I have been to Miss T’s Two several times when I needed a quick snack and was in the area. The deli is tucked in a residential neighborhood right near Hackensack High School so I know who their customer is when the school year is in session.
Miss T’s Two is primarily a deli/bodega selling some household items and snack foods to the locals who live in the area but they also have a small hot food area in the back of the store and this is where this unassuming place shines. Their hot food selection may be limited but everything I have tried is delicious and extremely reasonable and is always fresh.
The first two trips I made to the deli was by accident. I had passed the place…
I have never seen such a transformation of a neighborhood.
I finished Kips Bay right before the holidays and discovered the section between Lexington and Third Avenues was also considered part of “Rose Hill”, an old farming estate from colonial times. The area had not been called “Rose Hill” since the mid-1800’s and was surprised why anyone would want to bring the name back. That’s the real estate market for you. Anything to sell an apartment in a neighborhood.
This area of the Manhattan is actually a cross section of three neighborhoods, the “Rose Hill” estate section, NoMAD (North of Madison Square Park) and the Flatiron District, dominated by the Flatiron Building located on the cross section of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. The area in question is between Fifth and Sixth Avenue from East and West 25th to 30th Street, which is part of both the Flatiron District and NoMAD with a block being in Rose Hill.
It must be very confusing for the residents to know where they live and what neighborhood association to join. That being said there is not much residential in this area as opposed to it being more of the start of the lower Midtown Business District. This is where a lot of your “hip” companies like to have their offices.
The neighborhood’s central point is Madison Square Park, a small oasis of green in the middle of what used to be the financial and retail district from the turn of the last century to about the Great Depression era. Most of the commercial buildings were built between 1890 to about 1930. This district shows that these companies believed in their businesses and built these spaces to last a lifetime. Many of the companies that built this district no longer exist. Still a few of the insurance companies and banks still own their buildings but in the era of COVID with everyone working at home, we will see what the future holds for them as well.
The upper portion of the neighborhood is what is left of the old “Wholesale” and “Flower District”, which are both starting to dwindle in relevance in this neighborhood. As the neighborhood slowly started to be knocked down in the early 90’s and replaced by high rises especially above 23rd Street along Sixth Avenue, it went from being an old commercial district to one that was middle to high end residential.
What is left of the old “Wholesale” district is now concentrated around the stretch from Fifth to Sixth Avenue along East 30th Street and a little along Broadway but little by little the stores are closing up.
All the department stores that the district used to cater to are long gone with the exception of Macy’s Herald Square and realtors have discovered that people really do love the old charm of these turn of the last century Victorian and Art Deco style architecture. These buildings are slowly being converted back to their original use of hotels, stores and restaurants as they were in the early 1900’s.
Even the ‘Flower District’ is down to about a dozen stores. What was once lined with fresh flowers and decorative house plants as well as all sorts of gardening supplies have packed up and moved to Hunts Point in the Bronx along with the Fish Markets of South Street Seaport and the Meatpacking District in Chelsea. The buildings and land have just become too valuable, and the areas are being zoned for residential.
During Mayor Bloomberg’s last term in office all of these and other areas of the City that were once commercial were rezoned for residential and have changed the complexity of these neighborhoods. Some for the better and some for the worse. In NoMAD, the area just keeps morphing even during the era of COVID.
I started my day walking down from Port Authority and touring through the first floor of Macy’s Herald Square. The changes in that store since I have worked there have been tremendous. The Christmas decorations are long gone (except from the Ninth Floor where the Christmas Shoppe was still going strong) and the store was preparing for Valentine’s Day like the rest of the retail industry. The store was pretty crowded for early afternoon and gave me faith that the industry was not dead.
The Christmas windows at Macy’s Herald Square in 2024
I exited through the back door into Herald Square and walked through both Herald and Greeley Squares where people were eating their lunches and socializing on the park chairs and tables (socially distanced of course). It is surprising how busy the parks were a cool cloudy morning. I then walked around Koreatown on my way to NoMAD and the restaurants were really busy again like they were on Christmas Day. People still enjoy eating outside even at this time of the year.
Looking at the main floor of Macy’s Herald Square at Christmas 2024 from the Broadway entrance
I started my walk of NoMAD on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 30th Street. This was interesting because in all my years at Macy’s, this had been the Textiles and Handmade Rug showrooms during the late 80’s and through the 90’s. Now there was not much left. The few showrooms that were left in the handmade rug business were closed that afternoon and the commercial part of the block was really quiet. There were not too many people walking around so I could take my time and really admire the buildings.
Many of the wholesale businesses were open but they are becoming few and far between. Even in the Pandemic, I do not foresee them being here in the next two years. As the leases start to get broken or the buildings get renovated, they are slowly emptying out and there are many for rent signs on 30th Street.
Looking down Broadway around 29th Street in the afternoon
Most of the buildings on 30th Street were non-descriptive until I reached the corner of West 30th Street and Fifth Avenue. At 284 Fifth Avenue is The Wilbraham Building, a beautiful Victorian building built between 1888-90 that was commissioned by jeweler William Moir. The building was designed by architect D. & J. Jardine in the Romanesque Revival style. The building has been home to Shalom Brothers Rugs for many years (StreetEasy.com).
284 Fifth Avenue at East 30th Street-The Wilbraham
Rounding the corner on East 30th Street to Madison Avenue, the border of the neighborhood is shared with the “Rose Hill” section of the neighborhood. Technically “Rose Hill” is the eastern section of the neighborhood by historical fact to the location of the original estate. Still on most maps, NoMAD stretches to the border of Kips Bay on Lexington Avenue. This is where the borders of all these neighborhoods got confusing.
So, I walked around the block and walked up and down Madison Avenue, the main artery and border of the neighborhood to revisit some of the most beautiful and picturesque buildings on the avenue. This starts the border also of the residential and business district of the neighborhood.
Walking down East 25th Street, you realize as you start to border the Midtown area that the buildings take up more of the blocks and there are less smaller brownstones and tenements in the area. The dominate building on the block by Madison Square Park is 11-25 Madison Avenue, the Metropolitan Life Buildings. The building that lines this part of East 25th Street is the Metropolitan Life North Building (or 11 Madison Avenue).
Metropolitan Life North Building at 25 Madison Avenue
The archways ‘Loggias’ on each side of the building
This beautiful building was the extension of the main headquarters next door on Madison Avenue. The building was designed by the architectural team of Harvey Wiley Corbett and D. Everett Waid in the Art Deco style in the late 1920’s as the tallest building in the world but the Great Depression changed the plans and it was built in three stages. The first finished in 1932, the second in 1940 and the third in 1950 (Wiki).
What stands out about the building is the arched vaults on each corner of the structure called ‘loggias’ and the features were made in limestone and pink marble. When you stand under them you can see the colors and details of the marble carvings (Wiki). Just walking around the building, the features are impressive and standout.
Across the street from the Metropolitan Life North Building at 27 Madison Avenue is the Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State and one of the most beautiful and detailed buildings I have seen on my walks. The building was designed by architect James Lord Brown in 1896 in the Beaux Arts Style and is adorned heavily in sculpture (Wiki). You really have to step back and walk across the street to see the details on the building.
27 Madison Avenue The Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State
Looking up closely, you can see that the building resembles a Greek Temple and was considered one of the best examples of the “City Beautiful Movement” that occurred during the 1890’s and 1900’s to enhance cities with monumental grandeur and beauty (Wiki).
The historical beauty of the architecture continued up the border of the neighborhood as I walked up Madison Avenue towards East 30th Street. You have to walk both sides of Madison Avenue to appreciate the designs and details of the buildings that line the avenue.
You have to look close to the building or you will miss it is the sculpture by artist Harriet Feigenbaum. It is a memorial to victims of the Holocaust and is very powerful in its work showing the concentration camps.
“The Memorial to the Injustice of the Victims of the Holocaust”-“Indifference to Justice is the Road to Hell”
Harriet Feigenbaum is an American sculptor and environmentalist. Her works cover sculpture, film and drawings that are seen all over the world (Wiki and artist bio).
I passed 50 Madison Avenue and noticed how the buildings blended in design. The bottom level of the building was built in 1896 as the headquarters of the ASPCA (American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals). The building was designed by architects Renwick, Aspinwell & Owen and had a classic ‘club like’ design to it. The building was refitted and added to in 2005 by the firm of Samson Management with a six-story addition to luxury condos (CityRealty.com).
Another ornamental building that stands out in the neighborhood is 51 Madison Avenue which is the home of New York Life Insurance Building. The building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert in 1926 in the Art Deco style with Gothic Revival details along the sides and was finished in 1928. The structure is topped with a gilded roof (Wiki & New York Life Insurance history). This is another building that you have to see from all sides.
51 Madison Avenue-The New York Life Insurance Building
Continuing my walk-up Madison Avenue while admiring the architecture of the neighborhood is The James NoMAD Hotel, the former Seville Hotel, on the corner of East 29th Street at 88 Madison Avenue. This interesting hotel has gone through several name changes and renovations since it was built in 1904. The hotel was designed by architect Harry Alan Jacobs in the Beaux Arts style and the annex to the hotel was designed by Charles T. Mott in 1906 (Wiki).
88 Madison Avenue-The James NoMAD Hotel (formerly The Seville)
The outdoor dining was open for the restaurant the first afternoon I had visited the neighborhood even though I thought it was a little cool to eat outside. Even though you can’t go inside unless you are a guest, I could see the holiday decorations and lights from the street, and it looked very elegant inside.
Across the street from this elegant hotel is 95 Madison Avenue the former Emmett Building. The structure was designed by architects John Stewart Barney and Stockton B. Colt of Barney & Colt for Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet in 1912 when the area was a wholesale district. The building is designed in the French Neo-Renaissance with Gothic style ornamentation (New York Landmark Preservation Commission and Wiki).
Turning the corner at East 25th Street and Madison Avenue is Madison Square Park, named after our fourth President of the United States, James Madison. This well landscaped park is the gathering place of the residents of NoMAD and has a wonderful playground that has been busy the whole time I have spent in the neighborhood.
Madison Square Park is an interesting little oasis from all the traffic and office space. It has an interesting history since it was designated a public space in 1686 by British Royal Governor Thomas Dongan. It has served as a potter’s field, an arsenal and a home for delinquents. In 1847, the space was leveled, landscaped and enclosed as a park. It became part of the New York Park system in 1870. There are many historical figures featured in the park (NYCParks.org).
The park today is a major meeting spot for residents and tourists alike with a dog track and the original Shake Shack restaurant.
Madison Square Park in the Spring when I was walking the length of Broadway
An interesting sculpture that that welcomes you into Madison Square Park is the statue of William Henry Stewart, the former Governor of New York State, US Senator and Secretary of State during the Civil War. He also negotiated the Alaskan Purchase in 1867.
Governor William Henry Stewart statue in Madison Square Park
Governor William Henry Sewart, who negotiated the Alaskan Purchase “Sewart’s Folly”
The statue was designed by artist Randolph Rogers an American born sculptor who studied in Italy. He was a Neoclassical artist known for his famous historical commissions.
When I walked into the park to take a break, it must have been the busiest section of the neighborhood between the playground and the original Shake Shack that were serving food to a crowd clung to their cellphones.
I stopped to look at the statue of our 21st President Chester A. Arthur, who had taken oath just two blocks away in his New York townhouse where the Kalustyan’s Specialty Foods is located at 123 Lexington Avenue (See My Walk in Kips Bay below). I thought about what was going on in our government today and what they must have gone through with this transition.
The Statue of Chester A. Arthur in Madison Square Park
George Edwin Bissell was an American born artist from Connecticut whose father was a quarryman and marble carver. He studied sculpture abroad in Paris in the late 1870’s and was known for his historical sculptures of important figures of the time (Wiki).
The Admiral David Farragut statue in Madison Square Park by artist Augustus St. Gaudens
Another interesting statue that stands out in Madison Square Park is the of Civil War Navy hero, Admiral David Farragut. Admiral Farragut commanded the Union Blockage of Southern cities and helped capture New Orleans. The statute was designed by sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens. This was the artist’s first major commission when it was dedicated in 1881 (NYCParks.org).
Augustus St. Gaudens was an Irish born American artist whose specialty during the Beaux-Arts era was monuments to Civil War heroes. He had created the statue the William Tecumseh Sherman in the Central Park Mall on Fifth Avenue along with this statue of Admiral Farragut. He had studied at the National Academy of Design, apprenticed in Paris and then studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts (Wiki).
Don’t miss the beauty of the park at the holidays. They really decorate the park at Christmas with a beautiful tree and Christmas lights all over the place. Even the Shake Shack in the park is decorated for the holidays. It was so nice to cut through the park and look at their Christmas tree every evening after classes had ended. It really cheered me up after a long day.
The Madison Square Park Christmas tree
The park is so beautifully decorated for the Christmas holidays
Even the Shake Shack in the park was decorated to the hilt for Christmas
Upon leaving Madison Square Park and proceeding across East to West 25th Street (Fifth Avenue separates the East Side from the West Side of Manhattan), I was traveling into what was once part of Midtown between the Civil War until WWI and then after that Midtown moved closer to Central Park during the 1920’s through the 1940’s. This leads to the former ‘Ladies Shopping Mile’, which I had covered the previous Christmas on a walking tour.
My blog on my Christmas Walking Tour of the Ladies Shopping Mile in 2018:
Most of the buildings in this section of NoMAD were built with decorative stonework and elaborate ornamentation. There are so many in this section of Manhattan I will highlight the ones that are the standouts. As I walked the border of the neighborhood, you could see many beautiful buildings lining 25th Street.
When walking down East 25th Street from Madison Square Park, the first interesting site you pass is the historic Worth Square, the Memorial to and burial site of General William Jenkins Worth.
William Jenkins Worth was a native New Yorker (Hudson, NY) and decorated Army officer who had served our country in the Battles of 1812, The Second Seminole War and the Mexican American War. His series of campaigns shaped this Country to where it is today. He died working for the Department of Texas in 1849 (Wiki).
The General’s remains are buried under the monument at Worth Square at the corner of Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 24th and 25th Street. General Worth was interned here in November of 1857 on the anniversary of the British leaving the colonies (NYCParks.org).
The Worth Monument between East 24th and East 25th Street at Broadway and Fifth Avenue
The General Worth artwork on the statue.
The Worth Monument was designed by artist James Goodwin Batterson, whose main profession was one of the founders of the Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford, CT and helped design the Library of Congress Building in Washington DC. He had immersed himself in his father’s quarrying and stone importing business early in his career and traveled extensively to Europe and Egypt for the job. He designed this monument in 1857 (Wiki).
Passing Worth Square and continuing down West 25th Street, I was revisiting the edge of the former “Ladies Shopping Mile” and noticed the impressive architecture that lines the streets of this section of the neighborhood.
At 1123 Broadway is the detailed Townsend Building that was built between 1896-97 and was designed by New York architect Cyrus Lazelle Warner Eidlitz in the Classical style. The building is names for Isaac Townsend whose estate the building was built on (Flatiron Partnership).
Another beautiful building is the Heritage Hotel at 18-20 West Fifth Avenue. This detailed hotel was designed by the architectural firm of Israels & Harder in 1901 in the Beaux-Arts style. The hotel opened in 1902 as the Arlington Hotel, a residential hotel for well-heeled guests (Daytonian).
By the time I reached Sixth Avenue, named “The Avenue of the Americas” only to tourists and out of towners, I had seen a significant change in this part of Sixth Avenue in the last thirty years. At West 25th Street, the intersection is just above what had been “Department Store Row” that ends at West 23rd Street.
This had once been the heart of the “Flower District” and while there still are some wholesale flower businesses tucked here and there on Sixth Avenue and some of the side streets, that business has mostly moved on. What had once been lined with rows of smaller buildings housing flower shops selling their wares to people in the Tri-State area is now lined with new modern apartment buildings up to almost West 34th Street. The area is still being redeveloped.
As I ended my first day in the neighborhood, I walked back down West 30th Street back to Madison Avenue passing the familiar buildings back through Madison Square Park and just relaxed. It was fun watching people walk their dogs in the park and the dogs have a great time playing with one another.
I ended the evening with a slice of $1.00 pizza at my new ‘go to’ place in the neighborhood, Fresh Pizza & Deli at 876 Sixth Avenue, a little hole in the wall pizzeria and sandwich shop. The prices here are extremely fair both for the pizza and for the sandwiches that range from $5.00 to $7.00. The pizza here is pretty good and has a nice sauce that gives it some flavor. At night, it has some interesting characters hanging around.
After my snack, I made one last walk around the northern border of the neighborhood to visit what was left of the wholesale businesses. Slowly these jewelry and accessory stores are giving way to boutiques, trendy restaurants and bars. Even in the era of COVID, the whole neighborhood is either being gutted and renovated or knocked down and being rebuilt. There is not one block in NoMAD that isn’t being transformed.
It will be interesting to see the results when all of this passes.
Please read my other blog on walking the Avenues and Streets of NoMAD:
Day One Hundred & Ninety: Walking the Streets and Avenues of NoMAD/Rose Hill:
I love coming to Demarest Farms and visiting the farm store and the grounds. It is like a step back into time. When I was a young child, I used to come down to the old farm stand that was across the street and pick up corn and tomatoes with my aunt who lived around the corner from the stand. In the 1990’s, the family opened the farm store across the street which used to be the old cornfields right next to the Garden State Parkway and a new tradition was born.
In 1991, they build the big store across the street.
Sometimes you just come across a place that has the whole package. Good food at a fair price, a nice selection on the menu and good service. I was working in the the neighborhood where Pompeii Little Market is located and stopped in for a Coke.
What I found was a delightful little deli that is part grocery and part deli with a nice selection of wraps, hoagies and subs, salads and panini’s. There was a small selection of hot foods and specials of the day. They also have a small selection of breakfast items and sandwiches in the morning.
I went in for lunch another afternoon for one of their sandwich specials and had their Italian hoagie special which was $5.95 for this large sub that…
Well, Christmas is finally officially over for me. It was one for the books. The holiday season just came and went without much fanfare or activities. Nothing like last year which was a lot of running around visiting decorated homes or running to the next cocktail party or dinner. Those things just did not exist this year. This season was all about the outside walking tours and small get togethers.
The whole holiday season became a blur and I started to attend a lot of outdoor activities that became available. Anything to get out of the house and see people or go do something out of the ordinary. I really had to search things out.
They started closest to home. I was trying to split my time between places that were just a drive away, going back and forth to the Hudson River Valley, which gave me a change of scenery and walking the neighborhoods of Manhattan, which gave me a sense of purpose as I felt I was supporting the City by being a cheerleader for all it had to offer even in the era of COVID.
My holiday journey started with the delivery of 375 Christmas trees for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association. It was a big undertaking for a major charity that supports graduating high school seniors with scholarship money for college. I sometimes wonder if these students know what we go through to get the funds.
The trees were really nice this year
I have never seen so many Christmas Trees fly off a lot so fast. The membership of the Men’s Association got there at 9:00am and the truck arrived at 10:15am. We sold our first tree at 11:30am as we were tagging them. I stayed the entire day from 9:00am to 10:00pm when we closed the lot down for the evening. In the three shifts that I was there with the other guys, we sold 45 trees which we have never done our first day of sales.
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association at set-up 2020
We were completely sold out by December 11th which I have never seen before. It seemed in the era of COVID everyone reverted back to the 1970’s and wanted a fresh Christmas tree for their home. I thought this was wonderful and people could not have been more supportive to our organization.
Please read my blog on “Christmas tree sales in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ”:
Please watch the commercial I did in 2015 to sell our trees
The first week of December means “Open Houses” at some of our merchants in Downtown Hasbrouck Heights. I look forward to seeing all the Christmas merchandise being offered, all the bouquets created for the event and the beautiful Christmas windows that our florists in town have done.
Bill O’Shea’s Florist at 231 Boulevard in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ always has a nice gathering the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year was like no other but it did not keep a nice crowd of residents from coming out and looking over ideas for floral displays, house decorating ideas and listening to festive holiday music all while nibbling on prepackaged treats and bottled drinks.
Bill O’Shea’s has some of the nicest displays at the holidays
In a normal year, it would be hot chocolate and coffee with freshly baked goods but COVID has changed the way these businesses are run. Everything had to be prepackaged and most people at it outside as juggling and shopping with a mask on was tough.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, the same weekend we set up the Christmas Tree lot for the Men’s Association, Heights Flower Shoppe at 209 Boulevard in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ had their Open House and that was equally as nice.
Heights Flower Shoppe is housed in a turn of the last century home that dates back to the original founding of our downtown and has a very classic boutique look to it. The store was stocked with all sorts of Christmas decorations, homemade candies, decorative household gifts and beautiful floral displays as well as outside had decorated wreathes and grave blankets.
The homemade candies and Christmas decorations adorn the store
Like Bill O’Shea’s, there was all sorts of packaged holiday treats to enjoy including Italian sodas, small bags of homemade Christmas cookies and candies. Last year they had a nice assortment of cookies and small sandwiches with coffee, tea and punch so there are always holiday treats to nibble on too here as well.
All of Downtown Hasbrouck Heights was beautifully decorated for the holidays with wreaths on all our lamp posts, Christmas lights on the trees, merchants display windows decorated to the hilt and Christmas music playing.
Downtown Hasbrouck Heights, NJ is always so nicely decorated for the holidays
This year because of COVID, the Annual Holiday Parade and Christmas Tree Lighting were cancelled in town but they did have a small get together at the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights to light the town Christmas tree. It was lit from Thanksgiving until the Epiphany on January 6th. It is always a beautiful site when entering town from the west side of town.
The Christmas Tree on the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
Even the little Neil Parrot playhouse, a local landmark in Hasbrouck Heights, was decorated for the holidays and was lite up at night as well.
The Neil Parrot Playhouse on the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights awaiting Santa
There were several nights of my aunt and I exploring the town and driving block by block to see all the decorated homes. Hasbrouck Heights and the surrounding towns of Lodi and Wood Ridge always do a wonderful job decorating for the holidays but with everyone being home and COVID hitting the area hard, people wanted to really decorate and make this year even more festive. Between the merchants and home owners, they made this time of year in Hasbrouck Heights very festive.
Please read my blog on Visiting Downtown Hasbrouck Heights, NJ:
I did not just celebrate Christmas in Hasbrouck Heights. I ventured into other parts of New Jersey, to New York City and my usual haunts in the Hudson River Valley but like New Jersey, New York State was on a lock down as well and all the decorated mansions and holiday gatherings were all cancelled as well. So everyone did their best to celebrate outdoors and have all sorts of tours and small get togethers. You had to move fast when reserving these events as they did fill up because everyone wanted to get out of the house and see things.
The Sinterklaas Parade that I have participated and volunteered at for so many years was cancelled because of COVID but like the Halloween Parade, the committee put together a video of the parade to share with the world. Still it did not compare to the excitement of walking down the hill with stars and music lighting up Downtown Rhinebeck, NY.
The noble Frog was to be our mascot for this year’s Sinterklaas Parade
It was not the same as the year before where the crowds kept getting larger and larger every year. The whole town came to life with activities, songs, lights and laughter but was silent that weekend except for people having dinner in town. I was able to sneak up during the week. The entire town was decorated with white lights and beautifully decorated store windows. Rhinebeck is one of those towns in the Hudson River Valley that looks straight out of a Currier & Ives woodcut.
Downtown Rhinebeck, NY at Christmas
Since all the Christmas parties and get togethers were cancelled, it gave me more time to look into other outdoor events. I went to a special “Historical walking tour at the Holidays” at the Bergen County Historical Society in River Edge, NJ. The tour was lead by Historical singer and lecturer, Linda Russell, who explained the traditions of the Dutch Christmas all while singing Colonial Christmas songs in between the talks at each historical house on the property.
The Steuben House at Christmas
Actors dressed in costumes (and masks of course-COVID is still going on) danced in the Steuben House ballroom as colonialists celebrating the holiday, Dutch housewives putting their children to bed while awaiting Sinterklaas. There was a Dutch wooden shoe with carrots for his horse outside the door and mistletoe on the ceiling.
Linda Russell performing and lecturing at the Bergen County Historical Society
There was a discussion on the Pagan traditions of bringing ‘greens’ from outside inside to have a bit of ‘live nature’ into the home. So mistletoe, pine and holly adorned homes during the winter months as these things were green and brought a bit of life into the dead of winter.
The last part of the lecture was done in front of the Campbell-Christie House with a visit from Sinterklaas himself. We had a short talk about who Sinterklaas was and his part in the holiday season. Then all the members of the tour enjoyed refreshments and got a goody bag when we left with holiday sweets. The lecture and songs were a nice way to enjoy the beginning of the holiday season.
My favorite song by Linda Russell “I saw Three Ships”
As I was finishing up the semester at the College, I was getting holiday preparations done at the house, having small gatherings of family and friends and trying to be COVID safe. I was also running in and out of the City finishing my blog on Kips Bay before the holidays started getting busier. I learned a lot of New York’s Colonial past from walking around this area of the City.
My blogs on the Walking the neighborhood of Kips Bay:
The next weekend I made my last trip of the season to Long Beach Island to visit Beach Haven and the tour the rest of the island one last time before winter set in. It had really closed down since Halloween. I expected it to be much busier with more people moving down there on a permanent basis. Driving up to the lighthouse, I saw more dark homes then lite ones.
I wanted to take one more tour of Long Beach Island to see how they celebrate Christmas at the shore. They do things very quietly in Beach Haven. I went to the Surflight Theater to see the only play I had seen since I attended Carnegie Hall last Christmas to see the play “We need a little Christmas” which I had seen advertised at the theater over the summer.
“We need a Little Christmas” at the Surflight Theater in Beach Haven, NJ
After the theater, it was surprisingly warm that afternoon hovering around 58 degrees so I walked to the beach one block away and walked on the Jersey shore for my only time that year and for the first time on Beach Haven beach since 1975. It has been a long journey since that time.
The Beach Haven beach was beautiful that afternoon
The town’s Christmas trees were across the street from the theater on the square just off the downtown. Even they had a subdued Christmas at the shore and the whole event welcoming in the season was done virtually.
Christmas in Beach Haven, NJ adapted like the rest of the world
My holiday dinner was spent at the Chicken or the Egg that evening and it was really good. The menu is so extensive and innovative. It was hard to make choices.
The Chicken Wacker Sandwich at the Chicken & Egg
Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream sandwich at Chicken or the Egg
Their fried chicken sandwiches are really good and their Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream sandwich should not be missed.
The Chicken or the Egg at 207 North Bay Avenue in Beach Haven
I was able to tour the whole island that afternoon before it got dark and even at twilight here and there were signs of Christmas in small trees lit in the shopping areas and decorated homes. It is an interesting place at the holidays with the waves crashing in the background.
My blog on “Exploring Downtown Beach Haven and Long Beach Island, NJ”:
The next week was finals week at the College and I had to give my final exam. The students also finished work on their case study, “Bud N’ Mud”, a simulated flower/coffee shop I had the students develop. It was interesting to see how a group of student entrepreneurs would create a store with their own ideas on how to grow the business. This project ended the Fall semester.
One of my favorite logo’s from the “Bud N’ Mud” project
With the Christmas trees selling out by December 11th, we held our annual Christmas party at the Christmas tree stand site for the Men’s Association. It was a cool not cold night and we all huddled around the fire taking alternate turns hitting the makeshift buffet table and enjoying good conversation. It was a great way to end the year successfully and there will lots of scholarships being given out at the end of the school year.
The last big event before Christmas came was the Sunday before Christmas with the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department holding our Annual “Santa Around Town”. Because COVID was growing, the event was revamped from previous years and instead of stopping at sites all over town, we drove down each street in town slowly, having Santa wave and greet people who were on their lawns, driveways and porches. The residents of Hasbrouck Heights seemed touched by it and I could tell from the safety of the fire truck that the kids got a kick out of seeing Santa. People really needed the pick me up in holiday spirit at the time.
The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department at “Santa Around Town” 2020
On the Tuesday before Christmas after I finished work with my other job I needed a break and wanted to go on a road trip to the Hudson River Valley again. I was nostalgic for Christmas’s past and decided to visit some of the towns Upstate.
I explored Downtown Woodstock first seeing their very unusual Christmas tree in the square. I have to say one thing about Woodstock, they do pick out the most interesting tree to sit in the square. It always looks more surreal than traditional. Their annual “Santa Parade” was cancelled this year as well and they did a drive by with Santa at the Woodstock Fire Department who runs the parade.
Downtown Kingston, NY was next on the list. Talk about a town in transition. In the almost three years since I have been visiting Kingston, I have never seen a downtown change so rapidly. The businesses there have gone from all this ‘hippie granola’ businesses to all these antique furniture stores and art galleries and some really expensive restaurants. One of the locals told me the new residents are “Brooklynizing” Kingston.
Still the downtown was nicely lit for the holidays and their Christmas Tree while small is nicely lit for the holidays on the edge of the downtown “Stockade” district. The Dutch Reformed Church on the other end of downtown was nicely lit with wreaths on the doors.
I crossed the river and drove to Red Hook, NY which I love. Their downtown looks like an old fashioned shopping district straight out of another Currier & Ives print. All the little stores were decorated with garland and white lights and the merchants decorated their windows to the hilt.
My last stop on my search for the perfect picturesque Hudson Valley River town was returning to Rhinebeck, NY for the day. Rhinebeck was quiet on this Tuesday evening as most of the restaurants were closed and the shops had closed for the evening. Still it was nice to walk around and admire the while lights on the trees and admire the display windows.
The Christmas lights and windows of Downtown Rhinebeck, NY
Even the way I celebrate Christmas changed this year. Instead of spending time with my family, I spent three days in Manhattan with my best friend, Maricel, at a hotel in Times Square. Neither of us had the time to travel and we both had to work in the City, her at her hotel and me working on my blogs so both of us needed the rest.
