The Oakland Castle Oakland, NJ – Hike into History Take a hike. Depending on your tone of voice it can be good advice or a condescending suggestion. In this case it is very good advice because Oakland offers its residents a great opportunity to enjoy outdoor exercise, take in some beautiful scenery, and wander down wooded paths that lead you through local, regional and world history. The hike detailed here starts just off Skyline Drive and is approximately five miles, start to finish. It will take you up through the Ramapo Hills to great vistas where you can visit the ruins of what has been called “The Oakland Castle”, “The Van…
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The Lodge on the Island in Ramapo Lake
The Lodge was on Ramapo Lake Paul Neuman December 26, 2014 These photos are of what remains of the house that stood on the island in Ramapo Lake. I haven’t been out there in a few years. You need a good cold snap before venturing over to it. Does anybody have a photo of the house when it was standing? Was it part of the Van Slyke estate? When was it destroyed? I assume it was burned. I seem to remember reading something years ago that the house was built as a safe haven, maybe from the flu pandemic of 1918 or a later public health crisis (TB, polio?). Of…
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Ed & Elaine Zindel Remember Old Oakland
Ed & Elaine Zindel Remember Old Oakland Pleasureland and the surrounding area was a kid’s playground like few others. The primary recreational features were the yet unspoiled Ramapo River and Pompton Lake which provided quality fishing, swimming, boating, and ice skating. We also fished Muller’s Brook, Mitchell’s Pond and Delmar’s Pond for the beautiful wild trout which flourished there. Potash’s Island, which we accessed from Island Terrace, was a great place to explore and had some of the best waterfowling and woodcock flights that I have ever seen. Rotten Pond, which was a poacher’s paradise, was a stiff walk from Pool Hollow, but we fished it relentlessly; by day and…
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History of Crystal Lake
History of Crystal Lake This picture is from the 1950’s. I recall the brook running down into the Lake behind Rockaway under the bridge that goes over Lakeside Dr; along with the Large body of water known as the Ramapo River running from Mahwah and Upstate NY. creeks and small ponds around Oakland So I called in someone elder than us, as per my 90 year old grandmother, the inception of the lake was in the 50’s at that time the bodies of waters were known as creeks and small ponds around Oakland and the adjacent towns. She further professed the Damn was built in the 60’s a few years…
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Oakland Homeowners to be Assessed
1,700 Oakland homeowners to be assessed for lakes’ maintenance February 2, 2012, 8:52 AM By Philip DeVencentis Staff Writer | Franklin Lakes – Oakland Suburban News OAKLAND – Almost 1,700 property owners are being forced to ante up to maintain two lakes owned by Ramapo Mountain Lakes Inc., though some say they never visit the lakes or even benefit from their existence. Crystal Lake, encircled by Lakeshore Drive, and the much smaller Mirror Lake, between Hiawatha Boulevard and Calumet Avenue, are just a mile apart. But the lake association oversees far more land. The lake association was incorporated in 1944 by National House & Farms Association Inc., a developer that acquired…
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Connie Monks Discusses Former Stores
Former Oakland Stores in Town Center Connie Monks Discusses Former 4 Stores on RVR Note: Until the mid 1950s, there were 4 stores on RVR directly across from the Coppertree Mall. The Oakland Military Academy was located on the site of the Coppertree Mall until 1963 when it was demolished. Those stores were moved to what is now Elm Street in the 1950s. Constance Williams Monks Oh boy you bring the memories flowing. To the left was Mr. Proskey’s antique store. Next was Vic the barber and the Green Spot luncheonette. The one farthest to the right was a bunch of things. In the forties my brother Bert had a…
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Historic bridge is returned to its birthplace
Historic bridge is returned to its birthplace The Doty Road Bridge has carried vehicles over New Jersey’s Ramapo River for over a century. The bridge was located where New York District’s Ramapo River at Oakland Flood Control Project is underway. Several years ago it was determined by project managers that the bridge would be an obstruction during floods and that it should be removed. The New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office stated that something needed to be done with the bridge in terms of mitigation because it is a cultural resource and deemed eligible for being listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Lynn Rakos, a District…
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Cal Bickford -Growing up in Oakland
Growing up in Oakland: 1948 – circa. 1960 THE MOVE TO OAKLAND My family moved into town during the fall of 1948. Up to that time we had lived in a new home that our parents built in a new development during 1940 in suburban Fair Lawn. My parents needed room. Both of them were avid gardeners as you will see below. Also, the houses were so close together that you could talk to your next-door neighbor through the bedroom windows. We had looked for homes in the western part of Bergen County, primarily Mahwah, Oakland and Franklin Lakes, settling on an old 1800’s farmhouse that was to become a…
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Bob Spear Home
Borough referred to as Nielsen Avenue Our old home on what the Boro referred to as Nielsen Avenue which in fact was a dirt road we called Spear Lane. The “proposed” Avenue was to connect Long Hill road to Grove Street for a main entry to develop the entire area. It was particularly a “sore spot” one day to us when a Survey crew hired by the Boro came through without asking permission and staked out a broad “right of way” right across our property, across our pond, up our driveway and down across our field, pounding rib boned survey stakes in the ground! We quickly went behind them and…
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An Ode to Our Doty Road Bridge
An Ode to Our Doty Road Bridge The current Doty Road Bridge has no soul and offers nothing to augment our wonderful memories. Made of the latest technology of steel girders wrapped in concrete, it is unable to recall Oakland’s glory days or even to inspire new ones. So sad. Thunder Bridge Is there a person among us that doesn’t have a fuzzy warm memory of the Doty Road Bridge? Is it just crossing it a thousand times? Or walking astride its beams to Pleasureland? Or perhaps it’s having a beer or two or three at the Pleasureland Pub, Auggie’s or Angie’s to some, at the foot of the bridge.…
