"Didja Know?" by Cornelius A. Hubner

I wish I had met Cornelius [Cornie] A. Hubner.

He is responsible for a series of articles documenting the history and stories associated with Smoke Rise, the days of Francis S. Kinney and the early days of Kinnelon. The series was titled "Didja Know?" and appeared starting on June 15, 1985 in the Smoke Rise Club News.

The stories are magical.

Cornie lived at 218 Hemlock Lane. He started writing these stories at around age 85, producing close to 100. Nowadays, the newsletter comes out twice per month. I suspect it came out once a month back then. Assuming he wrote one story per issue, Cornie would have written this series for over 8 years... Wow.

Cornie writes: "Beginning with the one paragraph contribution "Eagles," June 15, 1985, and encouraged by the Editors' reception of "Prices," two months later, the column became a full page story. Historical dates are included with otherwise unrecorded facts?, hearsay and folklore embellished my sometimes vague recollections of almost 90 years."

My biggest regret is that these stories aren't digitally available so they can come alive again for a new generation of Kinnelon and Smoke Rise residents.... So, when appropriate, I intend to quote from Cornie's writings whenever possible to add context, perspective, and texture to the stories I share with you here.

I strongly recommend that you get yourself a copy of the articles from the Smoke Rise Club Office. By the way, you may already have a copy from the packet you received when you moved into Smoke Rise. A second copy costs $6 and is well worth the money. It is sponsored by the Women of Smoke Rise and dedicated to Cornie's wife of 67 years, Peg.

According to Lynn in the Smoke Rise Office, Cornie was a wonderful man who loved the community -- an old school gentleman who always drove around with a cap on his head. He was brought up in Butler, and was probably one of the early residents of Smoke Rise.

He died in 1992.

I think Cornie would have been a natural at blogging.



Technorati Tags: Didja Know Smoke Rise Kinnelon Cornelius A. Hubner Cornie Hubner Del.icio.us Tags: Didja Know Smoke Rise Kinnelon Cornelius A. Hubner Cornie Hubner

St. Hubert's Chapel Visit

Imagine a perfect July day and the opportunity to take a boat trip through time to visit St. Hubert's Chapel on Lake Kinnelon... Would you hesitate? I sure didn't. In fact, I stood in line so I wouldn't miss out!

St. Hubert's Chapel sits on Chapel Island, the largest island in Kinnelon Lake in Smoke Rise. [See Lake Kinnelon Walk for a description of the islands].

The only way to access the chapel is by boat. Think of the implications...

Francis S. Kinney built St. Hubert's Chapel for his wife, Mary, so she wouldn't have to travel the 7 miles to the nearest church at the time, St. Anthony of Padua in Butler, NJ [which features a stained glass window with Kinney's name].

That time was the late 1880s.

Per the St. Hubert's Chapel booklet available if you take part in a tour of the chapel:

"In the Spring of 1886, Mr. Kinney, using his walking stick, drew a crude ground plan for the future chapel on the rough soil of the tiny island in the center of Lake Kinnelon [aka Stickle Pond]. No one knows why Mr. Kinney chose the remote island location for St. Hubert's Chapel. Some speculate that the location was symbolic of either the remote areas where St. Hubert established Christianity or Kinney's desire to place a watery separation between church and state.

Construction of St. Hubert's Chapel was conducted quietly and secretly, and its structure was erected in complete harmony with its rural environment. Rough stones were gathered from the slopes surrounding the lake, and during the winter, massive horse drawn sleds were used to transport them across the frozen lake to the remote island. The church proper and clock tower were completed first. Initially, the interior was a counterpart to the exterior, rough and unhewn. The ceiling was made of oaken rafters and the window frames were of massive oak as well.

The Chapel looked cold and cheerless in its early unfinished condition. Yet, on the morning of the feast of Ss. Chrysanthus and Daria, the Chapel was consecrated by William Wigger, Bishop of Newark, and placed under the patronage of Saint Hubert. It was then that Mr. Kinney determined to give his island shrine historical significance by reproducing, with meticulous historical and artistic accuracy, a medieval chapel from the period in which St. Hubert lived. To accomplish the task, Mr. Kinney commissioned Louis C. Tiffany to undertake the Chapel's interior decoration."

