Noe Pond & the Browers- Chatham’s Swim Club People Remember

Noe Pond began as a natural, spring-fed farm pond on the Noe family’s roughly 800-acre property in Chatham Township. Dating to before the Revolutionary War, the pond supplied water to the family’s dairy farm, rose greenhouses, and surrounding property. It was also used for harvesting ice in winter and eventually became a popular local swimming hole.

This story is part of the Mr. Local History Project’s New Jersey Swim Club Series, exploring the neighborhood pools, freshwater ponds, and private clubs that shaped generations of summer memories. Part of the project’s mission is to encourage those who remember these clubs to submit their photographs, stories, and memorabilia. These materials can then be shared with local historical societies to help preserve the history of these great community watering holes. Noe Pond in Chatham Township stands apart as one of the region’s oldest and most distinctive swimming traditions, evolving from a historic farm pond into a beloved family recreation club.

In 1955, Nancy “Taz” Brower, a Noe descendant, and her husband, Bailey Brower Jr., joined Jack and Ruth Noe in converting the pond into the private Noe Pond Club. Unlike most suburban swim clubs, Noe centered its swimming program around a 3½-acre freshwater pond rather than a concrete pool. The club featured a white-sand beach, docks, diving boards, slides, floating platforms, and supervised swimming areas. Its children’s swimming-emblem program taught generations of youngsters to swim and emphasized water safety. A competitive swim team was also established; surviving club records reportedly date to at least 1963. The team competed against other area clubs such as Crestview, Minisink and Colony.

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For more than 65 years, Noe Pond became a summer institution for Chatham-area families, combining swimming and diving with tennis, paddle sports, children’s programs and social activities. Bailey Brower later carried his experience developing programs at Noe into other regional clubs, including Copper Springs and Clover Hill.

By 2009, Noe Pond Club was entering a new generation of family leadership. Founders Bailey Brower Jr. and his wife, Nancy “Taz” Brower, stepped back from the club’s daily operation, while their daughter Kim Brower Barton and her husband, Chuck Barton, assumed responsibility for carrying on the family tradition. The club remained open and continued serving local families for another decade under the Bartons’ leadership.

The club’s future became uncertain in 2020 when owners Kim and Chuck Barton sold the 35-acre property to the Silverman Group, raising fears that the land would be developed. Residents organized the “Save Noe Pond” movement, supported by the Great Swamp Watershed Association.

In 2022, former members Scott Readlinger and Lawrence Palumbo partnered with Boxcar to form Noe Pond LLC and arranged to purchase and preserve the property. The club reopened under the slogan “Established 1955. Reborn 2022,” with plans to revive its swim team and traditional family programs.

Today, Noe Pond remains an operating private recreation club at 395 Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township, preserving one of Morris County’s most distinctive freshwater swimming traditions.

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Sadly….

Bailey Brower Jr., who died on October 8, 2022, at age 94, and Nancy “Taz” Brower, who died on March 25, 2024, at age 95, capture the remarkable partnership behind Noe Pond Club. Married for 71 years, the Browers transformed an old Chatham Township farm pond into a beloved family recreation club in 1955, then helped establish Copper Springs in Meyersville and Clover Hill in Millington. Together, they dedicated their lives to swimming, youth athletics, volunteerism, and community service, leaving a legacy that continues through the generations of families who learned, played, and grew up at their clubs and left an indelible mark on the surrounding communities in Morris and Somerset counties.

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Part of the project’s mission is to encourage those who remember these clubs to submit their photographs, stories, and memorabilia. These materials can then be shared with local historical societies to help preserve the history of these great community watering holes. Noe Pond in Chatham Township stands apart as one of the region’s oldest and most distinctive swimming traditions, evolving from a historic farm pond into a beloved family recreation club.

Remembering Noe Pond
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The name is almost as old as historic Chatham Township, N.J., an affluent suburb of New York City where Bailey Brower Jr., a direct Noe descendant, and his bride, Nancy Tasman Brower, established a unique haven for families desiring a pleasant, safe and clean place to swim. Over the years, it became so much more.

Six decades later, second and third generations of families enjoy tennis, paddle tennis, and a variety of water sports on and around this crystal-clear pond, surrounded by park-like amenities that tempt members to stay and play all day. Celebrating a special milestone, Bailey, “Taz” and their daughters, along with club members and valued staff members, reflect on their lives around Noe Pond, an invitation to share in memories past and new memories still to be made.

Local Swim Clubs Remembered

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