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INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
FALL <strong>2022</strong> VOL. 14 NO. 6<br />
Witch You Were Here!<br />
October is a bewitching good time for these ladies in Lake Rogerene<br />
RACING AROUND<br />
STATE BY STATE<br />
A LIFE IN MUSIC<br />
WINNER, WINNER,<br />
CHICKEN DINNER<br />
BEACON OF LIGHT
Landscape Supply • Dumpster Rentals • Recycling Facility • Pavers & Outdoor Living<br />
LOCATED UNDER<br />
THE FLAG ON RT. 15
I<br />
From the Editor<br />
love my job. I really do.<br />
It’s challenging, no doubt about that, but in a good way.<br />
As many of you know—because you see me at so many different events all around the area—I don’t<br />
work a typical Monday through Friday, 9-to-5 schedule. I do spend a lot of time in my office in front of<br />
my computer, but there’s usually something I have to do that has me zipping around the community—<br />
like running to cover an event or dashing to meet someone for an interview or photo shoot.<br />
At any time, on any day, before, during or after my time in the office, I might be on the move. More<br />
to the point, I work when I have to, and I go wherever the story takes me.<br />
It’s the nature of the business and having an unconventional work schedule for me seems, well,<br />
conventional. It fits my personality, and I can’t see myself doing it any other way.<br />
And while it does add time to a normal eight-hour workday or 40-hour workweek, the plus side is I<br />
get to take part in a variety of unusual and unique experiences, I get to meet a lot of new and interesting<br />
people and I get to sample a lot of tasty foods.<br />
For example, in this issue there’s a story about West Side United Methodist Church’s annual chicken<br />
barbeque fundraiser. Yep, a good ol’ fashioned chicken barbeque. (See page 18)<br />
I’ve known about this yearly summer event for quite some time. I have a thick notebook full of pages<br />
where I dutifully squirrel away business cards, contact numbers, story ideas and event dates. Every once<br />
in a while, I will scan the pages, looking for any tidbit of information that might spark a story idea.<br />
In January, as I was preparing my <strong>2022</strong> story budget, I came across the notes about the barbeque and<br />
decided this would be the summer to write the story. Lo and behold, when I made the first call, I found<br />
out <strong>2022</strong> would mark the event’s 50th anniversary. Whew. Perfect timing. (Actually, last year should<br />
have been number 50, but the pandemic caused a delay.)<br />
So, on a Saturday night in August, writer Melissa Summers and I—along with some of our family<br />
members—spent an hour or so at a table under a pop-up tent on the church grounds, devouring half<br />
of a chicken that had been dipped in a secret sauce and perfectly cooked over a charcoal fire.<br />
By the time we sat down for dinner, we had already done most of our interviews and taken most of<br />
the photos, which gave us an opportunity to enjoy the food and talk to some folks. Not a bad way to<br />
spend a Saturday night. And for the record, I highly recommend putting this event on your calendar<br />
for next summer. I know I’ll be back. I’m told it’s always the Saturday before Labor Day weekend.<br />
For the cover story in this issue, I didn’t sample any food, but I did get to meet some very interesting<br />
people. The story is about a group of women who have a slightly obsessive appreciation for witches, and<br />
Halloween is their time of the year. (See page 22.)<br />
Writer Ellen Wilkowe and I met them at their big celebration last year—I needed photos to go with<br />
this year’s story. As you can see from those photos, there’s not a wicked witch in the bunch, just a group<br />
of entertaining humorous women, embracing their witchy side by dressing the part. Not something<br />
I’d do (I’m not a fan of dressing up), but I appreciate the time, the effort and the commitment it takes<br />
to pull this off.<br />
Also in this issue is a story by Mike Daigle about some of the small<br />
cemeteries and burial grounds in the area. Not an easy story to research,<br />
as it turned out, and we just scratched the surface. But what we did find is<br />
incredibly interesting, thanks to some local folks who provided additional<br />
information and insight. (See page 8)<br />
With this issue complete, I am already looking toward the next one and<br />
looking forward to meeting new people and experiencing new things. And<br />
as the next issue comes together, I know I’ll be jumping from the office to<br />
the outside world at random hours throughout the coming weeks—but I<br />
wouldn’t want it any other way.<br />
—Karen<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
Witch You Were Here!<br />
October is a bewitching good time for these ladies in Lake Rogerene<br />
FALL <strong>2022</strong> VOL. 14 NO. 6<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
KAREN FUCITO<br />
Editor<br />
editor@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
973-663-2800<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Michael Stephen Daigle<br />
Melissa Summers<br />
Maria Vogel-Short<br />
Ellen Wilkowe<br />
COLUMNISTS<br />
Marty Kane<br />
Heather Shirley<br />
Barbara Simmons<br />
EDITING AND LAYOUT<br />
Maria DaSilva-Gordon<br />
Randi Cirelli<br />
ADVERTISING SALES<br />
Lynn Keenan<br />
advertising@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
973-222-0382<br />
PRINTING<br />
Imperial Printing & Graphics, Inc.<br />
PUBLISHER<br />
Camp Six, Inc.<br />
10 Nolan’s Point Park Road<br />
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849<br />
LHN OFFICE LOCATED AT:<br />
37 Nolan’s Point Park Road<br />
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849<br />
To sign up for<br />
home delivery of<br />
Lake Hopatcong News<br />
call<br />
973-663-2800<br />
or email<br />
editor@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
RACING AROUND<br />
STATE BY STATE<br />
A LIFE IN MUSIC<br />
WINNER, WINNER,<br />
CHICKEN DINNER<br />
BEACON OF LIGHT<br />
Pat Curtin and friends get into character at<br />
her annual witch party in Lake Rogerene.<br />
-photo by Karen Fucito<br />
Lake Hopatcong News is published seven times a<br />
year between April and November and is offered<br />
free at more than 200 businesses throughout the<br />
lake region. It is available for home delivery for<br />
a nominal fee. The contents of Lake Hopatcong<br />
News may not be reprinted in any form without<br />
prior written permission from the editor. Lake<br />
Hopatcong News is a registered trademark of<br />
Lake Hopatcong News, LLC. All rights reserved.<br />
4<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 5
Frank Gutowski<br />
addresses the crowd<br />
at the unveiling of the<br />
lighthouse.<br />
A memory board<br />
greets guests at<br />
the dedication<br />
ceremony.<br />
Sisters Katie and Kelly Brown<br />
in front of the lighthouse<br />
dedicated to their father.<br />
Lighthouse Dedicated in<br />
Memory of Local Swim Coach<br />
beacon of light is shining along the shores<br />
A of Lake Hopatcong in honor of a man who<br />
loved his community and the area swim team he<br />
helped to inspire.<br />
The Lake Forest Lighthouse was dedicated on<br />
September 3 in memory of Jim Brown, a former<br />
swim team president for the Lake Forest Vikings<br />
and high school history teacher who died in<br />
February 2017. Brown was 55 when he succumbed<br />
to mental illness and took his own life, but he left<br />
behind a legacy of caring that family and friends<br />
say will be remembered for years to come.<br />
“This beacon lighthouse will serve as a point<br />
of interest for all Lake Hopatcong,” said his<br />
daughter, Kelly Brown, 26, a paralegal with a law<br />
firm in Sparta who now resides in Stanhope. “This<br />
lighthouse represents neighbors, friendship and<br />
how the community banded together to get us<br />
through the most painful part of our lives.”<br />
The 12-foot stone lighthouse was constructed<br />
by Amish builders Beaver Dam Woodworks in<br />
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The small-scale<br />
structure symbolically sits at the end of the Lake<br />
Forest Yacht Club swim team jetty, where Brown<br />
spent many years volunteering as a timer and<br />
announcer while his two daughters competed<br />
in swim races in the very lanes he lovingly<br />
maintained. The cost of the project came to just<br />
under $10,000, with most of the money, $5,260,<br />
raised through a GoFundMe page. The Lake<br />
Forest Yacht Club contributed $1,000 and the Jim<br />
Brown Memorial Fund donated $3,600.<br />
6<br />
Story by MARIA VOGEL-SHORT<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Friends and family said that Brown—who<br />
won the “Mr. Yell” award because of his cheers of<br />
encouragement for competing young swimmers—<br />
made an impact on their lives. For Katie Brown,<br />
who was in high school when her father died, the<br />
significance of his death did not register right away<br />
when she first found out.<br />
“I mean, you never really stop grieving,” said<br />
Brown, now 22, of Pine Brook. “It hurt when<br />
I graduated, and he was not there. Every time a<br />
holiday hits or a birthday comes, you feel that<br />
sadness that he’s not there. I’m getting married<br />
next year, and you see all the daughter-father<br />
dances and I will always miss that he won’t walk<br />
me down the aisle. You miss the moments that<br />
could have been.”<br />
For Brown’s two daughters, their father’s love<br />
shone through his love of swimming at the lake.<br />
“He was the one who drove us to every swim<br />
meet,” recalled Katie Brown. “He was always<br />
pushing me, literally. I swam the breaststroke and<br />
with that type of swimming you have to go under<br />
and come up between every stroke. I’m 5’ 10’’ so<br />
I had the reach. My Dad really had to push me,<br />
and every time I’d lift my head, I could hear him<br />
screaming his head off: ‘Push, Katie push, push,<br />
Katie push, don’t look over!’<br />
“He taught me to dive. He would set up the<br />
pool, and though he was not a good swimmer<br />
himself, he figured it out for us. He did save<br />
me from drowning once. My best memories are<br />
summer with him.”<br />
Approximately 200 people attended the<br />
dedication, which was incorporated into the<br />
club’s end-of-season celebration. As the sun set,<br />
Above: Katie Brown<br />
and her father Jim<br />
Brown in 2005.<br />
Right: Kelly Brown<br />
with her father in<br />
2014.<br />
Photos courtesy of the<br />
Brown family.<br />
Brown’s friend, Frank<br />
Gutowski, began the<br />
ceremony.<br />
“He would do<br />
anything for the swim<br />
team or for anyone,”<br />
said an emotional<br />
Gutowski. “He had a way of talking to the kids<br />
and it translated well in school as a teacher. He<br />
knew how to motivate people and we saw it in his<br />
community and in the business world when he<br />
worked in sales.”<br />
Brown, described by family and friends as “funloving,”<br />
served as trustee on the Lake Forest Yacht<br />
Club Board from 2007-2008, as president of<br />
its swim team from 2010-2012 and as a tireless<br />
volunteer who spent countless hours fixing the<br />
swim docks and working with swim team kids to<br />
become better at their sport.<br />
“He was the ultimate swim dad,” said daughter<br />
Kelly Brown.<br />
“He was always there. He got everybody to<br />
laugh and was always cheering for every person.<br />
He instilled in me that being a good sport and
As dusk settles over Lake Hopatcong,<br />
the Lake Forest Lighthouse lights up.<br />
Need NEED<br />
more MORE<br />
Space? SPACE?<br />
Need<br />
more<br />
Space?<br />
having good sportsmanship were important. He<br />
felt sports instilled good character,” she said.<br />
“He could really make you laugh,” added<br />
Gutowski, who recalled the unique comments<br />
Brown would make about current affairs and dayto-day<br />
events. “I just wish he had reached out to<br />
me on the day he died so I could have helped him.”<br />
The pain of suicide doubles the timeline of<br />
the mourning process, family and friends said.<br />
“Losing your parent to suicide means mourning<br />
on a whole new level. It was overwhelming to wrap<br />
my mind and heart around, and it took time to<br />
move past that,” said Kelly Brown.<br />
Suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the<br />
country, according to a federal report. In the 2021<br />
Annual Report from America’s Health Rankings,<br />
there were 46,000 suicide deaths and 1.2 million<br />
attempted suicides in 2020. Adverse childhood<br />
experiences and economic hardship are the two<br />
top reasons people commit suicide, the report<br />
stated, and pressure from current challenges in<br />
society also plays a role. According to the report,<br />
the suicide rate increased 33 percent from 1999<br />
to 2019.<br />
At the dedication, Kelly Brown reached out to<br />
anyone contemplating suicide. “If you are ever<br />
feeling sad or lonely or hopeless, it is important to<br />
remember that you are never alone; leaning on your<br />
community forges strength, and there is always a<br />
light,” she said, gesturing to the lighthouse.<br />
To make peace with his passing, the family<br />
had to come to a place of forgiveness, said both<br />
daughters.<br />
“We had to stay rooted in love. It took a year to<br />
get our feet on the ground and stabilize ourselves,”<br />
said Kelly Brown. “My sister was a senior in high<br />
school, and I was trying to get through college.<br />
I also was administrator of his estate and had to<br />
make the financial decisions and plan a funeral.<br />
It’s painful to do these things when your world is<br />
turned upside down.”<br />
(At the time of his death, Brown was divorced,<br />
and his daughters were living with their mother.)<br />
“I don’t think suicide is selfish,” said Katie<br />
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Brown. “I think people who do this feel there is<br />
no other choice. That’s when they need to check<br />
into a facility and reach out to others. His passing<br />
taught me to appreciate people when they are<br />
around you. Reach out to people. Be open. Talk<br />
about your feelings and hang in there for other<br />
people.”<br />
If you or someone you know is considering suicide,<br />
please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by<br />
dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text<br />
Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 7
Above, left to right: A headstone at the<br />
First Presbyterian Church of Berkshire<br />
Valley Cemetery. A view of the newer<br />
section. Gerald Bates cuts the grass in<br />
the oldest part of the cemetery.<br />
Far left: Jim Leach looks at a headstone at Hurdtown Cemetery. Left: A<br />
view of Hurdtown. Right: Holland Mountain Cemetery.<br />
Uncovering the Buried Past<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Every day mattered, when the life was so short.<br />
So marked was the gravestone of Phillis<br />
Blanchard: 1 year. 7 mo. 28 d. She was the<br />
daughter of Aaron and Susan.<br />
Nearby are more Blanchards, caddy-cornered<br />
from the Fichters.<br />
And just feet away in the First Presbyterian<br />
Church of Berkshire Valley Cemetery is Reinhardt<br />
Davis of Company K, 38th Regiment, New Jersey<br />
Volunteers. He died at 57 on July 22, 1865, three<br />
months after the end of the Civil War.<br />
In the Hurdtown Cemetery there are the<br />
Chamberlains, the Hurds and the Willises.<br />
In the Holland Mountain Cemetery in<br />
Stockholm lay the Poulisons and the Morrisons—<br />
and the Willises.<br />
“They are the miners and the mine owners and<br />
the farmers and families,” said Jefferson historian<br />
and writer Richard Willis, whose family history<br />
can be traced back generations in Jefferson<br />
Township. Holland Mountain, Willis said, used to<br />
be known as Willis Mountain. Oddly enough, he<br />
said, most of the relatives buried in the Holland<br />
Mountain Cemetery are women.<br />
Longtime resident Jim Leach remembers<br />
learning that two slaves were buried at Hurdtown,<br />
which is located on the south side of Route 15.<br />
Leach, the former Jefferson Township police chief<br />
and township administrator, said the gravesites<br />
were located just inside the rock wall, near the<br />
