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Park MemoriesAllison Park: When our kids were young, we loved to take them on tours of the places that were our roots in Bergen County. One day as we drove the winding road down the Palisades, enjoying the view and looking for late spring waterfalls, my husband spotted some stairs embedded in the rocks. “You can climb those all the way to the top,” he said. That was all they needed to hear.Amid shouts of “Can we DO IT?” and “Please, Dad!” he drove down to the Boat Basin and, sure enough, there was the beginning of the staircase. All we needed was a place for me and the little kids to wait for them at the top with the car. Of course, that was Allison Park. Since then all of our children and four of our grandchildren have lived the adventure. I’m not sure we’re up to another climb—but at least one more grandchild and, hopefully, a few great-grandchildren will come running down the road to Allison Park from the top of the stairs shouting, “We did it. We climbed all the way up!” On a visit this year, we noticed the chipmunks that lived in the rocks were missing—even though we’d brought the obligatory bag of peanuts for them to stuff in their cheeks. There were also fewer birds and no squirrels. We wondered if the Red Tail Hawks and Peregrine Falcons that came back to New York City had indulged in this little smorgasbord! Although the grounds seem to be in need of some TLC, it’s still a magical place, and today you have a good chance of sighting a Bald Eagle. Michaela Kretzer __________________________________________________________________________ Hi, I recently started running up my most favorite run of all time, from the Bear Mountain Inn, to the top of Perkins Drive. It had been 18 years since a bad fall took me out of running, but now I'm back & thrilled to be in Heaven running up the most Beautiful run in the world. Thanks, Bill Rowland __________________________________________________________________________ Alice Haagensen writes to correct some of the facts given in a short article in the February issue of 10964 on the origin of the name for the skating ponds in Tallman Park. She collected the information from the children involved many years ago. The two connecting ponds in what used to be the Standard Oil property, and is now Tallman Park, were christened Wahpahwegea by the children who used to skate there in the 1940s (ages about nine to fifteen). The letters of the name came from the first letters of the children's last names. W-A-H-P-A-H-W-E-G-E-A - Bev and Elizabeth Walden, children of Howard and Jo Walden, who lived next to the church. - Hassan Ali, whose father worked for Mr. Jennings on Woods Road. - Joe and Francy Hyde, children of Lydia Tonetti Hyde on Woods Road. - Margery Price, daughter of Harry and Connie Price, who lived at the corner of County Road and Oak Tree Road. - Aldy Aldrich, son of Tom and Helen Aldrich, who lived in the Bungalow. - Alice and Karen Haagensen, children of Cushman and Alice Haagensen who lived at the end of Woods Road. - Mac Whitney, whose parents Charles and Jean lived on Woods Road. - Susan Ettinger, daughter of Churchill and Betty Ettinger, who lived in what is now the Converse house. - Pat Gregory, son of Horace Gregory and Maurya Zaturenska who lived on Closter Road. - Tommy Ettinger, Susan's brother. - Clay Aldrich, Aldy's brother. __________________________________________________________________________ In the 1940s if one wanted a pleasant walk in Palisades, one would usually take the path to the 'Standard Oil." This was, of course, the land just north of Palisades on the top of the cliff, which is now part of Tallman Park. There is a delightful story connected with its history. It had belonged to a series of owners who lived in a mansion looking out over the river. During this First World War Mrs. Austin Abbott was living there. When it became known in Palisades that some secret organization was buying land, including her property and many acres in Blauvelt and Sparkill, there were rumors that the Germans were moving in. It finally turned out that it was the Standard Oil Company; which planned to use it for storage and possibly manufacturing. The company built several buildings, great storage tanks with earthen dikes around them to contain any possible leaks, and a long pier out into the river. The story, which I was told concerned an old lady, Mrs. Tait, who lived on Closter Road in the house later bought by the Rose Haven School. She wrote a letter to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to protest the desecration of the Palisades. He came out to look, the story goes, said 'You are right, it won't do." and had the whole thing blown up. On the face of it this might be true. Mrs. Tait did write him -I found the letter in a stack of old papers -and the whole installation was