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INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
<strong>SPRING</strong> <strong>2024</strong> VOL. 16 NO. 1<br />
RENAISSANCE WOMAN<br />
Hopatcong’s Laura Grieco: award-winning National Guard<br />
member and bodybuilder, teacher, mom, wife and more.<br />
HOLOCAUST TRIBUTE<br />
FOUNTAIN RESTORATION<br />
THEIR STORY MATTERS<br />
LEAP IN THE LAKE
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lakehopatcongnews.com 3
4<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
From the Editor<br />
For the past year or so there’s been a wave of attention focused on the accomplishments and triumphs<br />
of women, especially those in the sports world.<br />
I’m pretty sure most of you have now heard of Caitlin Clark, the Iowa basketball player whose skill and<br />
bravado shined a spotlight on women’s college basketball, culminating in a recent March Madness for the ages.<br />
I will admit, up until this year, I hadn’t watched a college basketball game—women’s or men’s—in decades.<br />
There was a time I attended many—as a fan (I loved going to see the women from Seton Hall go up against<br />
dreaded UConn) and as a photographer for the Daily Record, back when the Big East Conference was the<br />
best in the country. I thoroughly enjoyed doing both. The energy, the noise and the emotions were off the<br />
charts. A great atmosphere to be part of.<br />
I’m excited at the realization that I’ll probably start following women’s college basketball again. There<br />
are so many amazing players and quality coaches who deserve my support, and I’m happy to root for their<br />
success—unless, of course, it’s UConn. Then, no.<br />
As I was putting together a preliminary lineup of stories for this year, I realized many of them would focus<br />
on the talents and achievements of women. It’s about time, I say! While I thoroughly enjoy all the stories in<br />
this magazine, I have quietly noticed that more women decline an offer to be part of a story than men do.<br />
Ladies, we deserve the spotlight.<br />
And it begins with this issue’s cover story.<br />
Sometime around Thanksgiving I received a call from Hopatcong resident Annette Grieco. She wanted to<br />
tell me about her daughter-in-law, Laura Grieco, who she thought was pretty special. She asked if I would<br />
consider featuring her in the magazine.<br />
(You might remember Annette from the Midsummer issue last year. She was chosen as Senior of the Year<br />
in Hopatcong and was featured in the magazine. Weeks later, she was chosen as Sussex County Senior of<br />
the Year! Pretty special, herself.)<br />
After our short but informative conversation, I agreed with Annette. Her daughter-in-law was pretty<br />
special and had a very interesting story to tell, as you’ll find out in Melissa Summers’ feature beginning on<br />
page 22.<br />
In Jefferson, a group of female teachers and administrators from the middle school have banded together<br />
to help raise awareness about mental health issues among school-aged children with a program dubbed<br />
Your Story Matters.<br />
Most people my age—I’ve piled up 63 years at this point—would agree: Everyone has a story to tell.<br />
Some stories, of course, are more interesting than others but none are more important than your own.<br />
That’s the lesson these educators are trying to teach their students. (See Lisa Church’s story on page 6.)<br />
Also in this issue is an update on the restoration of the historic fountain at Hopatcong State Park. (See<br />
Mike Daigle’s story on page 18.) In March, I caught a sneak peek at what most of you will get to see soon—<br />
gallons and gallons of bubbling water shooting 12 feet into the air.<br />
As a newbie to the lake (yes, even after 23 years of living here I still consider myself a newbie), I’ve never<br />
seen the fountain as anything but a misplaced concrete bowl. What a sight it<br />
will be when it’s up and running.<br />
This issue also includes a roundup of the annual Leap in the Lake at<br />
Hopatcong State Park, arguably the most unique and entertaining event in<br />
the area. If you haven’t been, I encourage you all to witness this in person at<br />
least once in your life. You won’t be disappointed. And it’s for a good cause.<br />
(See my story and photos on page 26.)<br />
This year marked the 14th time the Lake Hopatcong Elks hosted the<br />
event and the 14th time I photographed it. My goal each year is to find a<br />
different vantage point to shoot from. This year I chose to stand in the water,<br />
donning a pair of very large waders and planting myself in direct line with the<br />
participants as they ran past me toward deeper waters.<br />
All went well. I stayed on my feet and, except for the steady downpour,<br />
which drenched everyone in the park, I stayed dry—sort of. —Karen<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
HOLOCAUST TRIBUTE<br />
FOUNTAIN RESTORATION<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
RENAISSANCE WOMAN<br />
<strong>SPRING</strong> <strong>2024</strong> VOL. 16 NO. 1<br />
Hopatcong’s Laura Grieco: award-winning National Guard<br />
member and bodybuilder, teacher, mom, wife and more.<br />
THEIR STORY MATTERS<br />
LEAP IN THE LAKE<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Thanks to my friend,<br />
photographer Ulla<br />
Vinkman, for keeping an<br />
eye on me.<br />
Army National Guard Sgt. Laura Grieco<br />
near her home in Hopatcong prior to her<br />
deployment to the Middle East.<br />
—photo by Karen Fucito<br />
KAREN FUCITO<br />
Editor<br />
editor@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
973-663-2800<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Lisa Church<br />
Michael Stephen Daigle<br />
Melissa Summers<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 />
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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 />
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Lake Hopatcong News<br />
call<br />
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or email<br />
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Lake Hopatcong News is published seven times a<br />
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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.