highway, a fact confirmed by Willis who said<br />
the graves would have been marked by wooden<br />
crosses.<br />
The lives etched on gravestones in cemeteries<br />
across Jefferson and Roxbury tell the story of the<br />
8<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Lake Hopatcong region, Willis said, from the<br />
open space of pre-European settlement to the<br />
industrial mining days to the resort times and<br />
current suburbia.<br />
Some of those resting in the region’s graveyards<br />
were influential. The Hurds owned a large<br />
prosperous iron mine; the Chamberlains, land<br />
and businesses; the Fichters, the Davenports, the<br />
Dickersons, bankers, shop owners, investors all.<br />
The Willis family owned a farm and helped run<br />
Jefferson Township.<br />
Then, in turn, some were truly famous, like<br />
Mahlon Dickerson, who was the seventh governor<br />
of New Jersey, a U.S. Congressman, a Secretary<br />
of the Navy and a federal district judge. And in<br />
Succasunna, he was the owner of the Dickerson<br />
Mine, which opened in 1722, launching the long<br />
and important iron mining and manufacturing<br />
business of Morris County.<br />
Gov. Dickerson is resting in the First Presbyterian<br />
Church of Succasunna Cemetery in that section of<br />
Roxbury.<br />
Then what to make of Mahlon Dickerson of<br />
Berkshire Valley?<br />
A businessman, records said. He died on<br />
December 26, 1862 at 50 and rests with an<br />
extended family and wife, Sarah Ann, who died<br />
in 1866.<br />
There are 3,000 cemeteries in New Jersey,<br />
according to the New Jersey Cemetery Association,<br />
including those for military personnel, families,<br />
churches, non-sectarian groups and municipal<br />
cemeteries.<br />
The oldest, founded in 1762, is in Newton<br />
along Route 206.<br />
The only inventory of Morris County cemeteries<br />
was conducted by the county in 1975 and listed<br />
five in Roxbury and 11 in Jefferson. Mount<br />
Arlington and Hopatcong have none. Willis said<br />
trying to dig graves in hard-rock Hopatcong<br />
would have been difficult.<br />
The cemeteries of record show that sometimes<br />
families created their own graveyards, some of<br />
which were later abandoned.<br />
The Rev. Christopher Doyle, who serves the<br />
First Presbyterian Church of Berkshire Valley<br />
and the Oak Ridge Presbyterian Church, said it<br />
was not unusual for families to abandon family<br />
gravesites after one or two generations.<br />
Such a site exists on Mase Road, said Willis.<br />
The Gordon Long family burial site, with its half<br />
dozen or so headstones, is all but lost to nature.<br />
Families of prominence, like Jefferson’s Headleys,<br />
created their own graveyards. The Headley Burial<br />
Ground is located on Weldon Road. According to<br />
the Morris County inventory, it was begun around<br />
1830.<br />
“Possibly originated as a family burial ground,”<br />
the notes in the Morris County inventory said,<br />
“but subsequently became a community cemetery.<br />
Early residents of the area are buried here.”<br />
The Hance Family Burial Ground in Roxbury<br />
suffered a fate that perhaps many small family<br />
graveyards did over time. The Hance family was a<br />
leading Dover-area iron mining and manufacturing<br />
family in the 19th century. The Morris County<br />
inventory reported: “An obituary in The Iron Era<br />
of Oct. 16, 1886 notes the burial of John Hance<br />
‘in the family cemetery in McCainsville’ (Kenvil).”<br />
The inventory noted that the plot, just north of<br />
Route 46, “was occupied by houses” in 1975.<br />
The Seek Family Burial Ground of 1829 had<br />
disappeared by 1974, according to the inventory.<br />
Records said it contained only the stones of<br />
William Seek and his wife, Hannah. In 1936, it<br />
was described as “located near Landing, Roxbury
Township, 100 yards from East Shore Road, on<br />
DuPont property, opposite Yellow Barn Avenue.”<br />
By 1974, there was no record of the stones, the<br />
inventory noted.<br />
A significant graveyard in northern Jefferson<br />
is the Newfoundland Old Burial Ground, active<br />
from 1750 to 1898, the inventory said.<br />
In 1974 it was described as “very badly<br />
overgrown and many stones are toppled and<br />
broken.”<br />
Its significance is this: “Appears to have been a<br />
community burial ground used by pioneer families<br />
in the Newfoundland area,” the Morris County<br />
inventory said. “The large number of pre-1820<br />
inscribed fieldstone markers make this the most<br />
significant ancient community burial ground in<br />
Morris County.”<br />
In the mid-19th century, local churches took<br />
prominence in the establishment of graveyards.<br />
By that time, the population had grown and<br />
what had been isolated settlements were connected<br />
by railroads and the Morris Canal, which fueled<br />
the expansion of the iron business and ancillary<br />
commerce.<br />
Succasunna was part of a connected mining area<br />
in Wharton, Mine Hill and Dover.<br />
Jefferson had 19 mines at one point and eight<br />
forges.<br />
In Roxbury, the First Presbyterian Church of<br />
Succasunna Cemetery dates to 1760, and the<br />
adjoining cemetery at the Succasunna United<br />
Methodist Church opened in 1850. In the 1870s,<br />
the Flanders Cemetery was begun.<br />
The Morris inventory said the Flanders<br />
Cemetery was started by the Methodist Church<br />
after the churchyard ran out of room at its old<br />
burial ground. It was placed on land donated by<br />
the King family, a local merchant family, and was<br />
known alternately as the King Cemetery.<br />
Gerald Bates, caretaker and cemetery<br />
superintendent at the First Presbyterian Church of<br />
Berkshire Valley Cemetery, said the grounds show<br />
the progression in the churchyard, with the oldest<br />
graves nearest to the church. Bates can claim more<br />
than a dozen or so relatives buried in the cemetery<br />
he so lovingly maintains.<br />
W. W. Munsell’s 1882 book, “History of Morris<br />
County, New Jersey” described another old burial<br />
site, known then as the Berkshire Valley Old<br />
Graveyard: “There is an old graveyard in Berkshire<br />
Valley, not far from Charles Davenport’s store.<br />
But few graves are found here, however, and<br />
these are marked by common field stones without<br />
inscriptions.”<br />
Bates said it was not unusual for family to bury<br />
a relative and not mark the grave. Sometimes<br />
the stones have sunken below the surface, and<br />
he said he finds them with his lawnmower. The<br />
oldest marked stone belongs to Jeremiah Fairchild<br />
who passed in 1812. But, said Bates, that doesn’t<br />
mean it’s the oldest grave in the yard. There are<br />
many unmarked gravesites he said. Finding them,<br />
however, is nearly impossible as records of early<br />
burials were lost to a house fire in the early 1930s.<br />
Willis said Berkshire Valley was important in<br />
Jefferson’s history because the road north from<br />
the settlement into the mine region connected<br />
with the Union Turnpike, a vital early road that<br />
ran into Dover and Wharton where the mills were<br />
located. The arrival of the railroad through Dover<br />
ended Berkshire Valley’s growth, Doyle said.<br />
In the early days of the settlement, the church,<br />
dating back to 1803, became the center of life in<br />
the settlement, which contained a school, a general<br />
store and a hotel, Doyle said.<br />
“Sunday was the most important day of the<br />
week,” Doyle said. “It was a day of church and<br />
social gathering.”<br />
Having family members buried in the<br />
churchyard was a continuance of that connection<br />
to church and community, he said.<br />
“Today when we hold services, I remind the<br />
congregation that it is not just we inside the church<br />
in attendance. But those outside surrounding the<br />
church are also here.”<br />
So, remember Naoma Gruber, wife of<br />
John Fichter. She was born at the end of the<br />
Revolutionary War times in 1793 and lived past<br />
the Civil War to 1869.<br />
And remember the Aspinals, whose son Willie<br />
died at age 3, but whose daughter Hannah lived to<br />
see the 20th century, though she died at 17.<br />
And Pvt. Charles Defrehn Bryant who lived to<br />
age 78, dying in 1940. And the many in unmarked<br />
graves such as the Native Americans buried long<br />
ago in the Berkshire Valley churchyard.<br />
All the lives that came before and brought<br />
meaning and memories to their families.<br />
That’s who is here.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 9
The Country Beneath Her Feet<br />
10<br />
Story by MARIA VOGEL-SHORT<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Zina Cappiello is exploring America one<br />
marathon at a time.<br />
So far, Cappiello, a foot doctor who lives in<br />
Jefferson, has run marathons in 25 states.<br />
“My goal is to run in all 50 states,” said<br />
Cappiello, who has a medical practice in<br />
Hackettstown. “I’m halfway there.”<br />
Cappiello runs the requisite 26.2 miles in<br />
about four and half hours. But it’s the journey<br />
that she enjoys the most. “I love to travel and<br />
see the country, and this is the best way to see<br />
it.”<br />
It’s a journey that has been going on since she<br />
was 30 years old; a 19-year adventure taking<br />
her feet everywhere from a frozen squall during<br />
a marathon in Omaha, Nebraska, to the rolling<br />
hills of the Antietam National Battlefield<br />
during a marathon in West Virginia.<br />
“When I ran along that battlefield, it felt<br />
so beautiful. It was rolling hills and beautiful<br />
scenery. All I could think about was the<br />
significance of where I was running. I felt<br />
history beneath my feet.”<br />
Zina Cappiello runs through her<br />
Jefferson Township neighborhood.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Zina<br />
Cappiello<br />
shows off<br />
some of the<br />
hardware<br />
she’s won in<br />
pursuit of<br />
marathons<br />
in all 50<br />
states.<br />
Cappiello, now 49, has already traversed<br />
the eastern seaboard and has no intention of<br />
letting up.<br />
“I love to see each state,” said Cappiello. “I<br />
ran my first marathon in Chicago, and I’ve<br />
been hooked on marathons ever since.”<br />
That first marathon was the litmus test that<br />
illustrated how Cappiello was destined to run<br />
other marathons. It was a week after her 30th<br />
birthday. While on the starting line, she met<br />
a father and son-in-law who grilled her about<br />
her training.<br />
“These two gentlemen from San Francisco<br />
were giving me advice about how to train, and<br />
I had not done all of the things they had done.<br />
I had not read the books they had read; I had<br />
not followed a formula,” she recalled. “They<br />
were making me so nervous and scared. But<br />
I had trained. I finished the race without a<br />
problem.”<br />
The trio discussed what is known as hitting<br />
the wall—a time when the race is particularly<br />
difficult. But Cappiello did not experience<br />
that in Chicago, saying the race itself was<br />
exhilarating, especially the scenery: Lake<br />
Michigan, Wrigley Field, the architecture and<br />
the museums.<br />
After crossing the finish line, Cappiello<br />
rushed to the Art Institute of Chicago to look<br />
around before it closed. As Cappiello left the<br />
museum, she bumped into the father and sonin-law,<br />
who both looked exhausted as they<br />
walked back from the finish line. They saw that<br />
Cappiello had already finished the race and<br />
gone to the museum to boot.<br />
“They glanced back and saw that I had<br />
walked around the museum and one said,<br />
‘Forget what we said! Do whatever it is that<br />
you are doing!’” laughed Cappiello. “That’s<br />
when I knew<br />
I would be<br />
good at this!”<br />
Cappiello after finishing the<br />
Colfax marathon in Denver,<br />
Colorado, on October 16, 2021.<br />
Photo courtesy of Zina Cappiello<br />
Cappiello believes she got her love of running<br />
from her grandfather. When she was about 5<br />
or 6, her grandfather would drive with her in<br />
his car and point out all the places he ran. “I<br />
was always so impressed with how far he could<br />
run,” Cappiello chuckled. “And now, here I<br />
am. Maybe it’s genetic.”<br />
Now, every time she starts a marathon, she<br />
takes a moment and thinks of her grandfather.<br />
“I always talk to him when I start my run. I just<br />
say, ‘Grandpa: I’m running a marathon today.’”<br />
Originally from Queens, Cappiello and<br />
her family moved to Rockland County when<br />
she was 14, where she took up soccer, which<br />
helped to develop her love of running. But she<br />
was never a competitive runner.<br />
While she has an undergraduate degree in<br />
behavioral neuroscience, at age 21, Cappiello<br />
developed plantar fasciitis, an injury she<br />
believes was the reason she became a podiatrist.<br />
She went on to graduate from the New York<br />
College of Podiatric Medicine and completed<br />
her residency at then Passaic Beth Israel<br />
Hospital.<br />
“I stayed in New Jersey and have lived here<br />
ever since.”<br />
Cappiello encourages runners to take care of<br />
their feet by buying good running shoes and<br />
switching them every three to six months. She<br />
suggests giving the sneakers the squeeze test. If<br />
they bend in the middle, they will not provide<br />
proper support because the shoes should<br />
absorb shock and have strong rubber heels.<br />
“There’s a proper way to run. Injuries start<br />
when we don’t hydrate or stretch beforehand<br />
or use biomechanics, which is how to get the<br />
body in motion. There’s also a proper way to<br />
start running. Take it slow. Start with walking.<br />
Go around the block. Do it a few times a week<br />
and then increase it. You feel better and want<br />
to walk more, but start slow,” she said.<br />
Running, she said, is sometimes more<br />
psychological than physical. She thinks of each<br />
part of the marathon in a batch. There are the<br />
first 5 or 10 miles, then the second 5 miles,<br />
and so on. Running<br />
in batches, she<br />
said, helps ease the<br />
enormity of running<br />
26-plus miles in a<br />
marathon.<br />
“The last mile is<br />
my favorite,” she said<br />
with a grin. “You get<br />
this euphoria. They<br />
hand you a medal.<br />
It’s great.”<br />
A favorite memory<br />
was being greeted by<br />
her parents at the<br />
finish of the Marine<br />
Corps Marathon in
Washington, D.C. Her father, who walks with<br />
a brace and a cane after experiencing nerve<br />
damage from a spinal cord tumor, gave her a<br />
huge bear hug when she crossed the finish line.<br />
“It was great, but I thought I was going to<br />
pass out,” she laughed. “My Dad is a big man—<br />
6 foot—and a hug from him is something.”<br />
One of the hardest races she ran was in<br />
Buckeye, Arizona. It was a hot day on a flat<br />
desert course, and she became dehydrated.<br />
“My plan was to do the marathon and then<br />
go to a medical conference; maybe a little too<br />
ambitious. But dry dessert heat can dry out<br />
your muscles and your cells don’t function as<br />
well. That race taught me a lot. You should<br />
drink water even if you don’t feel thirsty,” she<br />
said.<br />
Cappiello, the doctor, has been practicing<br />
medicine for 22 years and is married to<br />
Domenic, a physical education teacher. He<br />
encourages her to follow her dreams, but<br />
doesn’t run with her. He’s a golfer, she said.<br />
Training in the winter is a fun time for<br />
Cappiello. She said she wears a long, black<br />
heavy Eddie Bauer coat that blocks the wind<br />
and keeps her warm. “My brother says he sees<br />
my skinny legs poking out of the coat and that<br />
the coat is bigger than me. But the best part is<br />
that when I shed the coat in the spring, I feel<br />
so much lighter,” said Cappiello.<br />
Her training as a doctor and her winter<br />
preparations came in handy in that Omaha<br />
race. It was an October marathon but a bitter<br />
early snow squall overwhelmed runners—<br />
particularly her and another woman.<br />
“It started to rain ice and then snow. At mile<br />
23 it was hailing, and power lines were coming<br />
down. I ran along this huge cornfield—got<br />
lost—and found a woman with hypothermia,”<br />
she recalled. “I had to call for help because this<br />
woman needed medical attention. I did not get<br />