AC Hotel New York Times Square at 260 West 40th Street
We stayed at the AC Hotel New York Times Square at 260 West 40th Street. What the room lacked in size, it made up in the view and in the location. We were one block from Port Authority, two blocks from Times Square and within walking distance from all the Christmas attractions from Saks Fifth Avenue’s Christmas windows and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
While Maricel worked on Christmas Eve, I walked around the City. I saw the tree at Rockefeller Center which was loaded with people not keeping socially distanced. I admired the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue which had a New York City theme with Christmas scenes from around the City “This is how we Celebrate”.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s Christmas Themed window “Over the East River and Through the Neighborhoods to Grandfather’s House We Go”
Rockefeller Center’s Christmas Tree was even more special this year
I thought the windows at Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf-Goodman really lacked in creativity. Bloomingdale’s was having a bad year and Bergdorf’s had just gotten sold again (forth time since I worked there in 2004) so I did not expect much. With Lord & Taylor declaring bankruptcy earlier in the year and closing the main store on Fifth Avenue and B. Altman’s long gone and Macy’s going mechanical for the last few years, the excitement of seeing the windows has been less than enthusiastic.
Still it was nice to walk around Midtown after leaving the Rockefeller Center area and just walking around Third, Park and Madison Avenues. By 7:00pm, everything had shut down for the night and the streets were really quiet. What was eerie was when walking down Park Avenue and looking up and seeing so many dark buildings. The area looked abandoned with so many apartment lights out. I wondered where everyone went?
When Maricel got off work, I brought in dinner 9th Avenue Deli at 769 Ninth Avenue. I brought in a juicy cheeseburger and chicken fingers which we shared and then dug into. The perfect comfort food on a cool night. Christmas Eve was a mild 59 degrees and it was nice to walk around.
9th Avenue Deli at 769 9th Avenue
We just hung out the whole night and watched movies in the hotel room. I went to bed early and sunk into the wonderful Marriott hotel bed. Marriott had the best hotel beds and every time I stay at one of their hotels, I slept like a log.
Christmas Day we just relaxed in the room and I called many members of my family to wish them a Merry Christmas. While Maricel went to work, I decided to start touring neighborhoods like Kips Bay, Rose Hill and NoMAD in preparation in my walks there. It started out being a cold, cloudy day and there was barely anyone on the street. I saw a few people walking their dogs and that was about it until about 3:00pm. It them cleared up and was a mild 55 degrees until it got dark and then cooled down.
What really shocked me about Times Square was how dirty it was on the streets. They had not picked up the garbage on Christmas Eve day and did not pick it up until after Christmas Day so between the theaters being boarded up and the ply boards filled with graffiti, hotels closed and restaurants shut, the whole Theater district looked like NYC circa 1975. It was creepy how the pandemic was affecting the business of this neighborhood.
Neighborhoods like Kips Bay, Murray Hill, Rose Hill, NoMAD and the Flatiron District were really quiet that morning and early afternoon. All the restaurants and stores were dark, three hotels had closed in the district and I saw just a few people milling around. Things changed as I got closer to Macy’s Herald Square.
When walking around Koreatown, which runs between Sixth and Fifth Avenues between 35th to 32nd Streets, the side streets were teeming with Korean couples and groups of family members dining in the outdoor restaurants and cafes. This neighborhood was really jumping and full of life.
As the day wore on by 5:00pm, the rest of the City came back to life and more restaurants and stores opened up. Christmas morning and afternoon were now over and I could tell that people wanted to get out of the house (probably to get away from the family celebrations).
Golden City Chinese Restaurant at 423 Ninth Avenue (Closed January 2025)
When Maricel returned, I ordered in dinner from Golden City Chinese Restaurant at 423 Ninth Avenue, one of the few neighborhood restaurants open and we our dinner in the room. The food was okay. It was nice to just eat in the room and relax.
Christmas dinner was Lemon Chicken and Fried Rice from Golden City Chinese Restaurant
We checked out at noon on the 26th and she left for work that afternoon, I headed into Brooklyn to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Museum. Both were really quiet that day. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden was mostly dormant for the winter and most of the garden was closed off because of COVID. The “Studio 54” exhibition had long closed at the Brooklyn Museum so I just wondered the halls and looked at some of the changes in the permanent exhibitions that they had. I left the City for home early that evening.
The last week of the holiday, I entertained family at a Lasagna and Champagne dinner I had a the house. Since I was not able to spend time at home during the holidays, my aunts came over to my house and we had a three course meal with champagne and wine. We spent the whole night laughing and enjoying the evening.
New Year’s Eve was a quiet evening at home alone talking with other friends who were staying home alone as well. Times Square was empty that evening with the exception of the 350 first responders who were invited to the ball drop. When I watched it on TV it was eerie to see it so quiet. There was no one for blocks except police guarding Times Square.
I headed back up to the Hudson River Valley again on New Year’s Day to go on two walking tours in Staatsburgh, NY at the Mills Mansion. It was the Annual “First of the Year” walking tours and it was a cool, crisp morning for a walking tour of the property. There were two tours that morning, one was on “Winter Activities in Victorian Times” with us learning about all the winter activities that the residents here enjoyed like skating , sledding, ice boating and horse drawn sleigh rides.
Staatsburgh, the Mills Mansion at Christmas
The Mills Mansion in the winter time
The other tour later that afternoon was on “Ice Harvesting in the Hudson River Valley” , where we learned about how the ice harvesting of the Hudson River was a big business before the advent of refrigeration. Large slabs of ice were cut from the river, floated down stream and then packed in straw awaiting sale over the metropolitan area for peoples ice boxes throughout the year. It just gave me anther excuse to visit the region I love so much.
My blog on the Mills Mansion on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Another local event that was COVID safe was a driving tour through the “Holiday Lightshow” at Demarest Farms in Hillsdale, NJ. This was the first time that the farm opened the apple and peach orchard across the street from the farm stand. I saw this display the last week it was open and even after the holidays, it was a special treat as we awaited the Epiphany.
Driving through the display only took about forty minutes but was a delight in the senses and sounds. I played the classical music station as I drove through and admired all the colorful lights on the now dormant trees while Santa’s and Snowmen winked and waved and toy soldiers lit the way through the dark field. Even the Demarest homestead was ablaze with lights.
Demarest Farms at 244 Werimus Drive in Hillsdale, NJ
My blog on “Visiting the Farms of Bergen County, NJ at Christmas”:
Don’t miss this holiday lights ride through the orchard in 2021
The Bronx Zoo “Holiday Lights” sign in the zoo
The holiday event I visited was the Bronx Zoo for their “Holiday Lights” event at the zoo. It was the last night of the event and I arranged for the tickets that afternoon. The zoo gave me a 30% discount to go that evening and I was on the subway ride up to the Bronx.
The Bronx Zoo Light Show
I was really impressed by the display. The entire park was decorated with white lights, with different sections of the park decorated with different themes such as jungle animals, aquatic mammals and all sorts of assorted elephants, seals, penguins, lions, tigers and bears (oh my haha). There were costumed characters to take pictures with and they even had the Bug Carousel open that evening. I got a kick out of riding this since I had not done this since I was a little kid.
The Bronx Zoo musical Christmas Tree in the old part of the zoo
The Magical Christmas tree musical show
In the older section of the park, they had birds on stilts and a musical Christmas trees that had an interesting soundtrack of contemporary Christmas songs. Even though Christmas had been over now for almost two weeks, it me back into the Christmas spirit.
The birds on silts or puppets as they might be called
So there was the Christmas holidays in the era of COVID. Lots of outdoor activities in hot and cold weather. Many walking tours and more subdued events. Gone were the cocktail parties and big formal dinners and in their place were many more smaller outdoor events and communicating with nature.
Colorful flowers at the Bronx Zoo “Holidays Lights” show
Maybe we all needed to take a break from the more formal traditions and go back to the basics of family and friends. I think this was a reflective year and realizing what is important. It had not changed that much for me. I just adjusted to the times, wore a mask and got going. Staying safe and keeping others safe is what is all about.
Hours: Open Thursday-Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm (the last tour is at 4:00pm)/Open Monday Holidays from April 19th to October 28th. The mansion then closes to prepare for the holiday season. Closed on Thanksgiving and Easter. There are special programs from January to April so please see the website.
Admission: $8.00 for adults/$6.00 for groups and Seniors/Children under 12 are free. Special events have separate fees and can run from $8.00 to $10.00 and above.
When you think of the words ‘rural’ and ‘farmland’ these are not terms you hear a lot in Bergen County, NJ, one of the heaviest populated counties to surround New York City. Yet the county has a rich history in farming and agriculture from the late 1600’s up into the 1970’s when development pressures got too strong and most of what was left of the farms of the area got plowed over for development.
Early in our county’s history, the Dutch and then the English supplied much of the fruits and vegetables for the New York City markets. Much did not change until the suburban expansion after WWII and many strawberry, celery and potato farms were plowed under for shopping malls and housing developments. Since that time and with the help of the Right to Farm Act, The Open Space Act and Farmland Preservation of the State of New Jersey, it is helping many small farmers in the state preserve their land for agriculture.
“From Revolution to Renewal” our Historical Bergen County project
This is why in Bergen County we revere our farms and our agricultural past. Last semester when I taught Marketing at Bergen Community College, I had my students create an extensive project describing and promoting our Colonial Heritage and our agricultural past. This included promoting many of our remaining farms.
Our small farms in Bergen County do more than just provide fruits and vegetables for our tables. They are open air classrooms to our agricultural past, places to buy fresh produce and baked goods to support local family farm stores and for interesting special events and outings for families. During the holiday season, some of these farms have haunted hayrides, turkey pardons and visits from Santa all while selling Christmas trees and wreaths.
This lead me to explore many of the small farms that make up the fabric of Bergen County all while seeing how the owners are reinventing the way they do business with today’s consumer. How do we react with nature and the great outdoors? So I walked through farm stands and fields and across parking lots looking for our rural past in the year 2020.
The Farm Cafe for wonderful breakfasts and lunches
I drove to Closter, NJ on my first stop to Old Schraalenburgh Farm and Farm Stand at 40 Old Hook Road and the Abram Demaree Homestead at 110 Schraalenburgh Road on the corner of Schraalenburgh Road. For years I had passed this farm and never gave it much thought until two summers ago I noticed the sign for the ‘farm burger’ and had to stop to see what it was all about. What a burger! (see my review on TripAdvisor).
Old Schraalenburgh Farm in the warmer months of fall 2022
The Corn Maze in fall 2022
I have since have had lunch here many times mostly when the weather is warmer. What I love about the Old Schraalenburgh Farm is that it is under the radar from most of the commercial farms in the county like Abma and Demarest farms which have all the family activities like hayrides and pumpkin and apple picking events.
The farm in the fall months
Old Schraalenburgh has a smaller restaurant and bakery and in the summer months tables outside to eat breakfast and lunch while admiring the fields of flowers and the barns and chicken coops.
The wonderful selection of gourmet items at Old Schraalenburgh Farm
The farm items are various at the farm stand
The Sweet and Savory pies
What I love about their restaurant is the quality of the food here. The ‘Farm Burger’ which they tout so much is much worth the ride here. This juicy burger loaded with cheese and fresh vegetables and a mayo type sauce and is a mouthful in each bite. Bring your appetite because this burger is large! (see review on TripAdvisor).
The “Farm Burger” at the Old Schraalenburgh Farm Stand restaurant
Their chicken pot pie is another lunch item I would recommend. They make them fresh here and bake them with a golden crust and when you let it cool is a mouthful of creamy sauce, hunks of chicken and fresh vegetables. You won’t need dinner after this entree.
The Chicken Pot Pie at the farm is delicious.
Digging into the layers of Chicken and Vegetables of the Pot Pie.
I recently stopped at the Farm Cafe for breakfast after an appointment and their well known Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich ($5.95). It was amazing. The eggs used on the sandwich were fresh from their chicken coops and picked up daily. Topped with crisp bacon and American cheese on a toasted brioche bun it was heaven.
It was nice to just take my sandwich and eat it on one of the picnic tables overlooking the fields that were in the process of beginning to grow this seasons crops. On a sunny morning, there is nothing like this.
The Bacon, Egg and Cheese here is excellent
For dessert though, even with the options of their fresh brownies and homemade ice cream, you have to try their freshly baked fruit pies and pie cookies. The chocolate and fruit filled pie cookies resemble small fruit filled deep dish pies and are a delight in every bite.
The blueberry pie cookies
The bakery also has something called “Burnt Cookies” (.50 cents) that are in jars near the register. I thought someone made a mistake and overcooked them. The woman at the counter said “Oh no. People like a crisper cookie.” I still say they were selling a mistake but they were really good! I had the sugar, chocolate chip and an oatmeal cookies and they were really crisp.
To tell you how popular they are I dropped a piece at the chicken pen and the chickens and roosters got all excited and ran out of their pen to eat the piece that had fallen on the ground. That’s an endorsement.
The chicken coops are busy when you feed the chickens
During the summer months, it is fun to walk through the fields and admire all the beautiful rows of flowers growing and visiting the barn and chicken coops. During the holiday months, the store and restaurant were decorated for Christmas and were stocked with handmade gifts and artwork. The bakery section had a selection of meat and fruit pies for the holidays.
The bakery case at the farm
Walking across the street to the Abram Demaree Homestead and Farm across the street from the farm stand, the main house and barn were also decorated for the holidays. All the tables, counters and shelves were stock with all sorts of decorative objects, antiques, furniture and artwork. These treasures can decorate any home contemporary or historical.
The antiques and holiday decorations at the Abram Demaree Homestead
Off to the side of the main building, they were selling Christmas trees and holiday decorations for the home. The buildings with Christmas retro items and tree ornaments really put me into the holiday spirit. The homestead is fun to walk around in to see how our Colonial past played a part in the growth of Bergen County.
The beautiful old buildings on the farm
The beautiful old antiques on sale
During Halloween, the farm was busy with visitors buying preserves and jellies, baked products for home and people eating lunch on a warm afternoon.
The Skeletons guard the farm at Halloween at Old Schraalenburgh Farm
History of the Old Schraalenburgh Farm and the Abram Demaree Homestead:
In 1677, David Des Marest, a French Huguenot, purchased a large tract of land from the Tappan Native American tribe. This land passed from Dutch control to British rule and through the American Revolution, which produced an uncertain concept that became the United States.
In 1769, Abram Demaree, David Des Marest’s grandson, bought the house and ran it as a General Store and Tavern at the crossroads of one of the busiest intersections of colonial roads in Bergen County. His son, David, added to the house in 1809. The conjoined Demaree house along with a colonial Dutch-style barn, servants house and blacksmith shop form the original Abram Demaree Homestead (Farm History website).
The Abram Demaree Homestead in the Summer months
In the 1970’s, the house and property was falling apart and a group of citizens fought to get the homestead on the National Register of Historic Places. Since then, the home and farm have been part of a non-profit, The Demaree Homestead & Farm, with all the proceeds going to restoring and maintaining the home and farm. The farm and farm stand cafe are open to the public and the profits go to maintenance of the property. The Farm Stand Cafe features in season items grown right on the farm (Farm History website).
Across Old Hook Road from the Demaree Homestead is their working farm, The Old Schraalenburgh Farm, which has been continuously farmed since the 18th Century. Every Spring, the farm plants corn, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, apples, blueberries and pumpkins, among other fruits, vegetables and flowers (Farm History website).
Leaving the Old Schraalenburgh Farm, I headed down Old Hook Road on my way back to Westwood and stopped at the Old Hook Farm Stand for a look at their Christmas trees. The Old Hook Farm Stand is at 650 Old Hook Road in Emerson.
The Old Hook Farm at 650 Old Hook Road in the fall months
Old Hook Farm in the Fall
What I like about the Old Hook Farm is the selection of grocery products in their General store. They have an assortment of organic meats, dairy products, vegetables and baked goods that include delicious looking freshly baked pies, breads and cider doughnuts.
The Fall bounty is on sale at Old Hook Farm
Their shelves are stocked with all sorts of jellies, jams and condiments along with dry and snack goods that are accented by antiques and farm paraphernalia. This gives the store a feel of a turn of the last century General store that used to dot the towns of rural Bergen County.
The Old Hook Farm grocery section of the General store
In the Spring and Summer, the greenhouse stocks all sorts of decorative plants, flowers and garden supplies and I am sure is better stocked in the summer months for lawn care and landscaping. In the Spring, the tables are stocked with all sorts of seedlings for gardens, decorative plants for the home and gardening supplies and landscaping decorations including stones and layerings.
All sorts of decorative plants available in the Fall
In the Fall, the farm is awash with pumpkins, gourds and decorative plants for designing the house in a festive mood. There are all sorts of items for the Halloween holidays.
Blogger Justin Watrel at Old Hook Farm for the Halloween season
During the holiday season, there were all sorts of wreaths, cemetery blankets and Christmas trees to choose from. The perfect assortment to ‘deck the halls’ for the holidays.
Like everyone else in the County, when I got there, there was only a few trees to choose from. They had sold out early in a year when everyone wanted a fresh tree. Still the atmosphere with the atmosphere of fresh pine and snow gave the farm that old fashioned ‘1970’s feel’ when I used to visit the farms in Bridgewater, NJ growing up. Things seemed a lot slower then and you could just relax and enjoy the sites and smells of a farm.
The Christmas trees were pretty much sold out when I visited
From a distance behind the greenhouse, you could see under the snow that had just fallen, the fields where the crops are grown in the warmer months. The old farmhouse on the property was decorated for Christmas as well and looked like a home out of a Currier & Ives print.
History of the Old Hook Farm:
The town of Emerson did not exist during the Native American origin. The name ‘Old Hook’ on the east side of the town came from the Dutch word ‘Hoek’ meaning ‘angle’ or ‘corner’. The angle of the land was created by the three connecting water ways, the Hackensack River, the Pascack Brook and the Musquapsink Brook. The first person to make their home here was William Rutan, who settled on a parcel of land just west of today’s ‘Old Hook Farm’ sometime around 1748 (Emerson Town History).
The current ‘Old Hook Farm’ was bought by current owner, Bruce Marek’s grandfather in 1925 as a weekend getaway. He rented the farm and the farm house to a local resident for 35 years and the family had a large garden on the property until about 1948. Then his father took over the land and cleared the fields and had Soil Conservation come in and do contours and started to grow in the greenhouse. When his father died in 1973, he took over the farm and within eight years, reopened the garden store and started to experiment and grow organic crops (Bruce Marek’s interview with ‘Bergen Save the Watershed Action Network’).
The old farm house at Old Hook Farm
I next ventured to Hillsdale, NJ, two towns away to visit one of the most beloved farms in Bergen County, Demarest Farms at 244 Werimus Road, right off the Garden State Parkway. I have been visiting the farm since the early 1970’s when I used to visit my family who lived just two blocks away. Back then it was just a small farm stand just outside the family homestead. In 1991, they build the big store across the street.
The Demarest Farm Store at 244 Werimus Road
The farm stand building is always a buzz with people coming and going. People buying sandwiches, soups, hot entrée items and baked goods for lunch and dinner. There is a large selection of in season produce (which is a little pricer than most supermarkets) as well as jams and jellies.
Fall decorations at Demarest Farms in 2022
Where the market really shines is their bakery filled with cookies, brownies, freshly baked pies and their well-known cider doughnuts. They also have great potato pancakes that taste good hot or cold (in the era of COVID the food has been toned back a little from the past).
Demarest Farm store carries an array of fruits and vegetables at all times of the year
Demarest Farms in October 2022
The stand also has a nice garden section during the Spring and Summer seasons with everything you need for lawn care and for landscaping your home or decorating inside. During the Fall, there is all sorts of decorative items for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season.
Demarest Farms right before Halloween 2021
During every season, Demarest Farms is always full of activities. During the Summer months (Pre-COVID), there was the big barbecues that the farm sponsored that got so popular that they had to have the police direct traffic into the complex. These ‘All You Can Eat” affairs were so much fun. It was like a throw back to the 1970’s when families used to dine out together in the Summer months. You could listen to a local band play while chomping on endless hot dogs, barbecue chicken, fresh corn on the cob, baked beans, salad and watermelon for dessert. There were also be chests of ice full of Coke, Sprite and Bottled waters (see reviews on TripAdvisor). Eating at the farm is fun.
Dining at Demarest Farms is a treat on a warm afternoon. I recently stopped in for some apple cider and decided to stay for lunch. I have the most delicious Chicken Salad sandwich with one of their potato pancakes which they are know for. I had a pint of their wonderful Apple Cider to finish the meal and everything was great. It is so nice to sit out on the tables and just watch everyone come back from their hayrides laughing and having fun.
My lunch that afternoon: A Chicken Salad sandwich on a roll, their well-known potato pancakes and their house made Apple Cider.
Demarest Farms is known for their Potato Pancakes,
The farm is known for their Apple Cider.
The Chicken Salad here is excellent (See TripAdvisor review)
During the Fall months, there would be Hayrides through the orchards, Pumpkin and Apple Picking that are so popular you need a reservation and Haunted Halloween events that have people driving from all over Northern New Jersey to attend.
Getting ready for Halloween at Demarest Farms
The farm was packed with people during Halloween 2022 with the weather being in the sixty degree area. The farm had hayrides, pumpkin picking, apple picking and a maze for the children. The lines to get into the farm stand were fifty deep and traffic was crazy. One of the employees said that people were traveling as far as Long Island to come to the farm.
The maze at Demarest Farm Halloween 2022
Pumpkins of all sizes at Demarest Farms 2022
This Christmas, in the era of COVID, the farm really outdid itself ringing in the holiday season. The farm stand sold an array of Christmas trees, wreaths and cemetery blankets, all sorts of holiday treats in the store including cookies, pies and jams and jellies. There was also a nice selection of holiday decorations. By the last week before Christmas, most everything was sold out.
What I thought was fun and it was the first time the farm had done this was the “Holiday Light Show” through the Demarest Farm orchard which is across the street from the farm stand. This show was sold out every night for almost three weeks ending on January 3rd.
Demarest Farm Store decorated for Halloween and the Fall
The tour started at the farm stand where you could buy S’ mores to roast at the fire pit next to the nursery ($6.50). I thought it was a little expensive for two graham crackers, two marshmellows and a small bar of chocolate but people scooped them up and were roasting away. There were also cut outs from the holidays to take pictures and there was a small light show of singing reindeer performing all the classic Christmas songs.
Then it was time to take the drive through the orchard. We started the tour at farm stand and then drove across the street to the family homestead which was ablaze with colorful lights on the house and the surrounding trees. I took a slow drive through the orchard carefully following the cars in front of me to keep pace.
The apple and pear trees were decorated with multi color lights, Santa’s and Snowmen winked and greeted you at every turn. The barns were decorated with white lights and there was a tunnel of flashing lights to greet you and exit from. All along the way I listened to the Classical music channel to enhance the mood of the trip. It may have only been a half an hour but it was mesmerizing trip through a fantasy land of lights that put me back into the Christmas spirit. Demarest farms seems to have that effect at the holidays.
The History of Demarest Farms:
The Demarest family has been present in the New York area since David DeMarest arrived to New Amsterdam in 1663. The current farm has been in the Demarest family from Bergen County since 1886. In the 1970’s, Peter Demarest and his wife, Marsha introduced the pick your own apples and pumpkin business and eventually added peaches to the mix.
The Demarest Family history at the farm
In 1991, the family opened the current farm store on what had once been corn fields. The store today has evolved into a selection of fresh produce, prepared foods, baked goods, apple cider, jams and jellies and homemade crafts (Demarest Farm website).
The flowers at Demarest Farm are colorful
In 2014, Peter Demarest decided to retire and the sold the farm stand and farm to longtime employees Jason DeGise and Jim Spollen. The farmland had been preserved under the Farmland Preservation Fund and by the Open Space Trust Fund. The 27 acres are to be preserved as farmland and can only be used for agriculture (NJ.com).
Demarest Farms put out this wonderful promotional video on the event
Leaving Demarest Farms, I headed north taking the turns on Route 17 and Route 208 and headed up to Wyckoff. My first stop was the Goffle Road Poultry Farm at 549 Goffle Road. The farm which once must have taken up much more area has been reduced down to a few acres with chicken coops and hatcheries and the farm store.
The parking lot was a mob scene of people trying to get in and out of the driveway and being directed by one man in a mask. When I finally was able to get out of my car and park, I asked him if they were giving money away. He just laughed and said, “I wish”. He quickly said to me it was busier at Thanksgiving and they had lines going down Goffle Road.
Goffle Road Poultry Farm at 549 Goffle Road
I just walked in the store to look around passing all the people in line who were waiting to pick up their pre-orders. The store is stocked with all things poultry with fresh eggs. whole roasters and butchered chicken parts. In the freezer there were crab cakes, chicken nuggets and chicken and turkey pot pies, all of which they are known for and sought out.
The stand at Goffle Road Poultry Farm
Here there are no hayrides or special events although they told me Santa had already visited the farm. Just high quality food and excellent service done by a staff that looked very over-whelmed at the holidays.
When I returned recently to the Goffle Road Poultry Farm, I was able to buy some of their brown jumbo eggs ($2.95) and one of their frozen Chicken Pot Pies to bring home with me. There really is a difference in the fresh eggs versus the commercial ones. There is a richer flavor to the taste when you have them scrambled and in a omelet.
The Brown eggs at Goffle Farms have a richer flavor
The Chicken Pot Pie tasted more like a chicken pie, which has less chicken gravy in it, but it pretty much follows the same Bisquick recipe that I have at home with a mixture of vegetables and canned cream of chicken soup as its base. Still, it cooked up nicely and a flaky golden crust. It is worth it to stop and do some shopping here.
The Goffle Farm Pot Pie is more like a Chicken Pie
History of Goffle Road Poultry Farm:
The Goffle Road Poultry Farm has been a family owned and operated business for four generations. Joseph and Rose Silvestri came over from Italy in 1920 and started Belmont Poultry in Paterson, NJ in the 1930’s. In 1948, Joseph and Rose’s son, Dominic, started Goffle Road Poultry Farm of Wyckoff, NJ. To this day, the Goffle Road Poultry Farm is operated as a family owned business by the current owner and grandson, Joseph Silvestri and great grandson, Brian Silvestri. The family has found it hard to keep up with demand on such a small plot and is now partnering with Amish farmers in Pennsylvania who share the same standards of raising animals (Goffle Road Poultry Farm website).
Goffle Road Poultry Farm at the Halloween Holidays
My last stop on this journey was the largest farm of them all, Abma’s Farm at 700 Lawlins Road in Wyckoff, NJ. Abma’s is an impressive working farm with many greenhouses, large fields, a gift shop, nursery, and a farm store. They also have a large petting zoo to amuse children and adults alike.
The Abma Farm at 700 Lawlins Road in Wyckoff
I have to admit that I have only visited the farm in the cooler months and with COVID going on, the petting zoo was closed the day I was there and it looked like you needed a reservation to get in. The price is $3.00 unless you join their Barnyard Loyalty Program by accumulating 30 points from their farm store and nursery.
The greenhouses were pretty empty the afternoon I visited. What was left of wreaths and Christmas trees dotted the the nursery area. I am sure it was totally stocked with all sorts of items to decorate the house. There was still a nice assortment of wreaths to choose from and garland to decorate the banisters and hallways with for Christmas. The Christmas tree selection was down to about ten trees and they were very sad looking. Being right before Christmas, the selection was limited.
Abma Farm during the Fall of 2022
In the Summer months, the greenhouses were full of flowers and decorative plants and the fields are ablaze with colors. It will be about four months before we see that again but Spring is not that far away.
Halloween at the farm
The farm store was buzzing with people and it was hard to find a parking spot after the snow storm we had just had. Some of the drifts made parking tough but there was someone in the lot who made it easy to park.
Abma’s Farm Market & Garden Center in the Fall of 2021
The farm store at Abma Farm is full of fresh vegetables and fruits, a whole selection of bakery products including cookies, brownies, freshly baked pies and cider doughnuts. The prepared food section has all sorts of salads and sandwiches available and there is a selection of soups. There are also crafts available for sale.
The Abma Farm Store stocked with delicious foods
Though some of the special events on the farm have been cancelled because of COVID, they did have a socially distanced “Story with Santa” program and “You Pick” events for strawberries, potatoes, pumpkins and tomatoes during the different seasons. Events like pony rides and Easter themed events have been put on hold for the time.
The farm stand with fruits and vegetables
What I really enjoy about visiting Abma Farm is just walking around the farm itself. I was able to walk through some of the greenhouses and see the trees and decorative items, look at the vast field and can’t wait to return in the Spring when we can see the fields of growing produce and greenhouses full of flowers and plants.
The History of Abma Farm:
The Abma Farm
First generation of the family, Barney Abma, was born on April 25th, 1901. He came to America for the first time in 1917 when he was 17 years old searching for a new beginning. After spending a few years out west, then a short stay in Pennsylvania, he went back to Holland to marry. Barney and his new wife, Anna, settled in Wyckoff at the present location of Abma’s Farm in the late 1920’s (Abma Farm History website).
The front of the farm stand
The couple began working for the ‘Yeoman Farm’ and rented out part of the original farmhouse from owner, Daniel Yeoman. The farm was next passed on to Mr. and Mrs. George Fox (nee Yeoman). Barney Abma bought the farm from the couple in 1932 for $6,000. Part of the 50 acre farm was sold off and it is now the current 32 acre farm that it is today (Abma Farm History website).
The farm is now under the ownership of the forth and fifth generations of the Abma family under Barney and Anna’s son, James and his family.
I love this video on the family and about the farm.
There are also a few smaller farms in the County I was not able to visit before they closed for the season. Also most farm stands have closed for the Winter so there will be a lot to visit in the warmer months.