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lakehopatcongnews.com 5
Their Stories Matter<br />
Story by LISA CHURCH<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
More than 250 people of all ages came<br />
out on Sunday, April 14, to take part<br />
in the first Jefferson Township Middle School<br />
Your Story Matters Family Color Run & 5K, an<br />
event to raise awareness about mental health<br />
issues.<br />
“It was a perfect day and went well,” said<br />
Alyssa Guagenti, a gifted and talented and<br />
special education teacher at the middle school<br />
and one of the lead event coordinators.<br />
Peggy Widgren, the middle school principal,<br />
and Karen Roccisano, the middle school antibullying<br />
specialist, served as the other lead<br />
event coordinators.<br />
“This is an amazing opportunity to bring<br />
awareness to the community about mental<br />
health issues in such a fun and social way,”<br />
said spectator Kristi Cianfichi, who came from<br />
Riverdale to support local family members at<br />
the 5K.<br />
Open to the public, the 5K served as a<br />
fundraiser for the school and was part of<br />
ongoing efforts throughout the school year to<br />
spotlight mental health.<br />
In September, the school adopted the<br />
motto “Your Story Matters” to help students<br />
understand everyone is dealing with something<br />
and students are not alone in their struggles,<br />
said Roccisano.<br />
The goal of this grassroots event, she said,<br />
was to bring awareness to mental health issues<br />
and to raise money for ongoing programs to<br />
help students who might be struggling. The<br />
hope also was to foster a sense of community,<br />
support and understanding, she added.<br />
“Middle school is tough. Kids are<br />
already trying to find themselves and<br />
being in remote learning very much<br />
impacted them negatively. We see the<br />
effects, they’re still trying to catch up<br />
socially,” said Roccisano.<br />
The 5K took months of planning. In<br />
January, about a dozen school personnel<br />
and local volunteers met to begin<br />
organizing the event. The stakeholders—<br />
as they like to call themselves—were<br />
enthusiastic, adopting<br />
the mantra “Go Big or<br />
Go Home.” Getting<br />
the entire community<br />
involved was critical to<br />
the success of the event,<br />
they said.<br />
And go big they did.<br />
The group reached out<br />
to all the township<br />
schools, local businesses,<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
6<br />
community officials, community clubs, media<br />
outlets and more to secure support and help<br />
spread the word. Their results paid off with<br />
event sponsors and nonprofit mental health<br />
organizations at the event to share information.<br />
Nonprofits on hand at the 5K included Hope<br />
One, a mobile outreach vehicle for addiction,<br />
recovery and mental health services; Mental<br />
Health Association of Essex and Morris, which<br />
seeks to improve the care and treatment of<br />
those with mental illness; Jefferson Township<br />
Youth Coalition, which focuses on the<br />
prevention and reduction of youth substance<br />
abuse; and JT Connect, which aims to bring<br />
mental health awareness, wellness, recovery<br />
and support to the community.<br />
The group of stakeholders from the middle<br />
school is still actively involved with township<br />
schools and encourages open discussions about<br />
mental health, said Melissa Kiritsis, chairperson<br />
of JT Connect.<br />
“When you start sharing stories with others,<br />
you realize there’s a lot of other people going<br />
through the same things,” she said at the 5K.<br />
“Events like today help. Makes you realize<br />
you’re not alone.”<br />
Madine Despeine-Udoh, director of self<br />
help, advocacy and education at the Mental<br />
Health Association of Essex and Morris, was<br />
at the event to dedicate a yellow picnic table<br />
to the middle school. According to Despeine-<br />
Udoh, a yellow picnic table is a place where<br />
students can gather to “break bread” in a safe,<br />
non-judgmental space, “putting mental health<br />
issues on the table,” she said.<br />
Along with the middle school table, there are<br />
31 other yellow picnic tables throughout Morris<br />
County, including two more in Jefferson: one at<br />
the high school and one at Camp Jefferson.<br />
The stakeholders at Jefferson Township<br />
Middle School weren’t the only ones<br />
enthusiastic about the 5K and raising awareness<br />
about mental health issues. The school’s student<br />
council embraced the “Your Story Matters”<br />
theme and encouraged full participation from<br />
their classmates.<br />
Top of page: Students and parents end the<br />
Color Run with a mass color toss.<br />
Below, left to right, top to bottom:<br />
Assemblywoman Aura Dunn and Jefferson<br />
Township Mayor Erik Wilsusen cut the ribbon<br />
on a yellow picnic table. William Henderson,<br />
student council member, covered in colors.<br />
Peggy Widgren, middle school principal,<br />
addresses the crowd. A runner celebrates the<br />
start of the 5K. Runners at the start of the 5K.
The group met regularly to discuss ways to<br />
boost peer engagement. Their efforts included<br />
producing two promotional videos with Curtis<br />
Mack, a Jefferson native and owner of his own<br />
production company, CM Productions, said<br />
Guagenti, who is also the school’s student<br />
council advisor.<br />
“What was most important about the<br />
run was to make our school better and have<br />
everyone feel safe here,” said Erin Leonard, an<br />
eighth-grade student council member in charge<br />
of public relations who spoke at the February<br />
meeting. “Everyone feels heard no matter what<br />
they are going through,” she added.<br />
“We appreciate every student and how every<br />
student’s story matters. The 5K brings people<br />
together,” added Krish Maheshwari, a seventhgrade<br />
council member.<br />
The 5K was part of a larger, year-round focus<br />
on mental health. Prior to the start of the<br />
school year, the school was awarded a grant<br />
from the state. With additional funding from<br />
the Jefferson Township Education Foundation,<br />
JT Connect and the Jefferson Township Youth<br />
Coalition, the school hosted motivational<br />
speaker Josh Rivedal. His programs included<br />
professional development for the teachers,<br />
student assemblies for each grade level and<br />
student leadership, and an evening parent<br />
program, said Widgren, the school principal.<br />
“It was also a catalyst for additional initiatives<br />
and to build on resources within our school,”<br />
said Widgren. “We’re trying to get kids excited<br />
again about being connected to school.”<br />
Proceeds from the 5K will go towards antibullying<br />
and substance abuse campaigns, new<br />
programming to improve mental health and<br />
family-friendly events open to all students and<br />
their families.<br />
For eighth-grade student council member<br />
William Henderson, playing sports and being<br />
on school teams has helped him stay healthy,<br />
both mentally and physically.<br />
“Sports helps kids bond,” he said at that<br />
February meeting, suggesting that any organized<br />
activity is a great way to make friends.<br />
“We wouldn’t have been friends if it wasn’t<br />
for the student council,” concurred Natasha<br />
Jacoby, eighth-grade student council secretary.<br />
The adult stakeholders agreed regarding<br />
the importance of being more physically and<br />
socially active and the boost it provides to<br />
one’s mental health.<br />
The hope of both the stakeholders and the<br />
student council was that the 5K would inspire<br />
students to become more active, which could<br />
help them feel more connected socially,<br />
said Widgren. The school is already planning<br />
another 5K for next year. “Bigger and better,”<br />
said Widgren.<br />
Township resident Jody Rabtzow echoed<br />
