River & Root

On a bright and early Thursday morning, I find myself trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, crouching behind a circle of women in a new mom group at River & Root playspace. I balance my camera in my hands as I listen to their conversation. “I am always checking everything, worried that I’m doing something wrong.” “We think my son may have a dairy allergy. Has anyone else been through that?” “My daughter has been waking up every hour overnight, and I am exhausted.” I am tempted to jump in and say, “I get it! I promise it gets easier.” But I don’t, I just listen as this group of women, most of whom met just a matter of minutes earlier, bond over the life-altering experience of becoming the mother of an infant. A feeling of trust and support within this circle seems to have blossomed instinctively. The group leader, a maternal health occupational therapist, gently guides the conversation towards a grounding exercise, and the women close their eyes and place a hand on their chests as their little ones coo and wiggle. My phone lights up with a text from Cait Close, the owner of River & Root; she’s checking in on me from the room next door. I sneak out to meet her.

Cait is standing by her desk, greeting more parents and a wider age range of children as they walk in for a different group. One of the kids is celebrating her first birthday, and Cait and her team lay out a personalized birthday sign and tot-sized party hat. Parents are casually watching their children roam around. There are so many things to explore: glowing tables with colorful shaped blocks, a slide, mats and hoops and tents and mirrors and even a small picnic table where kids can arrange their own charcuterie board of felt food. (More on that later.) But the pièce de résistance is the handcrafted, child-sized, wooden RV, complete with headlights that turn on with a push. To complete the camping experience, kids can build their own felt campfires and even bring out wooden banjos if they feel like starting a fireside jam session. The RV represents Cait’s own RV, which she and her husband traveled the country with nonstop for five years.

Cait takes out her phone and brings up a couple photos of her own RV for me to see. In one, she and her husband are standing on the top of their motorhome, framed by evergreen trees, snow-topped mountains, and the icy river that runs through Grand Teton National Park. In another, the sun is setting over a desert scene in New Mexico, where Cait’s RV is parked next to a pickup truck. “We went to every state you can drive to, and then we flew to Alaska and Hawaii. We visited every national park in the lower 48. We love adventure. We love seeing all of the beautiful gems that exist around the US. I had a goal to visit 30 countries before I turned 30, and I spent a lot of my 20s traveling the world. I really wanted to take time to experience what is in my backyard.”

Cait describes her nomadic years as incredible. “The landscapes and national parks were awe-inspiring. But what I appreciated most about our travels was that every time we came to a new state or location, we tried to really understand the community.” It was this immersion into different communities that led to some of the most memorable and unique moments of their travels, such as meeting Ruby Bridges while volunteering at an elementary school service project in New Orleans. Cait and her husband were ultimately trying to find a community that felt like home - one they would want to settle down in. “What I started to realize was that I was missing a community of my own. We would start building wonderful relationships with people in these areas, but then we would leave after three weeks. I found myself wanting to really understand the inner workings of a town and be part of something that wasn’t temporary.”

When Cait became pregnant with her son, she and her husband decided to move to South Jersey, where she had grown up, and where she still had a significant amount of family support. They continued to travel with their new family member. Cait describes her son crawling for the first time on the banks of an Alaskan river, but once he was 14 months old, they decided to start putting down roots more intentionally. At first, Cait was uncertain about their decision to officially settle where she had grown up. “Out of all the 50 states, I wasn’t sure if we had made the best choice. I thought to myself, ‘I need to give it a chance. I need to put some effort into making this a place that I love. I know there’s a lot more here than meets the eye.’” It was with this mission in mind that Cait launched her Instagram account, “Your Mom Friend South Jersey.” She started it in February of 2024, sharing events and activities she and her son were attending in the community. The account grew rapidly. “Within a year, I had 50,000 followers. I started partnering with local businesses, highlighting activities people could attend in this area with their kids. I began realizing that caregivers of young children were looking for ways to connect with other people in the same stage of life. It’s hard to meet people before your child starts school.”