Still the holidays at the farms in Bergen County, NJ have a special place in our lives and have become part of the traditions of many families.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and look forward to updates in the Spring!
Spring and Summer of 2021:
As the weather has gotten warmer, I have been revisiting the farms that were closed right after the holidays . As the warmer months have come upon us, April has ushered in warmer weather and the bounty of Spring has arrived. The greenhouses are starting to fill with plants and shrubs and the farm stands.
The entrance to Stokes Farm at 23 DeWolf Road
I made my first trip to Stokes Farm at 23 DeWolf Road in Old Tappan, NJ. The farm stand has just opened since it has closed up shop right after Christmas. The shelves of the farm were starting to fill with fresh produce from the warmer states and there were all sorts of colorful fruits and vegetables.
Stokes Farm in the fall of 2022
The farm stand also has a bakery that has pies, cookies and cider doughnuts. The problem is that because of COVID all the items were prepackaged in large packages and you could not buy individual pieces. The woman at the counter said things will go back to normal business once all of this passes. By 2022, the bakery was up and running in full force.
The Stokes Farm Stand bakery area
The delicious pies and Bundt cakes
Still the refrigerator cases are lined with fresh eggs, Amish butter, honey and cheese from the Amish Country in Pennsylvania and the shelves are full of jellies, jams, salsas and pickles that are made for the farm.
The private label sauces, syrups and jellies
The farmstand is just opening and there will be more to come as we move into the warmer months.
All sorts of delicious items line the shelves
The inside of the farm stand
I made my way out to the greenhouse in the back where plants are being grown for planting and for decorating the house. Most of the plants are still so small but as May and June arrive, these greenhouses will burst of all sorts of plants.
The plants and greenhouses
The front of the greenhouses
The flowers in the greenhouses
The colorful potted plants
Though the part of the farm that you can visit is small, you can see that the farm is lined with greenhouses going back many acres and next to the stand is a farmhouse that was built in 1890. It is nice to just walk around and enjoy the fresh air at the farm.
The farm was getting ready for Halloween
The History of Stokes Farm:
In 1873, Isaiah Stokes headed out on a ship to America from his home in England. When he arrived, he purchased 40 acres of land in Old Tappan, NJ where he started a farm. He thought this would be a good location for selling produce, as Old Tappan is very close to New York City, as well as many established towns along the Hudson River.
His products included chickens, eggs, milk, hay, asparagus, beets and other assorted vegetables. As time went on, his son, Joseph Stokes took over the farming. The Stokes family continued sowing and growing into the early 1900’s. Joseph Stokes and his wife, Anna, worked very hard and soon developed a produce route through Piermont, Nyack and points further north along the river. They were one of the first farms to have a truck in the area when farms were still powered by men and horses.
The Greenhouses and gardens
Joseph Stokes had one child, Madeline, who married Ernie Binaghi in 1927. Madeline ran the farm and Ernie was a carpenter. The farm carried on through WWII. Madeline and Ernie had one child, Ronald, who after dropping out of NYU Music School in the early 1950’s , came home to help out with the chores. Ron married Jean and she moved into the farmhouse to become a farmer too.
The Stokes farmstead
In 1955, they opened a roadside farm stand, which was a four post open air shed. The stand did well, selling from the five acres of strawberries, five acres of tomatoes, in addition to peppers, eggplant and asparagus.
The garden plants for sale outside
As the years went on, Ron and Jean started selling produce at the Paterson Farmers Market. It was here that a farmer could sell his produce directly to the consumer or to wholesalers. The farm stand was rebuilt in 1966.
In the early 1970’s, the energy crunch started and the farm stand began to flounder. It was then that Bob Lewis came to visit Ron and Jean with a proposal. He asked them to participate in the first NYC Greenmarket at 59th and Second Avenue. So in 1976, Ron and his sixteen year old son, Ron Jr. ventured into the big city. Their lives changed that day. After the people bought everything on the truck, Ron Sr. was heard to say, “Is there a famine in this City?” Ron Jr., then sixteen started selling produce at the now famous Union Square market on 17th Street and it seemed that this type of market suited the farm quite well. Greenhouses were built in the 1980’s and the bedding plant business started to thrive.
The Stokes Farmstand and the farmstead behind it
High tech growing coupled with practical family values, helped the farm to grow steadily into the 1990’s. Ron Jr. and his wife, Jeanine, took over the day to day operations of the farm and the Greenmarket stands, while Ron Sr. and Jean continued to run the farm stand.
Grocery items at Stokes Farm
In 2000, Ron Jr. was named “Outstanding Young Farmer of the Year” for the State of New Jersey. This award is given to a farmer who has made his farm better over the years and also is active in his community. Ron went to Indiana to the national competition, where he placed fifth in the nation.
Ron Binaghi Jr. at Stokes Farm in Old Tappan, NJ
Today the farm is seventeen acres with 40,000 square feet of greenhouses. It is the goal of the farm to grow the best possible product to keep the customers healthy and happy and to keep the land as a farm for future generations.
The extensive amount of produce and baked goods are perfect for the holidays
Another farm that I missed during the holiday season was DePiero’s Farm at 156 Summit Avenue in Montvale, NJ. I have been coming to DePiero’s Farm for years at the old farm stand where the current Wegmans Supermarket and mall now stands.
Halloween at DePiero’s Farm
Haunted happenings at DePiero’s Farm Stand
Here used to be the large farm stand building that had everything from produce and baked goods to arts and crafts items and gardening equipment. That was torn down in the early 2000’s. I thought that they had closed for business until I rediscovered it again.
Depiero’s Farm Stand at 156 Summit Avenue . This is the original farm sign.
When I visited recently, I asked the woman who was working the counter about the history of the farm. She said that she had worked for the DePiero family for years and told me that this was the original farm stand until the family built the larger one down the road. When that was torn down to make way for the market strip mall, they moved the operations back to the original stand on the original farmland. I thought that was interesting.
The original farmstead building is currently being renovated and expanded. The tables around the store are ladened currently with fresh produce from the Hunts Market (until the summer when local produce will be offered), there is a small bakery area with fresh pies ($18.00-$20.00), fresh pickles and peanut butter from the Amish Country. The shelves are lined with honey and fresh jellies that are made for the farm.
Early Fall at DePiero’s Farm
Outside the farm stand, there is a large greenhouse with rows of tables lined with all sorts of flowering plants and small vegetable plants growing. The larger greenhouse is surrounded by smaller greenhouses growing more plants. It is a large operation.
The greenhouse at DePiero’s Farm is full of flowers and decorations for the Fall
What amazes me is how the farm has survived with all the suburban sprawl surrounding it. On land that was once the farm, all sorts of new condos are going up, the second farm stand is now a mall and office buildings surround the whole small patch of farm.
DePiero’s Farm Stand decorated for Halloween
The History of DePiero’s Farm:
The DePiero Farm has been an owned and operated farm since 1924. The original farm was about 250 acres that stretched from Montvale, NY to New Paltz, NY. In 1987, the opened the original farm store that was popular for years. That facility closed in 2015 and has since been replaced with a new shopping complex anchored by a Wegmans.
The family has since reopened the original farm stand which is farmed on limited basis where they sell farm products, baked goods and Christmas items like wreaths and Christmas trees.
The outside of the original family farm stand
(NJ.com-Myles Mia 2015-“Longtime Montvale Farm closes its doors”)
My last farm that I did not have a chance to visit during the Christmas holidays but had opened on April 1st was Secor Farms at 85 Airmont Avenue in Mahwah, NJ. I would consider Secor Farms more like a giant nursery. Both on the outside and inside the greenhouses, you can walk around rows of flowers, decorative plants and seedlings for the vegetable gardens. The greenhouses are fun to walk in as you can see plantings at different stages of growth. It will be interesting to come back towards the summer to see how many of these plants progress to full form.
Secor Farms greenhouse is laden with flowers and plants
There is also a small shop to make your purchases. Here they sell gardening supplies, decorative objects for the home, hand creams and soaps, honey and candies and their homemade cider doughnuts that are unfortunately only packaged in bags of six ($5.95). Still they smell so good and the girl working the counter said that they are made fresh daily. I could see by the signs when the fresh produce starts to come in during the summer and fall that they sell this in the gift shop as well.
The Cider Doughnuts and other treats on sale at Secor farms in the Fall
Outside the gift shop, the parking lot is laden with bags of mulch and soil for garden beds awaiting their Spring cleaning. The lot is well stocked as we are just starting the gardening season.
Secor Farms in Mahwah, NJ
Ready for Halloween at Secor Farms in Fall 2021
The spooky entrance to Secor Farms at Halloween 2021
In the Fall especially around Halloween, the whole farm looks like Disneyland with Haunted Hay Rides, Pumpkin Picking, Fall decorative items for sale and the general atmosphere that welcomes in Halloween with a bang. The whole place was filled to the brim with cars ready for a long day at the farm.
Pumpkin picking at Secor Farms in Fall 2021
All of these farms in Bergen County, NJ have their own attributes so try to visit them all when you are visiting the area.
The History of Secor Farms:
Begun by Darryl Secor’s great grandfather when he moved to the area from Paterson nearly 80 years ago, the farm originally consisted of 50 acres in Upper Saddle River. In 1973, the family expanded into Mahwah.
The Secor Farm at the Fall Holidays
Secor Farms not only has been a famous landmark passed down through three generations: The Secors themselves have been extremely active in supporting the town (Mahwah-Ramsey Daily Voice 2017).
Fall at Secor Farms in Mahwah, NJ
The Fall produce at Secor Farms during the Halloween 2021 holiday weekend
Farms to Visit:
Old Schraalenburgh Farm Stand and Abram Demaree Homestead
177 Schraalenburgh Road
Closter, NJ 07624
(201) 289-3627
Open: Farm Stand Cafe: Wednesday-Friday 11:00am-5:00pm/Saturday and Sunday 11:00am-7:00pm
It is funny to go back to a place that you have not visited since 1975 and realize that time does pass by. I had not been to Beach Haven, NJ since the summer of 1975 when I was just a little kid. We used to visit friends of the family who had a house there and we would visit for about three days.
The amusements are staying open into October as the weather has gotten warmer until the end of October.
Miniature golf into October
It was interesting to visit a beach community as we never went farther than Sandy Hook, NJ. Going to the Jersey shore was a hike from our home in Bridgewater, NJ and since we belonged to a swim club, my parents saw no reason to run “down the shore” as we say in New Jersey. Why deal with the crowds and lousy parking?
The October 2025 Chowder Fest was packed as the weather was sunny and in the 80’s that Sunday
This blog takes place over many visits to Long Beach Island, experiencing the museums, restaurants and the beach and parks areas. There is no one ‘good’ time of the year to visit Long Beach Island, there are many times from the summer season to Halloween and Christmas for the island’s activities. More a year round community now it is not the Long Beach Island of the 1970’s, the economy and then Hurricane Sandy changed all that.
These visits cover different times of the year so you can experience all the island has to offer and what is opening and closing (which is very fast in a shore community). I have had many wonderful and relaxing trips to the barrier island and I hope you enjoy these experiences with me (this is why the blog seems to jump around).
This blog starts at the tip of Long Beach Island at the Barnegat Lighthouse and park to the last beach on the southern most tip of beach an park.
The Barnegat Lighthouse at 208 Broadway in Fall of 2023
Still I remember visiting there in 1974 and 1975 before these friends no longer belonged to our pool. All I can remember of those visits was swimming in the ocean and diving in the waves wanting to impress these two twin sisters and all I did was tumble in the waves. They and my older bother dove into the waves with no problems. The other thing I remember is the planes going by and saying to eat at “Tilly’s Pizza”. So we begged for it one night for dinner. It was terrible pizza and we ordered this cheese pizza that was just dried out and no flavor. It is funny the things you remember as a kid.
Touring The Barnegat Lighthouse Park is a nice way to spend the morning
Exploring the dunes in the state park in Fall 2023
The pathway in the Summer of 2024
The beauty of the park at sunset time in the Summer of 2024
The Dunes Woods path
The Beach Dunes path near the entrance way
I returned to Long Beach Island last summer on my way to the Firemen’s Convention in Wildwood, NJ to visit the Long Beach Island Historical Society, which I had read about in a beach magazine for my blog, VisitingaMuseum.com. I had a long visit at the museum and it was nice afternoon. I had not realized that the NJ Maritime Museum was a couple of blocks away but I did not have time that afternoon to visit. I said that I would go back later.
Later was September 2020 over a year later. Hey better late than never. In the age of COVID, it had been a pleasure and escapism.
The Long Beach Island Historical Society at 129 Engleside Avenue
After visiting the museum for my blog and then visiting the Barnegat Lighthouse, I gained a new found respect for Long Beach Island and all it has to offer. I also realized how much it had changed in 45 years. It went from a sleepy working class resort to an upscale community with the growth of Wall Street in the late 90’s and the rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The back galleries of the Long Beach Island Historical Society
The back galleries with nautical displays, school room and Victorian Rooms.
Many of those small little cottages that once lined the streets were long gone and they have been replaced by stilted ‘McMansions’ by the sea. The whole town has been practically knocked down and completely rebuilt. Even the stores were more upscale in their wares and the restaurants were expensive. I did not see too many tee shirt stores or beachy Knick -knacks being sold. These are not Boardwalk businesses.
The display of the 1916 Shark attacks that inspired the movie “Jaws”
Still there are some great stores and restaurants to visit, cultural and natural sites to see and of course the beautiful beach with its calming sounds and gorgeous sunsets. You never know the complexity of a place until you visit a few times and find the true beauty of the surroundings and people. The downtown of Beach Haven has a lot to see and do as does the surrounding areas of Long Beach Island.
Downtown Beach Haven, NJ. in Fall 2023
New stores in Downtown Beach Haven in the Summer of 2024, the Mod Hatter and Baked by the Beach
I started my last two visits to Long Beach Island exploring Beach Haven, a small beach hamlet towards the southern part of the island and where I had spent a few summers when I was a child. I do not remember much of the trips except visiting the beach and how rough the waves were to swim. I don’t remember venturing out that much.
When I returned 45 year later, the town changed so much especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy flooding the island as well as the rest of the Jersey Shore. It leveled homes and tore though businesses with a vengeance. What it left was a chance to build the island again from the ground up. Everything is so new all over the island. Still there are a lot of older homes and businesses that did survive. Some adapted and some just changed.
The Beach Haven Historic District
The Beach Haven Historic District
I walked the whole town and it was a interesting visit over the past two summers especially on two recent tours of the town in the late summer and early fall. My first stop on my recent trip is where I started touring last year at the Long Beach Island Historical Society at 125 Engleside Avenue in Beach Haven for their Ghost Fest, a family event that the Historical Society was running that afternoon for local families.
The ‘Ghost Fest’ at the Long Beach Island Historical Society
The Historical Society had not opened yet when I got to Long Beach Island so I started my tour of the island at the Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on the northern part of the island. Even on a gloomy morning in October, the park was very busy.
The Barnegat Lighthouse in the fall 2023.
The cloudy weather did not deter the fisherman from casting and boats were dotting the bay. It was still a warm day and people were out and about. I joined other visitors to the park on the breakers watching the fisherman discuss the days catch and politics about the upcoming election. Some people were admiring the boats or just relaxing to the sounds of the waves. I just enjoyed the salt air and the sound of the waves crashing.
The lighthouse from the bunker.
After I left the walkway, I took a tour through the woods in the sand dunes. It was what is left of some virgin woods at the shore. The woods are very interesting because of all the native plants that can live in a sandy shore and survive the winds are harsh winters. Plants such as Jersey Pines, Beach Plum and American holly are native to the area and played an important role in Colonial New Jersey especially during the holidays.
Walking down the path through the dunes.
In November 2021, I revisited the lighthouse again and it finally reopened after a year and a half of being closed. I was able to climb the stairs all the way to the top on a sunny but extremely windy day. Talk about views from the top. You could see the surrounding park, the inlet area and beautiful views of the sea. A lot of people walking up the lighthouse seemed to suffer from vertigo halfway up but trust me there is no way to fall down these stairs with barely enough room to move either way and no gaps in the stairs. All the views from the three landings on the way up also offer views of the ocean.
The views of the dunes, bunker and bay from the top of the lighthouse.
The lighthouse itself was built in 1859 replacing another lighthouse that fell into the sea with the changing tides (see my review on TripAdvisor). The lighthouse has been closed since March with the onset of COVID but the grounds around it were still open and people, masks and all, were walking along the trails and conversing at the picnic tables. Families were walking the trails and paths along the bay. For an early morning in October the park was busy.
The Barnegat Lighthouse and surrounding park is a nice to tour in the early morning
My next stop was the Barnegat Light Museum but it had been closed all season due to the COVID pandemic. I was able to call one of the Board Members of the museum and I would have to tour it later that afternoon. So took another tour of the park at the lighthouse and drove back down the island to visit the museum later. I would do this until August 2024 when the museum was open during regular summer hours.
Walking through the dune paths right next to the lighthouse.
Maybe it was the salt air or maybe it was the two hour drive down the shore but I was getting hungry again. Not wanting to eat another breakfast, I stopped at an old time restaurant, Surf City Pizza for a slice. They had just opened for lunch and I could not believe I was eating pizza this early in the morning but it was good.
Surf City Pizza at 1017 Long Beach Boulevard in Surf City, NJ
When I made my trip up to the lighthouse in November 2021, the pizzeria was still closed when I drove up so I went to Baked on the Beach, a small funky bakery at 2101 Long Beach Boulevard in Surf City. The bakery was open that morning and I had wanted to try it on my last three visits to the island but it always closed early.
There was a nice selection of pies and cookies but what caught my eye was these Cinnamon rolls that had just come out. One was a traditional Cinnamon roll which she would ice on the spot for you and the other was filled with sharp Cheese and NJ Pork Roll. Sold! I needed something savory for breakfast and this filled the gap. They have now opened a branch in the Summer of 2024 in Beach Haven at 1101 North Bay Avenue.
The selection of products at Baked on the Beach in November 2023.
The Cheese and Pork roll was delicious and would have been better warmed but it was still good. As I rolled out each layer, I could taste the sharp cheese and the spicy pork roll that was thinly sliced in between the layers. I munched on it on the outside benches and that must have done something because all of sudden other people were stopping for baked goods. I guess the big smile on my face had something to do with it.
The “Beach Bum” cookies with the works mixed into it.
When I returned in November 2023, the bakery was still opened for the season and I was able to try the “Beach Bum” cookie with chocolate and Vanilla chips, crunchies and a big mix of other ingredients to give this cookie a sweet and complex consistency. It was crispy, chewy and rich.
The cookie was rich and decadent.
I got to the Long Beach Island Historical Society as they were in full swing of their Ghost Fest and what a nice event it was that afternoon. They had all sorts of activities for adults and children alike.
The Museum was decorated for Halloween
They had a pony ride, marshmallow roasting and smores by the fire pit, corn hole games, a maze, games of chance, a small gift shop, tours of the museum and even a costume parade with the Jersey Devil. The museum had a nice turnout on a somewhat gloomy afternoon but by the end of the event the sun started to shine.
The ‘Jersey Devil’ lead the Costume Parade that afternoon
For Christmas in 2021 and 2023, the Historical Society sponsored an “Elves Workshop” for kids and their parents with all sorts of arts and crafts happening at twelve different tables lining the front room of the museum. There was cookie decorating and Christmas tree creation with beads and cloth and gingerbread house making. To end the evening, they had Smores and Marshmallows roasting over open firepits in the park across the street.
The Elves Workshop at the Long Beach Island Historical Society
The museum knows how to welcome in the holiday season.
Santa finds his way at the Long Beach Island Historical Society in 2023 when I returned again.
The Christmas display at the Long Beach Island Historical Society during the Elf Workshop in 2023.
The Christmas tree and front of the museum.
The excitement of the Elf Workshop afternoon at the museum.
I had a while before I had to meet the President of the Barnegat Light Museum so I decided to explore the downtown strip of Beach Haven. What an interesting downtown for a shore community. The days of tee shirt shops and beach gift stores has given way to a collection of interesting restaurants, upscale boutiques and gift stores, small specialty shops and art galleries. When you are selling million-dollar homes in the area, you need places for those residents to shop and Long Beach Boulevard has an eclectic group of stores to choose from.
The Woo Hoo is the best place for ice cream and sandwiches when in season.
When I first visited Beach Haven after my 45 year absence, I discovered The Woo-Hoo around the corner from the museum. On my first trip to Beach Haven last summer, I came across this impressive little ice cream and lunch stand around the corner from the Historical Society and on a recommendation from the staff had lunch that afternoon. It was excellent!
The Woo Hoo at 211 South Bay Avenue in Beach Haven, NJ
I had one of their Classic Burgers with hand cut French Fries which was just excellent. The burgers have a rich juicy flavor and the mix of ingredients was delightful to eat. The fries were perfectly cooked and salted. I was so impressed by the lunch I went back later for their homemade ice cream that is just excellent.
In the Summer of 2024, the Woo Hoo discontinued hamburgers on the menu and now just have ice cream and their hand cut French Fries.
The Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Strawberry Cheesecake sundae at the Woo Hoo
I had the most amazing Strawberry Cheesecake which was rich and creamy and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which was loaded with the cereal. On a recent trip, the hot food had closed for the season but the ice cream was still going. I have this amazing holiday special called ‘Cookies & Scream” for Halloween. It was made with holiday M & M’s and Halloween oreos. It was worth the trip to Beach Haven just for that.
The burgers at the Woo Hoo are delicious (no longer offered in Summer of 2024)
When I visited again in November 2021, I had this flavor that just caught my eye, “Pillow Fight”. When I asked the girl working the stand what it was, she told me it was marshmallow ice cream with Oreo Cookies and Rainbow sprinkles mixed in. Then she gave me a sample and I swear I heard angels singing. The ice cream was mind-blowingly good with that mixture of sweetness between the cream and the marshmallows with the Oreos and sprinkles mixed in.
What I love about walking around downtown Beach Haven is the interesting array of stores and food establishments they have on the strip. They are fun to explore on a nice sunny afternoon. I lucked out on my two most recent trips here. The weather broke both days and it ended up a sunny warm afternoon. So I set out to explore the town and I discovered a small community that was much than the beach.
How to Live, the original store at 7 South Bay Street in Beach Haven, NJ.
My first stop when I exited Engelside Avenue onto South Bay Avenue is the unique little gift store, “How to Live” at 7 South Bay Avenue, which has a great selection of local artisan gifts, artwork, children’s clothes and books, women’s clothes and art and book items created by the owner, Sandy Gingras. Her whimsical books and art work dot the store.
The inside of How to Live at the close of the season.
Walking into the store is an experience with the smell of fragrant smells of body products and the musical sounds of the 1980’s. It is a step back in time to when people took time to decorate their homes and give small host gifts. I really loved the homemade Christmas ornaments by a local artist. Her Christmas decorations and home products are beautifully packaged and will mix in any home decor.
The How to Live Bayside store across the street is for furniture and accessories.
Inside the furniture and accessories store in the Summer of 2024
Christmas decoration in How to Live in August of 2024
The new clothing line in the How to Live Living store
Further up North Bay Boulevard, the main artery of the town is Chicken or the Egg at 207 North Bay Boulevard with its constant crowds, popular outdoor dining and creative menu. The menu is stocked with interesting sandwiches, burgers and sides. The outdoor seating on a nice day is the way to dine. I have not had a chance to try the restaurant but it is on my bucket list on my next trip to town.
The Chicken or the Egg is at 207 North Bay Boulevard
North Bay Boulevard has a long stretch of eating establishments that are opened at various times of the week.
When I returned for my Christmas visit, I ended the evening having dinner here. I swear on a cool night, it was the perfect place for a meal. I had their New England Clam Chowder with its thick roux and heavy cream base and it was loaded with clams.
It warmed me up immediately. For dinner, my waiter suggested the ultimate comfort food in cold weather, the Chicken Pot Pie that was just amazing.
The Soup is amazing
The Chicken Pot Pie is really filling
Loaded with chunks of chicken and a creamy base topped with a flaky crust, each bite warmed me up after the cool walks by the bay and down the main street of town. You could really taste the roasted chicken in the gravy and its rich flavors. The service here is always friendly and very welcoming.
I love the food here
I stopped at Fourchette at LBI at 511 North Bay Avenue to enjoy the smells of the array of cheeses and look at their assortment of host gifts. They have a lot of interesting cheeses in the case line and the woman behind the counter was eager to explain them all to me.
I love the smells of cheeses when you walk in. It is a mouthwatering experience when you see them all lined in the cases.
Another interesting store was Sandy Banks Art Store at 515 North Bay Avenue in which the first afternoon I visited a local artist was having an art show in the small courtyard adjoining the store. The art was vibrant and the artist was proud of the paintings she was showing off.
Anchoring the main part of the downtown is the local shore department store, B &B Stores, which has been a Jersey Shore staple since 1932. Located in many well known beach communities, B &B stocks not just bathing suits and swim gear but an array of clothing, gifts and accessories for the local community. I have been in the store during the summer months and it is wall to wall swim suits, tee shirts and shorts but as the cooler months approach and the rushing of the holidays, I saw my first Christmas tree down the shore.
That afternoon there was a nice rush of locals and tourist grasping the last days of warm weather down the shore and even though we were all in masks (COVID is big down the shore too), people were going about their shopping with a vengeance. It was nice to see a crowd of people enjoying a shopping trip and conversing with one another talking over their masks. In November of 2023, it was business as usual as people starting shopping for the Christmas holidays.
The selection of merchandise at B & B Department Stores give me faith in the department store industry especially at Christmas.
When I visited in November, the holiday season was in full swing and the store was full of locals talking about their Thanksgiving holidays and getting back to school the next week. The store was stocked with holiday and winter merchandise for those making the island their home for the winter.
The B & B Department Store airline display.
The Nautical gift shop in the Summer of 2024
The Christmas Shop in October 2025
Crossing the street , there is a tiered mall, The Seaman’s Village, stocked with small stores and restaurants that is big with the beach going community on a rainy afternoon. During the two trips to Beach Haven that I made most of the stores were closed or has partial hours during the week and weekends. It seems though with the warmer weather extending into November and the exodus of people out of the cities, the stores are staying open much longer than usual.
Another homegrown store that I have enjoyed visiting on my last few trips to town is the Crust & Crumb Bakery at 9 North Bay Boulevard. This old fashioned bakery has the usual assortments of cookies, cakes, pastries and doughnuts and an array of Italian pastries as well. I have enjoyed their jelly and custard filled doughnuts and their seasonal pumpkin glazed doughnuts are delicious.
Trust me, after a day at the shore or just walking around enjoying the beautiful weather, a trip here can satisfy any sweet tooth. The selection is extensive and don’t miss the giant cinnamon elephant ears.
I finally got back to Crust & Crumb on my trip to the island in August 2024 and looked through the selection of baked goods before I settled on a Chocolate Doughnut for dessert after my large lunch at Tucker’s Restaurant. The doughnut was excellent but a little pricey at $3.00. Most of their baked goods prices were higher than they are in Manhattan. I thought maybe their rent went up in an ever upscaling Beach Haven downtown. Still, it was really good.
There are a lot of delicious items to choose from at Crust & Crumb
The cake case at Crust & Crumb in the Summer of 2024
The special “LBI Cake” at Crust & Crumb
The Chocolate iced doughnut that I had at Crust & Crumb for dessert in 2024
Walking back down North Bay Boulevard, passing Fantasy Island Amusement Park reminds you that this is still a shore town. On my first trip to Beach Haven in September the park was still open just very quiet. On a warm sunny Friday afternoon, there were not too many people walking around and the staff spent most of their time on their cellphones or chatting amongst themselves.
Fantasy Island Amusement Park at 750 North Bay Avenue
On my second trip in late October, the park was closed but the arcade was open. Talk about bells and whistles with lots of music, lights and excitement. There were only about a dozen of us in the arcade but it was a lot of fun taking a step back into time when I used to visit the pinball and skeetball machines when I was in high school. There were a lot of the old machines that I remember including a version of PacMan and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
The arcade at Fantasy Island Amusement Park brings back memories of a simpler time.
The amusements in the Summer months
The amusement park in the summer months
Walking around the arcade before dinner was an experience. The few people who were playing games were laughing and having a good time. The adults were having just a good time as their kids and I saw that it brought the kid back in them.
Fantasy Land at night just as I was leaving lit for the holidays.
I stopped for a snack before venturing further at Slice of Heaven Pizza at 610 North Bay Avenue. The restaurant was closed for indoor dining so I ate outside with the pizza chef who was taking a break. The pizza was pretty good and when I was talking to the pizza cook he said how sporadic the business had been all summer. It was just starting to get busy by the end of the summer.
The Cheese pizza is really good at Slice of Heaven Pizzeria.
Another wonderful gift, design and furniture store is The Spotted Whale at 500 North Bay Avenue. The store has a light and breezy beach feel to it with light colors and a lot of nautical looks. This store is more geared to the shore customer.
During Christmas, the store was ablaze with a lighted tree and ornaments twinkling from it while all sorts of decorating ideas for the shore houses were on display. Christmas ‘down the shore’ must be interesting.
The Spotted Whale at 500 North Bay Avenue has two locations on the island.
The Spotted Whale has some interesting looks about it.
Inside the Spotted Whale at the branch at Viking Village.
Walking further south, I took detour into the Coffee Nest at 106 North Bay Avenue to see what their baked good were like. The store is a combination gift store, coffee shop and bakery with some floral arrangements up front. There was not much left in the bakery area when I got there but they have a nice assortment and the prices are a bit high. I liked the music playing though. A step in here and your would think you are in Williamsburg or Bushwick and not Beach Haven.