Widgren’s concerns about today’s youth, citing<br />
technology as a major concern.<br />
“It’s important to focus on helping kids,<br />
especially today. Because of social media, kids<br />
don’t know how to socialize,” she said.<br />
“Participating in this event with your friends<br />
or having fun in a club after school helps kids in<br />
their daily lives,” said Ashrith Meta, a seventhgrade<br />
council member. The 5K’s mission<br />
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resonated with Ashrith who said he knows<br />
people who are dealing with mental health<br />
challenges.<br />
“Everyone should feel proud of themselves<br />
for participating,” added Jake Small, eighthgrade<br />
student council vice president, noting<br />
some of his schoolmates have formed new<br />
friendships simply by taking part in the 5K.<br />
“JTMS is a place of acceptance,” added<br />
Natasha. “Students can reach out to anyone if<br />
they need help. Their voice can be heard.”<br />
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Waterloo Canal Day<br />
Saturday, June 22 ND – 10:00 aM to 4:00 PM<br />
Rain Date June 23 rd<br />
Visit Historic Waterloo for a<br />
full day of tHings to see and do<br />
• Live music by the Long Hill String Band<br />
• Historic Building Tours<br />
Canal Museum, Boat Exhibit, Gristmill<br />
• Historic Trades<br />
Blacksmithing, Tin Smithing<br />
and Wool Spinners<br />
• Canal Boat Rides<br />
• Church Tours<br />
• Winakung, Native Lenape Woodland Forest<br />
FREE PARKING – FREE ADMISSION<br />
Waterloo Village Historic Site – 525 Waterloo Road<br />
For more information, please visit our website: canalsocietynj.org<br />
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
HOPATCONG $1,775,000 • Stylish 2 story Craftsman is set serenely upon a beautifully landscaped lot. A gracious living rm welcomes you as you enter the home with a fireplace, a wall of windows, & access to the wrap-around covered deck with stunning vistas. The home offers<br />
an elegant banquet-sized dining rm, a stunning gourmet kitchen with sleek cabinetry, granite counters, center island, s/s commercial grade appliances. The 2nd flr boasts the luxurious primary bedrm suite, a private balcony, walk-in closets, & a sumptuous all new custom designed bath with radiant<br />
flooring. Two additional bedrms, a full hall bath with soaking tub & separate shower, and a relaxing den/4th bedrm with exceptional lake views. A boat house with a lakeside cabana walks out onto the dock & sandy lakefront. Gather around the firepit & enjoy all that waterfront living has to offer in style!<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG/JEFFERSON $2,700,000 • Renovated 2021 6,500 sqft custom lakefront located on 5.2 private acres. 320 feet of waterfront offers the opportunity to build<br />
a custom boat house. Exquisite details throughout the interior bosting 5 bedroom, 4 baths, a 3 car garage with and additional detached garage. A wrap around covered deck overlooks the<br />
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LANDING/ROXBURY $999,900 • Over 50<br />
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with approved building plans available to view<br />
online. Renovation to be completed by new buyer.<br />
MT ARLINGTON $1,150,000 • 105ft of<br />
level waterfront, double lot. City water, sewer and<br />
natural gas. Standing ranch home with full basement<br />
in need of total renovation. Outstanding location.<br />
HOPATCONG $375,000 • BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME<br />
on this .52 acre lkft lot with views, deep water location. Purchase is for<br />
the raw land with all the leg work completed. Septic and well approvals,<br />
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Hopatcong $639,900 • Resort Lakefront<br />
lifestyle at Mariner’s Pointe. Open from lvrm<br />
to dining rm w/gourmet kitchen. Spacious<br />
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$2,000,000<br />
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$900,000<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 9
Holocaust Tales of Survival Preserved at Temple Shalom Exhibit<br />
10<br />
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
An installation of unique artifacts and<br />
insightful reflection is honoring Holocaust<br />
survivors and their stories at Temple Shalom in<br />
Succasunna.<br />
Opened officially in April 2023, the installation<br />
is the result of Rabbi-Cantor Inna Serebro-<br />
Litvak’s yearslong effort to preserve the history<br />
of past congregants. Temple Shalom Holocaust<br />
Memorial features accounts from congregants<br />
and their families and is housed in two rarely<br />
used rooms on the ground floor of the temple<br />
near its religious school. The main room has a<br />
window to the hallway, keeping the museum in<br />
clear view of the students.<br />
“We believe it is important to have as a<br />
constant reminder of what happened,” she<br />
said of the students’ access to the permanent<br />
exhibit. “We want our children to learn what can<br />
happen when people hate.”<br />
Serebro-Litvak, who was born in St. Petersburg,<br />
Russia, graduated with a degree in musical<br />
education at Tel Aviv University before moving<br />
to the United States in 1997 to pursue a master’s<br />
degree.<br />
She was the first woman from the former<br />
Soviet Union to graduate from the Jewish<br />
Theological Seminary in New York. She<br />
performed at concerts in various temples in<br />
New York and New Jersey and served as cantor<br />
at Temple B’nai Or in Morristown and Temple<br />
Beth Am in Parsippany before coming to Temple<br />
Shalom in 2017.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
That year, while presiding over the funeral of<br />
Michael Bernath, Serebro-Litvak learned his story<br />
of being a Holocaust survivor from Hungary.<br />
Serebro-Litvak found her congregation had<br />
several direct connections to the Holocaust,<br />
including Lee Dornfeld’s mother, Trudy Dornfeld,<br />
who was saved at 10 years old when she was sent<br />
to England from Austria by Kindertransport, a<br />
train loaded with children orphaned or separated<br />
from their parents.<br />
“I decided that I need to preserve those<br />
stories in a museum so we can share them with<br />
our congregants, children and also guests,”<br />
said Serebro-Litvak. “So, I started collecting<br />
photographs and documents … whatever they<br />
could share with me.”<br />
Family members did not want to part with<br />
their originals just yet, according to Serebro-<br />
Litvak. So, one of the congregants, Charleen<br />
Green of Hopatcong, took on the role of curator,<br />
making high-quality reproductions of photos<br />
and documents and preparing them for display.<br />
Green, who studied archaeology in Israel, had<br />
previously worked on a survivors exhibit at the<br />
University of Hartford in Connecticut. She saw<br />
Temple Shalom’s project as an honor and an<br />
opportunity to educate the community.<br />
“Because the exhibit is geared toward all ages<br />
and housed in the religious school, the emphasis<br />
is very much about moving through loss, grief<br />
and adversity toward tolerance, hope and<br />
happiness in every aspect of life,” Green said.<br />
The biggest challenge, according to Green,<br />
is that the Nazis stripped many of the Jews of<br />
their worldly possessions, making documents<br />
and records harder to come by.<br />
“All exhibits require collaboration,<br />
adjustments and maintenance and our museum<br />
is still evolving,” added Green. “It brings me such<br />
satisfaction to see this exhibit come to fruition.”<br />
Members of the First Presbyterian Church of<br />
Succasunna visited Temple Shalom Holocaust<br />
Memorial in February. (Photo by Melissa Summers.)<br />
Left to right, top to bottom: Rabbi-Cantor Inna<br />
Serebro-Litvak in the museum display room.<br />
Papers from Gertrude (Trudy) Knopf. Ellen<br />
Ehrlich, Claudia Witzling, Joan Rosen and Lee<br />
