I would readily say that most people in the state of New Jersey never
heard of the town of River Vale. Of those that have heard of it, very few
even know where it is. Of those who have heard of River Vale and even know
where it is, there are only a handful of people who knew this quiet little
town as do those of us who grew up there during the 20s, 30s, and 40s,
before the town's population "took off" after World War II. Included in
these three decades are what we refer to as "The Depression Years". This
is the era that I will endeavor to cover in my recollections of River Vale.
I will attempt to break down this writing into two sections. One being
"places" and the other being "people". I might add some personal observations,
also.
Having grown up in River Vale from 1953 - 1958, I vividly recall many of the same places you mention. My parents had a home build near the corner of Highland Ave and Central Ave., and I'm fairly certain it was built by George Roberge. The field you mention as a "airport" along Roosevelt Ave was just a great unstructured playground - especially when homes were being built. Most of my friends lived on Rockland Ave. and mentioning the golf course fits exactly with memories of wide open fields.
ReplyDeleteEcho Glen Rd also had its own mystical legends. I know the very property your family called home just off River Vale Rd. was also called home for a family that I went to school with - although that house was torn down and replaced with a new River Vale mini-mansion... But was the north side of Echo Glen also the site of a "haunted shack" that was mid-way between River Vale Rd and Rockland Ave? About 50-100 yards in the woods was a worn red painted shack that held all sorts of stories of horrors - especially for adventuresome 5-6 year olds.
Thank you for filling in the histories of so many places I knew so very well - especially the history of Four Corners - spent many a penny in their gum ball machine! And although my parents moved to Westwood in 1958, the fields, woods, brooks and lakes of River Vale remained a destination for me for years afterward.
Tom Daly