The Coffee Nest at 106 North Bay Street (changed names in the last year-closed)
When I visited the first time, I came to see the NJ Maritime Museum that is located around the corner from the Coffee Nest on Dock Road towards the bay. The NJ Maritime Museum is located across the street from two very popular restaurants facing the bay at 528 Dock Road.
The NJ Maritime Museum is located at 528 Dock Road by the bay
This small but interesting museum contains not just the history of the towns of Long Beach Island but also has the history of the hotels that once dotted the shore, shipwrecks, the Coast Guard and the 1916 Shark Attack that inspired the movie “Jaws”. Several cruise disasters have interesting displays with documented accounts and all sorts of memorabilia. The museum was founded in 2007 by collector Deb Whitcraft.
The museum’s nautical displays on diving are very detailed
The Shark Attacks from 1916 that inspired the movie “Jaws”
Take time to explore each room and read the details of the displays. You will delve deeper into the history of Long Beach Island and its rich history as a fishing and hunting area for the Lenape Indians, then the Dutch and English traders to its time as a resort community to the new morphing during COVID as a full-time community catering to the residents on their exodus out of New York City and Philly. The museum is rewriting history again in the era of COVID. Don’t miss the Moro Castle luxury cruise display room in the back of the museum with accounts on the fatal trip.
The Morrow Castle tragedy at the NJ Maritime Museum.
For lunch on my recent trip I had to find a place to watch the Michigan State versus Rutgers game. It was depressing watching us get tapped danced on by Rutgers during the third quarter. What made it less depressing was the food at Tuckers Tavern, a restaurant facing the bay at 101 South Bay Avenue( see review on TripAdvisor).
The bar area was socially distanced and they had plenty of TV’s to watch the game. We ended up losing 38-27 but I knew the game was over pretty much by the end of third quarter and I did not travel two hours to sit at the bar and get depressed.
Michigan State lost to Rutgers that afternoon
What perked me up though was the food. It it was excellent. I had a crab cake sandwich that was out of this world. It was loaded with crab and was so sweet. The fries were freshly cut and deep fried to perfection. The whole meal was delicious and picked me right up to keep going for the rest of the afternoon.
When I returned to Tucker’s in August 2024, the sandwich had been taken off the menu and it was only in entree form. I asked and they made this for me. The crab cake was was oversized and was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Their French Fries are amazing.
Do not miss the Tuckers Tavern’s Crab cake sandwich
The Crab Cake sandwich was made for me when it was taken off the menu in the Summer of 2024
Yum!
It was nice after lunch to just walk around the bay area and admire the sunshine. The views from the restaurant that lined the bay was just amazing. It was so nice to just walk off lunch and admire the views. I watched the boats coming in and out of the docks.
The bay side restaurant row is breathtaking
After visiting both museums on the lower part of the island, I headed back to the northern part of the island for an appointment that I had to see the Barnegat Light Museum at 501 Central Avenue in Barnegat Light, a tiny museum that housed the original Barnegat Lighthouse light.
The original Barnegat light from the lighthouse
It was an old schoolhouse built in 1903 that had been converted into museum. The museum housed interesting artifacts like dinosaur bones found on the island, housewares from local residents, notes from the students who went to school at the schoolhouse and nautical items. Out of the three museums on Long Beach Island, this one has the most limited hours and I was only able to really tour it properly in August 2024 during my last summer visit to Barnegat Light.
The President of the museum took me on a private tour of the museum and she told me about all the pieces in the space. I also got to tour the gardens that surrounded the museum that were tended by the Long Beach Island Garden Club who did a wonderful job.
The Edith Duff Gwinn Garden plaque at the museum
The gardens at the Barnegat Light Museum in the off season.
The gardens in the Summer of 2024
As the day wore on, I walked the Barnegat Lighthouse State park one more time and admired the inlet and enjoyed the breezes. People were walking along the pathways before the park closed at 4:00pm.
The gardens in the August of 2024
The gardens in the summer months
The gardens at the museum in the summer months
The Gardens from the side of the museum
As I walked the around the area, exploring Andy’s at the Lighthouse at 202 Broadway, an old general store that had a lot of handmade wood works by a local artist and has a nice selection of tee shirts and gifts.
Another store that stood out was Wildflowers by the Lighthouse by owner and artist, Cricket Luker and the store really stands for it innovative clothing and accessories. The owner is a local artist who took her art studio and turned it to a clothing store over time.
She also opened Wildflowers Too! an art gallery at 506 Broadway that shows local and metropolitan artists with a collection of paints, sculpture and gifts.
Before I made the journey to the southern part of the island on my November trip, I stopped by the “Santa’s Viking Christmas Village” to see the arts and crafts festival at Viking Village at 19th and the Bay Barnegat Light. It was a sunny but cool afternoon but the winds had calmed down and I was able to walk the booths with no problems. I was in search of homemade Santa’s for my mother’s upcoming birthday. I found them in two different booths, one made of a conch shell and another made of wood.
The local seafood restaurant was open for takeout and you could smell the fried fish in the distance along with the horrible singing by a guitarist who could not carry a note. Thank God he took a break in time for the Barnegat Light Fire Department to bring Mr. and Mrs. Claus to the Village for a visit to the local children.
Santa’s Viking Christmas Village during Christmas time-Santa’ coming!
I waited for Santa to arrive via the Barnegat Light Fire Department and it was some crowd! There must have been over a hundred families waiting to see Santa. He arrived at 1:00pm as planned by fire truck to the Vikings Village and I had to elbow people just to get the picture of him and Mrs. Claus arriving. I know it is probably a fellow firefighter and his wife but the way people behaved you would have thought he really come from the North Pole.
The Barnegat Light Fire Department arrives with Santa.
Santa welcomes the crowd on the Barnegat Light fire truck.
Santa helping Mrs. Claus off the truck.
Santa and Mrs. Claus greet the crowd at the Viking Village Craft Show.
Viking Fresh Off the Hook’s outdoor seating was open that afternoon.
Because it was so cool out and I was starting to get hungry after the long trip down to Long Beach Island, I stopped at Off the Hook Seafood for a bowl of their Clam Chowder. You want heaven on earth on a cool November afternoon, it is a bowl of New England Clam Chowder and a Coke.
Viking Fresh Off the Hook Seafood at 1905 Bayview Avenue in Barnegat Light, NJ
My heavenly New England Clam Chowder really warmed me up while waiting for Santa.
After touring the Village, I made my way back down Long Beach Boulevard to the LBI Foundation of The Arts & Sciences Holiday Market 2021, which was mostly full of more expensive artwork and home decor products. It was not as festive as the Village Market and all our mask wearing steamed up everyone’s glasses which was a big complaint. In November of 2023, that was no longer a complaint. It was open and people were having a good time.
The Craft Fair at Viking Village in November 2023.
It was later in the afternoon on my October 2020 visit, when I headed back down to the southern part of the island to Beach Haven and I had some dinner. When I was walking past the NJ Maritime Museum, I came across Polly’s Dockside and Clamhouse at 112 Northwest Avenue. The restaurant is a small establishment right on the dock facing the bay and has the most amazing fried shrimp and clam chowder.
Polly’s Dockside & Clamhouse at 112 Northwest Avenue during the off season.
Polly’s in the Summer of 2024. The restaurant was hopping that night
Polly’s in the summer. I loved this little clam sign
I sat at the bar facing the water and watching the sun set. I ate the richest clam chowder while watching boats come in and out of the dock. The sun set right in front of all of us as we ate and it was like watching a movie. Mother Nature can really treat you to the most beautiful things in life. I swear I snacked so much during the day that I could barely finish my fried shrimp appetizer which was much larger than I expected. Still with a little sweet chili sauce, I finished the whole thing. I wanted to save some room for dessert later that afternoon.
Dining at the bar facing the dock
The Cup of New England Clam Chowder is a meal to itself
The Clam Chowder here is excellent
The Fried Shrimps with Tater Tots were so good!
Polly’s Dock in the Summer of 2024
The inside of Polly’s Dockside in the Summer of 2024
Polly’s Dockside in the off season when it is closed for the summer months.
Polly’s in the Summer when it is in full swing
The bayside restaurants at night during the height in the Summer of 2024
I left when it got dark much later than I thought I would leave and I had a two hour drive home. I stopped at the Custard House at 6403 Long Beach Boulevard for some vanilla custard that settled my stomach. It was the right pick me up after all the food, touring and walking. This popular little stand has plenty of outside seating on a warm evening.
I was able to visit the island once more before the dark days of winter came upon us. Surprisingly enough when I visited in December, it was warm. The whole weekend was going to be in the high 50’s. It did not disappoint me as the sun came out.
I started this journey by visiting Barnegat, a small town just north of the cross-way from Long Beach Island. I was exploring the downtown and visiting a store named the ‘Unshredded Nostalgia’, a antique store that carried everything from old movie posters to local history books, 70’s posters and records to house hold decorations. It was one of those stores that a movie scout might look for props.
The town of Barnegat is a small hamlet just north of Long Beach Island on the mainland a few miles from the cross-way. The Victorian architecture is a little shabby and the downtown has a lot of potential if it was renovated a bit more. It does have a unique look to it. It was a stop over for me on my back to Long Beach Island for a pre-Christmas visit.
During the late summer I had came across a flyer from the Surflight Theater for a Christmas production entitled “We need a little Christmas”, a COVID related play about Christmas in Maine. I had thought about it and at the last minute decided to visit Long Beach Island to see what the Jersey shore is like at the holidays. This was pretty shocking how quiet it had gotten.
The play was cute and not too serious with a happy ending and a lot of Christmas songs that trust me everyone in the audience needed to hear. It really cheered me up and put me into the holiday spirit.
“We need a Little Christmas” at the Surflight Theater
The irony of the show was that when it was over and we walked outside the theater, the clouds gave way and it was sunny and 56 degrees out. It was so nice outside and no wind that I walked down the block and walked on the beach which surprisingly I had not done in all my trips to Beach Haven. This was the first time I had touched the Jersey Shore all year and since 1975 here.
This is when I believe in God when we can enjoy the Christmas holidays with late summer weather. This is what I liked about visiting Hawaii during the holidays. I could walk on the beach and dig into the sand and smell the salt air without freezing. It was nice to just walk on the beach and hear the waves crash. The dunes were so quiet in December of 2023.
Beach Haven beach, what a day!
The dunes in the winter months are so quiet and relaxing
The dunes in the Summer of 2024
The dunes and the beach of Beach Haven in the Summer 2024
After the walk on the beach, I decided to walk around the downtown. I was amazed on how much was now closed. “How to Live” was closing for the season and everything was 50% off, the Crust & Crumb and a whole list of other restaurants has closed for the season. The arcade closed for the season as well. B & B Department Store was still open and decorated for the holidays but pretty much everything surrounding it was closed for the season.
The museums, art galleries and some of the bay side restaurants and attractions were shut down for the winter months as well. I thought with so many people staying on the island as residents more would be open. I had lunch at The Shack at 302 North Bay Boulevard, which was one of the few places that was still open. I had noticed it when I was visiting in October and they had a nice selection of lunch specials for $8.00.
Just wanting a snack, I had their $5.00 pizza combination, which was two slices of their fresh pizza and a Coke. I highly recommend their pizza. It must have been cooked in a hot coal oven because the crust and bottom were really crisp and pillowy. The sauce was well spiced and had a nice flavor and the slices were very generous (see review on TripAdvisor).
The Shack Pizza is delicious
After lunch, I decided to head up the coast and explore how the island was decorated for Christmas. In the downtown areas of Ships Bottom there were some nice decorations of lighted trees but outside that with a few store fronts with lights, the area was dark. Everything had closed for the season. With each town I passed, it was really quiet.
When I got to Barnegat Light, the lighthouse was dark and the park was closed as was all the stores surrounding it including Wildflowers at the Lighthouse, which I enjoyed visiting on my last two trips. The stores either were closed for the season or closed at 4:00pm when the park closed.
Getting back to the dock when the sun was still out.
On my trip back down the island, it was eerie how quiet the neighborhoods had gotten since Halloween. I thought more people were staying down here full time and I did not see that many homes lite up let alone decorated.
The one thing I did see was the most amazing sunset over the island and especially the bay area. The whole sky was reflecting off the clouds and had the most beautiful array of colors in reds, oranges and whites bouncing off the sky. The sun really gives a performance on Long Beach Island.
Beach Haven sunsets
Before I left the island for home that evening and for the rest of the season, I stopped at the Chicken or The Egg for dinner which had been on my bucket list to try since the end of the summer. The food and the service were excellent and everyone was so laid back.
The dinner was excellent (see review on TripAdvisor). I had a sandwich named the Chicken Slammer, which was a fried chicken breast topped with Bacon, Jack Cheddar, Lettuce and Tomato and capped off with tangy barbecue sauce with a side of fries and pickles. it had such nice flavor in each bite.
The Chicken Slammer sandwich at The Chicken or The Egg
Make sure that you get everything on top.
The restaurant has the most amazing desserts. I had their Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream Sandwich, which I highly recommend. They bake their own cinnamon buns and then cut it in half, load it with vanilla ice cream and top it with caramel syrup and then top it with cinnamon sugar. I swear that their is nothing like each bite of that dessert! No wonder it is so popular.
Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream sandwich is heavenly
I was so stuffed from dinner, I needed to take one last look around and I went back to the square and walked around all the lit Christmas trees , all twenty five of them surround the gazebo, and then the main one inside. On a warm night, with the waves crashing in the background, I thought this was an amazing place to admire a Christmas tree.
It was a treat to come to Beach Haven and Long Beach Island again after a forty-year absence. Who knew that the island in its transformation from working class resort to high class residential community offered so much in the way of shopping, restaurants and cultural sites packed onto one island? There is something for everyone here including the beach.
As I keep visiting Long Beach Island, I keep finding more and more things to visit and explore which show the true beauty of these shore communities at various times of the year.
To end my evening after an afternoon of visiting Christmas activities and cultural sites in November, I decided to drive to the end of the island to see what was there and I came across the Holgate Nature Conservatory at 11 West Lincoln Avenue. It was cool and still sunny out when I reached the park.
The Holgate Nature Conservatory in the Summer of 2024
The preserve in the Summer of 2024
This natural preserve at the southern tip of Long Beach Island was very quiet, less some laughing surfers and a few seagulls. The waves just lapped the shore and I could see the skyline of Atlantic City in the distance. There is something about a quiet beach in the Fall that seems serene and picturesque. It was like watching a nature documentary.
The Holgate Nature Preserve at the tip of the island with Atlantic City looming in the distance in December 2023
After dinner on my visit in November of 2021 and in 2023 at the Chicken or the Egg, I finished dessert at The Woo Hoo and walked up through the downtown to see the last of the people roasting marshmallows in the park and walked to Kapler’s Pharmacy at 1 South Bay Street.
Kapler’s Pharmacy at 1 South Bay Avenue is in the Christmas spirit.
The inside of the store is just as festive.
The crowds await as the horse drawn carriages arrive to take people on rides around town.
The horse drawn carriages.
The drug store was sponsoring horse drawn carriage rides around the neighborhood. I thought what a nice way to end the evening with a twilight view of the sun setting and watching the Christmas lights going on at houses around the neighborhood. The Jersey Shore at Christmas can really surprise you.
Kapler’s Pharmacy event at 1 South Bay Avenue in 2021
People enjoying the horse drawn carriages in the afternoon and early evening.
I thought it was a nice group of visits to get my mind off what is going on in the world. What’s better than the Jersey Shore in warm weather? Visiting at all times of the year in warm weather and then returning for the Christmas holiday events. Who says the Shore closes at Labor Day?
Later that day I found out that Michigan State beat Penn State 30-27. What a way to end the day on my November trip!
The Michigan State versus Penn State Game 2021
Christmas at the Shore! What a change from COVID 2020 to November 2023!
The Beach Haven Christmas Tree Lighting 2020 (virtually of course):
Merry Christmas from Beach Haven, NJ in November 2023. It was in full swing
The Kapler’s Pharmacy horse drawn carriage in front of the Long Beach Island Historical Society at twilight.
The park across the street from the historical society at dusk lit for Christmas.
Relaxing at the firepits and watching the Christmas lights turn on that evening.
Who says that a beach town closes down at the end of the summer? Beach Haven has many wonderful things going on all year round!
The gardens in the Summer of 2024 along the main drag
Landscaping along the downtown area
The artwork along the Main Street
Patriotism in shell art
The old businesses that line the downtown are still popular, the Dairy King at 1806 Long Beach Boulevard
No matter what the season, on the beaches of Beach Haven as well of all of Long Beach Island there is something to do both in the summer and at the holidays. You just have to keep coming back.
The dock by the Maritime Museum
The dock by the bay
The dock side party continues into early October of 2025
All this keeps bringing me year after year to Long Beach Island
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Just sitting by the bay relaxing
Admiring the boats while I digested
The creative artwork by the shore
Christmas of 2025:
In 2025, I returned for the Christmas festivities and I have to say for a beach community, Long Beach Island and its small beach towns do not roll up their sleeves for the holiday season. It is alive with all sorts of activities and special events that make this a series of unique towns to come and enjoy at any time of the year.
It was an early morning drive to Long Beach Island and the holiday activities of the shore towns the line it of Beach Haven, Ships Bottom and Barnegat Light. Even in the colder months, there is a lot going on in these once sleepy summer towns. They are open for the holiday season.
The statue outside is always clever in its decorations
The entertainment was really good. Musicians Jimmy Azziz
His performance singing “Easy as Sunday Morning”
I really enjoyed the performance as did other people who stood by to listen to the mini concert.
I got to walk around the craft fair, admiring all the artists works and many of the display pieces. There were a lot of talented artists showing there work that afternoon.
One of the craft displays outside a store
While I was walking around waiting for Santa to arrive on the fire truck, I was admiring the display the people at Viking Village had set up in his honor for the holidays.
The Santa display set up in Santa’s honor
Then 1:00pm arrived and we could hear the bells and whistles of the fire truck as Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive at Viking Village. There is always a lot of anticipation for their arrival and the crowds lined up so deep, that the truck dropped them off at the entrance and they walked in this time.
Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive by fire truck with help of the Barnegat Light Fire Department
Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive to a enthusiastic crowd
Then they sat down to join the crowd and hear requests from children and adults alike. They were busy for the rest of the afternoon.
Santa and Mrs. Claus await the first family to visit them
The proud couple with their first little visitor
As the long lines started for their visit, I decided to get some lunch while the crowds waited in line. In the same complex was the restaurant, ‘Off the Hook’, a wonderful seafood restaurant I had eaten at before.
Viking Fresh Off the Hook at 1905 Bayview Avenue in Barnegat Light, NJ
The food here is excellent and again I really enjoyed my meal. They had a limited menu and I started with the New England Clsm Chowder, which I enjoyed so much the year before.
The start of my meal, the New England Clam Chowder
It was thick and rich and loaded with clams
For my lunch, I ordered the Fried Shrimp Tacos. They were served in a soft taco shell with fresh shredded lettuce and tomatoes. With a little hot sauce and sour cream, they made the best lunch.
The Fried Shrimp Tacos with fresh shredded lettuce and tomatoes and fried potato chips
Now this is dining at the shore!
Yum!
Maybe it was the salt air or the excitement of the holidays and Santa’s visit or just the beautiful day of just the delicious food and eating outside on the picnic bench but it was such a nice lunch and I really enjoyed myself. The meal was excellent. It was also nice to eat outside on a sunny day.
On the way back to Beach Haven to visit the Beach Haven Library Open House, I stopped at Baked on the Beach at 2102 Long Beach Boulevard for dessert. I love their cookies and needed something sweet to finish the meal.
Baked on the Beach at 2102 Long Beach Boulevard in Surf City
I had to get one of their cookies and got the ‘Beach Bum’ with all sorts of chips inside an oatmeal cookie.
The Beach Bum cookie
The delicious desserts at Baked at the Beach
After I finished at the Craft Fair and lunch, I headed down to Beach Haven to go to the Beach Haven Library & Museum Open House. I never knew that there was a museum at their library so I looked forward to seeing it. What a beautiful library.
The Beach Haven Library & Museum at 219 North Beach Avenue
It is such a beautiful and historical library dating back from 1924. The downstairs was very interesting with wooden bookshelves and display cases and shelves showcasing the libraries collection. On the top floor was the museum with many artifacts from the island’s nautical and resort past.
The first floor of the museum with the library book collection
The second floor book collection
The second floor museum gallery
While the museum was small, it was packed with all sorts of interesting artifacts. There were hotel ledgers from long closed hotels, relics from ship wrecks and items from local families.
Hotel ledgers where guests once signed in
The artifacts save from ship wrecks and pictures of local spots
The upstairs conference room decorated for the holidays with book shelves lined with the collection
Downstairs there was a very nice Open House with snacks and a working fire with music and nice conversation with the staff.
The Open House Refreshment table
The Christmas decorations in the library with the working fire place
The Christmas tree in the Children’s Room
After I left the library, I explored the Downtown area and the Pharmacy had their Open House too with ice carvings and several contests. This was a how many reindeer can you count in the window contest.
The Counting Reindeer contest in the window
So many reindeer
The ice carving demonstration
Before I left for my last event on the island, the Ships Bottom Tree Lighting Ceremony, I stopped for some ice cream at The Woo Hoo.
I decided on the Christmas specialty flavor, ‘Santa’s Favorite Cookie’, which was a Cinnamon ice cream filled with crushed biscotti cookie, cookie dough, chocolate chips and M& M’s. It was heavenly.
‘Santa’s Favorite Cookie’ ice cream
Yum!
I love the holiday decorations at the Woo Hoo
With the wonderful lunch and some time before the tree lighting, I walked over to the pier to see the sun set over the island. This is always a treat.
The sunset over the pier
The sunset was so beautiful that night
The decorations in the park in Beach Haven
It got darker for the tree lighting ceremony and I got so lost. Then I did not know where the tree lighting was taking place. I had to Google the location about three times and I finally found it down by the harbor by the bay. By that point, they had lit the tree and people were visiting Santa. It was a nice way to end the evening at the shore.
The Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Ships Bottom, NJ
People were taking pictures by the tree and visiting Santa. They also had refreshments for everyone as well.
The beautiful Christmas tree in Ships Bottom by the bay
The decorations with Santa leading the way
The festive pirate ship
People were visiting Santa in the gazebo that night
This was a nice way to end my evening at the shore. The lights and the sounds were really nice and there was still a nice crowd when I left the tree lighting. It was really a wonderful afternoon at the shore. Long Beach Island knows how to celebrate Christmas.
Who says the shore quiets down after summer is over?
Just as New York City is starting to open back up slowly to visitors and tourists, the Hudson River Valley has opened its restaurants, farms, wineries and historical sites to visitors who need some fresh air and escape from their worries. It has been a tough last couple of months for everyone all over the country and especially in New York City that depends so much on their office workers and tourists to keep the economy of the City thriving.
The Hudson River Valley started to slowly open back up in June and sites have been cautious about keeping everyone socially distanced and keeping events to a smaller scale. Of course you have to wear masks to everything so it does make it difficult to be outside sometimes. Still it was nice to pass people stopping at farm stands to buy fresh produce, visiting farmers markets to see all crafts people with baked goods, prepared foods and artworks. It was just a nice change of scenery.
After finishing the Murray Hill section of Manhattan, my first neighborhood visited since the City reopened on June 10th, 2020, I wanted to visit the sites of the Hudson River Valley. The Staatsburgh Historical Park and the Friends of the Mills Mansion put together a series of smaller events for members and their guests over the weekend so I travelled up to Staatsburgh, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck and Red Hook to visit historical sites and see the farms. There was a lot I wanted to cover that I was not able to visit last year because of my schedule.
I started on Saturday at 9:00am in Hyde Park, NY where I have once lived while attending the Culinary Institute of America in the late 1990’s. I had plenty of time to visit since my tour was not until 10:00am in Staatsburgh so I visited the Hyde Park Farmers Market. They had just finished setting up when I got there and having a whole hour before the tour of ‘Historical Staatsburgh’, I decided to stop off and visit the market.
It was a cool morning when I arrived but most everyone had already set up their booths and it was a nice selection of baked goods, fresh vegetables and fruits, homemade items like pickles and jellies and a lot of crafts and skin care products. Apples are just starting to come in and there were all sorts of varieties available.
The Hyde Park Farmer’s Market in summer of 2023.
It was nice talking to the merchants about their wares and about business. The COVID pandemic has really affected the farmers markets like everything else and people are just getting used to walking around with masks on even in outdoor spots. The customers like myself put on the their masks and start exploring the booths.
One bakery I stopped at, Tom’s Heritage Bakes Goods & Jam by baker Tom Green, made a pastry that was cross between a pocket and turnover filled with fresh peaches, blueberries and cream cheese. It was $5.00 but it was amazing. The fresh fruit and the buttery pastry was a great combination. Another merchant was selling beautiful wooden snowman and Christmas trees and his wife was selling hand products. I was blown away by the craftsmanship of both of them. It was nice just being outside talking to people who looked happy to see another adult outside the house.
Don’t miss Tom Green’s fruit pockets at the Hyde Park Farmers Market
After the Farmers Market, I headed to Staatsburgh State Park and downtown Staatsburgh (which is about six buildings) to take the walking tour of “Historical Staatsburgh” that the park and the Friends group were sponsoring. While I waited for the tour to start, the local Episcopalian church was having their monthly soup and baked goods sale from 9:00am-12:00pm. It was not even 10:00am, they were almost all sold out.
The St. Margaret’s Church grounds
The weather had changed over the weekend, and it was about 50 degrees when I got to Rhinebeck and had not warmed up that much. It was soup weather.
St. Margaret’s Church was having a wonderful Soup Sale before the tour
Also before the tour, I got to visit the Staatsburgh Library which is housed in the old church chapel. That was a really interesting library. It was lined with beautiful light fixtures and had a nice selection of books that was well organized and had a cosy Children’s Room that was off to the side for the kids. They also had public bathrooms which was very convenient before an afternoon of touring.
The Staatsburg Library was originally the church and then the chapel
We just outside the church at 11:00am and then started our tour of Staatsburgh. We started our walk at St. Margaret’s Episcopalian Church and were lucky enough to be allowed inside. We had to keep socially distanced but got to see the graceful woodwork and the beautiful stained glass windows. The Mills family had donated them to the church and were parishioners here.
The stained glass windows here are hundreds of years old
On the tour through the town, we got to see the homes of various servants and merchants who worked with the Mills family. What I was impressed with was how well the Mills family compensated their employees so that they could have a nice and comfortable life. The homes the servants lived in were really nice even by today’s standards. I could see why everyone stayed with the family a long time.
The rock gardens were beautiful in the summer
The church barn.
The wildflowers on the side of the road were beautiful and so colorful.
Many of the homes have been renovated since but still you could see how nicely they were designed and built. The gardens of these homes were in full bloom with zinnias and daisies, so the colorful rock gardens accented the homes nicely.
The Gardener’s House in Staatsburgh
The Housekeeper’s house in Staatsburgh
The Phone House and Ladies Maid House
The Doctor’s House in Staatsburgh
The Hughes Home in Staatsburgh
Staatsburgh up until the end of WWII was a factory and industry town that mostly closed down after the war. It was explained to us that when Route 9 was built and bypassed the town, it went from a large working community to the sleepy little town it is today which I did not think was such a bad thing. Staatsburg has such a nice hometown feel to it now.
The “Spite” House which did not let the road behind it go through to the next road.
As we walked through the neighborhoods, we walked past the railroads where society would stop in their Pullman cars and attend society events at the Mills and other Hudson River families homes. It was mostly in ruin now but once this is where High Society gathered before they arrived at their summer homes or as guests.
Old Albany Post Road marker
The last part of the tour was visiting what was left of the small downtown which included a Coach facility for horses and an old elegant department store which now is a store that sells sails for sailboats. A real sign of the times how much a town can change.
The old department store in Staatsburgh now is a sail shop
After the tour finished, I took a ride around the side roads of the old town and admired the houses and gardens one more time. I liked the combination of stone gardens and old homes that make up this part of town. It gives it such a classic Hudson River town look about it.
The Horse and Dog trough outside the church
The old Methodist Church which is now a house
For lunch after the tour, I went back to Del’s Dairy Creme at 6780 Albany Post Road for lunch. What a nice place for a relaxing lunch. The old ice cream stand has been renovated and the food here is excellent. I had their Roadside Burger which is a simple burger made with freshly ground beef with lettuce, pickle and tomato on it. God was it delicious. You could taste the richness of the beef with the fresh vegetables. The Pint of Fries were freshly cut potatoes that had deep fried and salted to perfection. The only disappointing part was the milk shake made out of vanilla soft serve. It had no flavor to it.
Del’s Dairy Creme has the most amazing burgers and ice cream
I sat at one of the many tables on the lawn behind the stand. It was cool that afternoon so I wanted to get as much sun as I could. I also noticed all the families that were eating there that afternoon who looked they needed to get out of the house too. The kids ran around and played corn hole while their parents talked.
The Roadside Burger at Del’s is the best!
After the tour, I rode to my next stop the “Walkway Over the Hudson State Historical Park”, an old bridge in Poughkeepsie that you can walk the span of the bridge and see the views of the Hudson River and the surrounding valley.
The beginning of the walk by the railroad cars
The “Walkway Across the Hudson” was originally opened as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge, the first train crossed in January 1889. Known as “The Great Connector,” the bridge linked the industrial Northeast with the developing Midwest and at one time the span was the longest in the nation(Walkway Over The Hudson pamphlet). It was a beautiful sunny day and the view was amazing.
The views over the Hudson River were beautiful
You can cross the river both on the Highland NY and Poughkeepsie, NY and I parked on the Poughkeepsie side. Please be careful when parking in the parking lot with all the bumps and pot holes.
