A bright sunny NJ garden with a shady past

On a recent weekday off our family took a ride to Monmouth County to check out one of the most beautiful garden spots in the Garden State.

Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown is run by the Monmouth County Parks Department. It is beautifully maintained by a very helpful and attentive staff at the park. The grounds were once the home of infamous New York mafia boss Vito Genovese.

He bought the 40-acre property back in 1935 as a quiet getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city. Vito made a lot of money selling bootleg booze during Prohibition.

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Genovese had his landscapers design an Italian-style villa garden, complete with a Mount Vesuvius-like smoke-belching structure in the rock garden, reminiscent of his native Naples, Italy. You can see the intent in some of the vegetation and design of the park.

Monmouth County acquired the property in the 1970s, which was quite overgrown at the time but still had the original flora and greenery that Vito had planted. He fled the country in 1937, and the garden project was never completely finished.

The property changed hands a few times until the county of Monmouth took possession of the estate in 1977. The grounds are stunning and lovingly cared for and it's free to the public.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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