A Birds-Eye View of East Brunswick

For some time I have wanted to see what East Brunswick looks like from the air. I've flown over it inbound to Newark a few times but at 500 mph its only a glimpse and then only from one side of the plane and through a small window. I'm also not about to jump out of a plane and I suspect the local authorities wouldn't be too pleased by that over our town anyway. I also don't have ready access to a small plane so that was out too. But I found the next best way to see what much of the town looks like from a bird's perspective. And, it turned out to be a fun adventure as well!

I went around town and climbed to the top of every tall building I could get access to. I was spurred into action while driving up Route 18 and seeing a huge ladder against the side of the office building next to Route 18 Lumber. A work crew was repairing the roof and generously allowed me to climb up the ladder and onto the roof. I should point out that I really don't like heights and the climb up to the roof on a very wobbly metal ladder was definitely not my cup of tea, but I was on a mission. But when I got to the roof and walked over to the edge and saw how cool this part of town looked from that height, I was hooked. The perspective was just so different from driving on Route 18. I took photos in every direction and then held my breath and climbed back down the ladder (much, much worse than going up). 

My next stop was the upper deck of the Transportation Center. The view from this height was even better. It affords spectacular views all the way across town to the Milltown Water Tower, incredible views of the landfill and across to Sayreville and even to the Watchung Mountains to the north. No wonder why George Washington chose the Watchung's as a vantage point to keep an eye on the British in 1777.

Next it was off to the top of the Neilson Center parking deck. The view from this spot in the northern part of town is equally cool, but unfortunately the two tall PNC towers block views to the south. The aerial view of the Route 18Route 1 split makes it all so clear why trying to navigate this area in a car is always such a challenge. There are also views of the Lowes Movie Theater on Route 1, the Turnpike and the lower tidal stretches of the Lawrence Brook.

After visiting these vantage points I wanted to get even higher in elevation. So, I tracked down the security guard at the PNC towers to see about getting onto their roof or at least an upper floor. It became very clear, very quickly that a camera-wielding individual was simply not going to be allowed to do that, regardless of the "mission". It's still a goal and I'd love to see what the town looks like from that perspective but it wasn't happening on this trip. But the Hilton next door is also tall and seemed like a good second choice. My first requests at the Front Desk were greeted with good-natured skepticism, but they did offer to have the head of security come down and "chat" with me. After a bit of a wait in the beautiful lobby, security arrived. To my amazement, he thought the whole thing was really cool and offered to escort me to an upper floor (the roof was absolutely out of the question!) to take some photographs. The view from this perspective and height was great. It faces the Turnpike and afforded broad views to the North and East.

The Birds-eye view of East Brunswick shows just how much "green" there is around town. With the exception of the Route 18 corridor and the area around the Landfill, virtually every other direction is a sea of trees. (From a bird's perspective there are also vast areas of roof and parking that some day might be great for solar power systems). Of course all the green areas are punctuated by numerous homes, roads and other buildings that aren't apparent, but we really do live in a leafy green place with lots of open areas. Enjoy the photos!