Walking across the bridge and the views of Poughkeepsie, NY
The walk across the walkway was just breathtaking. You could see all the way up and down the river and the views of the riverside with the foliage changing. This on top of watching sailboats going by the bridge and there were some kites in the air on this cool, windy afternoon. You really have to take your time to walk both sides of the bridge. On the Highland side, there is a beautiful park with trails.
The views of Downtown Poughkeepsie, NY
The beauty of the Walkway Across the Hudson needs to be appreciated on both sides of the bridge.
After I exited the Walkway, I decided to take a walk around Downtown Poughkeepsie, which I had not visited in almost 25 years since I went to college in Hyde Park. It was being gentrified then and now is going through another wave of gentrification right before COVID hit the country.
The Walkway Across the Hudson and the historical surrounding neighborhoods
The Little Italy section of Poughkeepsie must have been greatly reduced since its heyday. While walking around the Mill Street section of the neighborhood, all that is left is two restaurants, a bakery, a hair salon and a pizzeria. The pandemic has closed several businesses.
Still some of the food establishments stand out. Don’t miss La Deliziosa, an Italian pastry shop at 10 St. Carmel Place. I had an éclair that was delicious. It had a rich creamy custard filling with a thick chocolate icing topping that was a pleasure in every bite. I know that I had a big smile on my fact when I was walking back up Mill Street.
Little Italy and the Historic Downtown are being gentrified quickly
I could see the borders of the old neighborhood but I noticed was that the artists and ‘hipsters’ were moving into the neighborhood. Art galleries and studios were moving into the neighborhood as well as the old Victorian homes were being or had been renovated back to their glory days. The nearby Barrett Art Center is the hub of activity.
The Union Street Historic District is right next to Little Italy
I walked from Little Italy to the Historic Downtown with its cast iron and stone carved on the first four blocks which are now housing art galleries, new restaurants and clothing stores. I could see by the new windows and sandblasting that the buildings have already been flipped and the artists are turning these into loft. This part of downtown will soon look like Downtown Beacon, NY soon. It looks like the artists are escaping the City and settling up here.
The Historic Downtown of Poughkeepsie has its Victorian charms
The Cast Iron buildings of Downtown Poughkeepsie are being made into lofts.
After my tour of the historic part of Poughkeepsie, I took a drive up to Downtown Red Hook for a slice of pizza before I headed home for the evening. I love going to Village Pizza III for dinner. They make the absolute best red sauce that they use in their pizza and entrees. After having such a big lunch, I just settled on a slice of pizza and a Coke. I then walked around Downtown Red Hook before the trip home. Most of the stores were closed but it was fun to just work off lunch and dinner before I left for home. I would be back the next day for a tour of the Hudson.
Village Pizza III in Downtown Red Hook, NY is outstanding for pizza
The next morning, I made my way back to the Hudson River Valley for the Hudson River Cruise in Kingston , NY at the Kingston Roundout. It was a quiet morning in Kingston as I got there about an hour and a half earlier than the cruise. It was also much colder than the day before and I learned my lesson from the day before and wore long pants on the cruise.
Hudson River Cruises run through the end of October and should not be missed
Before my 11:00am cruise, I got to walk around the Kingston Roundout, the riverfront section of the City of Kingston. This area of the City has seen a lot of action lately as the exodus out of the City up to Kingston has been tremendous. On another trip I took to Kingston one of the women at the Trolley Museum told me that they have 11,000 new residents in Ulster County.
I have to admit that it was not the greatest day to go out on the Hudson River. The temperature really dropped over night and even at 11:00am it was still only 48 degrees. It did warm up a little as the cruise went one but it was still cool the whole trip.
Don’t miss a trip on the Rip Van Winkle II before it closes down at the end of October
The boat, the Rip Van Winkle, was not that full at 11:00am in the morning, there were about 50 of us on a boat that normally holds about 200. So there was plenty of places for us to ‘socially distance ourselves from one another on the boat and most of us chose to sit on the top deck.
Even though it was cold, at least it woke us all up. When we pulled out of the Roundout, the first thing we saw as we exited to enter the Hudson River was the Roundout Lighthouse at the mouth of where the canal meets the Hudson River. Talk about picturesque.
The first stop on the cruise is the Roundout Lighthouse
There was a tape recording of the history of the lighthouse and the people that lived there. It seemed that the lighthouse keeper died on the way back to the lighthouse and his wife carried on the job for many years.
As we passed the lighthouse, continued south down the river until we started to see the mansions along the Hudson River like Wilderstein and the Mills Mansion at Staatsburgh. I have seen these estates many times from land but never from the view of the river and now know why they built the houses where they did. What views! Also the foliage was just starting to change Upstate and the colors were so vibrant.
The foliage is just starting to change in the Hudson River Valley
The Hudson River foliage in the Fall of 2024
The foliage in the Fall of 2024
Our next point of interesting was the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse further down the Hudson River where we heard a recording of that lighthouse keeper as well. The lighthouse was built in 1871 and has been going through renovations and upgrades over the last several years. Sitting in the middle of the river with a backdrop of the foliage made the whole effect picturesque.
The Esopus Meadows Lighthouse sits majestically in the Hudson River
As we rounded the lighthouse, we heard the history of the lighthouses place in the Hudson River before automation and the changes in shipping over the next hundred years. Even though the Hudson River is still a major place of commerce and shipping it is not to the extent it was a hundred years ago. The coming of the railroads and then airplanes changed all that.
We headed back to the Roundout with a history of the mansions that lined the Hudson and our last home was the beautiful Wilderstein, the home of Daisy Suckley who was a relative and confident of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Queen Ann home sits on a buff with a beautiful view of the river.
Wilderstein sits on a buff with a beautiful view of the Hudson River
We made our way back to the Kingston Roundout by 1:00pm and it gave me plenty of time to explore the neighborhood. The Kingston Farmer’s Market was still going on when we returned and I do not know where these vendors get their prices. $5.00 for three cookies and a small bundt cake for $8.00? Were they kidding us? These prices were higher than the Farmer’s Market in Hyde Park and more inline with Union Square in Manhattan. Bypass this one folks!
The museum than covers the creation of the Erie Canal and the immense changes to shipping down the Hudson River and the growth of New York City due to shipping. It then covered the modern times with sailing, boating and rowing and its use today.
Hudson River Maritime Museum at 50 Roundout Landing
My next stop was the Hudson River Maritime Museum at 50 Roundout Landing right next to the cruise ship dock. This interest museum covers not just the nautical aspect of the Hudson River but its history from it’s creation by the glaciers and its indigenous population by the Lennape tribes and their life on the Hudson to the the coming of the Dutch settlers and the changes of population.
The history of the shipping and trade on the Hudson River
The museum also covers the development of industry and pollution on the river and how environmentalists have worked to clean it up. There is so much that has happened on the river and its history is extensive. There are also simulated rooms that had been once shipping offices and the complete history of the pleasure rides up and down the Hudson River in steamships. I was at the museum for over two hours.
The pleasure ferry industry
After another quick tour of the Kingston Roundout shops and restaurants (which I may add are getting more expensive), I left Kingston for a quick trip to SUNY New Paltz to the Samuel Dorsky Museum. The campus had been closed since March and it was the first time since last year I was able to visit the museum.
The Downtown Kingston Roundout
In between both museums, I stopped for a snack at the Apple Bin Farm Market at 810 Broadway in Ulster Park, NY. This cute little farm stand is right next to their orchards and has all sorts of produce, gardening supplies and grocery products to purchase.
The Apple Bin Farm Market is typical Upstate Hudson River Valley (Closed October 2022)
The market is really nice (closed during COVID in 2022)
I stopped and had a apple turnover which was pricey at $3.50 but was out of the world. It was loaded with apples and cinnamon and topped with a thick icing that I gobbled down in the parking lot. I will be visiting here again soon.
The SUNY New Paltz campus was open on a limited basis and the museum had just reopened. The Dorsky Museum was having a two exhibitions at the time that were carried over from the Spring when the school closed.
Artist Jan Swaka, a local artist who had moved from Poland to the Hudson River Valley, was being featured. His works had the influence of change and turmoil coming from a Communist country.
The other exhibition called “Local Hudson River Artists 2020”, that featured local artists that really showcased the developments in the local art world. It was quiet at the museum and I had the galleries to myself. The campus was quiet during the weekend.
After I toured the museum and part of the campus which there was no one around, I headed to the Mills Mansion for an outdoor concert that the were having for members. It was the first social event we had had since the Afternoon Tea for Masked Balls in February. I have been taking walking tours around the mansion recently (see VisitingaMuseum.com) but this was really nice.
The park and home are the former home of Ruth and Ogden Mills and is a really nice place to tour when it is open. We had the concert out on the portico in the front of the house. It was nice nice to see some of the other members again some since last Fall and some since the winter. We were treated to a concert by the duo ” Acute Reflections”, a jazz duo who looked like they were freezing in their costumes. It had dipped down to 50 degrees at this point and was going in the high 40’s by time the sun went down.
The duo “Acute Reflection” performed that late afternoon.
The concert was really nice as people were bundling under blankets to keep warm or enjoying light snacks that were provided by the Friends of Mills Mansion. The concert went on for about an hour with classic hits from Cole Porter and other known artist from that era plus some original songs they wrote. The duo had a lot of light banter between the two of them during the concert that we were picking up on. Still they were terrific.
Acute Reflections video
It was nice to see the sun set behind the mansion and admire the foliage. It was a nice way to end the evening and then watch the sun set over the Catskills in the distance.
After I left the mansion that evening, saying goodbye to other member of the Friends group, I stopped by Giacomo’s Pizza at One Spakenhill Drive by the Marist College campus for a slice of pizza. Talk about not socially distancing! Marist students were coming in and out all night and the place was packed with people ordering pizza and taking it back to campus.
There was not much of a selection that evening as their normally is so I just had a quick slice of Cheese and went on my way.
Even in the era of COVID, many of us are finding ways of adapting to what is going on in the world. With me, I just throw a mask on and go about my business. This is what life is all about just living it.
I will be making more trips to Upstate New York before Halloween.
Places to Visit:
The Staatsburg State Historical Site (The Mill’s Mansion)
With the weather reaching now into the high 90’s and the humidity has become unbearable, it has been a chance to take a break from walking the streets of Manhattan with the uncomfortable heat (and the equally uncomfortable feel of the City) and head up to our version of “Upstate New York”. People from Ithaca, where I went to graduate school, actually laugh when I say this is “Upstate New York”. “That’s like Westchester!” some will say to me because it is so close to the City instead of in the middle of New York State.
Still Dutchess County is beautiful at anytime of the year and a nice substitute when the weather just gets too hot. The cool breezes of the Hudson River, the foliage full of deep greens and the unique little downtown’s with their ‘mom and pop’ restaurants and stores (which we need to help desperately at this time) make a nice day or weekend visit. I have also gone to college in Hyde Park so I know the area quite well but still there were many towns I had never visited before. One of them being Red Hook, NY.
Gardens in Downtown Red Hook, NY in the Summer of 2024
I had gotten to know Red Hook quite well since 2014 when I thought I was moving to the Hudson River Valley for work and needed to find a place to live. I got acquainted with Downtown Red Hook when meeting with realtors but it was when I came across an advertisement for “Little Pickles”, a children’s store that had just opened that I wanted to visit that I got to really visit the town.
Downtown Red Hook decorations in Fall 2022
The nice part of Downtown Red Hook is that it has not been “Manhattanized” the way Downtown Rhinebeck further south has been. Being further up Route 9, the restaurants and stores are not as expensive, the feel of the restaurants are more local and down to earth and a lot less expensive. The one thing about the stores are that they cater to locals and not tourists so much, they are reasonably priced and their merchants are extremely creative in merchandise purchased for their stores and the way their stores are displayed. The service I have found in the stores here is very personal and friendly and you are mostly dealing with the owner of the store.
Downtown Red Hook was decorated for the Fall
What is also nice about Red Hook is that the parking is still on the street with no meters and you can park right near the stores. At the current time, the town is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic as is the rest of the country, so a lot of the parking directly in the center of the town is for “Grab and Go”. Between the heat of this summer (it was 96 degrees that day) and the COVID-19 pandemic still keeping everything at bay, the town was quiet the afternoon I visited.
Downtown Red Hook in Summer of 2023
I started my day at the Staatsburgh Historical Site of the Mills Mansion in Staatsburg, NY. The mansion was not open for tours yet under Phase 4 of Governor Cuomo’s plan as of yet so the park site opened programs that showcased the outside of the mansion. I started my day with a “Garden Tour” of the grounds of the Mill’s Mansion “Staatsburgh” located at 75 Mills Mansion Drive.
The Mills Mansion “Staatsburgh” (Staatsburgh State Historical Site)
The 90-minute tour took us to the back lawn of the estate where we visited the former icehouse, boat house, stables and storage areas and the location to where the greenhouses were located. The mansion was once a 25-room home that was a working farm but with Ruth Livingston Mills social standing the house was added and expanded to 79 rooms to the current home of today.
The original farms became lawns and Ogden Mills, her husband and a financier himself, became a gentleman farmer and animals were grown and raised for competition and for food for the estate. The greenhouses were used for flowers and fruits and vegetables for the mansion.
The back lawn of the Mills Mansion and the Hudson River in the distance
Most of the buildings have since been knocked down or in disrepair but you have to use your imagination to see how the estate once worked. The whole property was once pretty well self-sufficient.
When I toured the house in February 2022, the mansion had just gone through a deep cleaning after being open for the Christmas holiday season and had been decorated to the hilt for the holidays. We had a small group of three that had the mansion to ourselves, and it was a quiet but informative tour.
By 10:30am, our small group of four was done for the morning and I decided to run up to Red Hook for lunch. I was in the mood for a Chicken Parmesan sandwich from Village Pizza III located in the downtown. Before I left for lunch, I drove through Downtown Rhinebeck which had just closed off all their downtown parking for outdoor cafes and the place was really busy. All the restaurants were busy for the late brunch and early lunch crowds.
The Chicken Parmesan sandwich here is excellent especially the red sauce
This delicious sandwich you should not miss when passing through Red Hook, NY
I drove further north on Route 9 which takes you right into Downtown Red Hook and turns into North and South Broadway which is cut at the intersection of East and West Market Street (which is Route 199). The downtown stretches from this intersection for a few blocks before leading to more homes and farms. The wooden storefronts are a combination of Victorian and multi-level architecture and brick buildings which gives it the classic downtown appearance.
Looking down East Market Street in Downtown Red Hook, NY
I parked on East Market Street and started to walk towards the intersection. I discovered that one of my favorite stores that I just featured a few months ago, Pause at 10 East Market Street had moved to Rhinebeck. It now has an online store and its new expanded location in Rhinebeck at 6423 Montgomery Street Suite 3.
Pause was a great store of handmade food products and whimsical toys for pets (Moved Rhinebeck in 2022)
Pause is now at 6423 Montgomery Street Suite 3 in Rhinebeck, NY
Next to the former Pause store is another unique at 6 East Market Street called Petals & Moss, a fresh and dried flower store, where the owner, Nancy Lee, designs not only the floral arrangements and the dried flower wreaths that line the walls but also cuts most of the fresh flowers in season from her own garden.
The tables are arranged with fresh floral bouquets and dried flowers designed in interesting designs. I like that the store is not overwhelmed with flowers all over the place and the look is a minimalist where you can enjoy the beauty of the flowers and they are showcased in their simplest form.
The beauty of Petals and Moss arrangements
Petals & Moss at Christmas time in 2021
Next to Petals and Moss was this wonderful display for Fall where the Christmas usually stands
The display in the Fall of 2024
When I was visiting Red Hook in October of 2022 for the Sheep and Wool Festival on the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, I stopped up to walk around the town again. I stopped in I2evolve, a small arts and crafts store that also serves as an expressive art school for local children at 18 East Main Street. The where having a ‘Haunted Halloween Village’ event.
The Haunted Halloween Village at I2Evolve was a lot of fun
The ghoulish welcome into the store
The Haunted Halloween Village event was the owner showcasing the children’s art on tables all over the store. It seems that her students in her art school came up with so many creative haunted houses that she created a ‘village’ to display the students work. It was a very clever idea and it was a lot of fun looking at all the students creativity in their work. So many of them were loaded with details and interesting embellishments. The owner of the store, Kim Popolizio, took me on a quick tour of the store before the families arrived with their kids (who were the artists of all of these wonderful pieces).
The main part of the village
More of the ‘village’ homes
The inside of the store and the ghostly village to the side
The kids were so creative!
So much detail and attention into these works
After touring all the villages, I stopped at the concession stand that the owner had set up in the back. She had “Witches Brew” which was a green fruit punch, a cotton candy machine, a popcorn machine, cider doughnuts, candy and coffee and tea all of which was between $1.00 and $2.00. What a good businesswoman not gouging her guests! People loved it and it was really busy (plus the cider doughnuts were delicious!)
The owner insisted I see her patio in the back so I made the trip outside. It was still warm and in the 60’s when I visited so it was pleasant to go outside. What a wonderful place to relax.
The patio section of I2Evolve is a nice place to relax from the crowds of the store
The outside patio
In a small truck stand down the road at 33 East Market Street is the seasonal business and weekends only during the cooler months is Terry’s Country Bakeshop. Terry sets up a small table of reasonably priced baked goods such as cider doughnuts, scones, crumb cake, cinnamon rolls and small pies (prices are seasonal). Don’t miss her cider doughnuts ($1.00). They were excellent. She is also quite the conversationalist. We had a nice chat.
Terry’s Country Bakeshop at 22 East Market Street (no longer there)
Crossing the street at the intersection of Market and Broadway, I like to head north to my favorite restaurant in Red Hook, Village Pizza III at 7514 North Broadway. I cannot tell you how good the food is here in a few sentences. For a small pizzeria, the food is excellent, the service is friendly and the prices are amazingly fair. For a family on a budget, the restaurant is the perfect place to dine. It was unfortunately closed on Sunday.
The food and service at Village Pizza III is excellent!
The many times I have eaten here over the holiday season and on my visits to the area for functions, I really love coming here for lunch and dinner. The red sauce here is just delicious and has a rich tomato flavor that makes every dish wonderful. The Chicken Parmesan dinner with spaghetti could feed two people easily. It is loaded with gooey mozzarella cheese.
The Spaghetti and meatballs are out of this world. Three golf ball sized freshly made meatballs on top of what looked like a half pound of spaghetti. The red sauce here is amazing. The calzones are overstuffed with ingredients and the pizza has the most amazing combination of spices and cheeses. Each bite is like heaven. There is not one thing on the menu that is not delicious.
The pizza here is fantastic and the prices here are extremely fair.
Their Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti is excellent.
The elusive J & J Gourmet at 1 East Market Street was closed for a third time when I visited there in 2021. Oh well, I will have to wait until another time to have breakfast there. (The restaurant closed in January 2022).
It has now been replaced in 2023 by The Country Corner at the same address. A brand new concept with new products and merchandising with a lot of local purveyors.
The Corner Counter is a neighborhood cheese shop & eatery, offering artisan cheese & charcuterie, craft beer/cider, coffee, specialty foods and grocery staples. Food menu includes a rotating selection of sandwiches, salads, prepared foods and cheese plates. Our goal is to serve as a community gathering space, where customers can enjoy quality food in a warm, welcoming environment. We support local farms & purveyors, and choose organic, fair trade and sustainable products whenever possible (The Country Corner website).
The groceries and specialty items
Their delicious sandwich selection
The assortment of cookies and treats at Christmas time.
The Fall display in Downtown Red Hook, October 2023.
During the times I eat in Red Hook, one of my favorite places for dessert is Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop at 7501 North Broadway. They make the best cinnamon rolls and cookies.
Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop is a nice place to sit and relax (Christmas 2022)
Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop in the summer of 2023
Red Hook in the Fall of 2024
The last visit I made to Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop, I had one of her Fruit Loop Doughnuts that was an over-sized cake doughnut topped with a thick vanilla icing and finished with lots of colorful fruit loops. Their over-sized Cinnamon Rolls on another visit were layered in sweet cinnamon in a buttery dough. I had their jelly doughnuts, and they are filled with the most amazing jelly. Recently, I had one of their cream filled Long John doughnuts. Yum!
The chocolate covered cream filled Long John
The baker herself has waited on me and is extremely engaging and when it is okay to eat inside again, it is a relaxing experience to just sit and talk. For now, there is a tent outside for dining and enjoying your dessert.
The inside of Annabelle’s Bake Shop (Annabelle’s closed in October 2024)
Village Bake Shop decorated for the Christmas holidays in 2021 (closed 2024)
Next door to Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop is one of the most creative, imaginary and interesting toy stores I have ever seen. Little Pickles Children’s General Store at 7505 North Broadway. This colorful little store caters to the Lilliputian crowd and has all the things you need for a small child or creative tween.
Little Pickles Children’s General Store at 7505 North Broadway is out of a fairy tale book.
Little Pickles is one of those stores I wish was around when I was a kid. Even the big kid in me loves visiting the store when I am in Red Hook. One of the stores is dedicated to clothing, shoes and accessories for the small child in need of everyday items. In the room is a castle to explore and wooden trains to play with while your siblings’ shop (these things are currently not available because of COVID-19).
The outside of the store has a whimsical candy and ice cream shop and lots of little ‘stocking stuffers’ for a quick gift. Lining the shelves in the front of the store, there are balloons, magnets, small games and puzzles that are perfect for the creative child’s birthday party.
This is where children come for that special gift
The back of the store has a assortment of games, puzzles, magic tricks, science experiments and board games. During these tough times with all of us having to stay in it has the perfect collection of items for family game night.
The sign of Little Pickles is so welcoming.
Down the street are Red Hook Stationary and The Crow’s Nest, unique gift shops sell specialty items. The Crow’s Nest is a store that supports women artists and craftspeople and specializes in merchandise that is eco-friendly and Free-Trade. Owner Sarah Carlson says that she searches the world to find items that support female artisans who offer handmade one of kind gifts and home products. The shelves and tables are lined with interesting merchandise.
The Red Hook Stationary store at 7 West Market Street
Walking down North Broadway and turning the corner to West Market Street. Another store stands out for its interesting gift items and fascinating artwork Equis Gallery at 15 West Market Street where all things are equestrian.
The Equis Gallery at 15 West Market Street where it’s all-things horses.
The gallery is so unique with the theme with all the artists carried in the store is all things horses. Paintings large and small line the walls and the tables are ladened with jewelry, statuary, small sculptures and gifts for the perfect host present.
The beautiful jewelry at Equis Gallery
The store carries the work of many local and distant artists and is all unique to the store. It is always nice talking to the gallery owner, Juliet Harrison, who always greets you with a smile and makes you feel welcome.
The work here is revolving so there are always new artists to see.
Equis Gallery owner Juliet R. Harrison
A wonderful video on the Equis Gallery
There is a new gourmet grocery store, The Locavore Market at 29 West Main Street, just opened in the downtown which has a nice selection of locally made food items from sodas to cheeses. They also have a prepared food section where you can buy breakfast and lunch sandwiches and pastries. There is inside seating to enjoy your meal as well.
There is a nice assortment of Hudson Valley created products, cookbooks and other items for the household that make nice gifts and souvenirs from the Hudson River Valley. The store has expanded the selection of products from more local farms and baked goods from local bakers and when in season all the produce from local farms. All the products are marked from what local vendors they are from.
The Locavore Market at 29 West Main Street in Downtown Red Hook, NY
The cheerful sign welcoming you to the Locavore Market
The inside of the shop
The wonderful baked goods at the store
Walking back down West Market Street and heading down South Broadway, I headed to Golden Wok Chinese Restaurant at 7479 South Broadway, but the place had no dining area open inside. On a recent trip to Red Hook, I stopped in for dinner.
What was nice is that Downtown Red Hook during the summer months has a little park with tables for outdoor dining. On Friday and Saturday nights from 6:00pm-8:00pm have live entertainment. The woman guitarist that evening was wonderful and attracted a nice crowd on this warm Spring night. It was a nice way to dine with the warm breezes passing by and conversing with other people at the table.
I ordered from their extensive Cantonese menu and had for dinner the Beef and Broccoli combination platter with Fried Rice and Egg Roll ($11.95). It was a nice sized portion and have to say that the Fried Rice here is excellent.
Beef and Broccoli with Fried Rice at Golden Wok at 7479 South Broadway
The Roast Pork Lo Mein with Pork Fried Rice with an Egg Roll is also an excellent choice for lunch and dinner.
The Roast Pork Lo Mein combination platter for dinner Christmas 2022.
When I was here last Summer (Pre-COVID-19), there was another enjoyable concert in the parking lot next to Village Hall that was free for the evening with local musicians. That was a nice night and people really had a nice time listening to the music and talking with their neighbors. It must be a nice place to grow up.
The Memorial Day Parade in Red Hook NY from 2008
After my walk around Downtown Red Hook, it was back to Rhinebeck for lunch. There is another branch of Village Pizza in Downtown Rhinebeck as well but I now wanted something different as it was getting even hotter outside and I wanted something light.
Downtown artworks during the fall of 2022
So, I headed to Pete’s Famous Restaurant at 34 East Market Street, a restaurant I have eaten at many times over the last twenty years of visiting Rhinebeck. The food is always consistent here and the service very friendly. Like the rest of downtown’s all over the nation, the sidewalks and streets of the Main Street have been changed to an outdoor cafe. Pete’s Famous has good number of tables and umbrellas on the sidewalk under the trees and street which made for a nice experience.
Pete’s Famous Restaurant at 34 East Market Street in Rhinebeck, NY
Everything I have ever ordered here has been wonderful. When a friend and I stopped in 2025, we started off with Mozzarella Sticks and Buffalo Chicken Wings. Both were really good and the portion size was really good.
The Mozzarella Sticks for lunch
The Buffalo Chicken Wings are delicious
For the entree, I love getting the Turkey Club sandwich and the restaurant did not disappoint. The sandwich was layered with freshly roasted turkey, juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce and crisp bacon lathered with mayo on toasted white bread. It was a nice combination of flavors and tastes and the fries just came out of the fryer.
The Turkey club with fries here is excellent.
This Turkey Club Sandwich is quite a sandwich
Yum!
It was nice to sit outside on a sunny afternoon and watch people walk by. It made it almost seem like there wasn’t a global pandemic going on. I am not too sure how long all of this will last but for that afternoon everything felt okay.
On a cool February day in 2022, it was a Hot Turkey platter that warmed me up after a tour of the Mills Mansion. Layers of fresh turkey are mounded on top of white bread with a side of mashed potatoes topped with a yellow turkey gravy was like heaven on a cold day. It was served with a side of cranberry sauce and fresh string beans that tasted like Thanksgiving all over again. The meal also started with a small bowl of Chicken and Rice soup which warmed me up. The food at Pete’s Famous Restaurant is always excellent.
The Open Faced Hot Turkey sandwiches here are excellent
I didn’t want to stay for dessert because I has passed an ice cream stand on the way back from Red Hook that I have wanted to try for years but it is closed during the times I usually come up to Rhinebeck, Del’s Dairy Creme at 6780 Route 9 North in Rhinebeck. Do not miss coming here during the warmer months! It’s worth the whole trip.
Del’s Dairy Creme at 6780 Route 9 North is amazing!!
My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:
This little ice cream shop right near the Dutchess County Fairgrounds looks like it had just been renovated and landscaped. The back part of the building has a nice sized lawn with chairs and tables (socially distanced perfectly) that is the perfect place to enjoy your ice cream or lunch items on their listing.
Del’s lunch menu
Del’s menu in the summer of 2025
Del’s summer menu in 2025
The ice cream here is so thick and creamy and has the most unique flavors. On the recommendation of the young lady working there I tried the Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Swirl and the Honey Lavender ice creams. The Lemon Poppyseed is also excellent. I do not say this much but after biting into the Honey Lavender ice cream I thought I saw God. The ice cream was amazing!
The Ice Cream menu at Del’s Dairy Creme
It was just the right combination of flavors of sweetness and tartness. The Blueberry ice cream is made from fresh fruit from the farm, and you could taste the flavors sweetness and creaminess from the fresh milk and cream from the farm.
The Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream here is excellent!
The Ice Cream sampler though is the way to go when wanting to try all the delicious flavors
Del’s is Americana during the summer months. It is the place that people look like they have been coming to since the 1960’s and with a new owner and a modernized building brings it into the twenty-first century. It is the perfect place to stop with the family.
In the Fall months around Halloween, the warm weather was a pleasure in Del’s backyard seating area.
Del’s in the Summer in 2024
Del’s Burgers are the best on a cool day.
The Fried Chicken sandwiches are also excellent on a summer day
After the long and relaxing lunch, I headed back to the Mills Mansion for the “Lecture on the Portico” for a talk on the servants’ role at the mansion when the family was in house for the late Summer and Fall months. I have to admit with such a large lunch and dessert inside me and the weather being so warm (it was about 92 degrees at this point), I was getting sleepy and started to nod off during the lecture.
Mills Mansion “Servants Talk”
It was an interesting lecture on household items that the servants would have used to maintain the mansion during the summer months. They explained how the servants used the hand-cranked ice cream machine to make the summer treat and showed us their ice cream scoop for the perfect serving of the frozen treat.
Other items that were explained to us to run the household were a meat press for creating juices for broths, a bottle closer for opened beverages and a mop wringer for cleanups. It is interesting the amount of time it took to keep the mansion clean and the items needed to do the work at a time when electrical cleaning items did not exist. It took an army of servants to keep the mansion running.
It was so nice to relax and enjoy the breezes on the portico (the front porch) while listening to the lecture. I think this is the reason why on top of digesting a big lunch why I kept falling asleep. The heat did not help either. Still, it was a nice way to see the mansion in a different light by seeing it from the outside looking in. The grounds have so much to offer and the lecture topics are very interesting.