Dornfeld in the museum display room.<br />
Serebro-Litvak asked another congregant,<br />
Stu Bauer, to utilize his skills in woodworking<br />
to create cases. Rather than constructing them,<br />
Bauer, a long-time volunteer at the Roxbury<br />
Public Library, was able to get the library to<br />
donate a glass-top table and three wall cases.<br />
The collection on display includes a small prayer<br />
book, carried for good luck by Steve Rosenberg’s<br />
father, Issac (Jack) Rosenberg, when he was<br />
serving in the U.S. Army, Serebro-Litvak said.<br />
There’s also a larger prayer book that’s over<br />
100 years old from Poland donated by another<br />
congregant and pendants that belonged to<br />
Trudy Dornfeld, which were donated by her son.<br />
Included in the memorial space is a monitor<br />
displaying a rotating series of video interviews<br />
with survivors and family members filmed by<br />
former congregant and videographer, Bob<br />
Messinger.<br />
A video telling the tale of Anne Frank is<br />
also included. Mark Shemtob, a congregant<br />
who serves on the board of the Anne Frank<br />
Foundation, helped secure a donation to cover<br />
the museum’s expenses.<br />
One of the most compelling stories is that<br />
of congregant Joan Rosen’s parents, Kate and<br />
Michael Bernath.<br />
“They were high school sweethearts,” said<br />
Serebro-Litvak of the couple. “They were 16 years<br />
old when Hungary was occupied and eventually<br />
the Jews were sent in 1944 to different camps.”<br />
Sometime later, the teens sent word to each<br />
other that they had survived and were trying<br />
to find each other so they could be together.<br />
“Every day Kate went to the train station in the<br />
hopes that Michael would come back and one<br />
day he appeared, and they got married.”<br />
Claudia Witzling’s husband, Gary, hid with his
parents, Ester and Peretz, for a year and a half in<br />
an underground bunker in Poland.<br />
Ellen Ehrlich’s parents, Berta and Walther<br />
Ehrlich, were able to escape Nazi Germany,<br />
according to Serebro-Litvak. Their parents<br />
and many other family members died in<br />
concentration camps, including Auschwitz.<br />
Also featured in the collection are the legacies<br />
of Steve Rosenberg’s grandfather Moishe (Max)<br />
Rosenberg and stepmother Frieda Rosenberg,<br />
and of Dinah Fox’s mother Arlette Rappoport<br />
and grandmother Simone Levy Appel.<br />
To Serebro-Litvak, the museum is as much<br />
about educating future generations as it is about<br />
preserving the past.<br />
“While the Holocaust is one of the worst<br />
cases of hatred in the world’s history, at the<br />
same time there were so many genocides in<br />
other countries,” Serebro-Litvak said. “We<br />
explain to people what can happen not only if<br />
you are siding with people who are hateful, but<br />
also what happens if you don’t do anything … if<br />
you stay silent.”<br />
The creation of genocide is only part of the<br />
problem, according to Serebro-Litvak. “Those<br />
who just stay silent are essentially collaborators,”<br />
she said. “So, my purpose is to teach everybody<br />
to not be silent when they see that something<br />
is wrong.”<br />
Serebro-Litvak believes Americans pride<br />
themselves on freedom and tolerance, but<br />
still consistently sees examples of those who<br />
claim acceptance in words but not actions. As<br />
someone from the former Soviet Union, where<br />
she was unable to speak freely, this is a significant<br />
concern. “I’ve witnessed the other side of it,”<br />
Serebro-Litvak said of those societal influences<br />
spilling over in other parts of the world. “As soon<br />
as someone has a different opinion, people are<br />
not eager to accept that.”<br />
Recent events in the Middle East have brought<br />
antisemitism back to the surface, even for Jewish<br />
people who have no connection to what has<br />
happened.<br />
“All of a sudden, all Jews are blamed for what’s<br />
going on,” she said. “Whichever side you take,<br />
it doesn’t matter. Antisemitism is taking place<br />
on campuses, the streets of New York City and<br />
other places under the pretense of the pro-<br />
Palestinian fight for freedom.”<br />
But the rabbi and cantor wonders how much<br />
the school children will absorb when they pass<br />
by the window into the museum.<br />
“The question is, do they think of it when they<br />
pass? I don’t know. But I think that when they<br />
grow up they will remember. My hope is that<br />
when they grow up, it will be something that<br />
they remember about going to religious school<br />
every Sunday,” she added.<br />
Serebro-Litvak plans to expand as space<br />
allows, adding more literature, artifacts and<br />
stories to her impressive collection. She invites<br />
others to contribute, too.<br />
To arrange a visit, contact Serebro-Litvak at<br />
Temple Shalom at 973.584.5666, ext. 1<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 13
Large-scale Projects Slated for Lake Hopatcong<br />
14<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
The programs to combat the causes of Lake<br />
Hopatcong’s polluted water are going to get<br />
larger in scope.<br />
That’s because the problems are getting larger<br />
in scope.<br />
While three decades of data collected by<br />
consultant Princeton Hydro LLC have recorded<br />
the persistent and “statistically significant” rise<br />
in temperature of the lake’s surface water, recent<br />
data suggests the sediment at the bottom of the<br />
lake—the muck that holds decades worth of<br />
phosphorus—the lake’s chief polluting element,<br />
is also getting hotter, which could result in more<br />
phosphorus being released.<br />
If that’s not enough, water samples last year<br />
indicated the presence of new invasive<br />
cyanobacteria—the green slime guys—that<br />
previously had been largely found only in hot<br />
tropical waters.<br />
The warning came from Fred Lubnow, senior<br />
technical director of Ecological Services for<br />
Princeton Hydro LLC, the lake community’s<br />
water consultant, during a Zoom session in<br />
March sponsored by the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Foundation.<br />
In the recent past—and especially since the<br />
2019 Harmful Algal Bloom that whacked the<br />
lake community with beach closings, lake-use<br />
restrictions and business losses—intense, but<br />
small-scale projects tackled the causes of the<br />
lake pollution: phosphorus-rich water that<br />
fueled weed and algae growth.<br />
In <strong>2024</strong>, the projects, if approved, would<br />
address conditions at one time in more than<br />
900 acres in the middle of the lake—one-third of<br />
the lake’s acreage, noted Marty Kane, chairman of<br />
the Lake Hopatcong Foundation.<br />
A long-planned project to install sanitary<br />
sewers in Jefferson would cover 40 percent of the<br />
lakefront, and a localized project in Roxbury calls<br />
for dredging all of Landing Channel.<br />
The driver?<br />
Climate change.<br />
Here’s how the 2023 Water Quality Report,<br />
issued by Princeton Hydro and funded by the<br />
Lake Hopatcong Commission, summarized the<br />
changes:<br />
“There has been a statistically significant<br />
increase in surface water temperatures at Lake<br />
Hopatcong over the past 34 years. Additionally,<br />
the July 2022 surface water temperature at Station<br />
2 (mid-lake) was the fourth highest recorded<br />
at (81.5 degrees F). It should be noted that each<br />
year from 2019 to 2022 were in the top six of the<br />
highest recorded July surface water temperatures<br />
dating back to 1988. The highest surface water July<br />
temperature at Station 2 was recorded in 2005 and<br />
was (85.1 degrees F). These data provide evidence<br />
that climatic change is impacting Lake Hopatcong.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
In turn, increasing water temperatures makes the<br />
lake more favorable for larger and more frequent<br />
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).”<br />