blown up (partly by Henry Kennell). But of course nothing is as simple as that. Mrs. Tait was fifty-eight, hardly an old lady, and her letter was a mixture of sense and nonsense. She started by saying that some of his friends in New York said that he must be ignorant of this development and would want to know about it. Then she described this very special region and the intrusion a commercial development would be. She said that she and her husband, who was the Mayor of Rockleigh, owned two hundred acres and were planning to build a colony of artistic houses, They felt that, "We are on the verge of a great development which is bound to follow the completion of the new tunnel to Jersey City and other commuting facilities such as the Alpine-Yonkers Ferry route just opened, which carried two thousand automobiles and twenty thousand passengers during the first day of its operation." Rockefeller, replying to the general gist of the letter, answered in a couple of weeks, saying that he had known nothing of the project and would look into it -of course it was against his : family's policies to deface the Palisades. Through a friend who knew the Rockefellers' archivist, I was able to learn what went on in the family after that. J. D. Rockefeller Jr. wrote to Mr. Folger, the President of Standard Oil, saying. "The other night I mentioned it to Father who was as surprised to hear of it as I was. He felt that it could not be true, for it did not seem possible that a development of such proportions, almost at his own dooryard, could have escaped mention by you during some of your many golfing visits to him at Pocantico." Mr. Folger wrote him a soothing letter, explaining how little disturbance they were making. Then we have a letter from J. D. Rockefeller Jr. to Mr. Smart, the man in charge at the installation, saying that coming down the river on the New York Central Railroad the other morning, he had looked across and decided that if the Standard Oil buildings in Palisades were painted green, they would hardly be seen. Finally; in October, he wrote back to Mrs. Tait assuring her that the Standard Oil had no intention of putting up a refinery or manufactory in her neighborhood. Then the whole thing petered out. A clipping in 1929 tells us that Standard Oil bought land on Staten Island for a refinery; and in 1932 the Palisades tract was abandoned as being impractical. The public relations department was apparently not the kind that would take credit for doing the ecologically correct thing. The archivist wrote in 1966 "The story of John D. Rockefeller Jr. forcing Socony off this land has been circulating for at least 24 years. There is nothing to substantiate it in the archives." A professional was hired to remove the tanks, and in 1932 Henry Kennell was given the concession to blow up the other buildings, including, unfortunately, the Abbott house, and to dispose of the remains. They were about to remove the pier too but according to Eric Gugler, Mrs. Tonetti went to see Rockefeller, or whomever was in charge, and asked them not to remove the pier because she didn't want to improve the boating facilities off Snedens for fear of having an infestation of yachts. (She needn't have worried -it is still shallow; as it has always been.) When we arrived in 1941 the dikes looked so old they were sometimes taken for Revolutionary War fortifications. The rubble of the buildings was hidden by vines and bushes, and you could climb down a rickety staircase over the marsh and get a fine view of the river from the end of the pier. And there were still vestiges of the farm that had been there thirty years before, halfway to the Abbott house: an apple orchard, Japanese roses, pussy willows, and the Osage orange trees that are still there. In 1942 the Palisades Park Commission bought the land with money partly given by Lawrence Rockefeller: 540 acres, including 149 acres of marsh and 149 acres under water. In the I950S the Tennessee Gas Company put its pipe through the park property and under the Hudson to Westchester, cutting two great swathes but leaving the land almost otherwise untouched. The pier was taken down in 1954, much to our regret. Alice Haagensen __________________________________________________________________________ Park Memories: My father was Location Manager for Fox Films in the silent film days, I have innumerable still pictures of the park and Inn. Was a movie filmed there by Fox Films? All of the films were later destroyed in a fire. By the number of pictures that he took, I think that a film must have been made just before 1920. He was killed in 1920. George E. McAvoy __________________________________________________________________________ Park Memories: I visited the Palisades interstate Park - NJ Section - for the first time last week (on business, would you believe! I represented a traffic violator