to finish the race. I was the only one with a<br />
working phone, so I had to use it help her.”<br />
But, when Cappiello could not finish in<br />
Nebraska, her goal still stood ahead of her.<br />
“Because I did not finish that race, I hopped on<br />
a plane the next weekend and went to Grand<br />
Rapids, Michigan. The weather was perfect<br />
there and I ran that race. Everyone thought I<br />
was crazy, but I was happy because I finished<br />
another marathon. ”<br />
Her favorite time to run is autumn. Her<br />
next marathon—number 26—was scheduled<br />
WHAT’S IN YOUR<br />
WELL WATER?<br />
for Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the end of<br />
September.<br />
For Cappiello, running is an opportunity to<br />
be close to nature. When she is running, she<br />
experiences a freedom that she believes is her<br />
niche. “Everyone has a niche. Whatever it is<br />
that make you, you,” she said. “Running is<br />
mine.”<br />
And at every race, Cappiello tells herself:<br />
“This is my day and my time. Embrace the<br />
moment. You’ve trained. You’re ready.”<br />
Recent water tests indicate widespread failures for<br />
PFAS chemicals in the Hopatcong area for both well and<br />
municipal water supplies.<br />
The good news is that The New Jersey Spillfund pays<br />
for the installation, monitoring, and maintenance of water<br />
treatment systems, required to remove these dangerous<br />
chemicals from well<br />
water.<br />
While the Spillfund does not cover the cost of municipal<br />
water remediation, there are economical treatment options<br />
available. If you have a municipal (city) water supply,<br />
contact Portasoft of Morris County, the leading PFAS<br />
treatment company in northern NJ for over five years.<br />
973-584-1549<br />
For more information regarding well water contamination,<br />
call McGowan Compliance Management Co., the leading<br />
Spillfund management company in the state with over 25<br />
years of Spillfund experience. Your only expense is the<br />
cost of your 1st water test.<br />
To get your initial test at a discounted price,<br />
contact us. If the test fails, we will guide you<br />
through the Spillfund process, schedule<br />
your installation with Portasoft of Morris<br />
County, and manage the program following installation.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 11
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12<br />
973-663-2142 • 973-713-8020<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
CELL<br />
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hosting year-round programming, classes and performances.<br />
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www.RoxburyArtsAlliance.org<br />
Investors Bank Theater at Horseshoe Lake Complex<br />
72 Eyland Ave., Succasunna
Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty<br />
670 Main Street • Towaco, NJ 07082<br />
Office 973.335.5700 • prominentproperties.com<br />
Each office is independently owned and operated.<br />
TM<br />
Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty<br />
670 Main Street • Towaco, NJ 07082<br />
Office 973.335.5700 • prominentproperties.com<br />
Each office is independently owned and operated.<br />
TM<br />
“A Personal Touch to Extraordinary Service, Buying, Selling or Renting!”<br />
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It’s Not Just a Home... It’s a Lifestyle<br />
It’s Not Just a Home... It’s a Lifestyle<br />
Robin Dora Amanda Braico Diane Perretti Brianne Lechner<br />
Robin Dora, REALTOR ®<br />
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c.973.570.6633<br />
njlakefront@gmail.com<br />
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For more infromation go to: www.njlakefronthome.com<br />
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For more information visit: www.luxurylakepointe.com<br />
Robin Dora, REALTOR ®<br />
Sales Associate<br />
c.973.570.6633<br />
njlakefront@gmail.com<br />
www.luxurylakepointe.com<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 13
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14<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong>
As life’s seasons change,<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 15
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16<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Foley 2/3 ad Oct.indd 1<br />
9/26/22 1:43 PM
GREG PUSKAS (AKA MOSS HENRY)<br />
LOCAL<br />
VOICES<br />
Greg Puskas does not think of himself as a musician. “It’s more like music is something that I do,” said the<br />
59-year-old construction worker. It wasn’t one specific person or occurrence that made him want to play<br />
music, but he believes his journey was set in motion when his Aunt Nora Safreed gave him an old guitar<br />
she won at a tricky tray. As a teenager, Puskas would use that guitar and jam with his Uncle Joe Holly and<br />
some of the “old-timers” who hung around. “He was one of those old honky-tonk players,” Puskas said of<br />
Holly, who helped influence his musical personality.<br />
WHERE DO YOU LIVE AND WHO MAKES UP YOUR FAMILY?<br />
Mount Arlington. Born here. Raised here. I’ve been around a bit and came back to town about 20 years ago. My mother is still<br />
around, and I’ve got lots of relatives in town and nearby. Her family can be traced back 100 years in this area.<br />
ARE YOU CURRENTLY PART OF A BAND OR HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE PAST?<br />
I’ve been in several bands. Currently it’s Moss Henry & The Bryophytes. There are six<br />
of us: two guitars, two fiddles, bass and pedal steel. I focus on playing guitar and do<br />
most of the band’s vocals. I took the name Moss Henry from a bass player<br />
I met who became a scientist. Moss is an example of a bryophyte—<br />
photoautotrophic land plants that lack roots and true conducting and<br />
supportive tissues. So, I guess I did learn something in school.<br />
HOW OFTEN ARE YOU PERFORMING/RECORDING?<br />
This year we’ve had lots of gigs since the spring, several a month.<br />
There’s been more opportunities to play community events this year. I<br />
think it’s got something to do with COVID backlash.<br />
DESCRIBE THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU TYPICALLY PLAY IN PUBLIC.<br />
IS IT ORIGINAL? COVERS? COMBINATION OF BOTH?<br />
Oh, we play both kinds of music—country and western.<br />
Additionally, a hefty portion of our repertoire is Western<br />
swing, which is pretty hard to come by around here. We also<br />
perform a few originals.<br />
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT PLAYING MUSIC?<br />
The focus. Right then and there everything revolves around<br />
each passing moment—or at least it should.<br />
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE ANYONE HAS EVER<br />
GIVEN YOU CONCERNING YOUR PURSUIT OF MUSIC?<br />
Play with everyone else, you’re not the only one there. Don’t<br />
try to cram in as much as you can, rather listen for the gaps<br />
and pauses that need a little something.<br />
BESIDES MUSIC, DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER HOBBIES?<br />
Sure. I still like to get away and take in different places—local<br />
exploring is always good. I’ve spent time in the Southwest,<br />
Australia, New Zealand, Europe. Also, there’s outdoor activities,<br />
in general, doing whatever.<br />
IS THERE ANYTHING MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED<br />
TO LEARN ABOUT YOU?<br />
I was in my 20s and somewhere in Big Bend National Park. I<br />
took a look at the other side of the Rio Grande and that was<br />
that. I swam across into Mexico and back, but it wasn’t all that<br />
wide, really.<br />
I AM local I AM original I AM unusual<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 17
Hopatcong Church<br />
Celebrates 50th Year of<br />
Traditional Chicken Dinners<br />
18<br />
Bob Thompson and the Rev. Jinwook Jeong<br />
work together to flip a rack of chickens.<br />
The chicken on the grill is<br />
almost ready to be eaten.<br />
Tom Tillery puts<br />
the cooked<br />
chickens into a<br />
lined garbage can.<br />
Gene Pfeiffer checks<br />
one of two ovens filled<br />
to capacity with baked<br />
potatoes.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Susan Jones waits as Kim Carter<br />
prepares four of 12 takeout trays.<br />
Kim Carter braves the<br />
heat over the pit to<br />
check the temperature<br />
of the chicken.<br />
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
On a Saturday evening in August,<br />
Susan Jones, of Hopatcong,<br />
was waiting with<br />
anticipation. The aroma<br />
of wood fire and charcoal<br />
still filled the air, as<br />
volunteers at the West<br />
Side United Methodist<br />
Church filled takeout<br />
containers with a tasty<br />
combination of chicken<br />
and vegetables, while<br />
patrons like Jones lined<br />
up for their share.<br />
Jones was picking up<br />
a dozen meals thanks to<br />
the generosity of former<br />
longtime Hopatcong<br />
Mayor Dick Hodson. Prior to<br />
moving to Tennessee a few years<br />
ago, Hodson had been active<br />
with the church for more than 20<br />
years. Whenever the church held<br />
its chicken dinner fundraiser,<br />
Hodson would always purchase<br />
extra tickets for others. “I have<br />
people coming to my house,”<br />
Jones said of Hodson’s meals.<br />
“He told me ‘Select who you<br />
want and give them out.’”<br />
Members of the church have<br />
been serving up a “winner” of a<br />
chicken dinner for 50 years.<br />
According to the Rev. Jinwook<br />
Jeong, at its peak, the fundraiser<br />
attracted about 200 people.<br />
“We’ve been doing it faithfully since they<br />
built this church in 1971. We could not do it<br />
in 2020 due to the pandemic.”<br />
In recent years, attendance has decreased, but<br />
Jeong said the purpose remains the same. “We<br />
emphasize fellowship with this community<br />
event and reaching out. We want to let people<br />
know we are here to spread the gospel of Jesus.”<br />
This year, West Side prepared and sold<br />
100 meals, which traditionally include a half<br />
chicken, baked potato, corn on the cob, fresh<br />
tomato salad, drink and dessert.<br />
The meal had cost $10 (when meal tickets<br />
were pre-purchased) for many years. Last year,<br />
due to increased costs, a pre-purchased meal<br />
ticket was raised to $13, Jeong said. For a meal<br />
purchased on the day of the event, the cost was<br />
$15.<br />
Jones wasn’t alone in the takeout line.<br />
James Smedira was there picking up four<br />
dinners. One was for his 80-year-old mother,<br />
who has known about the event and has always<br />
wanted to try it, he said.<br />
Mike Fedo said he was being treated to<br />
dinner by his neighbor, Norma Jean Frazer. In<br />
return, he offered to deliver three dinners to<br />
others in his neighborhood.<br />
While most meals were takeout, a few<br />
traditionalists took advantage of the warm<br />
summer evening, dining under tents on the<br />
church lawn.<br />
Kevin Crane of Hopatcong sat gleefully at<br />
one picnic table. “I used to be a member of<br />
the church, went every year as a kid, then we<br />
moved away,” he said. “I just recently moved<br />
back. This is the first time I’ve been here in<br />
maybe 20 years. They used to have three or<br />
four pits and a whole group of guys flipping<br />
these big racks of chickens—it was beautiful.”<br />
At the same table<br />
sat his neighbor Mace<br />
Gasman and his wife,<br />
Cheryl. They’ve lived in<br />
Hopatcong for 30 years<br />
and have been coming<br />
to the annual dinner for<br />
the past five years. “We<br />
won’t miss it. It’s a good<br />
deal every time. They<br />
used to have it inside,<br />
but it’s nice sitting out<br />
here,” he said.<br />
Nearby, father-andson<br />
duo, Frank Spano
and Justin Spano, enjoyed a meal together.<br />
The younger Spano, who lives in Randolph,<br />
is a regular at the church for prayer meetings<br />
and Sunday worship. “We’ve been coming for<br />
several years to the chicken barbeque.”<br />
“I love chicken,” the elder Spano said. “Baked<br />
potatoes, tomatoes, can’t beat it.”<br />
Mark and Kim Carter have been members<br />
of the church since 2013. They moved to<br />
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, this past June but<br />
came back to Hopatcong just to help with<br />
the dinner. “We didn’t want to miss it,” Kim<br />
Carter said. “It’s the 50th year, and it’s special.<br />
Stuff like this doesn’t go on a lot anymore—50<br />
years of anything. A lot of good-hearted people<br />
work really hard on it.”<br />
Volunteer grill masters prepare the feast on<br />
cinder block pits; the larger charcoal pit is<br />
used to grill the chicken and the smaller woodburning<br />
fire pit is used for the corn on the<br />
cob. Both were built years ago, especially for<br />
this event. The daylong process begins in the<br />
morning, according to Mark Carter. “We set<br />
up at 8 a.m., start cooking the corn by 11:30<br />
a.m., and by 1 p.m. we have the charcoal<br />
going.”<br />
Tom Tillery, of Hopatcong, was cooking<br />
for the first time this year. “After we get the<br />
charcoal going, we rake it out nice and smooth<br />
and then we start putting the chicken on those<br />
grills.”<br />
“This is the first time I’ve done the chicken,<br />
so this was an experience, a good experience,”<br />
said Bob Thompson, who still attends the<br />
church in Hopatcong after moving recently<br />
to Hackettstown. “We learned how to do the<br />
flip,” he said, referring to the special technique<br />
that West Side chefs use to rotate the chickens<br />
on the grill. “With fewer people in church,<br />
whoever comes has to do a little more.”<br />
“We meet people… that’s the first priority,”<br />
said Jeong, of the yearly event. “Of course, the<br />
taste is really good. We have a secret recipe.”<br />
Probably the most heavily guarded<br />
secret within the congregation, the unique<br />
combination of seasonings was known only to<br />
a select few. According to David Sowinski, of<br />
Mount Arlington, the last remaining “keeper”<br />
of the secret recipe, Richard Toth, moved this<br />
year and had to reveal the ingredients after<br />
keeping it under wraps for decades.<br />
“After 25 years cooking the chicken and the<br />
corn, it was time to retire and pass the job to<br />
a new crew,” said Sowinski, who shared the<br />
responsibility, but not the secret, for all that<br />
time. “That honor was passed to Gene Pfeiffer<br />
and the pastor.”<br />
No one will share the exact combination, but<br />
Sowinski said the recipe involves “a concoction<br />
of eggs, vegetable oil and other spices.”<br />
At the door collecting meal tickets and<br />
money was Pfeiffer, who lives in Hopatcong.<br />
A member of West Side for 30 years, he said<br />
he’s been a part of the meal-making process for<br />
more than 10 years. Having been bestowed the<br />
secret recipe, he assists in the kitchen, but he’s<br />
also the guy responsible for the tender baked<br />
potatoes. “I get them from BJs, wash them and<br />
bake for three hours in the oven to keep them<br />
soft. I get all the inside jobs,” he laughed.<br />
“I think the good food brings people back,”<br />
Kim Carter said. “Everyone always raves<br />
about the chicken and the corn and the Jersey<br />
tomatoes.” The food is sourced locally, she<br />
said; the chicken is from Sussex Meat Packing<br />
and the corn and tomatoes come from Ashley<br />
Farms.<br />
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“There are so many people who have come in<br />
the past that it’s almost second nature to them,”<br />
Thompson added. “I like seeing the new people<br />
coming, the younger people whether they go<br />
to church or not, that’s their prerogative, but<br />
I’m glad they’re at least enjoying the food.”<br />
Jeong, who is in his 12th year of ministry at<br />
the church, said the event typically brings in<br />
about $300 to $500, which goes to the United<br />
Methodist Church Global Mission Share<br />
Fund, supporting charitable projects around<br />
the world.<br />
“We work all day together,” Jeong beamed.<br />
“It’s beautiful to serve the community, and<br />
people enjoy it.”<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 19
He Built A Life Out Of<br />
Problem-Solving Machines<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
When William Wagner described the<br />
machines he had designed and built,<br />