HABs, increased runoff from more intense<br />
rains, a string of iceless winters, more weeds and<br />
invasive algae—the children of climate change—<br />
could threaten the way of life in a residential and<br />
recreational community of 65,000 residents and a<br />
total 2022 net assessed property valuation of $8.5<br />
billion.<br />
These new projects come at a time when there<br />
has been a change in the designated approach to<br />
lake cleanup.<br />
Since 2006, cleanup efforts were operated<br />
under a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)-based<br />
Restoration Plan, which set a target of reaching<br />
daily maximum phosphorus levels of .03 mg/ml.<br />
“There has been a statistically<br />
significant increase in surface<br />
water temperatures at Lake<br />
Hopatcong over the past 34<br />
years...These data provide<br />
evidence that climatic change is<br />
impacting Lake Hopatcong.”<br />
—As stated in the 2023 Water Quality<br />
Report, issued by Princeton Hydro<br />
The highest recorded total was in 1991 at .045<br />
mg/ml, the lowest measured total was in 2010 at .11<br />
mg/ml. The three-decade mean is .21 mg/ml.<br />
With funds provided by the New Jersey Highlands<br />
Council, the restoration plan was upgraded in 2021<br />
into a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) and<br />
is being used to select, design and implement<br />
additional watershed-based projects, the 2023<br />
water quality report said. WIP differs from TMDL<br />
in that it is more aggressive and incident specific.<br />
The large-scale projects described by Lubnow<br />
include treating the center of the lake with alum<br />
(aluminum sulfide), which bonds with phosphorus.<br />
Lubnow said alum is better suited for use in the<br />
deeper, wider areas of the mid-lake than Phosloc,<br />
a clay-based absorbent material used in Landing<br />
Channel.<br />
The alum treatment is planned for spring, Kane<br />
said.<br />
The other mid-lake project is to inject oxygen<br />
directly into the sediment and cold, oxygendeprived<br />
water on the lake bottom.<br />
The oxygenation of the sediment is designed<br />
to strengthen the bond between iron and<br />
phosphorus, Lubnow said. When that bond<br />
weakens, the trapped phosphorus is free to<br />
migrate into the lake water, potentially feeding<br />
weeds and algae.<br />
This system would require four oxygen<br />
generators stationed around the lakeshore. He<br />
said talks are taking place with the lake towns to<br />
choose potential sites.<br />
Pipes would run from the generators to diffusers<br />
on the lake bottom that would mix the oxygen<br />
and the lake water, he said.<br />
The project would cover 983 acres Kane said.<br />
The estimated cost is $1.5 to $2.5 million for<br />
the system and an estimated $100,000 in annual<br />
operating costs.<br />
The Lake Hopatcong Foundation and the Lake<br />
Hopatcong Commission are seeking grants to<br />
fund this project.<br />
A public meeting is planned, but no date<br />
had been set by early April.<br />
The next project is “the most important<br />
project on the lake,” Kane said.<br />
That is the plan to install sewers along<br />
Jefferson’s lakefront, which comprises 40<br />
percent of the total lakefront.<br />
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was<br />
awarded a $750,000 study and planning grant<br />
in the recently signed 2025 federal budget.<br />
The entire project cost is estimated at $90<br />
million.<br />
“This is fantastic news for the Township<br />
of Jefferson and a critical step forward in<br />
improving the health of New Jersey’s largest<br />
lake,” Jefferson Mayor Eric Wilsusen said at the<br />
time of the award. “We thank Congresswoman<br />
Mikie Sherrill and her staff for their support in<br />
obtaining the necessary funding to initiate this<br />
important project.”<br />
“The absence of sanitary sewers in Jefferson<br />
Township has long been recognized as a significant<br />
challenge to the water quality of Lake Hopatcong,”<br />
said Ron Smith, chair of the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Commission. “Septic systems, particularly aging<br />
and failing systems, introduce heightened levels<br />
of contaminants and elevated phosphorus levels<br />
to the lake, increasing the growth of aquatic plants<br />
and HABs and fueling concerns for public health.”<br />
“As we celebrate this milestone, we remain<br />
committed to protecting the health of Lake<br />
Hopatcong,” said Kyle Richter, executive director<br />
of the Lake Hopatcong Foundation.<br />
The last large-scale project is the potential<br />
dredging of 47-acre Landing Channel in Roxbury<br />
and the use of the material to rebuild Floating<br />
Island.<br />
In 2016, Princeton Hydro conducted a<br />
bathymetric survey funded by the Department<br />
of Environmental Protection that estimated the<br />
channel held more than 250,000 cubic yards of<br />
sediment.<br />
A $113,650 grant from the New Jersey Highlands<br />
Council supported the survey.
Lubnow said the state Department of<br />
Environmental Protection supported the<br />
“beneficial reuse” of the material to be removed,<br />
a process that is used frequently along the Jersey<br />
Shore. Dredging would immediately improve<br />
water quality and deepen the channel.<br />
This project is awaiting environmental permits<br />
and further funding, Lubnow said, and could be<br />
started in 2025.<br />
Smaller and continual projects also add to the<br />
effort to clean up the lake.<br />
In 2023, the long-running mechanical weed<br />
harvesting program, run by the commission,<br />
removed 2,198 cubic yards (990 tons) of plant<br />
biomass from the lake, the 2023 report said.<br />
That’s equal to 388,478 pounds of wet algae,<br />
which removed 353 pounds of phosphorus, or 4.9<br />
percent of the chemical targeted for removal.<br />
A boat shrink-wrap program restarted by the<br />
foundation recycled seven tons of plastic boat<br />
wrapping in 2023, Richter said. The program is<br />
back this year, with May 4 being the date for<br />
homeowners to recycle shrink-wrap at the<br />
Jefferson Township Health Center on Minnisink<br />
Road.<br />
This year will be the second year of a goose<br />
mitigation program, said Colleen Lyons, the<br />
commission administrator.<br />
The program is designed to reduce the impact<br />
a resident flock of Canada geese has on the lake.<br />
Volunteers have been trained by members<br />
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Division<br />
of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service<br />
NEW CONSTRUCTION<br />
on how to approach homeowners on whose<br />
land goose nests exist, locating nests on public<br />
property and egg addling, which renders the<br />
unhatched egg infertile.<br />
In 2023, Lyons said in a release, the program<br />
successfully treated 271 eggs, thus potentially<br />
averting the growth of up to 135 pounds of<br />
phosphorus, or roughly 150,000 pounds of wet<br />
algae in the lake.<br />
Another repeat program is a combined effort<br />
by the commission, the foundation and the Knee<br />
Deep Club to tag and release 1,000 brown trout<br />
annually in a three-year study to determine if<br />
the species, a cold-water fish, survives the higher<br />
prolonged temperatures of the lake summers.<br />
The release of 1,000 tan-tagged brown trout 12<br />
to 14 inches in size was conducted in April. The<br />
tagged-trout study is a companion to a study<br />
seeking optimal or carryover trout habitat in the<br />
lake.<br />
Sections of the lake that had dissolved oxygen<br />
concentrations equal to or greater than 5mg/l<br />
and water temperatures less than 65 degrees were<br />
considered “optimal habitat” for brown trout, the<br />
highest standard.<br />
“Acceptable or carryover habitat,” a lesser<br />
standard, is defined as waters containing<br />
oxygen equal or greater than 5mg/l and water<br />
temperatures up to 79 degrees.<br />