From a series of articles titled "Didja Know?" in the Smoke Rise Newsletter by Cornelius A. Hubner, starting in 1985, come these details:

"The cornerstone of St. Hubert's was laid nearly 100 years ago in 1886. The chapel completed in 1889 was consecrated by Bishop Wigger of the Newark Diocese* assisted by the Rt. Rev. James Dougherty and several priests from the Mission of St. Anthony in Butler."

Sitting in our boat, as we made our way to the chapel, and then back to the mainland afterwards, I couldn't help but feel awe over the scope of the project, and the logistics associated with getting workers, tools, materials and equipment across water.

Next: the interior of St. Hubert's Chapel

Note: I found no reference to Bishop William Wigger, only to Bishop Winand M. Wigger of Newark.

Technorati Tags: St. Hubert's Chapel Smoke Rise Kinnelon Francis S. Kinney Didja Know Louis C. Tiffany Del.icio.us Tags: St. Hubert's Chapel Smoke Rise Kinnelon Francis S. Kinney Didja Know Louis C. Tiffany

Meet C.B. Whittemore

We moved to Smoke Rise in June of 2004 from Bergen, County New Jersey.

As have many of the people we've met here, we moved to escape density and congestion and find a more family-friendly place to bring up our daughter. Although it's been everything we expected, it has been even more that we ever thought possible.

Much of that has to do with belonging to a lake community - something I had never experienced before - combined with inherent contrasts: proximity to New York City's concrete jungle vs. bears, lakes and preserved farmland; being on the edge of modern suburbia yet being surrounded by vestiges of an industrial and historic hotbed.

Although I moved around quite a bit growing up, some of my favorite memories had to do with magical beaches and outdoor places where, as a kid, I could spend hours watching, catching small fish, building underwater sea castles, drying seaweed, collecting rocks, watching the ebb and flow of the tide, or just curling up with a book. I sense that magic around Lake Kinnelon, Smoke Rise, Kinnelon and the other towns in this part of Northern New Jersey. It's a place where imagination can run wild.

I'd like to capture all of that, and share it as I've learned to do blogging at Flooring The Consumer and The Carpetology Blog, and also via photos on Flickr.

I intend to describe marvelous local finds, like What's In Your Neighborhood? The High Point Brewery in Butler, NJ, and learn more about Boonton, Skylands, Silas Condict, Pyramid Park and the Morris Canal.

I hope others living in or around Smoke Rise and Kinnelon will contribute here, and - in the not too distant future - that my daughter will be sufficiently in awe of snapping turtles and black bears to document here what she learns.

I invite you to take part in this adventure.



P.S.: My daughter learned how to ride her bike today!

Technorati Tags: C.B. Whittemore Smoke Rise Kinnelon NJ Del.icio.us Tags: C.B. Whittemore Smoke Rise Kinnelon NJ

The Land Where The Smoke Rises

I had the best of intentions at the recent Smoke Rise Beach Campout. I truly wanted to capture my very own image of smoke rising.

After all, Lisa and Ted had seen it when they stood in line to reserve picnic tables on July 5th, the day of the fireworks. That was 5:30am.

I missed it. This photo - taken at around 7am captures the complete stillness of the water. Unfortunately, no smoke...

I love the name "Smoke Rise." It conjures up images of steam rising over lake waters, of rich, dense vegetation, full trees, rocky terrain from which mountains rise and over which waters trickle [or rush after a major rain] back down to the lake.

It also matches up with the history surrounding the area.

Several sources [including the Smoke Rise website] state that Lenni-Lenape Indians [also known as the Ramapough Mountain Indians] named the area surrounding Smoke Rise 'The Land Where the Smoke Rises.' They hunted and farmed in the area and must have spent many an early morning close to the lake admiring the rising smoke of the water.

Of course, given how many lakes exist in this area, this entire section of northern New Jersey must have fit that description.

Interestingly, in the early 1700s, given the relative proximity to New York ports, those areas with access to rushing waters [i.e., power], trees [for charcoal] and iron ore became centers of intense industry. In 1766, the London Company established the Charlotteburg Furnace on the Pequannock River.