in the park's court at Headquarters.) I stopped for lunch at the rest area just past Exit 3. It was a wonderful oasis in the wintertime and I'm glad that it was open! (By the way, the cook there makes an awesome Philly cheese steak sandwich!) I had always wanted to drive on the Palisades Interstate Parkway and am very pleased that now I have, if only briefly. Kathy Klenk __________________________________________________________________________ Since I was a little girl my dad used to bring me up to StateLine Lookout and other various parts of the majestic palisades. We would sit on the coldest days sipping hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick watching icey chunks of the Hudson river float by. He'd share his bright smile and laugh with everyone he'd come across. We'd walk and he'd tell crazy tales of how he'd hike on these cliffs with his best friend when he was little kid and go on roller coaster at Palisades Park with my mom. I lost my father three years ago after his long painful struggle with heart diease. He was only 62 years old. While Retired on disabilty one of his favorite daily things to do was to take ride up route 80 and head for "The Cliffs". I miss him, love him and my heart aches for him daily, but one thing I can be sure of is, his happy spirit sitting beside me while I sit with my hot apple cider and cinnamon stick remembering my life growing up here on these Cliffs with my daddy. Christa Hildebrandt ______________________________________________________________ Presently I am researching a thesis on the late artist Rachel bas-Cohain, a former artist-in-residence at the Palisade Insterstate Park in 1978. My research indicates that bas-Cohain erceived a letter of acceptance on May 17, 1978 from Alan Gussow, then the project director of the America the Beautiful Fund, which co-sponsored the artist-in-residence program with the Palisade Interstate Park Commission. I was hoping that records and domcumentation pertaining to bas-Cohain's application to the program and stay at the park. My research indicates that artists were required to submit slides, a resume, and an artist's statement outlining intentions for the residency. Were these materials preserved by the park? Were residents required to submit an exit statement? Jennifer Cawley _______________________________________________________________ Memories of watching the ski jumpers soar over our heads, getting numb toes in the snow, & then sitting by the blazing fire at the Inn & sipping that incredible hot buttered rum! The perfect winter respite!!! Janice Markham _______________________________________________________________ I have been visiting Bear Mountain & Harriman Park since I basically learned how to drive. My favorite spot (to this day) is at lake Askoti where a giant rock sits at the edge of the lake. I used to sit on that rock on many a starry night! Absolutley beautiful. I love to drive the winding roads, especially in the autumn months, with all the windows open. I now work for Bear Mountain State Park. To call this place my place of work totally puts a smile on my face every day. I consider myself lucky to call these woods "my office"! Jennifer A. Monzon _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Today (September 29, 2005) I made my first visit to Bear Mountain State Park. My husband was sharing his childhood memories of a field trip to the park with me while we were out for a drive, so we decided to visit. Right off the bat, we found the Merry-Go-Round, and took a turn on that. It was a happy coincidence that Oktoberfest was also being held when we arrived, so we shared what my husband calls 'soul food' for lunch. After wandering through the 'fest' area, we found the Trailside Zoo and the remains of Fort Clinton. From almost the moment we set foot outside the car, we kept saying to each other that we will have to come back to this park. There is so much to see and do! Carolyn Mueller _____________________________________________________________________________________________ I visited Harriman as a child in the late sixties and have fond memories of it. My parents would drive up in the summer from Union City, NJ. It seemed as though we would never get there. My younger brother and I would always persude them to stop at Palisades Park. I'll never forget the huge swimming pool at Anthony Wayne. I was sorry to hear the pool is now gone. Even though I've been living in Chicago for thrity years and wake up to Lake Michigan outside my window. I always think of those halcyon summer days along the Hudson. Hugo Zapata-Martinez _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ One of the highlights of growing up in the 60s and 70s was our Sunday tradition of going to Bear Mountain with my father and older brother. Just driving up the rock cut from Peekskill and approaching the bridge was