In 2023, the water quality report said optimal<br />
brown trout habitat was present in the upper 35<br />
feet of the middle of the lake in May, in the upper<br />
22 feet of the lake in June, the upper 5 feet in July<br />
and the upper 4.5 feet in August, before returning<br />
to the upper 21 feet in September.<br />
The report concluded that “[optimal] brown<br />
trout habitat became limited during peak<br />
summer months...(but) carryover habitat never<br />
disappeared.”<br />
Regarding the tagged trout, Holly Odgers of the<br />
foundation outlined in a release the procedure: If<br />
a tan-tagged trout is caught, measure the catch,<br />
and, if possible, take a photo of the trout with the<br />
tag. She said it’s best to handle the fish with wet<br />
hands. After releasing the trout, report the catch<br />
through a form at LHCtrout.com. Paper forms are<br />
also available at Dow’s Boat Rental, 145 Nolan’s<br />
Point Rd., Lake Hopatcong, or Lake’s End Marina,<br />
91 Mt. Arlington Blvd., Landing.<br />
Lyons cited completed projects in the<br />
region: the installation of floating wetlands in<br />
Landing Channel; shoreline stabilization through<br />
plantings at Memorial Pond in Mount Arlington;<br />
replacement of filtration materials in stormwater<br />
drains in Jefferson.<br />
Replanting of a stormwater basin at Witten<br />
Park in Hopatcong is planned but not funded.<br />
Glen Brook and Musconetcong River below the<br />
dam will have stream bank stabilization projects<br />
completed by late <strong>2024</strong> or early 2025, she said.<br />
A state grant also funded projects in all four<br />
lake towns to install carbon filtering sleeves in two<br />
stormwater ponds and structures. The project also<br />
included the removal of accumulated sediment<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 15
LAKE HOPATCONG<br />
BLOCK PARTY<br />
May 18, <strong>2024</strong>, 10 am - 4 pm<br />
Hopatcong State Park ~ Rain or Shine<br />
Hosted by the Lake Hopatcong Foundation<br />
FREE entrance | $10 cash donation on-site parking | FREE off-site parking w/ shuttle<br />
KICK OFF THE SUMMER SEASON WITH THIS FAMILY-FRIENDLY DAY ON THE LAKE!<br />
Crafters ~ Businesses ~ Community Groups ~ Food Court ~ Entertainment<br />
Children’s Area ~ Boat Rides ~ 50/50 Raffle ~ Pet Friendly ~ and More!<br />
lakehopatcongfoundation.org/blockparty<br />
Scan for<br />
more<br />
info<br />
16<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
GREGORY SMITH<br />
LOCAL<br />
VOICES<br />
Gregory Smith, 17, began his musical journey like many of his peers. He learned to play an instrument—the trumpet—in elementary school.<br />
Since then, the Hopatcong High School senior has immersed himself in the music and theater culture available to him in his school<br />
district, joining every band, ensemble and theatrical production. Along the way, he cultivated a love for piano and music composition.<br />
In February, the Hanover Wind Symphony—a renowned community band—performed “Sledding,” a piece Smith composed depicting a<br />
young boy’s adventures sledding down a hill. “In a world filled with plenty of artistic imitation, I want to create a unique style, sound and<br />
personality for myself artistically,” he said.<br />
WHERE DO YOU LIVE? WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?<br />
I have lived in Hopatcong my entire life, and I have found the school district’s music department has been consistently encouraging and<br />
accepting. I have been a part of some truly wonderful artistic musical performances that were not only educational, but also vital in my<br />
journey as an artist. I have been given so many wonderful opportunities by the staff who have provided me a strong foundation in my<br />
musical journey.<br />
WHO MAKES UP YOUR FAMILY?<br />
My mom and dad, both loving and supportive parents, and two siblings: a younger sister who is endlessly funny and irrefutably goofy<br />
and an older brother who is needlessly sarcastic yet incredibly encouraging.<br />
DESCRIBE THE TYPE OF PERSON YOU ARE.<br />
I like to think I am a very caring person. I try my best to be considerate to the people around<br />
me, making them as comfortable as possible because I think there is a lot of discomfort<br />
in this world, especially as a teenager, someone learning to be their own person. I<br />
also try my very best to be as creative and original as possible.<br />
DESCRIBE YOUR MUSICAL JOURNEY.<br />
When quarantine happened, I did not really have a way to spend time with any<br />
friends. I started to get into films. I thought film might have been my calling. Then,<br />
when we started to integrate back into school, my friends and I began dreaming<br />
up some nonsense western movie. I figured I should go ahead and write the<br />
score for it in my free time. This was the first time I wrote original music.<br />
DESCRIBE A TIME IN YOUR LIFE THAT HAS HAD THE MOST INFLUENCE ON YOU.<br />
The summer between my sophomore and junior year. I committed myself to<br />
studying music heavily. I immersed myself in sheet music and poured<br />
over scores from morning to night.<br />
HOW DO YOU EARN A LIVING?<br />
I hope to be a successful commercial composer, writing the<br />
soundtracks to all different types of media, whether it be<br />
movies, television or video games.<br />
BESIDES MUSIC, WHAT OTHER INTERESTS DO<br />
YOU HAVE?<br />
I love indulging in different creative crafts. I really love<br />
watching movies and television and analyzing their themes.<br />
A hobby I’ve had a lot of fun with the past few years has<br />
been cooking. I cook a lot of dinners at my house, and I<br />
have had a lot of fun learning all different styles of cooking,<br />
especially making foods from different cultures. It’s not a<br />
craft that I am an expert in by any means, but it is definitely<br />
something I have fun with.<br />
IS THERE ANYTHING MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE<br />
SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT YOU?<br />
I think it would be surprising to some people that I taught myself<br />
piano and music theory. It took a lot of time and self-discipline,<br />
but I managed to become competent at playing the piano and<br />
skilled at composing and arranging.<br />
I AM involved I AM original I AM creative<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 17
Left to right: The fountain roars to full height<br />
under the watchful eye of Bob O’Donnell<br />
during a test run in early March. Chris<br />
Bittenbender struggles to close the gate at the<br />
dam after releasing water to test the fountain<br />
downstream.<br />
State Park Fountain Splashes to Life<br />
18<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
It’s not going to chase away the cyanobacteria<br />
that turn the lake green or trim the weeds that<br />
clog shallow coves or make careless boaters speed<br />
less or pick up their own trash.<br />
It’s not even going to hasten the replacement of<br />
the Landing bridge.<br />
But the sight of the fountain at Lake Hopatcong<br />
State Park splashing away might make you smile.<br />
That was the case on March 8 when Mount<br />
Arlington contractor Bob O’Donnell and his crew<br />
flushed leaves and debris from the underground<br />
24-inch-wide channel that feeds the fountain from<br />
the Lake Hopatcong dam and set forth a brief<br />
splashing rebirth.<br />
With a cry of “Did you hear that sucking sound?”<br />
worker Chris Bittenbender alerted O’Donnell and<br />
a few viewers that the flow had begun.<br />
At the 40-foot basin, O’Donnell monitored<br />
the water flow filled with leaves and debris,<br />
occasionally dragging handfuls of junk from the<br />
outflow.<br />
A few false starts later, as the debris flushed out,<br />
the fountain burbled to foamy life, slowly rising to<br />
12 feet of splashy exuberance for the first time in<br />
decades.<br />
Everyone smiled.<br />
Even the guy passing by with his dog.<br />
That March test was one of the last steps in<br />
the process of bringing the fountain back to life,<br />
