THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Our Mission
TURTLE BACK ZOO is committed to providing an enriching recreational experience that fosters excellence in wildlife education and wildlife conservation, so that present and future generations are inspired to understand, appreciate and protect the fragile interdependence of all living things.
Our Story
In 1962 the Essex County Park Commission, headed by President William Wachenfeld, awarded a $400,000 contract to Max Drill, Inc. to build a zoo on a 15.5 acre section of the county’s South Mountain Reservation. It was to be a seasonal zoo designed for children. Tjark Reiss was hired to design the zoo and he created exhibits based on Hans Christian Anderson’s nursery rhyme themes and other children’s stories. There were also farm animals and a miniature antique train ride that took visitors on a mile round trip ride through the zoo’s surrounding woodlands.
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