a big deal for us. But the real fun was exploring the nature trails and woodland zoo. Typically, my brother and I would scramble up the rock to have our picture taken with Walt Whitman. We'd run to see the albino raccoon, the bobcat, the beaver, and of course, the black bears. The bald eagle with the broken wing, the bird and leaf matching games, the trailside museums - all were fascinating and wonderful perennial favorites. We typically went in the spring and fall, so I don't remember crowds. In fact, it often felt as if we were the only ones there. Occasionally we'd take the Dayliner up the Hudson, or have brunch at the Inn - all the shrimp we could eat! It seems we have at least one photo from every year, standing next to the bears at the entrance to the Inn. So many wonderful memories of that magical place. I hope one day to bring my own children there, and re-capture a little of that magic. Christopher, May 2006 __________________________________________________________ Recently I read an article in Hudson Valley magazine in whch Carol Ash described the soothing power of nature and the environment. I find such power in Bear mountain, and the zoo in particular. I relish the mirror like quality of Hessian Lake in autumn, the fascination of children watching animal behavior and their myriad questions of the staff, and the serenity of trees rustling in the wind. I have always found the staff to be friendly and informative. I read where you have acquired two bear cubs which I hope you will be able to keep and urge you to keep. The wildlife has always been a major attraction for me and could be a memorable experience for children visiting the zoo for the first time. Mary Graham 2006 __________________________________________________________ I spent yesterday, Labor Day, at Bear Mtn. Park with my husband. We had a wonderful time walking around the grounds, riding the Merry-go-Round, visiting the zoo and hiking down to the Hudson River dock. I had not been here in many years and was happy to find that it was very much the same as I remember it. When I was younger, I used to come to ice skate and swim in the pool. A memorable ending to our day was on the ride home where we saw a wild coyote, numerous deer and what looked like wild turkeys on the sides of the road. Thanks for preserving this land for people's enjoyment. I hope that many years from now I will return and discover it all over again! Joanne, September 2006 _____________________________________________________________ I remember going to summer camp at Camp Tamaqua in Harriman state park/Bear Mountain. It was a great experience. I had lots of fun and made lots of friends. I remeber Ssam the cook, decent grat cook. Ii remember a man, Uuncle Finn who told us lots of stories and taught lots of songs. I wish it was still open so I can visit. I went to Bear Mountain two years ago but nobody remembers Camp Tamaqua Permission to use story: Yes Penny Sandman - Canandaigua, NY ____________________________________________________________ From my earliest memories (8 years at Camp Trexler on Lake Stahahe): I attended forestry school and visited many state and national parks accross the nation. Harriman and Bear Mountain are my favorites. I feel at peace when I visit the parks. To sit on the edge of Island Pond on a cool fall day nothing compares. Brian McNulty, Massapequa Park, NY _____________________________________________________________ My father, James J. Amore, took me to Allison Park (Englewood Cliffs) since I was newborn in 1966. He was an employee of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission for about 43 years and from as early as I can remember it was his dream to one day live in the cottage within the 7-1/2 acre commons of Allison Park. In 1984 my parents and siblings moved into the cottage and lived there for 22 years. Those were the happiest days of our lives. Living in the park, we met many people who loved the serenity and beauty of the Palisades. When my father died in February of 2006 it marked the end of a wonderful life on the cliffs. The commission, in their generosity and appreciation for my father's labor of love, dedicated a plaque and reflecting area within the park along one of the paths. His memorial reads "James J. Amore: Faithful Park Friend - May His Memory Abound In Nature's Beauty". Brian C. Amore. ___________________________________________________________ Visits to Bear Mountain were an integral part of our childhood, the Park itself was a resource, the Inn was an comforting extension of our home, and the myriad of other visitors around us ranged from the familiar to the exotic . It seemed to us as young children there was always something happening, so many activities and such vitality and industry. Whenever our parents suggested we go to the Park we knew that a full, rich day would follow. All on a