Cait began organizing community meet-ups for this demographic. “We would get together at breweries and coffeeshops for events like ‘Parents and Pints’ and ‘Lattes and Littles’. I led a toddler adventure club where we would take weekly field trips for families with children 0-4. In the eight months I hosted these events, over 1,500 families attended. Some people started coming over and over again; they had found their community.”

Through hosting these events, Cait began noticing the need for what she calls “third spaces” for parents. “You have your home, you have your work, but people were looking for another place they could go with their family to connect. There are some wonderful places in our community, but we needed more.”

She decided she wanted to create a space like that herself.

Cait was no stranger to building something from the ground up. After graduating from college in Washington, D.C., she worked as a Spanish teacher in South Carolina for a few years (she is bilingual) and then through Teach for America. Afterwards, she moved to Colorado, where she became the founding assistant principal for a Pre-K through 4th grade elementary school that served the inner city population of Denver. “It is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. The principal and I started the school, which meant coordinating with the construction team and working through the design process ourselves. I signed my name on the support beam that held the building up.” Cait helped hand recruit nearly 200 students to attend the school. “I canvassed neighborhoods in Denver, met local families, and got to know the community to give them a different school option. I was part of that school for five years. It still exists and currently has a fully enrolled Pre-K through 4th grade program. I love the feeling of creating something that becomes a legacy.” It was after this experience that Cait traveled in her RV while working remotely for Teach for America’s national team in the Office for Equity and Belonging.

With this prior experience under her belt, the idea of River & Root began to take place in Cait’s mind. “It just became a game of trying to find the right home.” Ultimately, a beautiful, historic 1940s property in Barrington, NJ opened up. “I have many family roots in Barrington. My grandmother raised her kids here in the 70s. She owned her own business selling makeup down the road. My mom lives a few streets down and owns a contracting business. My grandmother spent the last part of her life on River Road in Pennville, and she loved sitting by the river; it was her special place. The name came to me in a dream. I woke up and thought, ‘I have to call this place River & Root.’”

The nature theme is a perfect fit for this indoor and outdoor playspace. In addition to the camping elements, River & Root has an expansive outdoor play area surrounding the wraparound porch. “As far as I know, we are the only indoor and outdoor playspace/family gathering space that exists in our area.” When people hear “outdoor playspace,” they frequently think of a jungle gym with swings and slides. Cait’s version additionally involves pinecones in wooden boxes, a blueberry bush (recently picked clean by families), and fresh vases of wildflowers adorning fully-functional children’s sinks. “I really wanted to include elements of outside learning that were tactile and involved fine motor skills, not just gross motor skills.” There are also wooden planks resting on tires, water tables filled with cups and funnels, a splash pad, and two small Adirondack chairs tucked under the cascading branches of a purple fountain beech tree; perfect tools for letting kids’ imaginations run wild. Cait credits Wondertree Play School for helping with many of these ideas.

When constructing the inside of River & Root, Cait reached out for help from Danielle Lange, an interior designer, fellow mother, and owner of Lakeside Drive Design Co. “I originally met her at a Montessori playgroup that I was hosting. She understood what I was trying to create and helped me bring the vision to life. It’s perfect, I can’t imagine anything better.” Cait enlisted the help of other local moms - occupational therapists, physical therapists, and pediatric development specialists - to provide insight on how to design the space in an appropriate way for the 0-4 age range. “Even though I have a background in education, it was important for me to collaborate with other knowledgeable local moms. Our space isn’t that big, but parents will come in and say, ‘My kid just played for 2 hours straight. I don’t get it!’ It’s because every nook and cranny is curated specifically for their child’s developmental stage.” The large tree in the center of the room and the wooden RV, in addition to many other wooden elements in the space, were handcrafted by John Combs, a Philly-based carpenter and parent of a young child.