said Marty Kane, president of the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Historical Museum, which kicked off this project<br />
in 2014 with a $45,381 grant from Morris County to<br />
assess the fountain’s functionality.<br />
“What remains is installing a fence around the<br />
basin and landscaping,” Kane said in late March.<br />
“The fountain is essentially functional.”<br />
Kane said the landscaping and fence should be<br />
completed sometime in June, with a rededication<br />
ceremony scheduled toward the end of that<br />
month. If there is a delay, the construction and<br />
ceremony would be set for September to avoid<br />
disruption during the park’s busy summer season,<br />
he said.<br />
The smiles came not just from acknowledging<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
a job well done but from a notion that history<br />
was being repeated. It might be safe to say that<br />
in 1925, when the fountain was completed and<br />
nearby structures of the Morris Canal were being<br />
dismantled, the only people to view that initial<br />
flow were the engineers who designed it and the<br />
workers who installed it.<br />
“This is a community project,” Kane said during<br />
a phone interview.<br />
He said he made that comment while driving on<br />
Howard Boulevard in Mount Arlington past Lee’s<br />
County Park Marina, home to the famous pavilion,<br />
now being renovated by the Morris County Park<br />
Commission.<br />
Kane said the pavilion and the fountain are<br />
examples of the types of renewal projects that<br />
have meaning for current residents of the lake<br />
community and connect them to its history.<br />
The fountain has special meaning for Hopatcong<br />
native Justin McCarthy.<br />
“I’d see the fountain at the park as a kid and<br />
think it was sad that it was sitting there unused<br />
and neglected,” McCarthy said, now a structural<br />
engineer for Titan Engineers.<br />
With that memory for incentive, McCarthy<br />
participated in a 2021 project with fellow Stevens<br />
Institute of Technology seniors and a group of<br />
engineers to assess the fountain. Specifically,<br />
the team set out to determine the condition<br />
of the fountain’s concrete exterior basin, the<br />
underground tunnel that carries water from Lake<br />
Hopatcong to the fountain, the plumbing system<br />
and fountainhead, and the gates that control the<br />
waterflow and filter debris from leaving the lake<br />
and entering the tunnel.<br />
Assisting the engineers and students by providing<br />
some clue of the tunnel condition was a 2019 video<br />
created by volunteers Phillip<br />
DiStefano of Hopatcong and<br />
Keith Hnojowy of Iselin.<br />
Using a modified remotecontrolled<br />
model Sherman<br />
tank outfitted with a video<br />
camera, the team was able<br />
to venture 64 feet inside the<br />
water tunnel to a point near<br />
the “elbow.”<br />
That study, funded by a $36,800 grant from<br />
the Morris County Historical Preservation Trust<br />
Fund, discovered the tunnel was in good shape<br />
and relatively clear except for a tire that had to<br />
be removed.<br />
O’Donnell, whose past local restoration projects<br />
include the historic Lotta Crabtree house in Mount<br />
Arlington (his home) and the Lake Hopatcong Train<br />
Station in Landing, joined the project in 2023. Since<br />
the fall, he and his crew have systematically been<br />
working through the challenges of restoring the<br />
famous structure by replacing the old grate at the<br />
dam with one that has half-inch holes that will<br />
block large debris in the lake from entering the<br />
channel. At the fountainhead, a 3-foot diameter<br />
stainless steel cover with dozens of similar halfinch<br />
perforations was bolted through the concrete<br />
foundation and into the ground, he said.<br />
The project was overseen by Connolly & Hickey<br />
Historical Architects of Cranford.<br />
Construction was funded through a $204,000<br />
Morris County historical preservation grant.<br />
The fountain was planned in 1924, when the<br />
state of New Jersey took control of the Morris<br />
Canal, which ran both east and west from Lake<br />
Hopatcong.<br />
With the canal shut down, the locks and gates<br />
were dismantled and a new dam was built.<br />
Kane said the fountain was not erected just for<br />
aesthetics, but to solve a long-standing lake issue:<br />
The management of the lake’s water level.<br />
The fountain was designed by Cornelius C.<br />
Vermeule, the engineer charged with dismantling<br />
the Morris Canal.<br />
For much of its life the fountain acted as a<br />
pleasant attraction and a swimming and wading<br />
spot. It was shut down and abandoned in the<br />
1990s because of maintenance and liability issues.<br />
Once opened, swimming and wading will not be<br />
permitted.<br />
McCarthy is looking forward to the fountain’s<br />
rededication.<br />
“The fountain is the crown jewel of the park,”<br />
he said.<br />
With the dam in the background, Chris<br />
Bittenbender and Bob O’Donnell watch as<br />
leftover debris from the fall leaf drop gets<br />
washed out of the outflow pipe.
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lakehopatcongnews.com 19
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
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lakehopatcongnews.com 21
From Barbells to Battlefields,<br />
Hopatcong Mom is Winning It All<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
What do an electrician, a beauty queen,<br />
a piano teacher, a bodybuilder, a<br />
humanitarian aid worker and a National Guard<br />
member have in common?<br />
They are all Laura Grieco.<br />
In 2005, Grieco held the title of Miss Central<br />
Coast at the Miss New Jersey pageant. Just<br />
about two decades later, she took center stage<br />
in a much different contest.<br />
The 38-year-old Army National Guard<br />
sergeant is the first female enlisted guard<br />
member to bring home the title of New Jersey<br />
National Guard’s Best Warrior.<br />
The three-day competition, held in April<br />
2023, consisted of a combat fitness test, M4<br />
carbine qualification, M17 pistol qualification,<br />
day/night land navigation, stress shoot,<br />
and a 12-mile ruck march. The competition<br />
culminated with an appearance before a board<br />
of sergeants major, according to a release<br />
from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which<br />
hosted the yearly contest.<br />
Grieco lives in Hopatcong with her husband<br />
of 17 years, Michael; son Caleb, 14; and daughter<br />
Penelope, 11.<br />
Grieco, who grew up in Stanhope and<br />
Hampton Township, and her Hopatcong native<br />
husband dated for two and a half years before<br />
marrying.<br />
While the couple was dating, Grieco<br />
attended Redeemer University in Ontario,<br />
Canada, where she studied French, music,<br />
political science and theology. She would<br />
return to New Jersey frequently to spend time<br />
22<br />
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
with her then-boyfriend and to compete in<br />
beauty pageants.<br />
“My platform was abstinence advantage. I<br />
was volunteering with First Choice Women’s<br />
Resource Center, and we would go to high<br />
schools and talk about the advantages<br />
of waiting. It was something I was very<br />
passionate about. So, it was a good way to stay<br />
accountable,” she added with a smile.<br />
“I was going to wait for that first kiss. If the<br />
guy was going to truly love me, he’ll wait, so I<br />
found one who would,” she recalled.<br />
The couple shared a first kiss on their<br />
wedding day in 2006.<br />
After two years of college, Grieco decided<br />
academics wasn’t for her.<br />
“I have always been the square peg in a round<br />
hole,” she said. “I was the tomboy growing up.<br />
I did sew, and I liked getting dressed up, but I<br />
was really good with my hands, so trades were<br />
always something that I enjoyed.”<br />
