SOUTH JERSEY

Medford park renamed for 'Black Doctor of the Pines'

Celeste E. Whittaker
@cp_CWhittaker
A park in Medford was renamed for Dr. James Still.

MEDFORD – Town council recently passed a resolution renaming a park to honor Dr. James Still, known as “The Black Doctor of the Pines.”

Members of the Still family and the Medford Historical Society proposed the idea to rename Cranberry Park as Still Park. Council unanimously approved the change Feb. 2.

Still, the son of slaves, was born in Burlington County, later lived in Medford and made many contributions in his lifetime.

Born in the 1800s in what is now Shamong, he was a child of former slaves, a self-taught doctor who treated his patients with homeopathic remedies. Still also became one of the largest landowners and richest men in Burlington County.

An accomplished sculptor, Susan Clinard has donated her time and artistic talent to create a clay-fired bust of Still, which will eventually become a bronze bust.

Volunteers at the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center plan to dedicate the bust and a monument of Still at the small park in the center of Medford. The park has a playground as well as a butterfly garden.

'Black Doctor of the Pines' ahead of his time

A campaign has been launched to raise $5,000 for the bust — which must go through several stages after its creation to become bronze — as well as a pedestal for the bust and a granite bench with a few pavers.

The education center, which the historical society leases from the state and operates, used to be the old Bunning farmhouse and sits adjacent to Still’s former office and near the site of his former home.

The center will host an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Feb. 20. On the latter date, representatives from the center will attend the 36th annual Marion Thompson Wright Luncheon at Rutgers University Newark where they will be presented with a Giles Wright Grant for a project dedicated to African-American history in New Jersey. The grant will be used for an archaeological dig in the summer.

The campaign to raise money for the bust is at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dr-james-still-memorial-park#/