pauper's budget- grand and yet so very economical. I have, like many people, fond memories of those times. In those child memories, the Park was boundless and the Inn stood stout and yet warm and welcoming, all the better after a brisk walk around the zoo trail, or perhaps somewhere to congregate once the ski jumping competition ended for the day. As an adult who now lives out of state, the Park still attracts me, and it is rare for me to return to New York State and not sneak in a visit. Sadly, the I realize h ow time has been less than kind to these great facilities, and deferred maintenance and perhaps ill advised updating have blighted parts of the Inn I once knew as a child. I have followed with great interest the story of the renovation and naively keep checking the web for news and progress reports hoping for more detail of its triumphant revival and restoration to grandeur. From afar it's hard to discern the progress, but I'm optimistic and thankful that people have realized what a fantastic treasure this Park and Inn are, and hopefully it will soon return from its slumber and not only be preserved, but also retain an endowment for perpetual care. Bill Conklin, NC editors note -though it may not look like it from the exterior, work to restore the Bear Mountain Inn is continuing - in fact our contractors are starting to put final touches on walls, ceilings and special finishes. ___________________________________________________________ My family docked our boat at Alpine Boat Basin for many years. Every year, I couldn't wait until the first ride of the season from winter storage at Hackensack Yacht Club, up the Hudson to our slip in Alpine. The sun on my face, the breeze at our backs, being with my Dad. The most memorable times were the relaxing get togethers with family and friends on weekday evenings or the weekends at Alpine Boat Basin. We felt special as children growing up on the water and will always cherish those memories with my Mom and Dad on the boat. Roberta Tsaggos-Hoag ___________________________________________________________ At the age of 47 I can still recall My first trip to Bear Mountain with my mother and brothers. It was a splendid time we spent together just having a picnic and enjoying the walk or hike. I had such a wonderful time that I took my mother up to that beautiful and captivating whenever I had a chance. She enjoyed it so much. Little did she know that the day she took me to Bear mountain for the first time would still prevail fresh in my mind. Now it was my turn and I continued the tradition. I've taken my children when they were younger. Now they are adults. But it didn't stop there I've taken my grandaughters to breath in the beauty that that enchanting place has to offer. I try to go up every year or every other year. Every time I go I have the most precious memories and moments. Noemi Garcia-Herzog, Middle Island NY August 2007 __________________________________________________________ I camped at what was then known as the Lake Welch Family Camping back in the 1960s with my mom, sister and two brothers. We lived in North Jersey so it made for a short commute for my dad to come up and visit after work or on the weekends. He owned his own business so vacation days were non-existent for him. I was about 7 years old the first summer we camped at Lake Welch. We borrowed a big 24 x 24 foot Army tent from a friend of my dads and my mom, sister and brothers and I erected the tent on our own...with a little help from the Park workers ;-) We spent every August at Lake Welch for the next 7 years, meeting lots of friends who returned year after year. I still remember the smell of campfires in crisp air of the evening, hikes in and around the lake, sunny fun days on Lake Welch's white sand beach and the flood of tourists who arrived each weekend at the Public Beach. My sister met her future husband there, and I had my first kiss at a Lake campfire. Lots of good memories for all of us - fishing, swimming, hiking and just discovering nature. It was a different way of living for a suburb kid& like me. We marveled at the bi-weekly visits of the bread and pastry truck and the milk man. If you missed the truck you were out of luck for a while! A big highlight activity for evening activities (beside Smores) was an occasional ride to Bear Mountain for an night of Roller rinking or square dancing. This past week my husband and I took a ride through Harriman State Park on our way home from an early Fall trip through Vermont. It brought back a flood of warm memories as we stopped by Bear Mountain, drove along Seven Lakes Drive and stopped in to see my old familiar beach at Lake Welch. It was a great summer experience for a kid growing up. It gave me a lifetime of memories I'll never forget. Rita Koch, Flemington, NJ ___________________________________________________________ |