The nation’s first Black country club gets more than love in its coffers

Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains, New Jersey was the first Black-owned and operated country club in the United States. The building that sits next to its 9-hole public golf course has a rich history, but the building needs work.

The Preserve Shady Rest Committee was founded in 2013, and has been chipping away at the repair list since then.

In July, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, awarded $75,000 to help in the restoration. The money is a part of a current $3 million in grant funding to preserve 30 sites across the United States that are significant to Black history.

Sylvia Hicks is the former chairperson of the committee and has moved away from Scotch Plains, but she still keeps an eye on what’s happening at Shady Rest. Hicks says the reason to preserve the clubhouse is a no-brainer. “It’s history. Plain and simple. Period. History.”

The building was built in the mid-1700s as a farmhouse, then was converted into a tavern and then the Westfield Country Club. In 1921, the Progressive Realty Company Inc., a group of Black investors, purchased the former Westfield Country Club and established the Shady Rest Country Club, a retreat for sports and leisure. 

Through the years, sporting luminaries played at Shady Rest. John Shippen Jr., the first professional golfer and the nation’s first Black professional golfer, played at the club. In the 1950s, Althea Gibson, the Grand Slam-winning tennis player, and the first Black woman to cross the color line of international tennis, was also a Shady Rest regular.

After hours, Shady Rest transformed into a hotspot for East Coast entertainment. After musicians played in New York City, they would come out to the Villa Casanova, a club in the basement of Shady Rest, to perform.

Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, says there’s a huge demand for preservation funding. “Since inviting proposals, the Action Fund’s National Grant Program has received 6,169 funding proposals requesting $709 million dollars.” 

The Action Fund must be selective and has supported 304 Black heritage sites with a total investment of $27 million since 2018.

This year’s grantees illustrate a diverse mix of regions, sites and stories. The selections go from California to Georgia, to Minnesota to Texas.

“We work with external partners like the Association of African American Museums or the Hutchins Center at Harvard University to help us evaluate the competitiveness and to select our grantees. We are often looking for diversity of geography, of archetypes and stories.”

Tom Donatelli, the current chair of the Shady Rest committee, says this money from the action fund will be used for “engineering and architecture”.

He says the top floors of the building need to be restored, and are closed to the public. The Villa Casanova is also on the restoration list.

The community is invested too.

Bobby Mendelson, a Shady Rest regular and a young father, and his 6-year-old son, Leo, armed with his blue and white golf bag, were finishing their round.

This sport has a deeper meaning for Bobby Mendelson, who also played golf with his father on the course.

Since Mendelson has come to Shady Rest over the years, he’s seen some of the work that has already happened at the historic clubhouse and is eager to see more.

“I think it’s really important to the history of the town and the area,” he said. “Not to mention, in this case, civil rights, and I think it gives us pride in the area. And honestly, it’s really nice. It’s important to remember those kinds of important things and to feel good about them.”