According to Barbara and Ernie Suto's site describing the history of Kinnelon, "Ruins of the furnace still lie under the water of the Pequannock Reservoir, south of Smoke Rise's North Gate. Other forges were built on the Pequannock River at Smith's Mills and Butler, and on the outlet of Stickle's Pond (Lake Kinnelon) on Stony Brook."

[Many of these names appear on local maps. On this MapQuest image, I added some of the names. Note that Route 23 in this section follows the course of the Pequannock River.]

"The typical furnace was a stone pyramid on the side of a hill. A platform was built along which layers of ore, fuel, and flux were wheeled to the opening atop the furnace. The mixture was dropped into the furnace and ignited. Air blasts from bellows powered by water wheels kept the fires intense. Gradually, the iron ore melted and the heavy metal flowed out at the base of the furnace into troughs of sand on the casting floor. The arrangement of these cooling beds resembled a sow and her piglets: thus the term "pig iron." Slag floating above the iron was drawn off and discarded. The pig iron was further purified and shaped in the forge."

[Photos of the Carlisle Furnace by Pat Henson and of an Iron Furnace in Kentucky by kyterryls shots give you an idea of the construction. This one of the Cyfarthfa Furnaces by locus imagination includes copious notes about the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in SW.]

"Charcoal was painstakingly prepared in the surrounding hills. Trees had to be cut down during the wintertime, trimmed to the proper size, stacked in cone-shaped piles, and topped with earth and damp leaves. Once ignited, it took three to ten days to char the wood properly. When furnaces were in full blast, it took an acre of trees a day to feed the fires. Some of Kinnelon's roads were once wagon trails where teams of oxen hauled charcoal to the furnaces.

England demanded that the colonies ship all their iron to the mother country and buy from her all their finished hardgoods. By 1770, one seventh of the world's iron was being produced in this region, and England's unjust law soon made rebels of the people of New Jersey. The Highlands' natural barrier to transportation kept the mines and forges safe from British attacks, and left the colonists with a plentiful supply of iron for guns, shot and tools. A huge iron chain forged in this area stretched across the Hudson River near West Point to bar British ships. The hills rang with the banging of trip hammer, the rumble of wagons, and the roar of many fires."

Imagine how polluted the air must have been, how denuded the mountain side - an acre of trees per day to keep the fires going. It boggles the mind.

For more information about the Charlotteburg Ironworks, I encourage you to read Chapter 10 of Kinnelon: A History by Lucy A. Meyer, the town historian. Although the book is available only for reference at the Kinnelon Library, Kinnelon.com has posted a copy of Chapter 10 The Great Charlotteburg Furnace Tract online. You'll find maps and sketches that bring it all to life.

Back to the name 'Smoke Rise.'

In 1922 the borough of Kinnelon was incorporated. Up to that point, 'Kinnelon' had been the name of Francis S. Kinney's estate [i.e., Kinney's lawn]. It seems that he generously gave that name to the new borough while taking on the name 'Smoke Rise' for his property. In 1946, when the property started its transformation into a residential development, it became The Smoke Rise Club, "one of the earliest community club plans in the United States."

Technorati Tags: Smoke Rise Kinnelon Charlotteburg Furnace New Jersey Del.icio.us Tags: Smoke Rise Kinnelon Charlotteburg Furnace New Jersey

A Smoke Rise Ghost Story: The Purple Bishop

As read from the campfire at the recent Smoke Rise Beach campout that took place Saturday, July 19th, 2008 - the third Saturday in July - with St. Hubert's Chapel lit up in the distance...

"In the past, there have been many tales of the Purple Bishop, but in fact none of those stories was true. Fortunately, after extensive research and the assistance of old newspapers, the truth has finally been revealed. The following is the true story of vandalism, ghosts, and strange disappearances.

The tale begins with a young priest by the name of Father O'Malley who, in the year 1899, was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Paterson. One night, while Bishop O'Malley was sleeping, a group of teenage boys entered his church in Paterson and began to destroy the pews, the windows and other religious symbols. When Bishop O'Malley heard his church being destroyed, he ran to the altar. In an attempt to escape, the boys knocked over two candles setting the church on fire. After ten minutes a crowd appeared outside the church and noticed Bishop O'Malley dressed in purple robes exit the front of the church with burned arms and legs, a mutilated face and the cross that had once hung above the altar.