there was joy in his voice.<br />
It was a joy of precision, of a deep<br />
understanding of how a process to make a<br />
product and the devices used in that process<br />
mesh seamlessly. How “A” fits into “B” and how<br />
“B” leads to “C.”<br />
The joy of knowing the process is not the<br />
end of the line but the result is what matters,<br />
whether it’s ensuring a bottle-filling production<br />
line deposits exactly 100 pills in a bottle every<br />
time or a machine transforms organic polymers<br />
into the basis for artificial human skin.<br />
“We’re most proud of that one,” Wagner said.<br />
“It saves lives.”<br />
Artificial human skin is used to close severe<br />
wounds and treat burn victims. It is a “live”<br />
material in that it is designed to encourage the<br />
regrowth of damaged human skin tissue.<br />
The reflections on his company’s work came<br />
in early fall as Wagner Industries closed after 37<br />
years.<br />
“Time to retire,” said the 78-year-old. “I<br />
haven’t had a vacation in 15 years.”<br />
Wagner said the Stanhope business started<br />
as a one-man shop in his mother’s basement in<br />
Dover. One successful job led to another until<br />
the company expanded into its last space on<br />
Stanhope-Sparta Road in 1993.<br />
“It was a struggle at the beginning,” he said.<br />
“Sometimes we had to make<br />
the choice between eating<br />
and heating the house. We<br />
couldn’t afford a $17,000<br />
house in Dover, so we [he<br />
and wife of 57 years, Carol]<br />
moved into a tiny home in<br />
Hopatcong.” With the grin<br />
of a man who did the hard<br />
work, he said, “We’ve had<br />
seven permits to expand it since.”<br />
His voice was filled with the joy of an artist,<br />
the joy of a problem solver, a mechanic, the joy<br />
of a modest man who happens to make lifechanging<br />
machines from a non-descript, modest<br />
machine shop on a back road in New Jersey.<br />
Wagner Industries has produced over 700<br />
machines used by many of the largest worldwide<br />
companies, including Hewlett Packard (now HP<br />
Inc.), Eastman Kodak (goes by Kodak today),<br />
General Motors Co., Oscar Mayer (a subsidiary<br />
of Kraft Heinz.), Johnson & Johnson, Avery<br />
Dennison, Owens-Illinois’ (now O-I Glass, Inc.)<br />
fiberglass division, Boeing, M&M/Mars (now<br />
Mars Inc.) and Bristol Myers Squibb.<br />
Wagner Industries has produced machines to<br />
handle intricate but routine industrial functions<br />
such as packaging M&Ms. Another more exotic<br />
machine precisely cuts carbon fabric used to<br />
hold together the tail assembly of a Boeing 747.<br />
Another produces blood-filtering materials and<br />
there’s a machine that makes a roll-up television<br />
screen.<br />
“They’re working on a 3D model that will be<br />
watchable without glasses,” he said. “They can<br />
make an 84-inch screen. I’d like one of those.”<br />
And then there was the onion slicing machine.<br />
Wagner said he was contacted by a customer<br />
who needed a machine to efficiently cut the<br />
roots and greens off onions to prepare them for<br />
slicing for use in the fast-food<br />
industry.<br />
He designed a conveyor<br />
belt with workstations on<br />
Bob Lienaw checks the 24-foot-long CNC<br />
machine for the last time.<br />
Frank<br />
Greenhalgh<br />
with two<br />
items he<br />
bought at<br />
the shop<br />
estate sale.<br />
either side. The onions were trimmed and then<br />
dropped into one of three hole sizes–large,<br />
medium and small–and sliced by a rotating band<br />
saw. Efficient.<br />
“Do you know how much oil onions have?” he<br />
asked laughing. “We had a 1-foot band of onion<br />
oil on the wall, and everyone was weeping. We<br />
added a shield.”<br />
He said the company’s success rests with the<br />
dedication and skill of the staff, whose hard<br />
work and attention to detail produced machines<br />
that exceeded standards.<br />
Machinist Bob Lienaw, 67, of Augusta,<br />
worked at Wagner for 37 years.<br />
The job was challenging and required<br />
precision, he said, and was satisfying because of<br />
the nature of the machines they made.<br />
“We had a good run,” he said.<br />
Wagner said, “We made over 700 machines,<br />
and not one of them was ever returned.”<br />
Still, he remains in awe of the work and<br />
machines he saw in other places.<br />
“I was amazed by what I saw at Boeing,” he<br />
said, adding, “I touched a satellite that is in<br />
space now.”<br />
Wagner said his father was a mechanical<br />
engineer, and for a while as a young teen, he<br />
thought he might follow that path.<br />
Then, as a 12-year-old, he tried to build a<br />
stereo from a radio and another speaker.<br />
He created terminals for sets of blue and red<br />
wires and connected them.<br />
“It worked, but it smoked,” he said. “In fact, it<br />
only worked when it smoked.” He said that was<br />
an old engineer’s joke.<br />
He studied electrical engineering after that.<br />
Photos of some of the machines built at Wagner<br />
Industries were displayed in the shop lobby.<br />
William Wagner at<br />
his desk.<br />
Glenn Godfrey, Darren Wagner, William<br />
Wagner and Michael Wagner in the shop.<br />
20<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong>
But that simple stereo offered a glimpse of his<br />
insight and engineering skill.<br />
“If someone tells me what they need to do, if<br />
I can visualize it within five minutes, I can build<br />
it,” Wagner said.<br />
Wagner’s son, Michael Wagner, who has a<br />
twin brother named Darren, said the ability<br />
of his father to formulate a machine on the fly<br />
leaves him in awe.<br />
“He would show me a sketch of a blueprint<br />
and it wouldn’t make sense to me but then he’d<br />
explain it, step by step, and I’d understand what<br />
the machine was supposed to do.”<br />
Wagner Industries built what the industry<br />
calls “converting machines,” William Wagner<br />
said.<br />
They convert, say, paper, into packaging. Not<br />
as simple as it sounds.<br />
The paper rolls must be aligned, the paper<br />
flat on the machine’s web, the edges straight.<br />
The paper must be folded and slit at the right<br />
moment, then glued, turned and one end<br />
opened to receive the product, then glued shut<br />
after being filled. All the steps taking place at the<br />
precise moment.<br />
Getting those steps right was the challenge<br />
Wagner faced on two of his first important<br />
projects–one for a company whose bottling<br />
line would miscount the number of pills and<br />
the other whose labels were misaligned. An<br />
electronic eye and other adjustments to better<br />
time the filling and labeling processes solved the<br />
problems.<br />
Each machine is a story, some larger than<br />
others.<br />
Son Michael said in an email: “[My father]<br />
is responsible for designing/building machines<br />
that have literally changed the world. At Wagner<br />
Industries, we have built everything from the<br />
wings of the original B1 Stealth bomber to<br />
a human skin machine, to a part of the most<br />
recent NASA space mission. From Kodak<br />
Mike and<br />
Darren<br />
Wagner<br />
organize<br />
shelves of<br />
components<br />
to be sold to<br />
the public.<br />
cameras, Kellogg’s cereal, M&M Mars, to<br />
Boeing’s bulletproof cockpit doors on passenger<br />
jets (following 9/11), we have built it all.”<br />
All four of the Wagner children have worked<br />
with their father.<br />
Billy Wagner, the oldest sibling, was the<br />
second employee hired when Wagner Industries<br />
launched in 1985.<br />
“I’m going to miss the guys in the shop,” said he<br />
said. “We had a great bunch of guys, constantly<br />
joking and pulling stunts on each other, but we<br />
worked well together and got the job done. We<br />
turned out some beautiful equipment.” Billy<br />
Wagner said he has always been a machinist but<br />
because of health issues, is now looking to work<br />
at something less physical.<br />
Sister Susie Gerndt, managed the office for the<br />
last two decades and will continue to do office<br />
work for another local business.<br />
Brother Michael Wagner teaches science at<br />
Pope John XXIII High School and Darren<br />
Wagner teaches social studies at Reverend George<br />
A. Brown Memorial School. Both worked at<br />
Wagner Industries, learning the machinist trade.<br />
The Wagners are a tight knit family who are<br />
always actively working on projects, said Billy<br />
Wagner. “It’s sad to see the building go. It was<br />
like a huge tool box for all us. If we couldn’t fine<br />
the part, we made it. We even had local guys stop<br />
by who needed welding, cutting or something<br />
special made. Whatever people brought here, 99<br />
percent of the time we either fixed it or remade<br />
it,” he said.<br />
As the shop closes, the Wagner brothers have<br />
been stocking their own garages with tools and<br />
parts. An estate sale and word of mouth helped<br />
clear out the rest of the shop.<br />
“I have projects of my own,” Darren Wagner<br />
said.<br />
He said the success of the company impressed<br />
him, but it was the dedication that his father<br />
showed, even in the early hard times, that had<br />
more meaning.<br />
“They had it hard at times, but he worked<br />
hard to overcome it,” Darren said.<br />
A big part of William Wagner’s life were<br />
the community projects he took on.<br />
Held for five years at Modick Park, his<br />
Christmas show was an annual delight.<br />
Santa and his reindeer would “fly” across<br />
the park and characters were voiced by local<br />
residents and officials.<br />
Michael Wagner said their mother also<br />
played a role as Mrs. Claus and told the<br />
story of how Santa began. There was a<br />
Santa’s workshop that collected letters to<br />
Santa. It’s also the spot where Santa landed<br />
after flying across the park to greet children.<br />
The park was decorated with 100<br />
Christmas trees one year, Michael Wagner<br />
said, and wired for song with synchronized<br />
lights.<br />
For 16 years Wagner supported a soap<br />
box derby, which became the centerpiece of<br />
Hopatcong’s annual family day, often drawing<br />
over 1,000 people.<br />
With the building cleared out and the business<br />
shut down, Wagner said he is planning that<br />
much-delayed vacation with his wife, Carol.<br />
“She is the driving force behind the business,”<br />
he said. “I worked hard because I did not want<br />
to disappoint her.”<br />
Among the stops planned, he said, are visits<br />
to Switzerland, Sweden and Lapland Norway,<br />
where 20 miles south of the Arctic Circle they<br />
will spend a night with 50 other couples in glass<br />
igloos watching the northern lights.<br />
Celebrating a decade<br />
of protecting our lake,<br />
together.<br />
Learn more and<br />
become a member today at<br />
lakehopatcongfoundation.org<br />
125 Landing Road, Landing, NJ 07850 973-663-2500<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 21
This sign greets guests at Pat Curtin’s<br />
Lake Rogerene home.<br />
Carol Glucksman and Alex Soumilas share<br />
a laugh at last year’s gathering of witches.<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Move over, “Wicked” on Broadway.<br />
There’s a new coven in town, and<br />
they’ve been casting spells over Lake Rogerene<br />
for quite a few years now.<br />
Meet lead witch, Pat Curtin, a resident of<br />
Lake Rogerene for 35 years, who drew her<br />
inspiration for her annual gathering of witches<br />
from—of all things—a life-sized pirate ship<br />
moored on a residential lawn in neighboring<br />
Roxbury.<br />
“A bunch of us would get together and go<br />
to this full-sized pirate ship on Halloween,”<br />
she recalled. “I said, ‘I think I would like to<br />
run a witch’s party,’ and one of the gals started<br />
laughing.”<br />
But not anymore—unless cackling counts.<br />
What started as a group of eight or nine<br />
women from the neighborhood area grew<br />
into 12, and four years later, there’s now more<br />
than 20 in attendance at what has become an<br />
annual tradition: a full-on themed witch party<br />
at Curtin’s home.<br />
As the coven grew so did the themed<br />
costumes.<br />
“The first year I said the only requirement is<br />
that you have to wear a witch’s hat,” said Curtin.<br />
Now, most attendees come dressed head to toe<br />
in witch attire and each year Curtin chooses<br />
one accessory to be the featured contest. Last<br />
year it was “Best Broom.” At this year’s bash on<br />
October 14, it’ll be “Best Socks.”<br />
So, where do modern-day Halloween<br />
witches shop?<br />
“I go to Walmart for clothes and decorations<br />
and also garage sales,” said Curtin. “We picked<br />
22<br />
Where There’s a Witch,<br />
There’s a Way<br />
Story by ELLEN WILKOWE<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
up a lot of stuff that way.”<br />
One such staple, an animated treasure<br />
chest that “talks,” is provided by fellow witch<br />
Ona Silvia, also a long-time resident of Lake<br />
Rogerene and a neighbor of Curtin’s.<br />
“I love helping Pat decorate before the party,”<br />
she said, adding she loads the chest full of<br />
Halloween treats and small gifts for attendees.<br />
No stranger to witching out, Silvia remembers<br />
dressing up as a witch for Halloween as a<br />
young girl. She passed the tradition on when<br />
her own daughter was a child.<br />
Like Curtin, Silvia scours Walmart for<br />
accessories and boasts that she found “the best<br />
witch hat at a rummage sale.”<br />
Having inherited her late mother’s infectious<br />
Halloween spirit, Mimi Andrews, a Lake<br />
Rogerene resident for 40 years, takes the<br />
dressing-up part very seriously. “It’s the one<br />
night we get to be children again and dress up<br />
in costumes and enjoy adult beverages,” she<br />
said.<br />
As a child, Halloween became Andrews’<br />
favorite holiday, she said, recalling how she<br />
would make costumes from any random item<br />
she could find in the house.<br />
“On mischief night we would go out and<br />
throw horse corn. It was all very innocent,” she<br />
said.<br />
Still is.<br />
To date, Andrews has been hard at work<br />
taking this year’s “Best Socks” theme to a whole<br />
new level, courtesy of creative accessorizing.<br />
Sparing any spoilers, her socks are bound to<br />
turn a couple of heads, if not cast a downright<br />
spell. And, like the other witches, Andrews<br />
haunts Walmart as well as the JOANN Fabric<br />
and Craft store and also hunts around the<br />
Brooms decorated any “witch” way, including<br />
the lights, at last year’s celebration.<br />
house for any available item that might be suitable<br />
for a costume.<br />
But the party is not only about the fashion.<br />
There’s also the fellowship and the food.<br />
Curtin and Silvia both credit the camaraderie<br />
around Lake Rogerene for new witch recruitment.<br />
The decades-long neighborly bonds make it that<br />
much more meaningful, said Andrews, adding,<br />
“we have helped each other through hurricanes,<br />
blizzards, power outages, birth and grief.”<br />
And the food brings it all together.<br />
“Every year I try and make something different,”<br />
Curtin said. “The popular thing last year [was]<br />
when I did the squash soup, with all the fixings—<br />
pumpkin seeds and sour cream,” she said. “The<br />
fondue is also very popular.”<br />
Each witch brings her own concoction such<br />
as meatballs, salads, ziti, stuffed mushrooms, to<br />
name a few, Silvia added.<br />
Other staples include a witch’s brew (cider),<br />
brews (beer), wine and non-alcoholic selections.<br />
In addition to an animated trunk fully loaded<br />
with prizes and gifts, Curtin’s home is decorated<br />
with black, orange and purple as the dominant<br />
color theme and adorned with anything<br />
Halloween-related, including bleeding candles, a<br />
cawing raven and a singing witch.<br />
“In fact,” said Silvia, “we start the party by<br />
having [the witch] sing ‘Ghouls Just Want to<br />
Have Fun,’ to the tune of Cyndi Lauper’s hit ‘Girls<br />
Just Want to Have Fun.’”<br />
And that, according to Curtin, is why she enjoys<br />
dressing as a witch every year.<br />
“The costume allows me to become a character.<br />
Something that you really want to be but don’t<br />
have the nerve to be,” she said.<br />
So, how did the witch become the subject of<br />
books, movies and TV shows—not to mention<br />
the go-to Halloween costume?