The portico of the mansion is a nice place for meetings.
The views of the Mills Mansion back lawn
It was just nice to be back up in the Hudson River Valley again for Christmas in 2021. I had not been up here since February for the last Tea Lecture (see my review on the mansion above) and since the COVID-19 pandemic, it was an interesting way to still visit the mansion and tour the grounds and have a new sense of scenery.
Red Hook, NY is one of those picturesque little towns at Christmas time with elegant lights on the stores and trees in the downtown area and stores so beautifully merchandised giving the town the look of a Currier & Ives carving.
Downtown Red Hook at dusk at Christmas time
Spending time at the holidays in Red Hook is also special. The merchants do such a nice job decorating their windows for Christmas and all the older buildings in the downtown are decorated with garland, red ribbons and white lights. It looks like a Currier & Ives print especially at night when the whole town is lit up.
Petals & Moss at Christmas time
Petals & Moss at Christmas time in 2021
During the usual holiday season, the town holds the “Snowflake Festival” the second Saturday in December (the first weekend in December is the big “Sinterklaas” festival in Rhinebeck and that gets all the people the first weekend) and that is a nice family event.
Red Hook, NY at Christmas is like a picture out of Currier & Ives
Red Hook is so peaceful on a pre- or post-Christmas night. I visited on New Year’s Day and most of the stores and restaurants were closed but still at twilight, the Christmas holiday with all its hope and dreams is still alive and appreciated at night. The Christmas season in the Hudson River Valley especially in these small towns is really special.
Red Hook is so beautiful at Christmas time
Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop decorated for Christmas in 2021
The Red Hook, NY village Christmas tree in 2021
Downtown Red Hook during the day at Christmas time.
The Downtown Red Hook Christmas tree 2023.
The Christmas Tree during the post Christmas late Winter in March 2025
The church with the Christmas tree competition for best decorated tree.
Christmas is a special time in the Hudson River Valley and you need to travel to these small towns to appreciate how the towns decorate themselves and welcome Santa. Red Hook is now beginning to rival Rhinebeck down the highway for beauty and elegance at the Christmas holidays. The downtown businesses go all out in December and the town is decked in lights and decorations awaiting Santa’s arrival. The church services are in full swing with chorus concerts and beautiful decorations awaiting parishioners. It is magical in Red Hook at Christmas!
Downtown Christmas 2022
Downtown Red Hook Christmas tree 2022
Downtown Red Hook, NY at Christmas time.
Downtown Window displays at Christmas time.
Downtown Red Hook windows at Christmas.
Downtown Red Hook at the corner of Main Street and Route 9 Broadway.
The downtown churches of Red Hook, NY were decked out for the holidays.
The Downtown Red Hook churches are beautiful at the holidays.
Historic homes just off the downtown are decked for the Christmas holidays.
It is such a pleasure to visit the Hudson River Valley. The towns are so quaint during the holiday season from Halloween to Christmas Day. They are special places.
The homes in Downtown Red Hook are pretty amazing during the summer as well (Summer 2023).
The homes during the Fall of 2024 right before Halloween
Red Hook in the Fall of 2024 and the beautiful downtown homes
The new logo of the Red Hook shopping district in the summer of 2023
The Red Hook of Red Hook
The outdoor cafe’s in bloom
It is beautiful in every season up here.
The Town of Red Hook, NY is a magical place any time of the year. You just have to visit and know all this from the people who live here who seem to love it so much! It always seems to come alive though at the holidays both at Halloween and Christmas!
Exploring Red Hook during the summer of 2024
Red Hook in the Fall of 2024
The Town of Red Hook is wonderful to visit anytime of the year!
*I wanted to let readers know that this blog is a combination of all eight of my walks around the perimeter of the Island of Manhattan and I have kept it in order by section of the island. This way you can experience all the wonderful things to see, do and eat at along the way. Never do this walk in the rain! That was tough.
*I now do this officially as a member of Shorewalkers Inc. and own my own every year by tradition on the Summer Solstice. This is in honor of my dad, Warren Watrel and the adventures we used to have in New York City on Father’s Day every year. This is to keep that tradition going!
As New York City is just beginning to reopen during the COVID-19 Pandemic and trying to return to normal, I have been wondering Manhattan to see what changes have happened in those three months. It is still incredible how much of the City is beginning to remind me of the mid-1970’s.
My trip in 2020 into lower Manhattan revealed a City looking circa 1980 with boarded up stores and graffiti all over the place. Walking around the neighborhoods in Midtown and Downtown last week were a real eye-opener on how pent-up frustration can almost destroy the fabric of a City and the underpinnings of human nature. It really showed just how frustrated everyone is with being sick, unemployed and broke.
Fifth Avenue boarded up on June 15th, 2020
By July 2025, things got a lot better
Even when the stores windows get fixed and the stores restocked, I don’t think people will forget that quickly. When you finally let people ‘out of their cages’ (i.e. their apartments) though you can see that compassion come back. This is what I saw on my thirty-two mile walk around the Island of Manhattan.
On my walk in 2021, the weather was just as spectacular as it was in 2020 but the mood of the City was different as things in Manhattan had been opened now for a year and the mask mandates were giving way to better days ahead. I saw so much interesting ‘public art’ all along my walk and ate at restaurants new and revisited from other blogs in the past six years. I felt like I was seeing old friends. I also took more time to look over artworks, explore parks and admire the views more on this beautiful day. There are better days ahead for New York City as it continues to morph and change.
In May of 2022, I did the official walk with the Shorewalkers Inc., the people that run the walk every year. This was the first time since 2019 that the group held the walk and I wanted to be part of it with all the other walkers. Initially the walk was sold out three weeks before the day of the walk, but I got on the waitlist and when the weather report said rain all day, a lot of people dropped out. It ended up raining (and I mean raining) the whole time of the walk with just a few lulls and the sun did peak out for about five minutes up by the Carl Schulz Park. I wish it had been longer. I was drenched by the time it was over.
We started the morning of 2022 with an early report to the Frances Tavern at 54 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan, the start and finish of the walk. I had not been there in years and missed the beauty of the building and its historical value. Since I signed up for the walk at the last minute, I did not want to be late. I had started at West 23rd and West 42nd Street in the past so I knew how to pace myself and once I was all signed in at 7:30am, I started the walk. Many others had started before me so I passed many people along the way, wondering how many of us would finish.
The Frances Tavern at 54 Pearl Street is the official start point for the Great Saunter in May every year
The “Great Saunter” was done exclusively in the rain this year. Usually, I pick a sunny day during the Summer Solstice which honors my dad on Father’s Day but since the official walk is the first Saturday in May, off I went. It poured and was gloomy the whole time of the walk. I endured it in good spirits meeting others along the way that kept me going.
Me at the start of The Great Saunter in 2023.
In July of 2022, I decided to do the perimeter walk one more time because the weather had been so horrible in May of 2022 that I wanted to see the whole island again when the weather was nice. The walk had started out nicely with it being overcast and in the 70’s but once the clouds broke and it cleared up, it was in the 80’s and got humid. Still it was a beautiful day for walking.
Walking around the Island of Manhattan is no easy task. In 2020, I had planned this since last year and made it my goal to do the walk on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. The problem was I had a ton of yard work to do on the first day of the summer and I had to get it done knowing that I would be tired after a walk like this. So, after a day of trimming bushes and weeding the lawn, I put my game plan together for the next morning.
Since it was Father’s Day Sunday, I wanted to do something different and special to honor my father more than just sitting at a cemetery looking at an inscription. This is not something my father would want me to do. So my honoring him was to remind myself of all the wonderful Father’s Day’s we spent in Manhattan visiting museums, parks and going to see independent movies at the MoMA and the Angelica. After which we would dine at whatever restaurant I had seen in the Village Voice. Those were the days I wanted to remember.
My inspiration “The Great Saunter” by Cy V. Adler
‘The Great Saunter Walk’ had been cancelled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and would be held at a later date. The walk was started in 1984 by Mr. Cy A. Adler, who founded The Shorewalkers Inc., a non-profit environmental and walking group whose group was fighting for a public walkway since 1982. The first Saturday in May was designated as ‘Great Saunter Day’ (Wiki and Company founding) and has been recognized by most current Mayors of New York City.
Cy V. Adler
I got the map of the walk off the internet and tried to figure out where to start. The walk starts at Frances Tavern in Lower Manhattan, but I thought that was too far away. I thought of starting at 110th Street so I could get through Harlem faster but then I would be travelling back to 110 Street late at night, so I nixed that. Then I thought, I have to get off at 42nd Street for the Port Authority anyway and that is where I am at now with my walking project plus when I finish, I will only be a few blocks away from the bus station so why not start there?
So, in 2020 for my first walk, I started my walk around the Island of Manhattan at the Circle Line Boat Pier where I celebrated last year’s birthday. In 2022, this is where I started again. It made it easier for when I needed to get back to Port Authority.
The Circle Line is where I spent 2019’s birthday touring Manhattan by rivers
I took the 6:35am bus into New York to start early. During the week, the first bus comes at 5:30am and I would have liked to get more of head start but I wanted to do the walk on Father’s Day so into the City I went that morning. I got to the Pier by 7:07am and started the walk around the island. It was the same in 2022.
The Circle Line was closed also because of COVID-19 so the Pier was quiet that morning. I looked over my map of Manhattan and started the walk along the pathways along the Hudson River going up the Joe DiMaggio Highway to the Henry Hudson Highway. I had not been to this part of the Manhattan in about two years.
The Circle Line terminal at 83 North River Piers West 43rd Street
In 2022, the Circle Line had opened for business, but the first ride was not until around 10:00am so the area was quiet as well. When I finished the walk at 8:55pm, fourteen hours after I had started, the Circle Line had just returned from a ride around the island and people were flowing off the boat. Talk about a huge change in just two years.
When I decided to do the walk for a second time on June 25th, 2021, I put together a different game plan. With all the problems happening all over the City (shootings and harassments had been going up all over the City), I decided that I wanted to start earlier then I had the previous year and decided to spend the night before in Manhattan so I could get an earlier start.
I stayed at the Moxy Hotel in Chelsea at 105 West 28th Street in the heart of the Flower District and I have to say that the hotel has excellent views of the City. I received a room on the tenth floor facing Sixth Avenue and at night I have to say it was one hell of a view. When the lights came on in the evening, the whole neighborhood twinkled.
I got up at 5:00am that morning as the sun shined through the floor to ceiling windows (I wanted to get up early so I pulled the curtains back to see the sun) and got ready then checked the luggage, checked out and started my walk the second time at 6:15am.
The mood of the City was much different from the previous year with more businesses opening up and more people milling around the parks. Still the City was pretty quiet for most of the day especially as I reached uptown.
In 2022, I signed up for the official walk a few days before the walk started knowing that it was going to rain all day that year. That’s why I was able to join in because so many people dropped out (and kept dropping out along the route with all that rain).
I started the walk in 2021 with a good breakfast at Chelsea Papaya at 171 West 23rd Street #1. I have passed this small hole in the wall restaurant for years on my walks around the neighborhood but had never eaten there. I had passed it the night before on my way back to the hotel and thought it would be a good to have breakfast before I started the walk in Riverside Park.
It was an amazing and filling breakfast of three pancakes, two scrambled eggs and three slices of bacon with a medium papaya drink for $11.00. The food was excellent and the guys working they’re at 6:15am could not have been nicer. The seating was not so hot with two small tables outside the restaurant where the tables and street could have used a good cleaning. Still, it was a carb laden meal that prepared me for the long walk.
Don’t miss the wonderful and filling breakfasts at Chelsea Papaya
The breakfasts here are filling and delicious
Yum!
I started the walk in 2021 on West 23rd Street, so I got to visit this side of the park during the day with it sweeping views of Jersey City and the Hudson River. When I started walking in the park at 6:30am, it was a beautiful sunny day but as the morning grew and I got to around West 42nd Street, the clouds started to roll in and it got cooler.
That did not last long. In 2022, I was not so lucky as it was a misty rain when I started the walk at 7:30am in the morning but it was bearable. I started at Staten Island Ferry terminal and then off I went with the other walkers who were up for the challenge.
In June 2024, I stayed at the Renaissance Downtown on Ann Street again and after a wonderful breakfast I started the walk officially at 7:30am in the morning. Unfortunately we had a ‘heat dome’ over Manhattan that day and the weather would top 97 degrees. It made for a walk that took a bit longer but still I followed the same path from Battery Park and walked along the shoreline of Battery Park City.
There is so much construction going on in Lower Manhattan that I had to make all sorts of twists and turns along the way. Not just here but in Alphabet City, South Street Seaport and Chinatown. It made for an interesting trip.
In 2021:
The first thing you will see when entering the park is the Monarch Waystation Garden that is one of many that have been planted around the rim of Manhattan. I have seen this also in east side parks as well.
The Monarch Waystation Garden is as you enter Hudson River Park
Entering Hudson River Park
As I entered Hudson River Park, I noticed many works of art displayed on the fences and walls of the surrounding buildings. The 2021 NY Salt Exhibition was being displayed and I took some time to look over the works while walking through the park. I made may way from West 23rd Street and proceeded north walking near the river.
The NY Salt Exhibition at Hudson River Park in 2021 (opened only that summer)
When you walk up past the Piers along Riverside Park in the 40’s, the first thing you will see in the next Pier over is the Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum which was closed for the COVID-19 pandemic. Pier 86 where the ship was docked was really quiet that morning with only two people eating their breakfast on one of the tables in the little park near the ship. There were sweeping views of New Jersey across the river of Weehawken and West New York.
The Intrepid Sea-Air Museum is just reopened after being closed for almost a year
Most of the West Side is pathways along the river with views of New Jersey until you hit about West 50th Street when you get to the lower part of the new Hudson River Park that has been built on fill to create a new riverfront.
In May of 2022, as I walked around the southern tip of the island, I could not believe how many works of art in the parks that I missed on the previous two walks. I guess I just wanted to finish the walk by that point. During the July 2022 walk, I started at the same point as 2020 and when I saw my first piece of artwork, it was like seeing an old friend.
When I reached the park by Pier 96, I came across Malcolm Cochran’s artwork “Private Passage” again. I came across this sculpture when visiting the park two years earlier. The piece is a giant bottle and when you look in the port hole you will see a state room of the former Queen Mary. It is an interesting piece of artwork that is not hard to miss and take time to look in the port holes.
The artist is originally from Pittsburgh, PA and is graduate of Wesleyan College who specializes in large sculptures.
Further up the park, I came across the old New York Transfer Station piece in Riverside Park. This is a relic of the old West Side Railroad tracks that were once part of the New York Central Railroad that the park and buildings behind it are built on. This transfer bridge once was used to attach railroad cars to the freight tracks that once ran up and down this part of the island (Forgotten New York).
The New York Central Transfer Station
It is interesting to see this now as a piece of art instead of a functioning part of the railroad but it is fascinating to see how we use the parts of the past as a piece of art in the present. This shows the current park visitor how we have made new uses of the riverfront for recreation and pleasure which was not true during the early parts of the last century.
The New York Central Train in the park.
In 2021(this exhibit was only for that summer):
As I was walking up through Riverside Park, I noticed a lot of artworks displayed in Riverside Park that were part of the ‘Summer 2021-Re: Growth’ art display that stretched from the West 40’s to 100’s at various points in the park. Some were interesting in design, and it was nice to see a lot were from local New York Artists (This closed after the summer of 2021)
These lined the length of Riverside Park and you had to really look for them. These were the works of art I viewed on the way up Riverside Park. I included the work and a short biography on each artist that I saw:
Ms. Wilson is a American artist who graduated from Syracuse with BFA and a MFA from Hunter College. She is a New York City based artist living in Brooklyn.
Ms. Amezkua is American born New York City based artist living in Bronx. A graduate of Cal State Fresno with a BA and also attended the Academia de belle Arte in Florence she is formally trained as a painter (Artist Bio).
Mr. Godfrey is large scale sculptor from Hamilton, NY who graduated from Yale University and his MFA from Edinburgh College of Art in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ms. Letven is an American born artist raised in Philadelphia with a BFA from the Tyler School of Art and a MFA from Hunter College and currently teaches at Parsons School of Design and Art and Design at New York University. She is a multidisciplinary artist in sculpture, installation and painting (Artist Bio).
Ms. Mattingly is an American born artist currently living in New York City. She has a BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art from Portland, OR and attended Parsons School of Design. She is known for creating photos and sculptures representing futuristic and obscure landscapes (Wiki).
Mr. Shaw is an American born artist and a native New Yorker. He received his BA in Fine Arts from Colgate University. He is known for sculpture installation, photography and drawing.
Ms. Lederer is a Canadian born artist who lives in New York City and Newburgh, NY. She has a BFA from the University of Victoria and a MFA from Hunter College.
Mr. Goode is an American born artist from Texas. He has a MFA from Boston University and has worked as an archaeologist on several digs Artsy Bio).
These works are on display until August 2021 and try not to miss this interesting display of art in this ‘open air museum’.
In 2024, there were more art installations along the way in all the parks. This is why I always say that New York City is like an ‘open air museum’. Between all the public and street art you will see along the route you never have to visit a museum. There is so much to see and experience. The first was “Hope” by artist Helen Draves and the second was “Life Dance” by artist Susan Markowitz Meredith. This was part of the “Art in the Parks” exhibition that runs every year.
Artist Helen Draves is a South Korean-born artist who has resided and pursued my artistic career in New York for over 25 years. Her father, who was an artist and an art professor in South Korea, inspired her as a child to explore my creativity through crayons, pencils, and paper. She was enamored with the process of creating something on a blank canvas, and this passion led her to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ewha Women’s University in Seoul in 1993. She continued to pursue my artistic education in the United States, obtaining a Master of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York in 1996. As an artist, her work often reflects the aging of life, particularly through the metaphor of wrinkled, aging hands. (Artist bio website).
Artist Susan Markowitz Meredith is an American born artist who has a BS in Art from Skidmore College and an MA from University of North Colorado. She has been developing my skills as a sculptor since 2011 when she began taking classes in wood and stone carving at The Art Students League of New York. She has supplemented her technical knowledge with outside coursework and training in woodworking. Her explorations have led her to pursue a range of other materials including metals, plastics, paper, and lighting. These educational experiences have cemented her commitment to sculpting and helped her clarify her own particular artistic approach (Artist bio website).
Hudson River Park and Riverside Park South blend into one another with the housing complexes behind them are a shining example of the uses of urban renewal and reclaiming our riverfront for pleasure and conservation. It is also one of the nicest new complexes built in Manhattan in recent years.
What I love about this park is the nice pathways and lawns just to sit back and relax and enjoy the views. There are a lot of places to stop and rest. Since I had been to this side of the island two years ago, I continued my walk up to West 72nd Street when I got to the southern border of Riverside Park which runs much of this side of Manhattan.
Someone finally cleaned up and replanted the Rose Garden by the West Harlem Piers Park and it was in bloom that day.
I made it up to West Harlem Piers Park by 8:46am (7:43am in 2021) and made my first stop of the morning. The park was a mess. People must have been having parties in the park the night before and did not clean up after themselves because I could see a NYC Parks worker in the picking up the garbage and she did not look happy about the mess. Usually, this park is pristine, and I was not used to seeing it such a mess. I guess these are the things you see in New York City parks early in the morning. The efforts to keep them clean.
The park is down the road from the new extension of the Columbia University campus extension, so this park gets a lot of use during the school year. This early in the morning there were just a few joggers and one homeless guy who was throwing more garbage around. I did not want to be near the Parks worker when she had to deal with that.
What I had not noticed on my trips to the park in the past were some unusual sculptures by artist Nari Ward, a New York based artist who likes to use objects found in his own neighborhood (artist website).
These unusual silver sculptures I almost interpreted as people trying to speak and it was interesting that the sculptures were called Voice I and Voice II. I was not sure of what the artist was trying to communicate with his artwork, but it does stand out in the park. The unfortunate part of it was that there was so much garbage in the park you could not get up close to see them.
Voice I
Voice II
Voice III
I really enjoy this park. It has wonderful breezes and excellent views and plenty of places to sit down and relax. It offers such nice views of the river and as the morning progressed, I started to see more sailboats and water boats out cruising up and down the Hudson River.
While walking down the walkway to Fort Washington Park in 2023, I noticed these flock of seagulls in the cement barrier that I had noticed many times before. I did not realize how detailed they were until I really looked at them. This is what happens when you take your time to observe everything on this walk and not just rush by.
The seagulls wall
The seagulls wall
Walking through Fort Washington Park during the walk in 2023
In 2024, the City was promoting their “Art in the Park” exhibition as they had done in the past. I saw some unusual art in the park that was on the lawn before you entered the pathways. It is so nice that Manhattan has these ‘Open Air Museums’ for us to enjoy all over the City.
Artist Sophie Kahn is an Australian born artist who lives in Brooklyn who has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of London and MFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. A sculptor and digital artist, Kahn utilizes technology—in its successes and failures—to analyze the complexity and poetics of capturing the human body in the digital age. Working from a 3D scan of musician and artist tiger west, Portrait of t. brings the digital, private realm into the public through a glitched body scan cast in bronze (Student Art League.com).
Artist Marco Palli is an Venezuelan born artist with MFA from the New York Studio School of Sculpture and MFA from the New York Academy of Arts both in sculpture. Expanding beyond the personal, Palli’s sculpture presents an opportunity for audiences to engage with the narratives of local versus foreign and the sense of belonging within the United States. Our Gates is a celebration of New York City and its diverse communities (Student Art League. com).
It was unusual but very interesting art. I was just surprised to see in a location that not too many people visit. It would have been nicer if placed further downtown on the Upper West Side, where people might appreciate it more.
I reached the bottom of the George Washington Bridge by 9:36am and watched an artist putting a display of layered rocks along the Hudson River shore. Uliks Gryka the artist behind the “Sisyphus Stones” that line this part of the park was carefully layering stones one on top of another and fixing and creating new formations. It was interesting to watch how he balanced each of the stones into a new work. The artist is originally from Albania and has no formal art training (Artist website).
The Sisyphus Stones on the Hudson River (gone in 2023)
The Sisyphus Stones sculpture in 2023 when I walked on my own.
The Sisyphus Stones sculpture was all but gone by walk on my own in 2024 but replaced by someone doing driftwood sculptures.
The Driftwood Sculptures started to appear in the park
The work reminded me of the Moai on Easter Island, the famous statues that faced the sea. It made me think how the artwork looks to the river and how maybe it is nature communicating with land and sea. I was not sure the message the artist was trying to portray, and he looked too busy working to ask him. The artwork was still there in 2021 and it looked like the artist was still updating it.
The Little Red Lighthouse at Fort Washington Park
I continued on into Fort Washington Park to see the Little Red Lighthouse, which I had not visited in almost three years since my last walk in the neighborhood. Many tourists were by the site just under the George Washington Bridge, taking pictures by the lighthouse and enjoying the sunny weather.
The Little Red Lighthouse had been constructed in 1889 and moved from Sandy Hook, New Jersey in 1917 and moved here in 1921. It was decommissioned in 1948 after the construction of the George Washington Bridge in 1931. What had saved the lighthouse from destruction was the book “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” by author Hildegarde Swift in 1942 (Wiki).
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift
The Little Red Lighthouse historic sign
I didn’t stay long by the lighthouse because it was loaded with tourists taking pictures, but I did stay by the tables and enjoy the view of the George Washington Bridge. It was making quite the racket as more cars are travelling over it again and on a sunny day offered some dazzling views. The breezes were amazing! In both 2021and July 2022, the lighthouse and the park were really quiet, so I got to enjoy the views on my own this time.
The view down the Hudson River from the The Little Red Lighthouse is amazing!
In 2022, the rain had turned to mist, and it was not so bad by the time I got to the lighthouse. I noticed that most people did not stop to look at the lighthouse. They just passed it to keep walking. I stopped because I love seeing this interesting landmark.
The park in June of 2024 was just beautiful. What a great day to be there
Walking up the stairs to get to the upper level of the park is not for the faint hearted and I saw many people much younger than me get out of breath on their way up. One guy had to be about twenty and he looked like he needed oxygen. To me it was just a walk up and I continued to walk through the lower part of Fort Washington Park. In 2021, I could not believe how in much better shape I was that I handled it better.
The Pollinator Place right near the Little Red Lighthouse is promoting wildlife in the area
This part of the park faces Englewood Cliffs, NJ and the Palisades Park Highway on the other side of the river. There is no construction on that park of the river, so it offers views on the cliffs and the woods that line it.
The view of Englewood Cliffs, NJ in 2023
As I walked further up into the park, it was mostly wooded highway and further up the hill was Fort Tyron Park and the home of The Cloister Museum which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum has been closed since March, but I had taken one of the last of the guided tours on religious flora in art of the Middle Ages before it closed on March 13th. The museum reopened in July of 2020.
Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters Museum in the park
When you reach Fort Tyron Park by foot along the Henry Hudson Parkway, you will see two large stone columns that look like the entrance to an estate and then across the street there is a pillared overlook to the Hudson River. These are remnants of the former C.K.G. Billings estate, “Tryon Hall”.
The old entrance to the estate is covered with brush
Mr. Billings, the Chairman of Union Carbide, owned most land of which the park is located and theses small relics are the remains of the great estate. I had never been in this part of the park before and thought it interesting that these pieces of the estate were left.
The archway and drive are still part of the park, and you can see them closer to The Cloisters Museum. The old driveway to the estate is still used inside the park.
The entrance to the old “Tryon Hall” estate in Inwood Park in 2023
I travelled up further and arrived at the Dyckman Beach Park located at the end of Dyckman Avenue in Inwood. This tiny little beach is hidden from the road and is located next to the pier. Every time I have visited the park, this little section is in high demand for picnickers, and you have to get there early. The pier is a nice place to relax and soak of the sun and admire the view.
Don’t miss this tiny beach and the pier. It is so relaxing!
In 2021, the beach area was busy with a local high school graduation going on in the restaurant right next to the beach. There was much cheering and celebrating going on and it was good to see that. All along the harbor deck, people were relaxing and fishing. In July of 2022, it was quiet with a few people fishing so I had the whole place to myself. This was when I took my first break. The heat was starting to get to me.
In 2020, I walked around one side of the park that contains the soccer field where a very heated match between two teams was taking place. I could tell there was a heated discussion in Spanish that these two teams were in major competition. While the men were playing soccer, the ladies were cooking up a storm, making skewers of meat, cutting fresh fruit and stirring lemonade for a makeshift concession stand. This was a very organized league.
I walked around the field and watched the game as the families settled in for a long afternoon. These guys really took the game seriously and were going back and forth side to side for the twenty minutes I watched the game. The pathway to the park ends in a semi-circle and on the side is a walkway bridge over the railroad tracks which will take you around Inwood Hill Park to the lower pathways that overlook the Hudson River and to the Henry Hudson Bridge that leads to the Bronx.
In 2021, the fields were very quiet which I was surprised by. Usually, this area is very crowded with people even when COVID was at its height. It was better to be outside than inside. It was earlier in the morning.
When you follow the path, it leads to the Spuyten Duyvil, a man-made canal that was created during the Dutch era for shipping and trade. It cuts off a small section of Manhattan that is now on the Bronx side of the City. Here you will see the giant blue “C” for Columbia University, whose stadium is on the other end of the park.
The Columbia “C” from Inwood Hill Park
The paths lead down wooded areas that are some of the last of the ‘virgin’ forest left on the island of Manhattan and one of the few true wooded areas.
When you exit the pathways into the lawn area of the park, you are greeted by a giant boulder which is one of the most historic objects on the Island of Manhattan, the Shorakkopoch Rock.
The spot where Manhattan was bought by the Dutch
The rock is the legendary location of where Peter Minuit bought Manhattan from the Reckgawawang Indians for what is today $24.00 of household goods and trinkets.
As I exited the park’s long hilly path, I arrived with this woman who tagged along with me to the halfway point. Right near the Shorakkopoch Rock, there was another usual sculpture right before it by artist Rose Simpson entitled “
Artist Rose Simpson is an American born artist who works out of New Mexico. She has a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and has a MFA from both the Rhode Island School of Arts and the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is a mixed-media artist whose artwork investigates the complex issues of past, present and future aspects of humanity’s tenuous survival in our current ecological condition (Wiki/Artist Bio).
On the other side of the small cove is the natural cove, Muscota Marsh where the Columbia Rowing Team has their sheds. The Muscota Marsh was created in a joint partnership between the NYC Parks system and Columbia University. This one-acre marsh is located in the Spuyten Duyvil creek and is part freshwater and part salt-water marsh. It is home to many native birds who use it as a nesting and watering site.
I sat and relaxed while birds flew in and out of the marsh that morning. It was the most beautiful sunny morning, and you could feel the cool breezes coming off the creek while small boats passed by. The Muscota Marsh is one of those hidden treasures in Manhattan that tourists rarely visit. It was nice to just sit and relax. I had reached the northern most part of Manhattan by 11:11am four hours after the start time.
In 2020, I had eaten a light breakfast at the house and had gone through my snacks while walking up to Inwood Hill Park. Most of the places I had gone to in the past while up walking the neighborhood or going to the Columbia/Cornell football games were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic or went out of business. I ordered breakfast from Park Terrace Deli at 510 West 218 Street.
I had the most amazing Bacon, Egg and Cheese on a Hero that hit the spot. I was starved and this large sandwich fit the bill. It was loaded with freshly cooked bacon and the hero roll was toasted and then pressed when the bacon, cheese and eggs were loaded inside. I sat down with a much-needed Coke in the benches by Isham Park further down Broadway. I enjoyed every bite, and the ice-cold Coke gave me the burst of energy I needed to continue the walk down the western part of Manhattan.
