In 1669, lord proprietors Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley awarded a land grant to Capt. John Berry. The territory extended approximately from Hackensack to Newark between the Hackensack, Passaic, and Saddle Rivers. At the time, the Lenni Lenape Indians inhabited the area. The tract was gradually divided into farms, and by the early 1700s, the area that is now Wood-Ridge began to appear in county records. An old Indian trail extending from the northern part of Bergen County to points south was laid out by Berry as a roadway c. 1707. Named Polifly Road, it is now known in Wood-Ridge as Hackensack Street.

The land became part of the township of New Barbadoes. In 1825, when Lodi Township was formed, it split off from New Barbadoes. Wood-Ridge and its surrounding areas became a part of Lodi Township. Wood-Ridge was an area used as a hunting ground by the Indians. Artifacts found in the vicinity lead historians to believe that the Indians inhabited land closer to the surrounding rivers."

"The eastern section of the land consisted of marshes and swamps, but upland from these were dense woods. Chestnut, hickory, maple, and ash were among the variety of trees found. When the land was cleared, the soil was found to be rich for farming."

"By the early 19th century, farms began to appear, with some of the earliest names found in borough records being Schoonmaker, Van Bussum, Brinkerhoff, Anderson, Berry, Engel, Terhune, and Vreeland."