Going green at last year’s party is Elsie O’Brien.<br />
According to history.com, witchcraft not only<br />
existed in Western culture but in Asian, African<br />
and Native American societies as well.<br />
Prior to the advent of science, witches were<br />
blamed for storms, accidents, diseases and other<br />
mayhem outside the control of humans. With<br />
witches held as the sources (or sorceresses) of evil,<br />
societies worldwide began executions.<br />
When it came to witches and “the belief in the<br />
devil’s practice of giving certain humans the power<br />
to harm others in return for their loyalty,” said the<br />
website, the U.S. also operated under the influence<br />
of fear, specifically in colonial New England.<br />
Enter what was then Salem Village,<br />
Massachusetts.<br />
In 1692, a doctor began diagnosing women who<br />
exhibited symptoms of violent contortions and<br />
uncontrollable screaming with “bewitchment.”<br />
The Salem witch trials were born as were<br />
accusations of bewitching others and, of course,<br />
the ensuing hangings.<br />
And, what about the Halloween witch musthave<br />
accessories such as the pointed hat and<br />
broom?<br />
In Europe during the 15th century, the upper<br />
class donned black pointy hats. This was all<br />
well and good until the commoners also started<br />
wearing them, landing them in hot water for being<br />
suspected of practicing paganism and witchcraft.<br />
The broom, however, has a more complicated<br />
history as there are several theories circulating<br />
regarding its witch affiliation.<br />
One such theory involves a pagan fertility ritual<br />
in which farmers would dance among brooms<br />
that were pitched under a full moon to encourage<br />
crop growth. The “broomstick dance” got tangled<br />
up into accounts of witches who were no doubt<br />
Pat Curtin, center, and friends<br />
at their annual party in 2021.<br />
flying to illicit events.<br />
Another account of witches flying<br />
on brooms out of chimneys originated<br />
when women became more associated<br />
with the home and would stuff a<br />
broom in the chimney as a sign that<br />
they were away from the household.<br />
The green skin—yes, the Lake<br />
Rogerene coven slathers up for the<br />
occasion—originated from the 1939<br />
beloved classic “The Wizard of Oz,”<br />
which depicted the Wicked Witch of the West<br />
with green skin.<br />
Popularized in the 1950s, Wicca is often<br />
associated with modern-day witches. A religion<br />
shaped by pagan beliefs and practices, Wicca<br />
can include ritual magic, a belief in male and<br />
female deities and the formation of covens.<br />
The U.S. boasts 400,000 Wiccans.<br />
Meanwhile, back in the 21st century at<br />
Lake Rogerene, Curtin and the gang are in<br />
full-on witch mode, preparing costumes and<br />
decorating homes. “Once we start in October,<br />
we don’t quit,” she said with a laugh.<br />
The group will be making a couple of<br />
appearances throughout the area. About a<br />
dozen of them are heading to The Willowtree<br />
Inn Restaurant in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania,<br />
on October 11, pointy hats and all. Then it’s<br />
the big bash at Curtin’s house a few days later.<br />
The month concludes on<br />
Halloween, when the ladies come<br />
back to Curtin’s home dressed<br />
in costume, sit around a firepit<br />
and hand out candy to trick-ortreaters.<br />
Around 7:30 p.m., it’s<br />
back to the pirate ship, coming<br />
full circle for one last Halloween<br />
hurrah before flying off into the<br />
night until next year.<br />
“This is the one time of year<br />
we all come together with great<br />
anticipation,” said Andrews. “No<br />
one misses it.”<br />
The dining table reached capacity<br />
seating at last year’s event.<br />
Ona Silvia sports orange hair<br />
and a hat full of spiderwebs.<br />
Witches at last year’s party gather in<br />
front of Curtin’s Lake Rogerene home.<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 23
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24<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong>
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lakehopatcongnews.com 25
26<br />
Kevin McArdle and Tropical Storm bandmates<br />
Ron Zito, Chris Cygan and Wayne Post.<br />
With Music, He’s Been<br />
Taking Venues By Storm<br />
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
With a musical career that has spanned<br />
more than 50 years, Kevin McArdle<br />
has proven that entertaining doesn’t have to be<br />
complicated. Doing what he loves with family<br />
and friends comes easy to the veteran musician,<br />
and his fans wouldn’t have it any other way.<br />
A native of Rockaway Township, McArdle,<br />
64, is best known as the lead vocalist of Tropical<br />
Storm. The popular band, a fixture at several<br />
lake-area venues, performs a blend of reggae,<br />
Jimmy Buffet, classic rock and oldies, with a<br />
touch of modern rock and pop.<br />
McArdle’s interest in music started when he<br />
was 7 years old. His older brother, Brian—one<br />
of eight siblings—had a guitar. “When he’d<br />
leave, I would pick it up,” McArdle recalled.<br />
“Back then they had these guitar books, one was<br />
the Beatles and the other—Lovin’ Spoonful.<br />
I’d learn the chords from that. I’d look at the<br />
pictures and put my fingers where they go. I<br />
was pretty much self-taught.”<br />
He wasn’t exactly stage-ready, though. “My<br />
sister would tell me I sounded like a wounded<br />
dog when I was singing.”<br />
By 13, McArdle was playing occasionally with<br />
his brother’s band, Gold Dust. At 16, McArdle<br />
and a couple of friends landed gigs at some bars<br />
in Morristown. “We were underage but nobody<br />
really cared back then,” he chuckled.<br />
In 1978, McArdle’s brother, Brian, moved to<br />
Maine, leaving the band searching for a new<br />
member. “One of his bandmates, Ray Sikora,<br />
asked me if I wanted to join,” he said. “It was<br />
like Jesus asking me if I wanted to be a disciple.<br />
My eyes were like popping open.”<br />
With McArdle on guitar, Sikora on pedal steel<br />
guitar and lead vocals, Gary Gamble on bass and<br />
Don McQuade on drums, they reestablished<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Megan McArdle with her dad<br />
Kevin McArdle at Mason Street<br />
Grille recently.<br />
themselves as Sage Brush. In the search for<br />
regular gigs, they heard about an open audition<br />
at country bar Stockman’s in Rockaway. “We<br />
played, got the job, and played weekends there<br />
for three or four years,” McArdle said.<br />
Soon, Brian returned from Maine and he<br />
and Kevin formed the McArdle Brothers, a duo<br />
playing Irish music. For about three years in<br />
the early 1980s, they were booked solid with<br />
weddings and private and corporate events.<br />
“We were playing seven nights a week and twice<br />
on Saturdays and Sundays,” Kevin McArdle<br />
said.<br />
With his brother on guitar, Kevin was able<br />
to play keyboards—another skill he picked<br />
up along the way. He has associate degrees in<br />
music and business from County College of<br />
Morris. Although he taught himself the guitar,<br />
he never learned how to read music.<br />
“I thought I’d go there and learn how to read<br />
music and play the guitar,” McArdle said. “That<br />
didn’t happen. I became a voice major. So, it<br />
was good for vocal training. I also had to take<br />
piano for music theory. So that’s where I learned<br />
keyboards. It was great because I wound up<br />
doing it for several years to make good money.”<br />
Eventually, the McArdle Brothers had more<br />
jobs than they could handle so they decided to<br />
divide and conquer. “We decided that he’d get<br />
a keyboard player, and I’d get a guitar player,”<br />
McArdle said. “We each took some of the jobs,<br />
and we were still playing quite a bit.”<br />
He “duo-ed” with several guitarists for<br />
several years in the mid-1980s and sometimes<br />
appeared as a trio with his brother Barry and<br />
Dave Wilson, a percussionist, or Joe Fasano,<br />
a guitarist and vocalist. This marked the first<br />
time they used the name Tropical Storm.<br />
Opportunities continued to come around.<br />
They once played at Sloppy Joe’s in Key West,<br />
Florida, McArdle recalled.<br />
McArdle with his band, Tropical<br />
Storm, in September.<br />
In 1997, McArdle recorded a CD titled “It<br />
Ain’t Easy Being Me.” He wrote most of the<br />
songs but included some by his brother Brian.<br />
They collaborated on the rest of the tracks.<br />
McArdle decided he was going to put together<br />
a more permanent version of Tropical Storm to<br />
support the album. McArdle, Gary Georgett<br />
who plays keyboards and helped produce the<br />
CD, guitarist Wayne Post and drummer Dave<br />
Hedden put themselves out there on local<br />
stages. The band’s name reflects their island<br />
vibe.<br />
The album received positive reviews, and the<br />
band was invited to play some great gigs. “We<br />
were heading down to play House of Blues in<br />
New Orleans, where we’d be opening up for<br />
Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh,” he recalled. “It was<br />
paid for by the venue, but the artists decided<br />
they didn’t want an opening act. It was still a<br />
great time,” he said of the experience.<br />
A few years in, Chris Cygan stepped in on<br />
drums, and more than 20 years later they are<br />
still rocking lake-area venues.<br />
The band has also performed at charity<br />
events. They’ve played a benefit for Children’s<br />
Hopes and Dreams Foundation in Dover more<br />
than a dozen times. The organization grants<br />
wishes for terminally ill kids.<br />
More recently, Toys for Tots has been the<br />
favorite. “We get all the [McArdle] brothers<br />
together—Barry, Brian, and I, and play at places<br />
like the Windlass,” McArdle said. “We do at<br />
least one every year and invite other musicians<br />
to join us. We did a summer Toys for Tots for<br />
the first time this year and it was a big success.”<br />
While the players have changed over the years,<br />
the core group of McArdle, Cygan, Georgett<br />
and Post remains the same. Most of them have<br />
known each other for more than 30 years, and<br />
when they come together on stage, it’s like they<br />
were never apart, according to McArdle.<br />
“People in the lake community really enjoy<br />
music,” he said when asked what keeps the fans<br />
coming back. “They know a particular artist,<br />
and they will support that artist and come
multiple times to see them. Or they’ll gravitate<br />
to a particular place that they like, and they’ll<br />
be open to whatever they have to offer.”<br />
McArdle moved to a home in Succasunna in<br />
1995, then in 2007 built a home in Berkshire<br />
Valley, where he raised his four kids.<br />
His stepson, Matt Engle, 35, plays bass<br />
guitar, guitar and several other instruments<br />
professionally. Engle has been known to<br />
appear with Tropical Storm now and then. Last<br />
summer he joined them at the Jefferson House<br />
several times, according to McArdle.<br />
His youngest daughter, Megan McArdle,<br />
22, is a full-time nurse but has taken the mic<br />
alongside her dad in recent years.<br />
McArdle also has stepdaughter, Kristy Engle,<br />
32, and another daughter, Kailey McArdle, 25.<br />
In 2019, McArdle and his wife, Bonnie,<br />
bought their dream home in Lake Forest,<br />
Jefferson Township where they can welcome<br />
their family, but also walk to their boat.<br />
McArdle still has his day job. He started<br />
an alarm company called Morris Security<br />
Electronics in 1997. “I had to do that and play<br />
music for 10 years or so,” he said. “I didn’t take<br />
a salary for the longest time. I just paid the guys<br />
and got the business off the ground. Now I can<br />
choose when I play.”<br />
Tropical Storm performs at Jefferson House<br />
and other venues about once a month during<br />
the summer and was recently a part of the<br />
Music Under the Stars series at the Windlass.<br />
But McArdle said he still solos now and then. “I<br />
keep my finger in it because I don’t want to ever<br />
forget all the music,” he said. “You could totally<br />
go rusty within a couple of years.”<br />
Recently he’s been trying to travel more and<br />
enjoy life. “All those years of playing music and<br />
working, I didn’t get as many vacations as I<br />
could have.<br />
“It’s truly in my heart and soul,” he says of his<br />
musical ability. “I love to entertain people, and<br />
I love to have fun, and I could foresee myself<br />
playing right to the very end.” And he means<br />
that. “You know, moving to Florida, playing<br />
happy hours.”<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 27
Michelle Yarosz, Danielle Rennie, Penny Barella,<br />
David Barella and Vicki Sanford<br />
Janet Nadolny, Ida Brown, Annette Grieco,<br />
Mary Jeanne Smith and Diane Ottman<br />
Fun, Festivities<br />
and Hot Dogs at<br />
Hopatcong Days<br />
Caleb Wright, Jackson Ordonez, Ian Wright,<br />
Landon Wright, Ava Ordonez and Aria Wright<br />
Ella Schouten, Joe Francomacaro and<br />
Michelle Francomacaro<br />
Fran Tierney, Paul Buckley, Therese<br />
DePierro and Nancy Ciccone<br />
Story and photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Live music, bounce houses, pony<br />
rides, a magician and 1,500 hot<br />
dogs were just some of the offerings at<br />
