Welcome to the Smoke Rise Blog!

Welcome to the Smoke Rise Blog!

I invite you to experience with me the sights, sounds and history of this magical place!

It's a place filled with nature, nestled in the foothills of the Ramapo Mountains in Northwestern New Jersey.

It's also a place filled with history, starting out as Kinnelon, Francis Kinney's estate in the late 1800s [i.e., Kinney's Lawn]. Kinnelon is now the name of the borough of which Smoke Rise is a part.

I'm in awe of history. Particularly the history that lets you envision how others went about their lives: traveling, working, playing, obtaining food, communicating, interacting... It's not that often that you find that kind of history in your backyard, ready to be pieced together with other aspects of local history.

At the same time, the information hasn't all been gathered in one place. Some of it sits in brochures and articles that were published long ago. Other aspects reside in a few people's memories, only available via word-of-mouth. If you're lucky, you get to hear about it firsthand.

Some elements intersect with the stories that other museums, parks and historic properties around the area tell. How, then, to integrate it all and make it come alive?

That's something I've been trying to figure out.

This past July 4th weekend, I took part in a hike along a trail I had heard about, but hadn't been sure how to find. My friend Lisa mentioned it as we had both speculated about this trail which follows the edge of a portion of Lake Kinnelon. The hike was to include historic commentary.

Three days later, Lisa and I took a boat to Chapel Island to take part in another tour, this one of St. Hubert's Chapel.

At one point, Lisa turned to me and said: "This might make a good blog!"

Hence the Smoke Rise Blog!



Added 11/8/09: Note - The Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog has no affiliation with The Smoke Rise Club, Inc. All of the opinions shared in this blog are completely our personal views and are in no way those of The Smoke Rise Club corporation. The Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog is completely owned and created by Christine & Ted Whittemore.

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