The final enhancements to the space were Cait’s idea. “We intentionally added a lot of personal touches. The pictures in the windows of the RV are actual photos we took from across the country. I wanted kids to look out the window and really feel like they are going on an adventure.” The cloth charcuterie board was also a nod to her days as a full-time traveler. “When visiting the national parks, we would always fill our backpacks with the food we would need for a fancy charcuterie board, so when we got to our final hiking point, we could set it up and enjoy it in a beautiful place. I knew I had to recreate that here.”

Possibly the most important aspect of launching River & Root was finding the perfect staff. “They’re amazing. Everyone says that our staff is one of the things they love the most about River & Root. They really believe in the mission here.” Nearly all of Cait’s employees are mothers of young children themselves. Their focus is creating a supportive and homelike environment where parents know they are going to be well taken care of. “When a mom comes in with a baby and a toddler and a diaper bag, we are helping her free her arms while saying, ‘Can I help you take the toddler’s shoes off?’” Their job is to be a connector and to link families together, which includes leading a gathering circle that begins every play group. In between sessions, they are keeping the space impeccably clean. This means continuously washing items placed in the adorably titled “Loved it a little too much” dirty toy bucket. (Cait mentions that all of the cleaners they use are non-toxic but are hospital grade disinfectants. “Strong enough to kill germs, but safe for little hands and mouths.”) Their job description also involves elements that are unique to the River & Root experience. “During birthday parties, the third item on their to-do list is: ‘Make sure you grab mom’s phone to take pictures.’ These are the things that are often forgotten, but we get it - we know that what you really want when the party is over are some photos of you and your kids.”

The care that the River & Root staff feel for their patrons is genuine. This is perhaps best highlighted by the staff text chat, which will blow up with exciting messages like, ‘I see two moms exchanging numbers!’ or, ‘I see those parents finding each other on Instagram!’ “Our winning goal of the day is if moms start going on playdates themselves.”

Cait’s support of mothers extends beyond the comfort she provides them when they walk through her door. This past spring, she put a call out to the community to see who might be interested in running classes at River & Root. “I said, ‘What are you passionate about? Do you have a skillset you’d like to share? Our space is an incubator for you to do that.’ This led to a wide variety of courses coming to life, such as an art journaling class, where caregivers created art alongside their child and turned it into a journal. Or our ‘Baby and Me’ Spanish class. We’ve had a ‘Wonder Lab’ course, which was science and nature based. We do a lot of different seasonal events and community playdates.” This includes a gathering for stay-at-home moms during the day and an evening meet-up for moms who work outside of the home. “We also host a ‘Morning with Dads’ playdate once a month, where only dads join us. We do a ‘Grandparents and Grandlittles’ morning. Earlier this month, we held a ‘Love Grows Here’ celebration, where we decorated the fence with rainbow flags. Whenever somebody brings me an idea, I say, “Let’s try it. If you’ve got a passion for something, let’s bring it to life.’”

Cait is now the mom to two little ones. At the end of our conversation, I comment, “You must be exhausted!” She laughs. “I’m a little tired. But I am building something that I am 100% passionate about. I love this type of work, and I believe it’s needed so badly in our community. My kids come here every day; every day is ‘Bring Your Child To Work Day’ for us. I have built a lovely team of people around me. I have a party coordinator now, I have an operations coordinator, I have a social media support person, and they are all local moms. I have two magic makers, who are the ones who help create our fun activities, and I have eleven additional staff members. I employ 16 people part-time now, and they all work in ways that align with their skill sets. So yes, my life is busy, and I do a lot of behind-the-scenes work, but I would never have been able to achieve this without my 16 wonderful humans.” 

“I’ve gotten to know so many local families in the last few years - thousands at this point. I’ve taken the time to build community here, and it’s given me a good view of what families need out of a space like this. We are mom owned, mom built, mom run. For parents, by parents. Yes, I’m the owner, and yes, someone has to drive the actual execution of it, but the concept is driven by the community. It’s a wonderful responsibility to really be catering to the needs of the people you’re serving. It’s really important to me.”