this year’s annual Hopatcong Days event,<br />
held September 10, at Modick and Maxim<br />
Lindsay Cupples, Max Calfee, Jessica Lopa<br />
Glen parks in the borough.<br />
and Clayton Cupples<br />
Hosted by the Hopatcong Recreation<br />
Department, the event combined with<br />
the borough’s Green Fair and the popular<br />
Farm to Art FUN Market in the Park. More than<br />
100 vendors, including local groups, business<br />
owners, crafters and artists were on hand, said<br />
Jodi Penn, Marketplace coordinator.<br />
Visitors to the four-hour event were treated<br />
to free hot dogs, cotton candy, snow cones<br />
and games with prizes, said Anna Reardon, a<br />
recreation department aide.<br />
According to Penn, vendor space cost $25 with<br />
proceeds going to the Hopatcong Community<br />
Resource and Wellness Center. She said this<br />
year’s event raised roughly $1,000 for the center.<br />
Danielle Strack and Tyrina Cittrich<br />
28<br />
Kendra Barry, Anna Barry, Lia Sweedy, Ken Barry and Mary Ann Mach<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 29
This photo: Teri Rocco, center, learning a new dance routine.<br />
Right: Fran Turner with her dance partner Raymond Shank.<br />
30<br />
Friday Night at The Dance<br />
Story by ELLEN WILKOWE<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
tep right diagonally forward, touch<br />
“Sleft together. Step left diagonally<br />
backward, touch right together…”<br />
The “CC Shuffle” was in full effect as DJ<br />
and line caller Ryan Pascarella of Vernonbased<br />
Hi Energy Entertainment demonstrated<br />
the steps to—by then—an already-seasoned<br />
crowd putting their best boots forward for an<br />
evening of country line dancing.<br />
A fundraiser for the Jefferson Arts<br />
Committee, the dance was held on the second<br />
Friday in September at St. Thomas the Apostle<br />
Roman Catholic Church in Oak Ridge. Sixtyfive<br />
people attended the event kicked off at 7<br />
p.m.<br />
The country line dance had been held twice<br />
before the pandemic and this marked its return<br />
since then, said President of the Jefferson Arts<br />
Committee Carol Punturieri.<br />
“Following the pandemic and not hosting<br />
events for a long time—as most organizations<br />
did for safety reasons—the Jefferson Arts<br />
Committee began to slowly attempt to<br />
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return to some normalcy and gradually began<br />
meeting in person again,” she said.<br />
In addition to the dance, the organization’s<br />
return to normal included free outdoor<br />
summer gazebo concerts and in-person<br />
rehearsals for the township’s bands and<br />
choruses. Upcoming bus trips and the annual<br />
gingerbread house contest in December are<br />
also back.<br />
“We want to get back out into the<br />
community again,” Punturieri said.<br />
Mission accomplished.<br />
The high-energy participants ranged in<br />
experience from first-timers to diehards with<br />
decades of experience who travel near and far<br />
to get their kicks.<br />
Kenny and Cathy Shea, a couple who live<br />
and dance by the motto, “have boots, will<br />
travel,” heel-toed their way to Milton from<br />
Florham Park.<br />
“Line dancing is a gypsy type of recreation,”<br />
said Kenny Shea, who was dressed in a collared<br />
shirt with a crab pattern.<br />
The couple first dabbled in line dancing in<br />
2011after visiting a friend in Oklahoma, and<br />
they haven’t stopped since.<br />
“This is something couples try out as they<br />
get older and want to reconnect,” he said.<br />
In Shea’s experiences, country line dances<br />
tend to take place in “dry” venues such as<br />
churches, firehouses and Veterans of Foreign<br />
Wars halls. He and his wife lay low on the<br />
alcohol to stay coordinated, he said.<br />
The Sheas also country line dance every<br />
Tuesday at St. Jude Roman Catholic Church<br />
in Hopatcong.<br />
Meanwhile, members of the West Milford<br />
country line dancing organization Cowboys<br />
and Sweethearts were decked out in an<br />
assortment of leather boots in various shades<br />
of pinks, blues, beiges and black, some with<br />
intricate designs etched into them.<br />
Member Fran “Fancy Franny” Turner,<br />
however, took country attire to the next level,<br />
complementing her open-toe boots with<br />
fringed jeans and matching jacket.<br />
“I saw the outfit on HSN [Home Shopping<br />
Network] and ordered it,” she said. “It’s<br />
[designed by] Diane Gilman.”<br />
Turner was joined by her dance partner and<br />
friend, Raymond Shank of Pequannock, as<br />
well as Judy Kehr and Tammy D’Imperio, both<br />
from West Milford. Cowboys and Sweethearts<br />
was formed after a group of dance enthusiasts<br />
met at the Elks Club in West Milford, which<br />
was offering country line dance lessons.<br />
Cowboys and Sweethearts slip on their boots<br />
two to three times a week to stomp at various<br />
locations across north Jersey and Pennsylvania,<br />
as per a schedule on their website.<br />
Dolled up in a tie-dye dress and leather<br />
boots, Kehr abides by the philosophy of “if<br />
the shoe fits, buy it in every color.”<br />
She boasts at least 20 boots acquired during<br />
her 30-year love affair with line dancing. In<br />
gesturing to the mostly women-dominated<br />
crowd, Kehr refers to the country line dance<br />
circuit as the “Alaska for men.”<br />
“Whenever my son asks where to find<br />
women, I always tell him that there are quality<br />
women at a line dance,” she said.<br />
Aside from possible romance and longlasting<br />
friendships, line dancing comes with<br />
other benefits such as exercise and stress<br />
release.<br />
Just ask D’Imperio, who works in<br />
engineering.<br />
“This is my therapy,” she said. “When I get<br />
stressed out, this helps hit the reset button.”<br />
Newer to the scene with four years under<br />
her boots, Joanne Mulroy of West Milford<br />
experienced her first line dance at The Villages<br />
in Florida.<br />
“I just took to it,” she said. “And I met really<br />
good friends.”<br />
She made a full-time commitment by<br />
purchasing her first real pair of Miranda
Lambert pink leather boots.<br />
When event attendees were asked about<br />
favorite artists, Luke Ryan and Alabama came<br />
in as top choices.<br />
Performers aside, this crowd was all about<br />
the dancing, and there were very few moments<br />
of rest time for the participants.<br />
Pascarella, the caller, kept everyone on their<br />
heels and toes by switching from judgmentfree<br />
lessons learning a new dance to offering<br />
tried and true dance routines.<br />
“This one is called ‘AA,’” Pascarella teased<br />
before playing the Walker Hayes hit. “Listen<br />
to the lyrics.”<br />
Other favorites included “Moses, Roses,<br />
Toeses” and even “Shivers” by Ed Sheeran was<br />
choreographed into a line dance<br />
The evening closed out around 10 p.m.<br />
“Many guests commented that they had<br />
a great time and thanked us for hosting the<br />
event,” said Punturieri. “I think they were<br />
happy to get out and dance.”<br />
Proceeds will be used by the Jefferson Arts<br />
Barbara Anne Dillon, O.D., P.A.<br />
License # OA 05188 OM 0373<br />
180 Howard Boulevard, Suite 18<br />
Mount Arlington, NJ 07856<br />
(973) 770-1380<br />
Fax (973) 770-1384<br />
• Comprehensive Eye Exams<br />
• Contact Lenses and Eyeglasses<br />
• Treatment for Eye Disease<br />
We’re open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday<br />
Committee to purchase new medals for the<br />
<strong>2022</strong>-2023 Student Artists of the Month<br />
program and for the 2023 scholarship fund<br />
account, said Punturieri.<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 31
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lakehopatcongnews.com 33
One of Lake<br />
Hopatcong’s<br />
most unique<br />
landmarks is the ferry that connects Raccoon<br />
Island—with its roughly 65 homes—to the<br />
mainland. Guided by a cable, the ferry carries up<br />
to two vehicles at a time from Chincopee Road<br />
in Jefferson Township to the island.<br />
While it is a familiar sight to most lake<br />
residents, many may be surprised to learn<br />
the ferry turned 90 years old this season and<br />
was actually preceded by a bridge that once<br />
connected the island to the mainland.<br />
Like much of Lake Hopatcong’s shoreline,<br />
the development of Raccoon Island began in<br />
the 1880s. Since steamboats were then the<br />
predominant means of transportation and few<br />
people lived at the lake year-round, the fact that<br />
it was an island made little difference to early<br />
residents.<br />
Most residents and vacationers arrived by<br />
railroad and simply traveled by steamboat to<br />
hotel docks, campsites or cottages. Travel via<br />
road was not a viable alternative as most were<br />
poorly maintained or non-existent, particularly<br />
on the west shore. In fact, not until 1925 was it<br />
possible to circle Lake Hopatcong by road.<br />
While steamboats were the passenger taxis<br />
of the lake in those early years, transporting<br />
building supplies by boat was cumbersome and<br />
costly. Since horses and wagons were cheaper to<br />
34<br />
HISTORY<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Making the<br />
Connection for<br />
90 Years<br />
The Chincopee Bridge between Raccoon Island and the mainland, circa 1895.<br />
by MARTY KANE<br />
Photos courtesy of the<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG<br />
HISTORICAL MUSEUM<br />
ARCHIVES<br />
use, the developers of Raccoon Island built their<br />
own bridge to the island.<br />
Known as the Chincopee Bridge, it opened<br />
with a ceremony on July 15, 1891 and was a<br />
continuation of today’s Chincopee Road.<br />
Constructed of rough-hewn timber, it was<br />
high enough in the middle to allow most boats<br />
operating on the lake to pass underneath. While<br />
it served its immediate purpose, facilitating the<br />
construction of some 20 cottages on Raccoon<br />
Island, the bridge was not built with longevity<br />
in mind.<br />
Battered by Lake Hopatcong’s winters, the<br />
bridge partially collapsed in 1899 and remained<br />
floating for the next few summers, slowly<br />
breaking apart, much to the chagrin of local<br />
property owners and the operators of the lake’s<br />
steamboats.<br />
Following the collapse of the Chincopee<br />
Bridge, it was widely expected that a new one<br />
would quickly be built. Raccoon Island property<br />
owners looked to the county to replace the bridge,<br />
but the Morris County Board of Freeholders<br />
ignored their requests. This led property owners<br />
to commence legal proceedings in 1912 in an<br />
unsuccessful attempt to<br />
compel the freeholders<br />
to construct a new<br />
bridge.<br />
An editorial in the<br />
July 31, 1915 Lake<br />
Hopatcong Breeze noted<br />
that, “it is now many<br />
years since the Raccoon<br />
Island Bridge was<br />
destroyed and as yet no<br />
attempt has been made<br />
to have it replaced. As a result of this, the people<br />
on Raccoon Island, who pay a large percentage<br />
of the taxes for Jefferson Township, including a<br />
road tax, have no roads to show for it.”<br />
In 1920, the property owners on Raccoon<br />
Island once again took up the quest for a new<br />
bridge. Meetings were called and a bridge<br />
committee established, but still no progress was<br />
made.<br />
In 1925, the inactive Raccoon Island<br />
Association was reorganized with the<br />
construction of a new bridge its primary focus.<br />
This time the Morris County Freeholders<br />
promised to look into the matter.<br />
With the persistent advocacy of the Raccoon<br />
Island property owners and their attorney, the<br />
freeholders finally took action in 1928, agreeing<br />
to build the bridge as long as the property owners<br />
assumed its ultimate cost.<br />
The August 4, 1928 Breeze reported that<br />
a $15,000 estimate had been obtained from<br />
American Bridge Company for a steel bridge.<br />
The newspaper explained that, “if the cost of the<br />
bridge is spread over a period of ten years, the<br />
additional taxes will be about $1,500 per year,<br />
or, as there are about 30 property owners on the<br />
island, the additional taxes would average about<br />
$50.00 per person.<br />
“It is felt that the increased value of the<br />
property will offset the cost of the bridge. The<br />
Jefferson Township Committee has agreed to put<br />
the approaches to the bridge in good condition.”<br />
Construction of the bridge appeared to<br />
be a certainty, but this optimism was soon<br />
overshadowed by the dawn of the Great<br />
Depression. Discretionary spending by<br />
municipalities was scrapped and the ability of<br />
most individuals to pay taxes vanished.<br />
As the Depression continued and it became<br />
apparent that no bridge would be built, property<br />
owners devised an alternate course of action.<br />
Twelve Raccoon Island property owners formed<br />
the Raccoon Island Transportation Company<br />
with the intent of creating ferry service. A ferry<br />
was constructed for the 1932 season and dubbed<br />
the Chincopee.<br />
Guided by a cable and powered by a modified<br />
inboard motor, it was designed to cross the<br />
channel at the location of the former Chincopee<br />
bridge in three minutes carrying one eight-ton<br />
From left: Quinn Langenkamp and John Gates on the Raccoon<br />
Island Ferry in the summer 1975 with Bob Kays, 16, as its operator.