Devastated by the loss of his church and the tragedy that he had experienced, Bishop O'Malley resigned from his position and accepted the offer of a Mr. Kinney, who was looking for a priest and caretaker for the small chapel on his estate that is today known as Smoke Rise. No one knows why, but Bishop O'Malley was never the same and he began to promote an entirely new view of God and preaching. Rather than focus on hope and love, Bishop O'Malley revealed the cruelty and brutality of religion. In so doing, he scared many of the parishioners and especially Mrs. Kinney. Because Mr. Kinney was not satisfied with Bishop O'Malley he did not fully grant the Bishop's dying wish - to be buried under the second step of the chapel, with the mysterious cross he had saved from the fire so many years ago. When Bishop O'Malley died, he was buried in the chosen location, however his cross remained above the altar rather than at his side.

About twenty years ago on the third Saturday in July, three boys decided to camp out at Smoke Rise Beach. That very night they also decided to break into St. Hubert's Chapel. With a sledge hammer and rocks they proceeded to destroy the stained glass windows, knock the heads off of statues, ring the bell and steal the cross that was hanging above the altar. As they were running out of the chapel, one of the boys dropped the sledge hammer on the second step, cracking it open and revealing a hollow space large enough to fit a body. Ignoring the hole, the boys took their boat and the mysterious cross back to the beach, where they slept the night.

In the morning, two of the boys awoke to find that their friend was missing. They found the cross in the woods where their friend has left it. The boys and all of Smoke Rise searched days and days for the missing friend, but his body was never recovered.

The next year, on the exact same date, the two boys went back to their original campsite, to mourn the loss of their friend and to try and make sense of what had happened that night. At around midnight, the boys heard something in the water. They walked to the shore of the lake to see what was there. However, the night was so cloudy that they couldn't see anything. Suddenly, the moon broke through the clouds and in the water they saw the ghost of their friend. Both the boys gasped in horror as the ghost approached them and said:

"Help me find the cross... Help me or I will never rest in peace. The Purple Bishop wants his cross. He will never stop until it is returned to him. Help!"

Frightened, the two boys began to run away. But it was no use and the last anyone heard of the boys was their screams. They were never seen again!

No one ever found what killed the three friends, but every year on the third Saturday in July, it is said that the Purple Bishop returns from the dead, to search for his cross. He will never stop searching until the cross is returned to him and he is allowed to rest in peace at the chapel with the cross by his side."

----------------------
This being my first campout, I had never heard about The Purple Bishop. However, it seems that many versions of Purple Bishop stories exist...

I love how particularly relevant to Smoke Rise this version is bringing in Mr. Kinney, St. Hubert's Chapel, the beach and vandals. [Note: our telling of The Purple Bishop included impressive sound effects, some coming from the lake waters...]

St. Hubert's Chapel has seen at least two waves of vandalism. From the booklet on St. Hubert's, we know the following: "In 1957, four teenage boys and a girl from the community broke into the Chapel and destroyed and looted its precious interior. Despite efforts to repair the damaged Chapel and protect it from further harm, thoughtless vandalism persisted. Birds gained access through broken windows and nested in the Chapel's interior. Several efforts were made during the early and middle sixties to reverse the destructive trend. However, these attempts were short lived."

Although a great deal of effort has gone into restoring the Chapel, it is but a shadow of its original magnificence. In upcoming posts, I'll show you photos and share more about the Chapel.

In the meantime, may the Smoke Rise version of the Purple Bishop forever discourage children from vandalism of any sort!


Technorati Tags: Smoke Rise Beach St. Hubert's Chapel Kinney The Purple Bishop Del.icio.us Tags: Smoke Rise Beach St. Hubert's Chapel Kinney The Purple Bishop

Lake Kinnelon Walk

I mentioned, in Welcome To The Smoke Rise Blog, a recent hike. More specifically, this was a July 4th walk along a 1.3 mile trail fronting Lake Kinnelon in Smoke Rise, NJ.

From the image to the left, you see my approximation of the trail [note the white, straight line to the left of the lake].

