfare reformer and philanthropist, memorialized as a "Republican friend" of Eleanor Roosevelt. Its 667 acres has an extremely wide variety of activities, including an off leash dog area.