The original Raccoon Island Ferry, circa 1935.<br />
truck or two sedans.<br />
A 34-horsepower<br />
Evinrude outboard<br />
replaced the inboard<br />
engine in the 1950s<br />
and has evolved today<br />
into a 50-horsepower<br />
Mercury outboard.<br />
Cables must be<br />
replaced annually,<br />
and the motor is<br />
replaced every three years.<br />
The initial ferry—basically a floating deck<br />
with no rails to contain vehicles—was intended<br />
as an interim measure until a bridge could finally<br />
be built. In the ensuing years, some residents of<br />
Raccoon Island have periodically taken up the<br />
call for a bridge.<br />
The September 1957 issue of the Breeze<br />
noted that, “Raccoon Island residents are fed<br />
up paying taxes to Jefferson Township and not<br />
getting anything for their money….some of the<br />
60 families on the island would like to become<br />
year round residents but cannot under these<br />
conditions.”<br />
However, as the years have passed, a majority<br />
of island residents appear to have become<br />
content with life without a bridge.<br />
Ninety years since its inception, the Raccoon<br />
Island ferry continues to operate each season and<br />
is still run by the Raccoon Island Transportation<br />
Company. It generally runs from early April<br />
to late October. The RITC sets the hours of<br />
Call Jim to buy or list today!<br />
Above: An invitation<br />
for the opening of<br />
Chincopee Bridge in 1891.<br />
Left: A 1990 painting by<br />
local artist William C.<br />
Sturm of the Raccoon<br />
Island Ferry. Sturm died<br />
in 2018 at age 82.<br />
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RITC President Bob Kays, whose family has<br />
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of volunteers as it was in 1932. Maintenance is<br />
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As for personnel, Kays explained that many a<br />
Raccoon Island teenager (including himself and<br />
his son, Alex) has operated the ferry as a summer<br />
job.<br />
Like Kays, many said it was the best job they<br />
ever had.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 35
COOKING<br />
WITH SCRATCH © ,<br />
Test<br />
Kitchen<br />
by BARBARA SIMMONS<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
My cooking apprenticeship started at a<br />
very early age. I was just tall enough to<br />
see the stovetop while standing on one of the<br />
kitchen chairs.<br />
I must have been about 4 years old. My<br />
mother, Gertrude Kertscher, like all mothers at<br />
the time, made everything from scratch. I was<br />
always fascinated by what she was doing and,<br />
like any nosy 4-year-old, I wanted to help.<br />
Fortunately for me, Gertrude let me.<br />
Soups were something she made weekly,<br />
especially in colder months. She always<br />
started her soups with a classic German base<br />
of vegetables. Leeks—never onions because<br />
onions make the soup too sweet—celery,<br />
carrots, parsnips and sometimes garlic were her<br />
go-to combination. Everything had to be finely<br />
chopped to release as much flavor as possible.<br />
And salt. Salt was big.<br />
She would take that blue container of<br />
Morton’s salt (“when it rains it pours”) and<br />
shake a hefty amount into the stockpot to<br />
ensure the soup had good flavor.<br />
To those ingredients she would add a whole<br />
chicken or a big beef bone and the soup would<br />
simmer for several hours, perfuming the whole<br />
house.<br />
Once in a while, Gertrude would let me<br />
make my own batch of pretend soup. She’d raid<br />
the refrigerator drawers for a spare carrot and a<br />
couple of celery stalks, and I would chop away<br />
on the big wooden cutting board.<br />
I was in heaven, standing on one of the<br />
maroon and gray vinyl chairs at the gray<br />
chrome and Formica table in our little kitchen,<br />
feeling so proud and excited that I was making<br />
my own soup.<br />
As a finishing touch, Gertrude would give me<br />
a couple of bouillon cubes that I would carefully<br />
unwrap and throw into my soup concoction.<br />
If my father, Horst Kertscher, happened to<br />
wander in, I would beg him to taste my soup<br />
and, God bless him, he always told me it was<br />
delicious.<br />
I’ve upped my soup game since then and have<br />
a slew of recipes I like to make in the winter<br />
months.<br />
Now, for the life of me, I can’t remember<br />
where I learned to make this escarole and white<br />
bean soup. It was definitely not in Gertrude’s<br />
repertoire, so it was not from my childhood.<br />
She never made any Italian recipes when I was<br />
little, so it wasn’t from our Italian neighbors on<br />
the third floor.<br />
Maybe it was the Food Network? Maybe an<br />
Italian friend?<br />
I tried different ways to fancy up the<br />
recipe. Adding Gertrude’s classic vegetables<br />
or ditalini pasta did nothing to enhance it, so<br />
I found it was better to just let go and keep<br />
it simple.<br />
(Have a look at my comments in the notes<br />
section for some tips that do make a difference.)<br />
Now that colder weather is coming, this is a<br />
soup you can enjoy. It is dead simple to make<br />
and also freezes well. My daughter, Erika, loves<br />
this soup so much she says she never wants the<br />
bowl to end.<br />
There is nothing like having extra soup “in<br />
the vault” either—especially this one!<br />
A hearty bowl of escarole and white bean<br />
soup served with a chunk of crusty bread makes<br />
a wonderful lunch or light supper.<br />
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36<br />
Text: 201-400-6031<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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ESCAROLE & WHITE BEAN SOUP<br />
Here are a few notes about preparing this recipe:<br />
• The quantities of escarole and garlic that are called for can easily be doubled, depending<br />
on how “vegetablely” and garlicky you like your soups. You can increase the amount of<br />
beans, too, if you want the soup to be heartier. I love lots of greens in the soup and made it<br />
with three heads of escarole the last time. Each head will yield about 8 cups of chopped<br />
greens. You will be amazed, though, at how the greens cook down—the volume decreases<br />
by more than 60%.<br />
• Be sure and wash the escarole very well. Nothing ruins a soup more than crunching into<br />
some grit at the bottom of your bowl.<br />
• Escarole cooked in garlic and olive oil is a fabulous vegetable dish, by the way, and makes<br />
a great side for roasts, so stop after cooking down the greens.<br />
• A word about the garlic. Once you’ve peeled the cloves, check to see if the head of garlic<br />
has started to sprout. Trim off the end of a clove and slice it in half. If there is a green<br />
sprout in the middle of the clove, remove it. “Togliere l’anima dall’aglio” (Remove the soul<br />
of the garlic), as the Italians say, as it can have a bitter taste. Do this for all the garlic you<br />
are planning on using.<br />
• Depending on your mood and how much time you have to cook, you can either smoosh<br />
the garlic through a garlic press or slice the cloves very thinly. I prefer how it looks when<br />
sliced, but sometimes you just don’t have time.<br />
• You can use pre-made chicken or vegetable stock for the liquid in the soup. I use water and<br />
powdered chicken bouillon. Bouillon cubes can be a bit fiddly to unwrap, but if those are all<br />
you have, use them. Check the label for how many you will need for 8 cups of water.<br />
• Another little trick to make the soup richer tasting is to put a chunk of Parmigiano-<br />
Reggiano cheese into the broth. You can even use a chunk of the rind if you save it, like I do.<br />
Ingredients<br />
2 large heads of escarole, washed really well<br />
3-4 garlic cloves (or more if you are a garlic lover)<br />
3 tablespoons olive oil<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
2 quarts (8 cups) water<br />
3 tablespoons chicken or vegetable bouillon powder (or 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock)<br />
1 1-inch piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or cheese rind, if you have it<br />
2 15½ ounce cans small white beans such as Goya habichuelas blancas. Do not drain.<br />
For serving:<br />
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (please, not the stuff in the green can)<br />
Freshly ground black pepper and additional olive oil for drizzling<br />
Loaf of French or Italian bread<br />
Procedure<br />
1 Trim off the tops of the outer leaves of the heads of escarole. Open up the heads and<br />
separate the leaves and immerse them in a large bowl of water. Rinse each leaf under<br />
running water, then place in a colander to drain.<br />
2 Slice the leaves in half lengthwise and then crosswise into spoon-sized pieces.<br />
3 Peel the garlic cloves and thinly slice them or run them through a garlic press if you<br />
don’t feel like slicing.<br />
4 Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot and add the garlic and salt. Over low heat, stir and<br />
cook until the garlic is translucent.<br />
5 Add in the chopped escarole and cover. Let it cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.<br />
(You could stop here and use this sautéed escarole as a delicious vegetable side dish.)<br />
6 Add in the water and bouillon or stock and bring to a boil.<br />
7 Drop in the piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or rind.<br />
8 Lower to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes, then add the undrained beans.<br />
9 Taste and add additional chicken bouillon powder or salt as needed.<br />
10 Heat through and serve with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and “un filo d’olio”<br />
(a thread of olive oil).<br />
11 Grind in some black pepper to taste.<br />
12 Serve with a nice hunk of crusty bread.<br />
Showroom<br />
SPARTA, NEW JERSEY<br />
STRESS-FREE<br />
RENOVATIONS<br />
973-729-4787<br />
HappsKitchen.com<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 37
WORDS OF<br />
A FEATHER<br />
Admittedly, it was a tall order.<br />
Usually when I write this column, I<br />
have already sourced a photo to go along with<br />
it. But a couple months ago, I was so curious to<br />
learn about muskrats that I wrote about them<br />
without having an image lined up. Instead, I<br />
asked our fearless editor, Karen Fucito, to go out,<br />
find a muskrat and photograph it.<br />
Karen succeeded in taking a great picture. It<br />
was only after the magazine went to print that<br />
I saw the photo and realized it was a mink,<br />
not a muskrat. Apologies, we had the best of<br />
intentions!<br />
So, let’s learn a bit about mink!<br />
The North American species weigh 2 pounds<br />
and are approximately 2 feet long, with a<br />
tail that extends another 6 inches. Related to<br />
weasels, ferrets and otters, they live near water<br />
and maintain territories that are 2 miles long.<br />
Though they regularly patrol and mark these<br />
territories to ward off competitors, they usually<br />
remain in just a couple of small areas that offer a<br />
reliable food supply.<br />
Voracious carnivores, mink predate fish, birds,<br />
rabbits, muskrat and more. And of course, they<br />
are cursed with sleek, luxurious, dark brown fur,<br />
for which they can be farmed.<br />
About 100 years ago, Norwegians who settled<br />
in Iceland started farming mink. Iceland, like<br />
most other land masses that originally formed<br />
as an island, has very low terrestrial biodiversity,<br />
and the only land mammal native to Iceland is<br />
the Arctic fox. The farmed mink escaped (can<br />
you blame them?) and since the only predator<br />
they faced was the fox, they immediately wreaked<br />
havoc on the island’s ecosystem, devastating bird<br />
colonies. Iceland’s government has been trying<br />
to eradicate them ever since.<br />
I just visited Iceland, a lovely country full of<br />
38<br />
Column and photo by HEATHER SHIRLEY<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
An Icelandic Island Sanctuary<br />
Common eider<br />
Scan the QR code<br />
with your phone’s<br />
camera to hear a<br />
common eider.<br />
spectacular landscapes and rich sea life. We saw<br />
seals, whales, porpoise and many bird species,<br />
and, fortunately, no signs of mink.<br />
Vigur Island, off the northwest Icelandic coast,<br />
just south of the Arctic Circle, is one of a few<br />
places successfully thwarting mink and keeping<br />
its bird population safe. Less than 150 acres in<br />
size, this island was once settled by Vikings and<br />
boasts many unique artifacts in addition to its<br />
spectacular natural history.<br />
On Vigur Island, you can visit Iceland’s<br />
oldest still-seaworthy boat (built in 1798!), its<br />
only windmill (built in 1840) and one of the<br />
oldest timber (as opposed to sod) houses (built<br />
in 1860). What you may not visit is its beach,<br />
because it disturbs the seals that like to hang<br />
there, as well as the birds that frequent the island,<br />
including puffins, Arctic terns, black guillemots<br />
and common eider.<br />
Vigur Island is owned by a very cool guy<br />
named Gísli and his wife, Felicity. They share<br />
their island with wildlife, ensuring there are no<br />
mink. In return for the sanctuary they provide,<br />
they earn their living by farming precious down<br />
feathers from the eider.<br />
The world produces 270,000 tons of<br />
commercial down annually. Most of it is the<br />
small, soft feathers plucked from ducks and<br />
geese harvested for food. Conversely, only 3,000<br />
tons of eider down is produced annually, with<br />
85% sourced from Iceland. Valued as the “best<br />
of the best” down, and priced accordingly, eider<br />
down is usually used to fill comforters, a practice<br />
initiated by Vikings more than 1,000 years ago.<br />
Common eider are the largest duck in the<br />
Northern Hemisphere. They thrive in the cold,<br />
northern seas of Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia.<br />
In breeding plumage, the males are strikingly<br />
black and white. Females and non-breeding<br />
males are dark brown with subtle barring.<br />
Eider form huge flocks and prefer rocky<br />
marine coastlines where they use their<br />
strong bills to pry mollusks off the rocks.<br />
The mollusks are then eaten. When they<br />
lay eggs—usually among the rocks on hilly<br />
coasts—the female plucks soft down from<br />
her breast to line her nest. The feathers<br />
insulate the eggs, and by plucking her own<br />
breast bare, she exposes a special brood patch<br />
that helps heat the nest.<br />
Gísli spends the long days of nesting season<br />
(20 hours of sunlight!) gently gathering the<br />
down from 3,500 eider nests. He waits until the<br />
birds waddle off to get a drink, then carefully<br />
picks the down by hand, replacing it with straw<br />
to ensure the eggs remain incubated. During<br />
long winter days (20 hours of darkness) he<br />
painstakingly cleans the down, again by hand.<br />
At the end of this cycle, he will have produced<br />
50 tons of eider down. Incredible when you<br />
consider that each eider nest only produces 7<br />
grams of down. Since eider typically return to the<br />
site of where they hatched to lay their own nests,<br />
Gísli and his wife count on the cycle repeating<br />
next year and hopefully for many years to come.<br />
In these turbulent times, it’s as comforting<br />
to me as a mound of warm, cozy eider down<br />
to know that this symbiotic relationship will<br />
continue, the eider able to count on Vigur as a<br />
safe place to nest on, and the farmer whose only<br />
payment for keeping his island paradise safe and<br />
secure is scavenging shed feathers. (That’s a photo<br />
of me with eider down fresh from the nest.)<br />
Eider ducks are rare to New Jersey, but when<br />
they do visit, it’s during winter. To see them,<br />
check the beaches and the jetties at Island Beach<br />
State Park, Barnegat Inlet and Sandy Hook. The<br />
most likely months to see them are December,<br />
January and February so dress warmly…perhaps<br />
in an eider down-filled coat?<br />
Market • Parade • Costume Contest<br />
Saturday, OCT 15 th • 12-4PM<br />
HALLOWEEN IN THE PARK<br />
Maxim Glen & Modick Park<br />
FREE Activities • 100+ Vendors • Food • Music • FUN!!<br />
