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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
ALPINE, 4 miles (440 alt., 521 pop.), is a tiny village largely hidden
among the rocks and trees of the Palisades. Hundreds of Sunday afternoon
hikers from New York City come here to follow footpaths along the top
of the Palisades or trails along the river bank.
Right from Alpine on a macadam road is CLOSTER, 2.7 miles (50 alt., 2,502 pop.),
a village of frame buildings with new facings of brick or composition shingle. The
town was the scene of a spontaneous strike in 1936 during the course of which a
sympathizer was shot and eventually died The killing provoked a vigorous controversy over civil liberties, accentuated when the police forbade a memorial mass
meeting, which, however, was finally held after an injunction had been obtained.
The shop foreman was found guilty of the killing and was sentenced to serve from
six to ten years in the State Penitentiary. The strikers were persuaded to return to
work.
The TENAFLY WEAVERS, 61 Old Dock Rd., an industrial enterprise founded at
Tenafly in 1916 by Miss Winifred Mitchell, is still under the direction of the
founder. An outgrowth of a hobby, the factory has popularized its wide variety of
woven products. The firm makes a practice of training young students in handcraft
and absorbing them as operators.
Between Alpine and Englewood Cliffs, US 9W runs on the plateau
immediately W. of the Palisades. Except for a few houses and roadstands,
the highway is bordered by light forest growth. Occasional clearings afford
glimpses of the Hudson River and the New York shore.
At 7.3 miles is the junction with E. Clinton Ave., a concrete-paved road.
Right on this road is TENAFLY, 2 miles (130 alt., 5,669 pop.), populated largely
by prosperous New York businessmen. Dutch scholars say that Tenafly is from
Thyne Vly or Garden Valley. Early Dutch and French Huguenot settlers first
claimed lands here; farming days finally ended with the building of the Erie R.R.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the feminist, was a Tenafly resident; so was Hetty Green,
the capitalist (see HOBOKEN), who established legal residence here to escape New
York taxes. Fine elms and maples, set out by land developers who came with the
railroad in the 1870's, shade the streets. The MARY FISHER HOME, NW. cor. Engle
and Park Sts, (open afternoons), is a Victorian stone house with rooms for 18
professional people. The home was founded by Miss Fisher, a school teacher who
at first opened her own house to needy persons.
Continue on E. Clinton Ave. to Knickerbocker Rd., 2,7 miles; R. on Knickerbocker
Rd. to the SOLDIERS MONUMENT, 3.9 miles (at Madison Ave.), on the site of Camp
Merritt, World War cantonment where more than 1,000,000 troops were assembled
before embarking. The monument, a 70-foot granite shaft, was the work of Capt.
Robert Aitkins. Scrub and underbrush have claimed the deserted campsite; only the.
outlines of camp streets remain.
Left on Madison Ave. is DUMONT, 4.8 miles (80 alt., 6,500 pop.). The NORTH
REFORMED CHURCH, SW. cor, Madison Ave. and Washington Ave., built in 1801,
is the home of a congregation formed in 1748 by members of the older Dutch
church at Schraalenburgh or Starvation Castle, now known as Bergenfield. The build-ing has the tall, graceful spire characteristic of most Dutch Reformed Churches.
The Georgian influence is shown in the details of the woodwork and in the unusual
little oval panels of the spire.
Left on Washington Ave., formerly Schraalenburgh Rd., is BERGENFIELD, 5.7 miles
(70 alt., 8,816 pop.). Right on Church St. to the OLD SOUTH PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH (R), erected in 1799. Many of the red sandstone blocks from a 1725 structure were used in this church. The building has straight, long lines, with the front
facade broken by a square stone tower which rises to a wooden steeple. Above the
Center entrance is a fine rose window. All other windows are pointed Gothic.
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