This has become a tradition as I came back for the same sandwich in July of 2022 and enjoyed my breakfast on the benches of Muscato Marsh, enjoying the breezes and watching the row teams. It is a great place after you grab a snack to sit and enjoy the views.
The Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich at Park Terrace Deli is excellent!
In 2021, I was still full from my breakfast at Chelsea Papaya and stopped in Twin Donut at 5099 Broadway (now closed) for a donut. I have been to this shop many times when walking in the neighborhood and their donuts are delicious. I had one of their Blueberry jelly filled ($1.50) and that hit the spot. The owner said that they were selling the business after sixty years and it would soon be a twelve-story building. In July of 2022, the building still sits empty.
Twin Donut was at 5099 Broadway for almost 60 years
In 2022, I stopped in Inwood Park to meet up with other walkers for snacks and go to the bathroom. The rain stopped for a bit, and we were able to stand and talk to one another. People were playing soccer nearby and residents were shopping at the Farmer’s Market close by. Even though the snacks were nice you can’t make a meal out of Pringles and Goldfish. So, I packed up a few of the snacks to take with me and went on my way.
In 2021, I stopped at G’s Coffee Shop for the same breakfast sandwich and as usual, the food and service was excellent, feeding my weary body. Every meal that I have had at G’s has been good.
After breakfast, I travelled down 10th Avenue from 218th Street and followed the path of the original footprint of the island until I arrived at the cross streets of Dyckman Street and Harlem River Drive at the beginning of Highbridge Park and Sherman Cove.
The Breakfast Burrito with Chorizo and Eggs is delicious
Even in this busy area of car repair shops, small restaurants and the Dyckman Houses, everyone pretty much ignored me as if I was not there. Not one person looked at me. Many people looked down as I passed which I thought was strange.
The Dyckman Houses off Dyckman Avenue in the summer of 2024
In 2020, most of this part of Highbridge Park was still closed off to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic and because it was Father’s Day, people were barbecuing along the thin path and patch of land between the park and the highway. It amazes me how creative these residents are with the use of space.
In 2021, the Sherman Creek part of the park was open for walking through, and I took the time to walk the path to the river through the winding woods and streams. It is a nice break from the busy City and it a very underrated part of Highbridge Park. The views of the East River were spectacular, and the breezes were so nice and cool. It was nice to have the park to myself that morning.
Sherman Creek Park/Swindlers Cove is at 351 West 205th Street
Before I took the long trip down Harlem River Drive along the rim of High Bridge Park, I walked along Dyckman Street, one of the three big retail corridors for the Dominican community in Washington Heights. The other two being 207th Street and the other 181st Street and Broadway.
Dyckman Street on the west side of Broadway is so alive on the weekends with street vendors selling food and wares, music playing and people socializing with their neighbors. I love coming here for the bakeries and to get fresh pastelitos and freshly squeezed juice from the street vendors who have to listen to my broken Spanish. It was a little tougher to visit the places as social distancing let less people into the stores that were open.
On warm weekends Dyckman Street is alive with shoppers
After I walked a few blocks of Dyckman Street to see what was available, I started the long trek down the path along Harlem River Drive with High Bridge Park across the street. The long curves of the park, the lush woods and rock formations show what was once the former shoreline of this part of the island. From this location it looks alike Inwood Hill Park with clean paths and virgin plantings.
The reality of the park is that if you walk through the park you are faced with the over-grown paths, the graffitied rocks and garbage that parts of the park suffer from. When you walk through the paths on the other side of the park, you see how far the park has gone down and the work that still needs to be done. Abandoned cars and garbage still plaque parts of the park from the park side paths. Still the City is doing a lot to improve the park.
The approach to the High Bridge Water Tower in High Bridge Park in 2023
I passed the old High Bridge Water Tower that was being renovated and was covered in scaffolding. The water tower and the bridge are the lasting remnants of the way water used to travel into New York City from upstate in the late 1800’s. The tower was built in 1872 and was part of the old Croton Aqueduct system of moving water into Manhattan. The tower and the surrounding area are currently going under renovation and the pool is closed because of COVID-19.
This part of the park had no activity and, on the path, leading down to the old Polo Grounds there was not much activity. What always makes me nervous is walking around the Polo Ground Houses that run from West 165th Street to about West 155th Street. The complex is a tired looking set up public housing with one building looking exactly like the other and a small patch of green in the middle. I could see from the hill over-looking the lawns that there were some small parties going on.
All I kept thinking about is the activities that go on there and I zig-zagged my way down the sidewalk until I hit the part of the fence that was covered with trees and vines. Out of site from the prying windows. Ever since I read about the complex on the internet, I have never felt comfortable in this part of the City. This was before I walked all around the complex four years ago when I walked Harlem and didn’t think much about it. I walk around quickly in this neighborhood.
I crossed the street and walked down Edgecombe Avenue on the upper side of Jackie Robinson Park. On the corner of the edge of the street is the John Hooper Fountain at 155th Street and Edgecombe Avenue. The fountain was designed by architect George Martin Huss and is a ornamental horse fountain and lantern. It was dedicated in 1894 and donated to the park by businessman John Hooper (NYCParks.com/MichaelMinn.net). It was used by the horses for drinking when carriages and horse riding at that time.
The John Hooper Fountain is at the corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 155th Street in 2022
As I walked past the fountain and entered the edge of Jackie Robinson Park, I could hear music and kids screaming from the sidewalk. The park was alive with people using the playground or setting up parties for Father’s Day. It was also a mixed crowd of people who were conversing amongst themselves about recent events, and I heard many lively debates. In July of 2022, the pool had opened up again and there were kids screaming and yelling as they played in the pool. This is also a good place for a bathroom break.
The one thing I discovered about this section of the park is that everything across the street or closer to the park is brand new housing, a lot catering to CUNY students. Much of Bradhurst and Fredrick Douglas Boulevard have been knocked down and rebuilt with new housing and much of West 145th Street is new stores and restaurants. It changes as you get closed to Lenox Avenue and Young Park.
I find Jackie Robinson Park very nice. The park has always been well maintained and the place was clean and well-landscaped. During the warmer months of the school year, a lot of CUNY students can be seen on the hill as you enter the park on West 145th Street sunning themselves and studying. Now families were setting up barbecues unfortunately many of them without masks.
The worst thing I found about travelling in these blocks of the City in 2020 is how the Parks system treats the patrons of the parks. There was not one open bathroom in the four parks that I visited. High Bridge Park had no bathrooms on the Harlem River Drive part of the park, both Jackie Robinson Park’s bathrooms were shut tight and Young Park’s were also closed. Thomas Jefferson Park further down only had Porto toilets (and I will not mention in this blog the condition they were in. COVID-19 would not even survive in those). In 2021, there were more bathrooms open but not in great shape. In 2022, I would not have ventured into them.
After a rest in Jackie Robinson Park, I ventured down West 145th Street to Young Park and then crossed down Malcolm X Boulevard to West 143rd Street. There were no open bathrooms here, so I headed down Fifth Avenue before making the connection on to Harlem River Drive.
In 2021, I stopped for a quick lunch at Sweet Mama’s Soul Food Restaurant at 698 Malcolm X Boulevard on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 145th Street. It was a little too hot for such heavy food, but I thought why not? I had not had Southern food in a long time.
I tried the Fried Chicken wings, Mac & Cheese, Sweet Potatoes and a biscuit with a Coke. The food is served buffet style and bought by the pound. My ‘little’ meal with beverage was $9.00 and I thought that was a bargain for all that food. The fried chicken tasted delicious but had been sitting in the steamer too long, but the biscuit, sweet potatoes and mac & cheese were all excellent and full of flavor. Refreshed from my lunch, I carried on down Malcolm X Boulevard (Lexington Avenue). Don’t bother with the public bathrooms at Carl Young Park across the street. They are not clean.
Sweet Mama’s Soul Food at 698 Malcolm X Boulevard closed in 2024 (temporarily they said online)
During the walk in May of 2022, to get out of the rain, warm up and get away from these annoying people who started to walk with me from Alabama, I stopped in King Pizza of Harlem at 110 West 145th Street for a snack. I knew that I wanted a chopped cheese for lunch, but I was starved and needed to eat something. I also needed a break from the walking.
King Pizza of Harlem at 110 West 145th Street (Closed June 2025)
For a little hole in the wall pizzeria in not the greatest part of the neighborhood, the cheese pizza is excellent. The sauce is so well spiced and topped with loads of mozzarella cheese. The slice was rather large and made a great snack. It was just pleasant to sit down and relax.
The slices at King Pizza are excellent! Don’t miss their delicious Cheese Pizza
On my June 2024 walk my lunch/dinner of choice was their homemade Meatball Parmesan hero
As I made my way down Fifth Avenue from 143rd Street, I stopped for a moment to look at a obelisk that I had not noticed the last time I had visited the area. The obelisk is located on a tiny triangle near the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 142nd Street. The Monument is the 369 Infantry Regiment Memorial dedicated to the all-black unit that fought so valiantly in World War I with the Fourth French Army. It was in such an obscure place that I must have just passed it when I visited Harlem. The drunk homeless guy sitting next to it was a deterrent from really looking at it.
I crossed over the triangle and continued to follow the river to West 135th street (the river walk ends at West 135th Street and continued down Madison Avenue. I had to walk through the Lincoln Houses Public Housing and again pretty much everyone avoided me. I was surprised that there was so much garbage on the lawns and in the parks. I could not believe that none of the residents would have picked this up.
As I walked down Madison Avenue, I noticed another homeless guy trying to solicit money from people coming off the highway and almost getting hit a few times. I was going to yell at him, but I thought I better mind my business walking in this section of the City.
I made a turn into the courtyard of the Lincoln Houses to see the statute of Abraham Lincoln with Child statute at 2120-2122 Madison Avenue. With all the statutes being torn down in 2020, I was surprised that not only was this statute up but in good shape.
Lincoln and Child at 2120-2122 Madison Avenue in the Lincoln Houses in 2023
The statue was designed by artist Charles Keck. Mr. Keck was an American born New York artist who studied at the National Academy of Design and the Arts Students League of New York. He was best known for his work on statues and monuments.
In 2022, as I admired the statute for a second time in the rain, some crazy homeless guy got right into my face and started talking about Lincoln and slavery. I walked away as fast as I could. How come I attract all the crazies? Everyone I was walking with walked faster down the street away from me.
I walked south down Madison Avenue until I reached West 128th Street and walked towards the river towards Second Avenue. I stopped in Harlem River Park and Crack is Wack Playground and again no open bathrooms.
The Keith Haring “Crack is Wack” painting in Crack is Wack Park
I passed the Tri-Boro Plaza Park nothing there either, so I just continued down Second Avenue to East 120th Street and walked down Pleasant Avenue towards Thomas Jefferson Park. The park was pretty busy in both 2020 and 2021 with kids playing baseball or running around the park.
While walking around Harlem River Park, I came across the artwork “Dream Fulfilled”, which was unveiled in August of 2011 as a partnership between the Harlem CDC, their State and City Partners, East, Central, and West Harlem Committees and the Creative Arts Workshop for Kids (CAW) (Empire State Development).
The project “Dreams Fulfilled” in 2011
As I walked down Second Avenue from 125th Street, I noticed interesting artwork on the side of the Taino Towers at 221 East 122nd Street. The towers had been going through a major renovation the last time I had visited the neighborhood and parts of the complex were still under scaffolding.
The painting outside of PS 30 in Harlem
Artist Don Rimx painted a mural of Nuyorocan poet Jesus ‘Tato’ Laviera. The painting had been unveiled in 2017 (long after my visit to the neighborhood) and 123rd Street was renamed after the poet (Street Art NYC).
The mural of Jesus ‘Tato’ Laviera at Taito Towers at 122nd Street and Second Avenue
Mr. Rimx was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and in 2009 moved to Brooklyn and then in 2014 to Florida. He graduated from Central High School of Visual Arts and Escuela Des Arts Plasticas. He is known for his use of styles in art and culture and known for his murals (Artist Bio).
As I passed the towers and its new artwork, I crossed Second Avenue to the Wagner Houses complex. People were having all sorts of picnics and barbecues inside and outside the Wagner Houses and people were celebrating Father’s Day in full force. It was all I could do from walking through the complex again. The last time I did that the residents looked at me like I was a Martian who just set down.
Georg John Lober was an American artist from Chicago who studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and worked for the New York City Municipal Art Commission for seventeen years.
As I walked around the Wagner Complex, little had changed from my various trips in this part of the neighborhood except they finished a lot of the luxury housing across the street. The complexity and diversity of the neighborhood was changing fast right before COVID hit and in the 2021 trip, it is still changing.
Pleasant Avenue was once home to the East Harlem “Little Italy” and the ‘Dance of the Giglio’ takes place here every August outside the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (See Day Eighty-Four The Feast of Our Lady of Carmel and the Dancing of the Giglio). Now it is becoming a gentrified neighborhood and I saw many people eating in outdoor cafes or shopping at the local mall.
I stopped at Pleasant Finest Deli at 375 Pleasant Avenue in both 2020 and 2021 for a snack and a Coke. On an 84-degree day there is nothing like an ice-cold Coke. This is my ‘go-to’ place when I am in the neighborhood for snacks.
Pleasant Finest Deli (now called Al Bassam Deli Corp.) at 375 Pleasant Avenue (closed June 2022)
I stopped for lunch in both 2020, 2021 and 2022 at Blue Sky Deli (now Chopped Cheese Delicious) at 2135 First Avenue for a Chopped Cheese. I swear I make any excuse to come up here and have that sandwich.
The Chopped Cheese Delicious (Blue Sky Deli) has a cult following
The ‘Chopped Cheese’ is a cult sandwich made up of two chopped hamburgers topped with American cheese, chopped lettuce and tomato with salt, pepper and spices and then pressed. It is like heaven with every bite. I took my sandwich into Thomas Jefferson Park, which is currently under renovation and ate my sandwich. After I was finished, I had the energy to continue the walk downtown.
In 2021, I wanted to make up for time and ate it when I got to Carl Schulz Park near East 84th Street. I figured I had eaten enough by that point and could save it for later. I had to have a chopped cheese that day.
The Chopped Cheese Sandwich at Blue Sky Deli (Harlem Taste Deli)
The delicious Chopped Cheese Sandwich
My video on the Chopped Cheese sandwich
In May of 2022, I had to get out of the rain and stopped in the deli for about a half hour while my order was cooking. The rest of the customers at the deli did not know what to make of a six-foot drenched white guy who looked starved and angry. I was just wet and tired. The sandwich was terrific as usual, but I had to eat it quickly in the park again to continue the walk. When I digested it a few blocks later it gave me a lot more energy to walk.
After I finished my lunch, I felt refreshed and ready to go but still had to find a bathroom. Since the park was under renovation, there were only Porto bathrooms and trust me, STAY AWAY! They were so dirty that COVID-19 could not survive these things. After eating a big lunch, I ended up nauseous for the rest of the afternoon and lost my appetite for anything else. I left the park at 3:48pm and thought I was making good time.
When I did the walk in May of 2022, it was pouring rain when I got to the deli and sitting in Blue Sky Deli was the only time that I really warmed up. Because there is no place to sit down in the deli, I had to eat my sandwich in the park during the drizzling rain. Not the best conditions to eat but it really warmed me up and gave me energy to continue the walk down the esplanade from East 110th Street.
Before I left Thomas Jefferson Park, I came across another piece of art that I had not noticed on my many visits to the park. The sculpture located in the middle of the park is entitled “Tomorrow’s Wind” by artist Melvin Edwards. The sculpture is made of welded steel and is tilted so that it reflects the sun. The piece was placed in the park in 1995 (NYCParks.org).
Mr. Edwards is an American born artist from Texas. He is known for his known for his abstract steel sculptures. He graduated with a BFA from University of Southern California and studied at the Los Angeles Art Institute.
Another sculpture that I missed several times walking through the park was at the edge of the park by the walkway and looked like a birdcage.
Artist Brower Hatcher is an American born artist who studied engineering in Nashville, then received an undergraduate degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn. Following graduate studies at St. Martin’s School of Arts in London in the late 1960s, he became one of the faculty members at that prestigious institution. Hatcher later taught at Bennington College in Vermont until 1985, and in subsequent years has continued to serve as a visiting artist and lecturer at numerous college campuses. He received an honorary PhD from the State University of New York. During his career, now spanning more than thirty years, Hatcher has been commissioned to create many major works for public sites
I exited the park at West 111th Street and followed the overpass over FDR Drive and walked down the esplanade from West 111th Street to West 60th Street in Sutton Place. The views of the Harlem and East Rivers are ever changing with new construction in Queens and Brooklyn and the developments on Randall’s-Ward and Roosevelt Island. The whole riverfront changes every year.
The Tram to Roosevelt Island
Between the sunny skies and cool river breezes, it is an amazing walk if you take your time like I did and just soak up the sunshine. I never realized how easy this part of the walk would be. I just walked others walk by enjoying their afternoons and looked at all the buildings going up and the boats and jet skiers passing by. It was one busy river.
I relaxed when I arrived at Carl Schurz Park to enjoy the views of Lighthouse Park on Roosevelt Island and look at the flower beds in the park. Carl Schurz Park has its own Friends group, and they do a great job taking care of the park. The flower beds are so colorful and vibrant, and the playground is full of active screaming kids.
There were finally some decent OPEN bathrooms and the water fountains here work and the water is good. The fountains dispense cold water and New York City water tastes good especially at these water fountains. In all of my trips around the island and even when I was walking around the Upper East Side for this blog, Carl Schulz Park has the best facilities for its visitors.
In 2020, I stayed at the park for about fifteen minutes. Any longer and I would not have left. Carl Schurz Park is one of my favorite parks in Manhattan. I love the views, the sights and sounds of this park and love how lively and calm it is at the same time. It is a true neighborhood park.
Carl Schulz park as you approach it from the esplanade walkway around East 86th Street in June 2024
In 2021, I just relaxed in the park, ate my chopped cheese sandwich (which I could tell people around me envying) and watched the boats and jet skiers pass by. I also had a direct view of Lighthouse Park on Roosevelt Island, so I got to watch everyone visit the little lighthouse at the tip of the island. Outside of Bryant Park in Midtown, I find Carl Schulz Park one of the best parks in the City to relax and just people watch and let nature encompass you.
The river side gardens in bloom in June 2024
In May of 2022, when I arrived at Carl Schulz Park it was the only time of the day where the sun peaked out giving me hope that the weather would break. It did not happen and that was the joke Mother Nature played on us. It was not raining as badly but it continued to misty and light raining.
The southern path of Carl Schulz Park where the best water fountain in the public parks is located. The water is always icy cold and it has some of the cleanest bathrooms in the City.
In July of 2022, I stayed at the park for a half hour just relaxing and watching the water flow by and looking at the people at the tip of Roosevelt Island across the river. The benches by the water are the best place to relax on a nice day. In May of 2023 during the official walk, I stayed to check to see if the bathrooms were open. When they weren’t, I took off down the East Side to get to Sutton Place at a decent time. In June, 2024 they were open at 5:00pm and clean as a whistle.
The park was so inviting in June 2024 that I stopped to relax here
I continued down the river front walk until I had to stop at West 60th on the border of the Upper East Side and Sutton Place and proceeded up the ramp. This is where the sculpture by artist Alice Aycock is located and one of my favorite ‘street art’ sculptures ‘East River Roundabout’.
From here I travelled up the ramp which surrounds Twenty-Four Sycamores Park which borders both neighborhoods and is extremely popular with the neighborhood children and their babysitters and parents. The park was closed though because of the COVID-19 pandemic but will be reopened soon. This park was start and stop point when I was visiting this side of town for the blog. I like the shade trees and it has good bathrooms.
In May of 2022, they had finished renovating the bathrooms at the park and they were open. The best part was that they were really clean and were heated. I was able to relax for a minute, go to the bathroom and get warm. I understand the plight of the homeless on a cold night.
I walked down Sutton Place past the old mansions and stately apartment buildings. This area of the City was really quiet as the residents here were probably out of town with all that was going on. The streets were pretty much deserted, and I saw a few people in Sutton Place Park. Please check out my walk of the Sutton Place/Beekman Place neighborhood on my blog:
Day One Hundred and Thirty-Four: Walking Sutton Place
In July of 2022, it had gotten so hot, and the humidity was getting to me that I had to stop for some ice cream, and I remember A la Mode Shoppe at 360 East 55th Street. I had the most amazing ice cream there years ago when I was blogging about Sutton Place and even checked the Internet the day before to make sure that they were open.
My review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com:
The two flavors that I love are Pink Sprinkles (Strawberry Ice Cream with layers of colorful sprinkles and Cloudy Weather (Blueberry Ice Cream with tiny marshmallows).
My favorite flavors, Pink Sprinkles and Cloudy Weather.
I was looking forward to going there on this whole trip down this side of the island. I knew I was going to need something to cool myself down. It is such a great little store that also sells gourmet sodas, candy and toys.
A la Mode Shoppe is such a whimsical store
Watch taking the turn on East 53rd Street to First Avenue. The cars and cabs will not stop for you when you try to cross the street so be careful. I always take a mad dash across the road.
From here you have to walk on First Avenue from East 53rd Street until East 37th Street as the United Nations dominates this area. The United Nations looked like it was closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic with just a few guards on duty and not much traffic. It also looked to me like they removed a lot of their statuary because of all the vandals destroying artwork all over the country.
The United Nations Complex
The complex was completely quiet on this gloomy day, and I did not see a sole anywhere near the complex. Even the security booths seemed quiet when I passed. You can no longer walk around the on the grounds, so I peered from the gate and admired the statute ” Good defeats Evil” by artist Zurab Tseretelli. This interesting statue I found out later was made of old United States and Russian missiles to commemorate the signing of the ‘Treaty of the Elimination of Intermediate’. The statue was to represent peace (United Nations Gifts).
Good defeats Evil by artist Zurab Tseretelli (United Nations Gifts)
Artist Zurab Tseretelli is a Russian born artist who is noted for his sculptures all over the world. He graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and was a visiting professor at SUNY in New York State on top of other teaching and academic honors (Wiki).
I stopped in Ralph Bunche Park at First Avenue between East 42nd and 43rd Street. I just needed to sit for a bit, and I admired a sculpture that I had not noticed before when walking the park.
Ralph Bunche Park at First Avenue between East 42nd and 43rd Streets
The park was named after the first black American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The interesting sculpture in the park was created by artist Daniel Larue Johnson entitled “Piece Form One”.
Mr. Johnson was an American born artist from California. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and then studied in Paris. He was known for his abstract paintings and steel sculptures.
Another interesting piece of art was on the wall of 777 First Avenue, the Church Center for the United Nations. The work was created by artist Benoit Gilsoul and is entitled “Man’s Search for Peace” (Wiki).
The Church Center for the United Nations at 777 First Avenue
Mr. Gilsoul was a Belgium born artist who immigrated to the United States in 1967 and became an American citizen. He studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts in Belgium. He was noted for his abstract works (IstDibs.com).
I then exited East 37th Street and continued to walk down the esplanade along the East River. I had never travelled to this section of the City before (I have currently not passed 42nd Street on my current walk of Manhattan in 2020) so it was an adventure to see new views of the island. I stayed on this pathway until I got to the Battery.
In May of 2022, the rain began to let up when I got to the esplanade, and it was just a light mist. I was just hoping that it would stop soon. While everyone else was racing down the walkway to finish the walk, I took the time and admired the buildings on the Brooklyn waterfront. It is getting more impressive every year.
Along the way between East 37th Street and East 11th Streets, you tend to see the backs of a lot of buildings on the Manhattan side life Bellevue and the Tisch Hospital. You then pass Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village and then the Con Ed Power Plant so there is not much to see on this side but from the other side you will see the skyline of Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn.
Downtown Long Island City keeps changing
On the turn before you get to the larger East River Park is the smaller Stuyvesant Cove Park which was once the site of an old cement plant and has now been reclaimed for a riverfront park. The park runs from about East 22nd Street to East 18th Street. The park is planted with native plants of New York City and has become a haven for birds and butterflies (Stuyvesant Cove Park Association). I left Stuyvesant Cove by 5:45pm in 2020, 6:30pm in 2021 and 4:30pm in 2022. I took more time to explore the parks and artwork in 2021 and was walking slower because of the rain in 2022.
Around East 12th Street its best to the follow the path signs to John V. Lindsay East River Park. The park was created in 1939 by then Parks Director Robert Moses on reclaimed land from the waterfront and piers and is a 57.5 acre point of relief to the residents of the Lower East Side (Wiki).
The park has many recreational facilities and the afternoon I was walking through countless parties and barbecues were going on. With meats sizzling on the grills and water gun fights and the sound of music throughout the park, people were enjoying their Father’s Day celebrations in every corner of the park. I found open bathrooms that were clean and a water fountain that worked and I was happy. Don’t miss the giant anchor facing the river near the entrance to the park.
Don’t miss the “Anchors Away” sculpture in John Lindsey Park
Twilight by the Anchor sculpture
Once I left the park in 2020 and 2021, I was on my way to South Street Seaport. This part of the walk meant walking under overhangs, bridge over-passes and the housing was a combination of new and old construction. On the other side of the river, there is a difference on the riverfront on the Brooklyn side. The growth of DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn has changed the whole look from this side of the river.
Downtown Brooklyn from the Brooklyn Bridge
In May of 2022, the rain was really getting to me, and I was not sure if I could keep going. My muscles in my legs were really getting to me because of the cold. It went from 54 to 45 degrees by the time I got to Lower Manhattan. I just happened to meet up with a businessman from Fort Lee, NJ who I had seen hours earlier on the other side of the island. He asked if he could walk the rest of the way with me and I said yes. It was nice to have someone to talk with for the rest of the trip.
This is now becoming some of the most expensive housing in New York City with warehouses and old factories becoming expensive lofts. Things just changing on that side of the river and the riverfront even this far down keeps changing. I passed the Peck Slip Park at 6:30pm on my way to the South Street Seaport.
South Street Seaport is some of the original structures of Lower Manhattan many dating back to the Civil War when this was a major shipping area. The home of the Dutch West Indies Company in the early 1600’s, this port area has seen many changes. The most modern ones when the Rouse Corporation turned this into a dining and shopping entertainment area setting up concept for many downtowns in city’s that needed revitalizing. Since its development, South Street Seaport was their most successful venture.
I had never seen it so quiet in the time of COVID-19. There was no one walking around this busy area but a few tourists and residents. In 2021, the mood had changed, and it was much busier. I passed through the Seaport by 6:48pm.
As I was leaving the South Street Seaport in 2021, I was watching fire trucks leave in a hurry from one of the local firehouses. It caught my attention so much that I lost my footing for some reason and fell flat on my face. It was almost as if someone had tripped me. In May of 2022, the only thing we did was race by the place because of the weather but in July of 2022, the Seaport was alive with people having dinner and drinks.
From here it was again more overhangs from the highway until I got to the Ferry stations for Staten Island and Governors Island and then rounding the corner to make it to Battery Park where the sites of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island loomed in the distance. All over the harbor were sailboats and motorboats enjoying the early evening. It was now 7:15pm and I had been travelling since noon.
In 2020 and 2021, I spent about a half hour relaxing and enjoying the views on a sunny early evening. Being the day after the Summer Solstice it was one of the longest days of the year and I got to enjoy the extra sunshine. I needed to cool down and this was the place to do it. It still is one of the most picturesque places in New York City.
In May of 2022, the rain and clouds got so bad that I could barely see things in the harbor. It looked like it was trying to clear and by 5:00pm it finally stopped raining. We had been walking under the highway underpass by South Street Seaport and the two of us started to dry out.
In July of 2022, this is where I took my longest break of forty-five minutes. I just needed to relax before I made the last leg of the journey back to West 34th Street. Similar to the walk I did in 2020, it took a lot of effort to complete this part of the journey and I wanted to build my strength.
I have to say that I never get tired of seeing Lady Liberty. I still can’t believe that I am seeing the same statute that both of my grandfathers’ saw when they arrived in this country. It puts it all into perspective to me how powerful of a symbol it is to this country as a way of welcoming people to the United States.
When finishing ‘The Great Saunter’ in 2022, this was our last stop before heading back to Frances Tavern. Myself and my walking partner for the last four miles of the trip had talked most of the time about our careers and families and about why we took the walk. The time just flew from there. I learned that his wife and her friend had made it all the way to Inwood Park before they took the subway back downtown and then home.
Justin Watrel completing “The Great Saunter” officially in May of 2022
We walked to the registration desk in front of the Frances Tavern and collected our certificates that we completed the walk. We then took our picture with our certificates and then said our goodbyes. He then told me that probably could not have finished the walk without me and I felt the same way. I need someone to keep pace with me and help me finish this difficult day. I warmed up in the restaurant for a bit and then took the subway back uptown and then the bus home. Everything had to go in the dryer when I got home and air out. I finished the walk by 5:45pm taking me almost eleven hours to finish, a personal best.
In 2020 and July of 2022, I had just walked the entire east side of Manhattan and I have to tell you I was stiff by this point. I was ready to throw in the towel here and rest, but I pressed on wanting to get home at a decent time. I really misjudged how long it would take to get from the Battery to West 42nd Street. It is a decent amount of time even though it doesn’t look it on the map. You just have to distract yourself by looking at the coves and the artwork along the way.
In 2022, I walked past Fort Clinton, also known as Castle Clinton, where you buy tickets for the Statue of Liberty. The fort has had an interesting history. Built between 1809 to 1811, it has served as a fort in the early wars of the country, then an entertainment spot, an immigration outpost before Ellis Island was built, then the home of the New York Aquarium and now home to the start off point and history discussion on the Statue of Liberty (Wiki).
In 2021, I was much better prepared and had more walking time under my belt. I was in much better shape, so it did not tire me so much at this point of the walk. I was rearing to go after a half hour break.