Parking: 111 & 120 River Styx Rd., Hopatcong<br />
3rd Sunday Market in the DPW Lot<br />
OCT 16 & NOV 20 12-4PM<br />
farmtoartfun.com/events
Four Sisters Winery<br />
Tao Winery, LLC<br />
www.bagelsonthehill.com<br />
CELEBRATING 31YEARS AS YOUR NEIGHBOR!<br />
WINE TASTING DAILY<br />
VINEYARD VIEWS FROM OUR BEAUTIFUL DECK<br />
FOOD AVAILABLE WEEKENDS<br />
MUSIC ON THE DECK WEEKENDS (MAY-OCT.)<br />
Grape Stompings • Murder Mystery Monthly<br />
Weddings<br />
Parties<br />
Social Events<br />
908-475-3671<br />
OPEN 10 AM - 6 PM<br />
(Closed Tuesday & Wednesday)<br />
783 County Road 519W Belvidere, NJ 07823<br />
www.foursisterswinery.com<br />
matte@foursisterswinery.com<br />
Est. 1991<br />
OPEN 7 DAYS<br />
5AM-2PM<br />
M-F<br />
6AM-2PM<br />
Sat/Sun<br />
973-770-4800<br />
fax: 973-770-0572<br />
Order Your<br />
Bakery<br />
Fresh<br />
Holiday<br />
Pies Now!<br />
175 Lakeside Blvd. • Landing, NJ 07850<br />
daily Facebook specials<br />
www.facebook.com/bagelsonthehill<br />
CLOSING FOR THE <strong>2022</strong> SEASON ON<br />
OCTOBER 31<br />
F I T N E S S<br />
H Y D R O B I K E<br />
P E D AL B OAR D<br />
G U I D E D T O U R S<br />
ARE YOU UP FOR<br />
adventure?<br />
BOOK NOW!<br />
ONLINE www.lhadventureco.com<br />
OR BY PHONE 973-663-1944<br />
Discover the natural beauty of<br />
Lake Hopatcong on and off the<br />
water with our guided tours<br />
• Tours are led by fun, experienced guides<br />
• Hassle-free rentals for all guided tours<br />
• Learn about local history and wildlife<br />
• Great for all fitness and experience levels<br />
37 Nolans Point Park Rd. Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849 @lhadventureco Lake Hopatcong Adventure Company<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 39
DEP announces compromise<br />
Page 6<br />
Peter Salmon and his very unusual car<br />
Page 16<br />
Vol. 8, No. 5<br />
Vol. 1, No. 3<br />
Vol. 10, No. 2<br />
Vacationing close to home<br />
Page 20<br />
Labor Day 2016<br />
Hopatcong couple dedicated to rescue<br />
Page 30<br />
Memorial Day 2018<br />
Vol. 8, No. 7<br />
Page 6<br />
Page 14<br />
Page 2<br />
Pages 28<br />
Holiday 2016<br />
Looking skyward<br />
Local DAR honor soldiers<br />
Charity on wheels<br />
1<br />
Vol. 1, No. 6<br />
Fa l 2019<br />
LH refi ling after drawdown<br />
Page 4<br />
Princeton Hydro: Stewards of LH<br />
Page 16<br />
Page 20<br />
Ice boating on area lakes<br />
Page 24<br />
Vol. 10, No. 5<br />
Vol. 10, No. 6<br />
1<br />
Labor Day 2018<br />
Community garden turns 5<br />
Page 6<br />
Hiking the Appalachian Trail<br />
Page 16<br />
Not your average summer camp<br />
Page 24<br />
Family reunion<br />
Page 30<br />
Vol. 9, No. 5<br />
farmer<br />
Labor Day 2017<br />
Vol. 7, No. 4<br />
Page 6<br />
Page 10<br />
Baitfish fishing<br />
Page 16<br />
Page 26<br />
Aug. 1, 2015<br />
Vol. 1, No. 2<br />
Memorial Day 2019<br />
Page 12<br />
Vol. 8, No. 4<br />
Beauty queen<br />
Page 18<br />
Vol. 1, No. 1<br />
Page 26<br />
Aug. 1, 2016<br />
Vol. 1, No. 5<br />
Vol. 1, No. 4<br />
Labor Day 2019<br />
Spring 2019<br />
Page 10<br />
Page 14<br />
Page 28<br />
Page 2<br />
Vol. 10, No. 3<br />
Fourth of July 2018<br />
• American picker<br />
• Olympic spirit<br />
• Passion for golf<br />
• LHC budgets for weeds<br />
Spring 2017<br />
directory<br />
CONSTRUCTION/<br />
EXCAVATION<br />
Al Hutchins Excavating<br />
973-663-2142<br />
973-713-8020<br />
Lakeside Construction<br />
151 Sparta-Stanhope Rd.<br />
Hopatcong<br />
973-398-4517<br />
Northwest Explosives<br />
PO Box 806, Hopatcong<br />
973-398-6900<br />
info@northwestexplosives.com<br />
ENTERTAINMENT/<br />
RECREATION<br />
Hopatcong Marketplace<br />
47 Hopatchung Rd.<br />
Investors Bank Theater<br />
72 Eyland Ave., Succasunna<br />
973-945-0284<br />
roxburyartsalliance.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Adventure<br />
973-663-1944<br />
lhadventureco.com<br />
Lake Hopatcong Cruises<br />
Miss Lotta (Dinner Boat)<br />
37 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-5000<br />
lhcruises.com<br />
Lake Hopatcong Mini Golf Club<br />
37 Nolan's Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-0451<br />
lhgolfclub.com<br />
HOME SERVICES<br />
Central Comfort<br />
100 Nolan’s Point Rd., LH<br />
973-361-2146<br />
Homestead Lawn Sprinkler<br />
5580 Berkshire Valley Rd., OR<br />
973-208-0967<br />
homesteadlawnsprinkler.com<br />
Happs Kitchen & Bath<br />
Sparta<br />
973-729-4787<br />
happskitchen.com<br />
Jefferson Recycling<br />
710 Route 15 N Jefferson<br />
973-361-1589<br />
www.jefferson-recycling.com<br />
Martin Design Group<br />
973-584-5111<br />
martinnurserynj.com<br />
The Polite Plumber<br />
973-398-0875<br />
thepoliteplumber.com<br />
Portasoft of Morris County<br />
578 US 46, Kenvil<br />
973-584-1549<br />
portasoftnj.com<br />
Wilson Services<br />
973-383-2112<br />
WilsonServices.com<br />
Window Genie<br />
973-726-6555<br />
windowgenie.com<br />
LAKE SERVICES<br />
AAA Dock & Marine<br />
27 Prospect Point Rd., LH<br />
973-663-4998<br />
docksmarina@hotmail.com<br />
Batten The Hatches<br />
70 Rt. 181, LH<br />
973-663-1910<br />
facebook.com/bthboatcovers<br />
Lake Management Sciences<br />
Branchville<br />
973-948-0107<br />
lakemgtsciences.com<br />
MARINAS, BOAT<br />
SALES & RENTALS<br />
Beebe Marina<br />
123 Brady Rd., LH<br />
973-663-1192<br />
Lake’s End Marina<br />
91 Mt. Arlington Blvd., Landing<br />
973-398-5707<br />
lakesendmarina.net<br />
Morris County Marine<br />
745 US 46W, Kenvil<br />
201-400-6031<br />
South Shore Marine<br />
862-254-2514<br />
southshoremarine180@gmail.com<br />
NONPROFIT<br />
ORGANIZATIONS<br />
Lake Hopatcong Commission<br />
260 Lakeside Blvd.,Landing<br />
973-601-7801<br />
commissioner@<br />
lakehopatcongcommission.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Elks Lodge<br />
201 Howard Blvd., MA<br />
973-398-9835<br />
lakehopatcongelks.com<br />
Lake Hopatcong Foundation<br />
125 Landing Rd., Landing<br />
973-663-2500<br />
lakehopatcongfoundation.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Historical<br />
Museum at Hopatcong SP<br />
260 Lakeside Blvd., Landing<br />
973-398-2616<br />
lakehopatconghistory.com<br />
PROFESSIONAL<br />
SERVICES<br />
Barbara Anne Dillon,,O.D.,P.A.<br />
180 Howard Blvd., Ste. 18 MA<br />
973-770-1380<br />
Morris County Dental Assoc.<br />
15 Commerce Blvd., Ste. 201<br />
Succasunna<br />
973-328-1225<br />
MorrisCountyDentist.com<br />
REAL ESTATE<br />
Kathleen Courter<br />
RE/MAX<br />
131 Landing Rd., Roxbury<br />
973-420-0022 Direct<br />
KathySellsNJHomes.com<br />
Robin Dora<br />
Sotheby’s<br />
670 Main St., Towaco<br />
973-570-6633<br />
prominentproperties.com<br />
Christopher J. Edwards<br />
RE/MAX<br />
211 Rt. 10E, Succasunna<br />
973-598-1008<br />
MrLakeHopatcong.com<br />
Karen Foley<br />
Sotheby’s<br />
670 Main St., Towaco<br />
973-906-5021<br />
prominentproperties.com<br />
Jim Leffler<br />
RE/MAX<br />
131 Landing Rd., Roxbury<br />
201-919-5414<br />
RESTAURANTS & BARS<br />
Alice’s Restaurant<br />
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd, LH<br />
973-663-9600<br />
alicesrestaurantnj.com<br />
Andre’s Lakeside Dining<br />
112 Tomahawk Tr., Sparta<br />
973-726-6000<br />
andreslakeside.com<br />
Bagels On The Hill<br />
175 Lakeside Blvd., Landing<br />
973-770-4800<br />
bagelsonthehill.com<br />
Big Fish Lounge At Alice’s<br />
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd, LH<br />
973-663-9600<br />
alicesrestaurantnj.com<br />
The Windlass Restaurant<br />
45 Nolan’s Point Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-3190<br />
thewindlass.com<br />
SENIOR CARE<br />
Preferred Care at Home<br />
George & Jill Malanga/Owners<br />
973-512-5131<br />
PreferHome.com/nwjersey<br />
SPECIALTY STORES<br />
AlphaZelle<br />
Toxin-free products<br />
973-288-1971<br />
alphazelle.com<br />
At The Lake Jewelry<br />
atthelakejewelry.com<br />
Best Cellars Wine & Spirits<br />
1001 Rt. 46, Ledgewood<br />
973-252-0559<br />
bestcellars.com<br />
Four Sisters Winery<br />
783 Rt 519W, Belvidere<br />
908-475-3671<br />
foursisterswinery.com<br />
Hawk Ridge Farm<br />
283 Espanong Rd, LH<br />
hawkridgefarmnj.com<br />
Hearth & Home<br />
1215 Rt. 46, Ledgewood<br />
973-252-0190<br />
hearthandhome.net<br />
Helrick’s Custom Framing<br />
158 W Clinton St., Dover<br />
973-361-1559<br />
helricks.com<br />
JF Wood Products<br />
973-590-4319<br />
Main Lake Market<br />
234 S. NJ Ave., LH<br />
973-663-0544<br />
mainlakemarket.com<br />
Nature’s Golden Miracle<br />
CBD Products<br />
973-288-1971<br />
NGM-oil.com<br />
Orange Carpet & Wood Gallery<br />
470 Rt. 10W, Ledgewood<br />
973-584-5300<br />
orange-carpet.com<br />
STORAGE<br />
Woodport Self Storage<br />
17 Rt. 181 & 20 Tierney Rd.<br />
Lake Hopatcong<br />
973-663-4000<br />
FOR A COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS AND FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT<br />
WWW.LAKEHOPATCONGNEWS.COM<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Police Unity Tour<br />
Members of Hopatcong’s Police Department ride<br />
to honor those who have fa len in the line of duty<br />
Lake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving & Celebrating The Lake Community<br />
A tale of two coves<br />
Is i the best of times or the worst of times in Byram Cove?<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Skiing Sole<br />
with<br />
Barefoot sk ing on Lake Hopatcong with the "Jersey Boys"<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
A<br />
Walk<br />
in the<br />
Woods<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
• Young miner<br />
• LHF Block Party<br />
• Benefit for wounded vets<br />
• The lure of a fish tale<br />
Bottoms Up<br />
Ninth Annual Jersey Wakeo f at Lake Hopatcong<br />
Inside this issue:<br />
Local couple ties the knot, fina ly<br />
Page 4<br />
Running club dedicated to helping others<br />
Page 18<br />
Lake Hopatcong Foundation’s Gal and Auction<br />
Page 12<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Aug. 1, 2014 Vol. 6, No. 4<br />
Christmas<br />
in the village<br />
Annual holiday celebration in Je ferson<br />
The tradition of telling the stories of the lake community<br />
continues thanks to all the advertisers.<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
• Algae Bloom Lingers<br />
• Northwood A sociation Turns 100<br />
• Mount Arlington Opens Community Garden<br />
• West Side Methodist Celebrates Milestone<br />
ICE JOB<br />
Volunt ers, including two from Hopatcong, take part in a<br />
century-old tradition at Raque te Lake in the Adirondacks<br />
Vol. 9, No. 1<br />
Work begins on 40-plus mile trail<br />
around the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Windup toy co lection<br />
Hydro raking program begins<br />
‘Study Hull’<br />
makes maiden<br />
voyage<br />
Teen program turns 2<br />
WW I vet records history<br />
Local students schooled on fresh water aboard the Lake Hopatcong Foundation’s floating cla sroom<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
For the Birds<br />
Andrew Eppedio (and his mom’s) great avian adventure<br />
Fourth of July 2019<br />
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
Mid Summer 2018<br />
Swimming Around<br />
Bridgete Hobart-Janeczko becomes the firs to swim the<br />
perimeter of Lake Hopatcong<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
NEW CAREER<br />
TAKES FLIGHT<br />
Mount Arlington’s P.J. Simonis<br />
is flying high with birds of prey<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
Chicken<br />
crazy<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
LOCALLY<br />
GROWN<br />
Je ferson farm comes alive<br />
thanks to third-generation<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
Bee-lieving<br />
in bees<br />
Local beekeepers<br />
passionate about honeybees<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
Answering<br />
The Call<br />
Firefighter honored for 70 years of service<br />
with Roxbury Engine Company No. 2<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
•We lne s center opens in Hopatcong<br />
•Children’s author penning third book<br />
•Bridge to Liffy Island taking shape<br />
•DEP says no to carp in Lake Hopatcong<br />
Paying Tribute<br />
Local vets honored during boat ride around Lake Hopatcong<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
Happy Campers<br />
Sixteen years in and Camp Je ferson is sti l a l about good ole’ fashioned outdoor fun<br />
40<br />
• Markets are open, bounty is fresh<br />
• Smithsonian exhibi to open<br />
• King House expands offerings<br />
• 4H standout leading the way<br />
Vol. 10, No. 4<br />
• Road bowlers<br />
• Marching to the beat<br />
• Hopatcong honors two<br />
• Confusion at BRC meeting<br />
• State Aid Comparison<br />
• University Opens New Campus<br />
• What’s It Rea ly Worth?<br />
• Looking for Solutions to Lake’s I sues<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Inside this issue:<br />
Hundreds ‘leap’ into icy water for good cause<br />
Plus: Food, LHC Meeting, In Brief, Busine s Directory, and Much More!<br />
Winter, 2014 Vol. 6, No. 1<br />
• Drawdown coming<br />
• Artist in residence<br />
• Bertrand Island revisited<br />
• Old-timers’ game days<br />
Je ferson's selfless citizens<br />
Hopatcong's super seniors<br />
Tuesday night jam session<br />
•Qua ry Silt S eps into Lake Hopatcong: DEP Slow to React<br />
•Working Sma l Proves Big for Local Artist •Girl Scouts Tackle Trail Maintenance<br />
•New Fireboat for Lake Hopatcong<br />
973-663-2800 • editor@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
Four-legged fire prevention ambassador<br />
Ten years of super summer concerts<br />
• Algae Invades Lake Hopatcong<br />
Volunteers Drive 1th Hour Rescue<br />
• Wiffle Ba l Game Helps Raise Funds<br />
• Sharing Books One Li tle Fr e Library at a Time
Lake Front Homes by Christopher J. Edwards<br />
RE/MAX First Choice Realtors II<br />
Chris has been boating<br />
on Lake Hopatcong<br />
since 1957, and has<br />
sold more than 250<br />
lake front homes!<br />
Chris in 1958 Chris in 1961 Chris in 2016<br />
Christopher J. Edwards<br />
www.MrLakeHopatcong.com<br />
chrisedwards@chrisedwardsrealtor.com<br />
211 Route 10 East<br />
Succasunna, NJ 07876<br />
Cell: Home: 973-400-9540 973-398-0964<br />
Office: 973-598-1008<br />
UNDER<br />
CONTRACT<br />
SOLD<br />
UNDER<br />
CONTRACT<br />
$495,000 $1,598,000 | Jefferson | Jefferson Twp Twp $350,000 | Hopatcong $1,300,000 Boro| Hopatcong $595,000 Boro | Jefferson Twp $1,295,000 $495,000 | Jefferson | Jefferson Twp Twp<br />
2 Bedrooms, 4 Bedrooms 2.0 Bathrooms 3.1 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms, 1.0 Bathrooms 4 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms, 3.0 BathroomsLakefront 2 Bedrooms, with Inground 2.0 Bathrooms<br />
Pool<br />
SOLD<br />
SOLD<br />
SOLD<br />
$895,000 $1,050,000 | Hopatcong | Jefferson BoroTwp<br />
3 Bedrooms, 3 Bedrooms 3.0 Bathrooms 3 Bathrooms<br />
$945,000 | Hopatcong $825,000 Boro| Hopatcong $750,000 Boro | Jefferson Twp<br />
4 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms, 2.1 Bathrooms<br />
$795,000 $895,000 | Hopatcong | Hopatcong Boro Boro<br />
3 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms 3.0 Bathrooms<br />
SOLD<br />
SOLD<br />
SOLD<br />
$550,000 | Hopatcong Boro<br />
$550,000 | Hopatcong Boro<br />
$1,300,000 | Hopatcong Boro $1,795,000 | Hopatcong Boro $1,849,000 | Mt. Arlington<br />
3 Bedrooms 1.2 Bathrooms<br />
3 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms<br />
3 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms 5 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms 5 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms<br />
$500,000 | Hopatcong<br />
$1,300,000 | Hopatcong Boro<br />
3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms<br />
3 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms<br />
Chris sold all of these homes featured in this<br />
Chris has been boating on Lake Hopatcong NEW YORK for TIMES nearly article, 60 one years! of them twice!<br />
Take advantage of Chris Edwards’ specialized lake front experience: www.MrLakeHopatcong.com<br />
Hopatcong, N.J.: ‘We Call It Lake Life’<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 41
Lake Hopatcong...<br />
A fine food and family destination<br />
Nolan’s Point Park Rd., Lake Hopatcong •
973-663-2490 • Connect with us! @livethelakenj Live the Lake NJ