Shady Rest Country Club was established when a group of Black businessmen bought it in 1921. Golfers and active tennis players. In the evenings, the basement nightclub is home to entertainers such as Ella Fitzgerald, who gives show after show in New York. The club, Villa Casanova, needs to be restored.
Courtesy of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund / Shady Rest Country Club
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Courtesy of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund / Shady Rest Country Club
Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains, New Jersey is the first Black-owned and operated country club in the United States. The building next to the 9-hole public golf course has a rich history, but the building needs work.
The Preserve Shady Rest Committee was established in 2013, and has been chipping away at the repair list ever since.
In July, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, awarded $75,000 to help with the restoration. The money is part of a current $3 million grant fund to preserve 30 sites in the United States that are significant to black history.
Sylvia Hicks is the former chairman of the committee and has moved from Scotch Plains, but she still keeps an eye on what’s going on at Shady Rest. Hicks said the reason for preserving the clubhouse was a no-brainer. “It’s history. Plain and simple. Period. History.”
The building was built in the mid-1700s as a farmhouse, later converted into a tavern and then the Westfield Country Club. In 1921, 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.
Over the years, sports figures played at Shady Rest. John Shippen Jr., the nation’s first professional golfer and the first Black professional golfer, played at the club. In the 1950s, Althea Gibson, a Grand Slam-winning tennis player, and the first black woman to cross the international tennis color line, was also a Shady Rest regular.
After hours, Shady Rest transforms into a hotspot for East Coast entertainment. After musicians played in New York City, they would head out to Villa Casanova, a club in the basement of Shady Rest, to perform.
Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, said there is a growing demand for preservation funding. “Since calling for proposals, the Action Fund’s National Grants 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 represent a diverse mix of regions, sites and stories. The choice goes 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 competitiveness and select grantees. We often look for different geographies, archetypes and stories.
Tom Donatelli, the current chairman of the Shady Rest committee, said that the money from this action fund will be used for “engineering and architecture”.
He said the top floor of the building had to be restored, and it was closed to the public. Villa Casanova is also on the restoration list.
The community also invests.
Bobby Mendelson, a regular Shady Rest and a young father, and his 6-year-old son, Leo, armed with a blue and white golf bag, finished their round.
The sport has a deeper meaning for Bobby Mendelson, who also plays golf with his father on the course.
Since Mendelson has been coming to Shady Rest over the years, he has seen some of the work that has taken place in the historic clubhouse and wants to see more.
“I think it’s really important for the history of the city and the region,” he said. “Not to mention, in this case, civil rights, and I think it gives us pride in the region. And to be honest, it’s really good. It’s important to remember the important things and feel happiness.