This walk was magical. My niece, Kelly, accompanied us. The day was understated - muggy, misty grey and quiet - but perfect for on foot exploration. Perhaps twenty of us, including three dogs, had assembled for this trek.

Our guide, Ken Bitz, whom you see below pointing, shared the following information with us:

Lake Kinnelon was formerly known as Stickle Pond. It became Lake Kinnelon in 1925 when the town of Kinnelon was incorporated. Prior to becoming incorporated, Kinnelon was part of Pequannock.

I found this reference to the lake from page 3 of HYDROLOGIC ENGINEERING USING THE HEC-HMS MODULE: "Stickle Pond (Lake Kinnelon) is located in Morris County, New Jersey at a latitude 41°00’ and longitude
74°25’. Its surface area is 124 acres, which accounts for 7.4% of the total 1683 acres of its watershed." [Note: this document includes some fascinating topographic charts.]

Lake Kinnelon was dammed in 1888 via a dam built in Talbot Cove [in the photo above, Talbot Cove is the right-most cove] which raised the lake level by three feet. Before the dam was built, a dirt road went from the Causeway [the site of the current boat launch] to West Short Drive [from the photo above, imagine a road extending across from the topmost road parallel to the top of the photo across the lake]. That is now under water.

The dam is topped with a series of 8" boards that can be adjusted to regulate water flow. Water flows along the exit road by the East Gate and into Forge Pond.

Many streams [like Noisy Brook] and underground springs feed the lake.

Tree stumps line the bottom of the lake. Before the dam was built, all the trees growing in what was to become the enlarged lake were cut down, but the stumps were never removed.

The lake includes four islands [circled faintly in red in the image above]: at the top: Duck Island; bottom middle: Chapel Island, the most famous and distinguished island because of its chapel, built in 1896 shortly after the dam and expansion of the lake; at the bottom, Blueberry Island and tiny Pea Island.

The lake includes several coves:
+ North Cove [at the top]
+ Talbot Cove [to the bottom right]
+ Bass or Ice House Cove [to the bottom, middle] + Pickerel Cove [bottom, left]

The lake averages a depth of 6 feet, deepening to 14 feet in Talbot Cove.

John Carpenter - pictured here looking at the camera - has been intensely involved in managing the ecosystem of the lake, including its fish stock. Lake Kinnelon has been cited "as being of great clarity and natural balance between wildlife and people." The algae carpet provides excellent nutrition for the fish.

Each year, the lake is stocked with fish, paid for with Smoke Rise fishing license fees, which this year included 10,000 minnows, 100 shiners, 200 wall eye fish, 500 adult fish [sunfish, bluegill, yellow perch, pickerel, bass, catfish, cray fish] and snails, mussels and newts in the swimming area to keep the water clear. The lake has a healthy population of turtles.

We've seen recent growth in the beaver population which had led to banding trees to prevent them from being downed.

Parts of the lake are treated with algaecide [i.e., the swim area] and other parts, hydro-raked for weeds [e.g., the North Cove area].

The walk - as I mentioned - was magical, with each step bringing another aspect of the lakefront in view. I didn't know where to look first as the path itself was rather amazing with moss clumps, winding waterways and puddingstone boulders.

I hope to do it again soon.

NOTE added 10/6/08: 

The West Shore Trail is marked yellow, per the Smoke Rise & Locale Trail Directions.

The northern trailhead is just before lot #783 on West Shore Drive.  The trail can also be accessed at the mid-point by way of a 100 ft. access at lot #801.  The trail runs along the lakeshore, provides numerous viewpoints and access to Pickerel Point.  It has also been developed as a nature trail with 24 species of trees marked with silver dials numbered for identification.  [I will look for these next time I walk the trail.] The southern trailhead can also be accessed between lots #825 and #829.

Technorati Tags: Lake Kinnelon Stickle Pond Smoke Rise NJ Del.icio.us Tags: Lake Kinnelon Stickle Pond Smoke Rise NJ



PS: My personal thanks to George Cox for helping me figure out names.

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.

Technorati Tags: Smoke Rise Blog Smoke Rise NJ Kinnelon Del.icio.us Tags: Smoke Rise Blog Smoke Rise NJ Kinnelon