I left Battery Park at 7:30pm and followed a crowd of people out of the park. Before I left the park for Battery Park City and its beautiful parks, I came across the sculpture “American Merchant Marines Memorial” at the edge of the Battery. The statue commemorates the thousands of merchant ships and crews that fought since the Revolutionary War (NYCParks.org).
The “American Merchant Marines Memorial” by artist Marisol Escobar
Ms. Escobar was born in Paris and raised in Venezuela and moved to New York in the 1950’s. She is known for her highly stylized boxy sculptures (NYCParks.org). She studied art at the Jepson Art Institute, the Ecole des Beaux Arts and Art Students League of New York (Wiki).
Another sculpture I missed on my first two walks around the island was the New York Korean Memorial by artist Mac Adams.
The statue is one of the first monuments to the Korean conflict built in the United States and the void in the sculpture represents the absence and loss of the war and a metaphor for death (NYCParks.org).
Artist Mac Adams is a British born artist who now lives in the New York area. He holds an MFA from Rutgers University. He is known for his large public works and for the use of ‘space between images’ (Wiki/Artist Bio).
I have been on this walk around the island many times now and I do not know how I missed this statue of Gianni Verrazano that sits in Battery Park. This dynamic statue sits at the northern part of the park and was one of the few exits out of the park during its renovation.
The Giovanni Verrazzano statue by artist Ettore Ximenes
Artist Ettore Ximenes was an Italian born artist who had studied at the Palermo Academy of Fine Arts and then worked with several artists as an apprentice. He was known for his life sized sculptures. This statue was dedicated in 1909 (NYCParks.org/Wiki).
I left Battery Park and entered into the newer extension of Robert Wagner Jr. Park next to Battery Park City. In the front part of the park, I came across these unusual musical instrument sculptures that graced the entrance of the park.
The art entitled “Resonating Bodies” were created by British born artist Tony Cragg, whose work I had seen uptown many times. The sculptures resemble a lute and a tuba. The work is based on the concept that all physical bodies including we are constantly enveloped by various energy forms (NYCParks.org).
“Resonating Bodies” at Robert Wagner Jr. Park in Battery Park City
Mr. Cragg is a British born artist from Liverpool and studied at the Gloucestershire School of Art, received his BA from the Wimbledon School of Art and his MA from the Royal School of Art. He has been showing his works since 1977. He is best known for his contemporary sculptures (Artist Bio/Wiki).
I walked behind them as I travelled through the South Cove of Battery Park City. Not a lot of tourists know that this whole area is fill in of old piers on the fillers from the building of the original World Trade Center. Now the area sits apartment buildings with breathtaking views and well-landscaped parts. The South Cove was filled with small groups of people who were also not social distancing and very few masks. I think people were just throwing caution to the wind.
Don’t miss the twists and turns of the South Cove of Battery Park City
Another piece of art that I missed and saw in 2022 was ‘Ape and Cat at the Dance’ by artist Jim Dine. The sculpture of a cat and ape dancing cheek to cheek like humans had been inspired by the Henry James story of “The Madonna of the Future”. The Parks Department describes it as a ‘human like and asks us to reflect on ourselves”. (NYCParks.org/Downtown Alliance).
“The Ape and the Cat at the Dance” in Battery Park
Artist Jim Dine is an American born artist who studied at the University of Cincinnati, School of Fine Arts in Boston and graduated with a BFA from Ohio University. He is known for his many different mediums of sculpture, printmaking and drawing (Wiki).
Mother Cabrini was born in Italy as Maria Francesca Cabrini in 1850. She took her vows and founded the Missionary of the Sacred Heart. She immigrated to the United States in 1889 and continued her charity work, founding organizations and was the first naturalized citizen to be canonized (NYCbio/MotherCabrini.org/Wiki).
Jill Burkee is a sculpture and draftswoman who studied at the Arts Students League of New York and the University of Washington and has studied in Italy. Giancarlo Baigi is a sculptor and multi-media artist. He also studied at the Arts Students League of New York and has a MA from Stagio Stagi in Peitrasanta in Italy (Arts Students League bio). Both of these works have been closed off in both the May and June walks in 2024 due to construction and renovation in Battery Park.
A new piece of art appeared after the May 2024 walk. Either that or I had not noticed it when I walk around the area.
The sculpture of “The Eyes” by Louise Bourgeois appeared in Battery Park in June 2024 or I have just missed it
Artist Louise Bourgeois was a French born artist married to an American Art Professor who settled into New York City after her marriage. She was a graduate of the Sorbonne and continued to study art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Ecole du Louvre and the Arts Student League of New York when she moved to the States. Starting as a painter she moved to sculpture on the recommendation of a colleague and known for her large sculpture works (Wiki).
Another piece of art that I came across that I missed in the last two trips is “Apple” by artist Stephen Weiss. The piece was part of the ‘Larger than Life” series of the artist and symbolized the heart and core of life in New York City (Hudson River Park).
“The Apple” by artist Stephen Weiss in Hudson River Park
Artist Stephen Weiss was a New York born artist who had attended the Pratt Institute. He had worked for his family company and was the husband of designer, Donna Karan. He was known for his sculpture works (RoGallery).
When I walked the parks both North and South Coves in 2021, people were still having Graduation parties, small picnics and the restaurants had reopened both indoors and outdoors without masks. The parks, restaurants and lawns were really hopping that night.
From here it was following the path up to the North Cove of Battery Park City and the views of Jersey City. Each of the parks had unique landscaping and walkways that accented the buildings of the World Financial Center. It is hard to believe how damaged these were after the long days after 9/11. You would have never known with boats docked for dinner and people having picnics and wine in the shadows of these buildings.
I was pretty surprised as I walked through the park with more daylight time to spare that I came across what looked like an Egyptian Temple sitting in Battery Park. The sculpture building is entitled “The Upper Room” designed by artist Ned Smyth. This self-contained sculptural environment suggests a contemporary reimagining of an Egyptian temple offering a stylized sanctuary from the surrounding city (BPCA-NYC).
Mr. Smyth is an American born artist who born in NYC and works in NY. He has a BA from Kenyon College in Ohio. He is part of the Pattern and Design Movement of the 1970’s and known for his large-scale public works (Artist Bio/Artist Profile Bio).
As I started to pass some of the open air restaurants, I saw another piece of art that stood out which was a series of colored rings but could not get close enough to see the artist who created it. For another trip to the park.
The last piece of art that stood out to me on this trip through Battery Park was entitled “Days End” by artist David Hammons. It looked like the shell of an empty building and struck a nerve as the sun started to set on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. It is an ‘Open Air’ sculpture that explores the history of the neighborhood (Whitney Museum).
Mr. Hammons is an American born artist who studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (CalArts) and at Otis Art Institute. He is known for his Body Prints and sculpture work (Wiki/Artnet.com).
As the light started to fade in the evening as the sunset over Jersey City across the river, I started to fade too. I just singing to myself and kept encouraging myself to keep moving. I really wanted to finish even though my thighs were getting stiff, and my fingers looked like sausages. I was determined even though I wanted to stop. Every time I asked that question of myself I then said, ‘then why did I start the walk if I was not going to finish it?’
Passing the Jersey City waterfront in 2023
I stopped for a second to look at the sun setting in the backdrop of Jersey City and watched in wonder the beauty of it all. It is almost a reminder how much bigger the world is than us.
The Jersey City Waterfront on a sunny day.
While I was walking through the parks, a few pieces of park sculpture stood out to me as I reached Hudson River Park in Chelsea. The long trek up Joe DiMaggio Highway made me more aware of my surroundings as I had to stop again. I came across the ‘Serpentine Sculptures’, these large twisting metal concoctions that graced the riverfront walkway.
These interesting, twisted sculptures are by American artist Mark Gabian who holds a BA in Art History and BFA in Sculpture from Cornell University (my Alma Mater!). Mr. Gabian’s sculptures can be seen all over the world. The artist has been quoted as saying he created monumental site-specific commissions in two or three dimensions’ (the artist’s website).
The last leg of the journey loomed in the distance as I saw the lights of the Hudson Yards in the distance like a mythical ‘Oz’ waiting for me. I saw the heliport and observation deck glittering in the distance and knew I had to reach it.
The Observation Deck and the glittering buildings are just a few blocks from the Port Authority Bus Terminal where my journey started, and I knew I was there. In 2020, I reached the Circle Line Pier again at 9:11pm in the evening and I celebrated by sitting on a boulder outside the ticket booth for fifteen minutes watching the security guard play on his cellphone. I did the same thing on the walk in July of 2022, but this time I made it at 8:55pm exactly fourteen hours after I stated.
I was not tired Per Se, but I was stiff all over. I could feel my thighs tighten up and my fingers and hands I had to shake several times to get proper circulation back into them. Still, I was not out of breath and was able to walk back to the Port Authority and make the 9:50pm bus out of New York City for home. I got home by 10:10pm almost sixteen hours later.
In 2020 and July of 2022, I walked the entire rim of Manhattan from top to bottom in fourteen hours. Not the twelve hours the Great Saunter Walk guide says but there is a lot more to it than just walking. You will need many bathroom, water and rest breaks along the way. Drink lots of water too. Still, it was a great walk and one for the blog!
In 2021, I arrived back at Hudson River Park at West 23rd Street just as the sun started to set over New Jersey and got to see the multi colors that were created in the sky. Mother Nature’s work of art for everyone to see.
I was not as tired on this trip as I had the year before. All that walking and training in Midtown Manhattan neighborhoods plus an overnight stay in the City to get an earlier start helped out tremendously. I finished the perimeter walk of the island in exactly fourteen hours, one hour more than 2020 but I stopped more times to admire public artworks, snack at restaurants and snack shops and walk through more parks and neighborhoods to see what was there. It was a more interesting trip where I did not rush it. I finished at 8:20pm in 2021.
For dinner that night, I stopped at Lions & Tigers & Squares at 268 West 23rd Street, where I had eaten many times for lunch after working at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen (which I had mentioned many times in this blog). The restaurant features Detroit style pizza where the cheese and sauce are baked into the sides of the pizza and there is no crust. It is a type of Sicilian pizza with a twist to it.
Lions & Tigers & Squares at 268 West 23rd Street (Closed May 2025)
I treated myself to a sausage pizza which was loaded with fried sweet sausage, caramelized onions and they put a dash of maple syrup on top to add to the complexity. God was that delicious! There is so much flavor in each bite. I was not even planning on eating there but the pizza cook waved me inside and then sold me on it. I was lucky that he did!
Do not miss the Sausage Slice at Lions & Tigers & Squares
It was another great trip around the Island of Manhattan trying new restaurants and visiting old ones, viewing wonderful public art in the open-air art museum that New York City is, touring interesting parks and feeling like part of the neighborhood.
In both 2020 and July of 2022 because I had to start at West 42nd Street and it was so late, I just dragged myself home. Even going from the Circle Line to the Port Authority took its efforts. I was so stiff both times that it took some effort just to walk those blocks. In May of 2021 since we started at the Frances Tavern, I took the subway back to Port Authority and dragged my wet body home. In 2021, I had a lot more spring to my step and walked to the Port Authority.
I think spending the night in the City and starting at West 23rd Street was the best way of doing the walk. You are in the City to start and do not have to start so far uptown. It seems that the walk goes quicker when you start further downtown. You have a lot more energy in the morning and get the West Side done when you have the energy to finish it. You are not exhausted by the time you reach Battery Park.
For people who say that New York City is going downhill during COVID, I say to you walk the whole island and you will see the heart of the City is in the people who live here and the contributions they make to keep the City as great as it is. Remember there is more to Manhattan than just Midtown and Times Square. There is so much more to see!
For all its troubles, in 2022 I can see that the City is slowly starting to come back and there are more tourists visiting than before. Will it ever get back to 2019? Yes, but it will take some time. We will just have to learn to accept that COVID will be part of our lives and we will have to adapt to it. I am not going to let it dictate my life.
I dedicate these walks to my father, Warren Watrel, as my Father’s Day Gift of Remembrance. To my dad for all the wonderful afternoons we spent in New York City on Father’s Day. I felt you by my side that afternoon.
In 2024, when I did the official walk with Shorewalkers on May 4th, the weather had been mixed. It stared off as a beautiful sunny day so that made the walk very pleasant for walking the whole West Side of the island and up to Inwood Park. By 1:30pm, the clouds rolled in and it started to get gloomy and cool down. Still, it was the best walk I had ever done and I finished it in ten hours and forty-five minutes plus enough time to rest and watch everyone else come in. It was fun to watch the people who had done it for the first time get so excited. I was happy for them and a pleasure to watch.
I finished The Great Saunter in 2024 in ten hours and forty-five minutes. A new record.
I was so happy to finish. It is always a great accomplishment.
In June of 2024, I followed the same path as the original walk in May for the official walk with Shorewalkers Inc. Planning better, I stayed two nights at the Residence Inn at 170 Broadway (which I highly recommend due to the location by the start line at Fraunces Tavern), had a good breakfast both mornings and started the walk at 7:30am following the same path. Some of the artwork I had seen along the way was closed off because of the renovation and reconstruction of Battery Park but new works popped up. Either I had not noticed them before or maybe they had been moved around because of the renovation.
My walk in June 2024 unofficially:
What I like about doing the walk on my own is that I have the time to stop, take pictures, relax when I want to and not have a group of people dictating how fast I should go (or maybe I put that pressure on myself). I also don’t have annoying other walkers breathing down my back like in the May 2024 walk. I was able to stop where I needed to when there was an interesting photo opportunity. Also, more was in bloom during the June walk.
I stayed at the Residence Inn again at 170 Broadway again and my best friend arranged for me to have the room when I returned that day for another evening so there was no pressure to lug bags and go home like last year. I could relax when I back to the room, take a shower and sleep.
I got up around 6:00am on the Thursday morning and had a good breakfast at the hotel, something I did not have time for the last time we stayed at the hotel. The Breakfast Room did not open until 6:30am so when I got there it was really quiet. There were only about seven of us there eating.
The Residence Inn at 170 Broadway is the perfect place to stay for The Great Saunter
Breakfast is the most important meal when you are doing this walk and you need your share of proteins and carbs to make this walk successful. You need that good breakfast also because you don’t want to stop for snacks all the time. You had better bring water and bagged snacks with you for the trip.
The Breakfast Room at the Residence Inn
The Breakfast at the Residence Inn Downtown
My suggestion to anyone taking this walk is a good breakfast and take at least two bottles of water with you that you freeze the night before so when they melt you have cold water through your walk.
The renovated parts of Battery Park were open and in bloom that morning
I started my walk at 7:30am when it was still about 77 degrees outside so it was really a pleasure to walk in this weather. I knew that I needed to get to Inwood Park by 12:30pm as it would be 97 degrees by that point and I would need the rest and shade.
The Battery Park Pollinator Garden was new and I noticed its elegant gate to the gardens
The walk up the west side of Manhattan is a straight run and the trip to Inwood Park is the easiest part of the walk of the island with the exception of going up the hill by the Little Red Lighthouse but that is doable if you pace yourself well. Unlike the New York Marathon, which many of the walkers have done too, here you pace yourself and do the walk as you feel comfortable. During the official race, the Shorewalkers Inc. officials are at Fraunces Tavern until 10:30pm the night of the walk. When I do it on my own, I take my time, take lots of pictures and stop in parks to observe the views and small delis and bodegas to get snacks and meals. This is a time to explore the neighborhoods as well.
The view up the West Side of the island with Jersey City in the background
Since I did the walk on a Thursday morning and afternoon on the Summer Solstice, the crowds were not there blocking the way. I always have to maneuver around the slower walkers. This day it was walking around the early morning joggers and dogwalkers. It often amazes me how many people today are not at work by 9:00am. Things have really changed in the last twenty years as people work freelance and remotely.
This beautiful prism fence lit up some of the pollinator gardens as you walk through the South Cove
I also came across more outdoor art that I had either never noticed before or had been moved due to the renovation of the Battery Park. With a big portion of the park under renovation a lot of the art was moved to more open spaces and in all the walks I have taken since 2020, they never came to light. I swear you do not have to go to a museum to see famous works of sculpture and graffiti art. It is all outside for you to observe.
As I walked from park to park, there was a lot to admire on the New Jersey coastline of the Hudson River. You travel from Jersey City and Hoboken to Fort Lee and the Palisades. Then it is all park up the coast line. Along the way you observe the famous cliffs that were used for filming the “Perils of Pauline” the famous silent film shot back in the early teens.
The Cliffs of the Palisades
The “Perils of Pauline” and climbing those same cliffs in 1914
I continued up the coastline of the West Side of Manhattan on a beautiful sunny day that got progressively hotter.
Inwood Park
Inwood Park
I got up to Inwood Park in record time at 12:45pm and relaxed in the park for forty-five minutes. The worst part about being in the park is that there are no longer any outlets to charge your phone. I relaxed outside forty-five minutes before I asked one of the parks guys where I could charge my phone and he said that the City has covered everything up because of the homeless and ebikes. He told me good luck trying to find one.
I walked down the road from the park and stopped in the church of the Good Sheppard and relaxed in the very stuffy church (no air-conditioning) and charged my phone for an hour. Very spiritual yes on such an important day in my life but hot and sticky in the church. Still it felt like I should have visited there and I said a prayer to my father.
I was able to charge my phone in the church and say a prayer for my father
After I left the church, I stopped for a Coke at Luna Grocery on Sherman Street and continued down Sherman Street to 10th Avenue and made my way down Dyckman Avenue to FDR Drive and continued the journey to West 155th Street on a quiet afternoon. The sun was really out by this point and it did get hot. By this point in the afternoon, it was 96 degrees.
Luna Grocery is my ‘go to’ place for soda and snacks in Inwood which is on the path for The Great Saunter at 264 Sherman Avenue as you head through to 10th Avenue
From here, I followed the path that I took the last seven times doing this walk, visiting the same parks and viewing some of the same street art as the above walks. Not just sculptures and statuary but graffiti art as well that has some profound messages. Here and there though I noticed a few new works that I thought were inspiring:
Street art by 10th Avenue and Dyckman Street near the Dyckman Houses. A message
When I finished eating at King Pizza and made my way down East 143rd Street, I came across the most interesting artwork. I was not sure if it was artwork or just part of the building complex as there were no signs of what the artists name was or what the name of the piece was but I thought it was interesting.
The artwork on West 143rd Street outside the Bethune Towers
The artwork on West 143rd Street just outside the entrance to Bethune Towers
I never noticed how much artwork was on the walls of Harlem River Park. I had taken a few pictures of it in the past but either it has grown or I had to keep walking. You have to stop and admire these artists when walking past the bridge it is painted on. They keep expanding the artwork along the walls and it gets more interesting as you pass by.
The artwork in Harlem River Park
The painting’s artists
The paintings
The paintings
You have to admire these artists creativity. The murals keep growing.
Getting out of the park was pretty waring in that the homeless have camped themselves on the 128th Street Bridge and let’s just say I saw some things that I am glad that many out of towners did not have to experience when dealing with homeless with mental problems.
I know the path from Harlem River Park to 110th Street to Jefferson Park very well and I try to get through this section of Manhattan pretty quickly. No one bothers me but the cops always give me funny looks when they come across me.
What really surprised me is the hyper gentrification of Harlem seems to have slowed down a bit. I could not believe that by the Wagner Houses that all the buildings stopped being renovated. This section of Harlem pre-COVID was all under scaffolding.
East 120th Street across from the Wagner Houses
This section of Harlem around Second Avenue was all under scaffolding before COVID and I thought the whole area around the Wagner Houses was going to be the next big neighborhood. It still looks a bit run down in 2024. I still think this stretch of Harlem will be big deal one day and be the latest hip neighborhood.
I got down to Jefferson Park and could not believe how crowded it was for a weekday. People were out and about on this hot afternoon having picnics and barbecues. They were even preparing the pool for its summer opening. I just snapped a few pictures of the statuary and of the people enjoying themselves and off I went down the East River Esplanade trying to get to Carl Schulz Park while the sun was still out and not beating down on me. Even with all the smells of barbecued food, I was still stuffed from the meatball sandwich from King Pizza.
Just as I was passing East 100th Street and making the turn for the Upper East Side, another piece of artwork caught my eye.
The artwork along the fence between East 100th-98th Streets by artist Carmen Paulino “We care for Harlem”
This creative work was all colors of the rainbow and showed the creative spirit of the neighborhood. Still it is an engaging piece of art and you need to look at each panel of the fence to appreciate it.
Carmen Paulino is a Manhattan-based mixed media, fiber artist, or yarn bomber, who uses her art to beautify and strengthen the community (Artist bio).
When I got to Carl Schulz Park by East 84th Street, the park was just as beautiful as was in the early Spring. Being later in the day, the pack was packed with families. This is where I freshen up a bit and refill the water bottles. The water fountains here have the coldest water and they always work! Their bathrooms are some of the best in the City.
Carl Schulz Park
Carl Schulz Park
I continued my trip down the East River Esplanade to the stop at John Jay Park near the entrance to Sutton Place. The views were amazing and the day was so crystal clear.
Looking over Carl Schulz Park during the walk
I headed down the East Side Esplanade with the most beautiful views of Brooklyn.
The Hell Gate overlooking Queens from Carl Schulz Park
John Jay Park was in full swing when I passed it that afternoon. The families were out in force. By that point, school was out for the day and the kids were running all over the park. The pool was filled as it was getting ready for the opening.
John Jay Park in the late afternoon
I had not traveled through the park in a long time, just walked fast around it. I had not seen these sculptures by artist Douglas Abdell in a long time. When I passed through the park, some small child was hitting them with a pole. These are museum quality sculptures and people do not know what they are or how valuable they are worth.
Artist Douglas Abdell is an American born artist who graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Syracuse University. In the last 30 years his work has been devoted to political and social themes related to the Mediterranean Countries and their history more specifically Phoenician and Arabic with their specific symbols and languages.[3] The materials of these works are cast bronze, carved stone and etchings (Wiki).
I got down to Sutton Place in record time. Walking down York Avenue to the UN is a pretty straight run and I got down to the turn by the East River Promenade again. When I turned the corner at East 35th Street to go to the East River Promenade, I came across a series of paintings on the local school that I had not noticed in all the previous walks. They must have been put after the May walk. The works are entitled “Towards Wisdom” and are very interesting.
Artist Jesse Bransford is a New York-based artist whose work is exhibited internationally at venues including The Carnegie Museum of Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum, PS 1 Contemporary Art Center and the CCA Wattis Museum among others. He holds degrees from the New School for Social Research (BA), Parsons School of Design (BFA) and Columbia University (MFA). A professor of art at New York University, Bransford’s work has been involved with belief and the visual systems it creates since the 1990s (Artist bio).
This time around it was light our when I got to the lower East Side and East River Park. This time around it was not as scary. It was still light out and everyone from school groups to families to hipsters playing baseball were in the park. This time around I got over the 10th Avenue Bridge as fast and I could and walked down Avenue D while it was still light out. On a Tuesday night at twilight is very different from 9:30pm on a Saturday night.
I followed the path I had through the Twin Bridges neighborhood and through the twists and turns of the Seaport and Chinatown. All along South Street there was every obstacle you could imagine that was not there a month earlier. Construction signs, barrels, closed roads and everything under FDR Driver was cordoned off where it was not before. I swear that everything the Shorewalkers said to me the day of the official walk was true. You have to keep walking this route because every day it changes.
There was a small section of South Street that was open but not all the way. Here though, I got some of the most beautiful pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge, Downtown Brooklyn and South Street as well as Lower Manhattan.
The view of Brooklyn from Stuyvesant Cove around twilight
Downtown Brooklyn at dusk
The Brooklyn Bridge and Downtown Brooklyn at dusk
The Brooklyn Bridge
Passing the busy South Street Seaport
I finished the walk independently in 2024 at 9:45pm, three hours later than the official walk. The stops to charge my phone added on about two hours and it was 97 degrees that day. It made the walk much slower than a 80 degree still. Still, no problems with the walk. Thirty-three miles in one day. Wait until next year.
I finally finished for the day just as it was getting dark but stopped to take pictures as night fell.
Me at the end of the unofficial walk in June 2024 at 9:45pm. It took longer but the pictures I got were fantastic!
I lucked out because Maricel arranged for me to have another night at the Residence Inn and I got back to the room, showered and then fell fast asleep. I had a late check out at 4:00pm so I just at breakfast the next morning and went back to bed and then read until I left at 4:00pm that afternoon. That was a better way to do then leaving after the walk.
Another great three walks for The Great Saunter! I don’t think Griffin Dunne could have done better! (Still my hero in that great film and we both got out of Lower Manhattan!).
Dedicated to my father, Warren Watrel:
Happy Father’s Day to all Fathers!
Justin Watrel with his father, Warren Watrel
Happy Father’s Day Dad!
With much love from your son Justin!
My walk around the island on August 2nd, 2025:
The weather finally broke and the temperature and humidity went down. I had Saturday off and I figured it was the best day to do the Saunter on my own. My students had been over whelming me with questions right before their presentation and I needed to clear the cobwebs out of my head. This was the best way to do it.
It started off a little rough dealing with a bus driver on the early morning bus who gave me attitude when he closed the door on me as I tried to enter. He claimed he did not see me but he was looking at me the whole time. I was not too pleased and said so. After that, we got into the City in record time.
The start of my walk on West 42nd Street
When I do the Great Saunter on my own, I start on West 42nd Street because I feel the it’s just easier to get home when I am done. The City seemed so quiet that morning and I got to the river quickly and started my walk just outside the Circle Line Station on West 42nd Street.
Walking through the Hudson River Park
I made my way up the West Side in record time. The first eighty blocks I did in less than two hours.
Hudson River Park near the West 60’s in the summer
Pier i Cafe preparing to open for the day. I have been wanting to try this restaurant for a while.
I flew past the Seagull Wall on my way to the edge of Harlem. Unlike the Official Saunter in May, the Henry Hudson walkway was open again.
The Seagull Wall by Inwood Park
The Seagull Wall
Reaching Harlem Meer Park
Reaching Fort Washington Park in the early afternoon
Fort Washington Park right under the George Washington Bridge was just breathtaking that afternoon. The skies were clear and sun was not hot.
The view of the George Washington Bridge from the park in the early afternoon
Another view of the bridge
The ‘Great Gray Bridge and the Little Red Lighthouse’
The view of Lower Manhattan from the Little Red Lighthouse
I left Fort Washington Park past Washington Heights through Inwood Park and its virgin forests and twisting paths.
I love walking through the park on a beautiful summer day. The pathways are so removed from noise and people you would never know you were in Manhattan.
The beauty of Inwood Park
Once in Inwood Park by the ballfields, I did not realize they were under renovation. So I had to walk completely around the park to go to the bathroom. I swear these bathrooms are getting worse with time.
After a quick rest and bathroom break, I walked through the Inwood Farmers Market and noticed that they were selling a lot of nice things. Not cheap mind you but excellent quality.
After I left Inwood, it was time for the long walk down FDR Drive. The one nice thing about taking the walk today is how it cooled down.
Walking through the top of Washington Heights
The views along the East River today were just spectacular. It was clear, sunny and breezy.
The view on the East River
The view further down FDR Drive
The view as you get closer to 155th Street
I finally got to the crossroads and crossed 155th Street and started the walk down Edgecombe Avenue. This block is started to change again.
The apartment houses along Edgecombe Avenue are all being renovated
When I crossed over East 145th Street and Edgecombe Avenue, I had to stop. I needed a rest and I was starved. I had wanted to try the new Charles Pan-Fried Chicken at 340 West 145th Street for a long time, so I stopped and had lunch.
Charles Pan Fried Chicken at 340 West 145th Street
The chicken and Mac & Cheese was just as delicious as I remembered. I did remember getting a second side in the Charles Special though.
I ordered what I had before, the Charles Special, which was two pieces of fried chicken, a breast and a wing, a side of Mac & Cheese, a piece of cornbread and a limeade. The food was just wonderful and it hit the spot.
My lunch that afternoon
The portion sizes were very generous
Yum!
After a good lunch, I was ready to start my walk again. I just need to find the impossible public restroom. I went into Jackie Robinson Park across the street but they were both closed. So I had to wait and go to Charles Young Park and go there. The bathrooms are a horror here and try to find a restaurant you can go to when in this area.
I winded my way through the twists and turns of Harlem and could not believe how quiet the streets were that afternoon. I barely saw anyone.I finally got around the Wagner Houses and make it to Pleasant Avenue.
I saw the giglio in the middle of the street and checked my phone. The ceremony would be that Saturday and I made a note to try to make it.
I got to Jefferson Park in the late afternoon and took another break. I had had a heavy lunch and still needed to digest.
Jefferson Park in the summer of 2025
Jefferson Park on a busy summer day
Jefferson Park sculptures
After I left the park, I took the long walk down the Riverwalk along the East River until I got to Carl Schulz Park and took a bathroom and water break. The water fountains at the park offer the coldest and sweetest water and I am not sure why but I always fill my water bottles here.
The Riverwalk by the East River at East 85th Street
The view by Carl Schulz Park and Ward Randall Island
After my break, I continued the walk down the Upper East Side and then walked through Turtle Bay, Kips Bay and the Lower East Side. Along the way, I saw the most unusual street art.
Street art on the Upper East Side
Street art on the Lower East Side
Street art on the Lower East Side
I saw this by the South Street Seaport
I reached the Battery Park North Cove by 6:30pm
From Battery Park City, I took the long walk back up the Upper West Side. By this point, my lower legs started to stiffen up and it was starting the sunset. I made it back to the Circle Line Boat dock by 8:30pm. It took me thirteen hours to do the walk this time which was pretty good considering all the breaks. This will be the last time I do this until 2016. It was still a great walk!
mywalkinmanhattan 