![]() The significance of this purchase was that it was black owned and the first African American country club in the United States. DuBois, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and many others. ![]() The dining room hosted famous people such as W.E.B. The place "where all the rich black folks used to go," Shady Rest is described by one musician as Activities included golf, tennis, horseback riding, and skeet shooting. This club was established to provide recreation and entertainment for all ages. purchased the former Westfield Country Club and created the Shady Rest Golf and Country Club. On September 21, 1921, a group of black investors known as the Progressive Realty Company, Inc. The Westfield Golf Club did not want to infringe upon the legal rights of the black homeowners in order to expand. "The First African American Country Club"Ĭreated in 1921 After some years, the Westfield Golf Club wanted to expand its golf course and collaborated with the Cranford Golf Club to create the Echo Lake Country Club in 1921. Although they lived around a golf club, blacks were not allowed membership at the white country clubs during that era of segregation. They created paths across the Westfield Golf Course to visit friends and relatives living in the area. In the late 1890s, the property was sold to the Westfield Golf Club and was converted into a 9- hole golf course with the main farmhouse serving as the clubhouse.ĭuring this time, a close-knit community of black residents lived on both sides of the golf course. In the early 1800s, John Locey purchased this property that would later become the George B. In the mid 1700’s, the Ephraim Tucker Farmhouse was built on a thirty-one acre plot of rural landscape just outside the town of Westfield, New Jersey.
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