She joined her father in construction and<br />
later began working for an electrician. Halfway<br />
through her apprenticeship, she became<br />
pregnant with her son. She tried returning parttime<br />
after her son was born, but it wasn’t the<br />
same.<br />
“I didn’t feel I was able to contribute to<br />
the team the way I wanted to, and it was<br />
frustrating,” she said.<br />
As one door was closing, however, another<br />
was opening. Grieco, a member of the musical<br />
band at her church, Grace Church on the<br />
Mount in Netcong, was approached by the<br />
parents of a girl in the congregation about<br />
teaching piano lessons. The worship director<br />
lent her a keyboard and her company, Piano<br />
Top to bottom, left to right: Laura Grieco shows<br />
off her Best Warrior trophy, which she keeps on<br />
display in a small music room in her home. Laura<br />
Grieco is pinned winner of the enlisted New Jersey<br />
Best Warrior Competition by Brig. Gen. Lisa J.<br />
Hou, D.O., The Adjutant General of New Jersey<br />
at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on April 27,<br />
2023. (Photo courtesy of Spc. Michael Schwenk.) Laura<br />
Grieco at the Miss New Jersey contest in 2005,<br />
where she held the title of Miss Central Coast.<br />
(Photo courtesy of Michael Grieco.) Laura Grieco sprints<br />
during the stress shoot/warrior tasks portion of the<br />
New Jersey Army National Guard’s Best Warrior<br />
Competition at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst<br />
on April 26, 2023. Laura Grieco with her medals<br />
from the Armed Forces Classic in 2022. (Photo<br />
courtesy of Michael Grieco.) Caleb, Laura, Penelope<br />
and Michael Grieco at home in January.<br />
Con Brio, was born. The name is Italian for “piano<br />
with spirit.” Grieco still maintains the business<br />
with a friend, handling the instruction for around<br />
15 students.<br />
In 2010, Lou Felo, a missionary with the<br />
humanitarian aid organization Beyond Tears<br />
Worldwide, visited the church and introduced the<br />
Griecos to mission work.<br />
“He did work over in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Nepal,<br />
India, quite a few different places. I was always<br />
intrigued by the stuff he was doing over there,”<br />
said Grieco. Eight years later, after Felo had passed<br />
away, his wife put an ad in the church bulletin<br />
looking for anyone interested in joining a team<br />
headed to India, according to Michael Grieco. In<br />
July 2019, the Griecos traveled to the Himalayas to<br />
do school restoration.<br />
The homeschooling, stay-at-home mom of two
didn’t become a guard member until 2020 when<br />
the pandemic had the couple rethinking their<br />
priorities and goals.<br />
Michael Grieco had considered the military<br />
after 9/11 but never signed up. While on a drive to<br />
go hiking with the kids, the subject came up, and<br />
he suggested his wife still could. Always up for a<br />
challenge, she considered the idea.<br />
“That would be kind of cool,” she told him.<br />
The Army sets the age limit to enlist at 35, and<br />
Grieco was a few months older at the time. “I do<br />
bodybuilding. I do women’s figure. So, my husband<br />
thought I’d probably crush it at basic training.”<br />
At the time, the family was primarily dependent<br />
on her husband’s income. “Mostly, I was home<br />
doing my domestic thing and teaching piano.<br />
There’s not a lot of future in that financially.”<br />
Grieco was attracted to the National Guard<br />
and the opportunity to serve and do relief work<br />
while receiving consistent income and both state<br />
and federal benefits, including loans and college<br />
tuition available to military families.<br />
Grieco began meeting with a recruiter and<br />
applied for the age waiver. “Thankfully I was in<br />
really good shape at the time,” she said. “I was<br />
trying to compete in bodybuilding, so I had been<br />
dieting for eight months.”<br />
She passed the Armed Services Vocational<br />
Aptitude Battery test, and by November 2020 was<br />
off to 14 weeks of basic training at Fort Jackson,<br />
South Carolina.<br />
COVID-19 presented challenges for the trainees,<br />
including constant testing and quarantine periods,<br />
extending the process.<br />
Grieco was sent to Fort Gordon in Georgia for<br />
advanced individual training geared toward her<br />
specific job as a signal support systems specialist. “I<br />
had to be in school for another six months to train<br />
on the radios and networking and encryption,” she<br />
said.<br />
Throughout the rest of 2021 and 2022, Grieco<br />
received multiple orders and assignments,<br />
including an eight-day mission with NATO in<br />
Albania in August 2022. “It was a cool project,”<br />
she said of the work. “We trained some of the<br />
Albanian forces in the new equipment that they<br />
were being provided.”<br />
Grieco was able to show off her bodybuilding<br />
skills in 2022 when she won first place in the Group<br />
A figure class, second overall in the figure class, and<br />
second overall in the masters figure class at the<br />
Armed Forces Classic.<br />
In April 2023, Grieco’s first sergeant approached<br />
her with some paperwork for “the competition.”<br />
Caught off guard, she asked, “What<br />
competition?”<br />
That’s when the sergeant informed her that<br />
she’d be representing her unit in the Best<br />
Warrior contest.<br />
“I said, ‘How come I had no idea about this?’”<br />
She had three weeks to prepare.<br />
Although she’s in an infantry unit, Grieco<br />
wasn’t used to handling certain weapons but<br />
got some help from her fellow soldiers. “Take<br />
it apart, put it together, take it apart, put it<br />
together. I would do that until my fingers were<br />
sore.”<br />
Grieco also had to brush up on her ability<br />
to understand navigation and map reading<br />
because she was literally going to be dropped<br />
somewhere and asked to find points and do it<br />
within a certain amount of time, she said.<br />
And then there was the 12-mile ruck—a<br />
march with a weighted backpack and a weapon.<br />
“That sounded bad,” she recalled thinking as<br />
the event was described to her.<br />
She was used to training but wasn’t doing<br />
much cardio. Grieco would go for runs on the<br />
hills of Hopatcong, sometimes at 10 p.m., while<br />
trying to manage the rest of her life.<br />
“I’d be running around town and people<br />
would see I had a backpack on,” said Grieco.<br />
“I didn’t want to do it. I was tired and I had so<br />
much going on—it was a lot. But I was really<br />
determined to do well because I felt like I was<br />
representing. I was chosen by my unit. I trained<br />
hard because I just didn’t want to be last place.”<br />
Thirteen enlisted soldiers and noncommissioned<br />
officers competed during the<br />
grueling and lengthy contest. “I didn’t even<br />
think I was going to win or even have a chance<br />
because I was the only enlisted female,” she<br />
said.<br />
“I focused on the things I was going to be<br />
very strong in,” said Grieco. The ruck and stress<br />
shoot would be difficult to win against the<br />
men, but she could get points toward her final<br />
score.<br />
She knew she could win the army combat<br />
fitness test because they were scored<br />
differently for women and men and had a good<br />
chance on the rest of the events.<br />
“So, that’s what I did. I won the board, the<br />
[army combat fitness test]. I came in the top<br />
two for the shooting events.”<br />
The stress shoot involved tasks like tending<br />
to injured soldiers, reacting to fire and a<br />
simulated chemical attack, Grieco said.<br />
During the board interview, Grieco had to<br />
present herself in her dress blues in front of her<br />
superiors, recite the Army Creed and answer a<br />
series of questions.<br />
Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, the first Asian American<br />
and the first woman to lead the New Jersey<br />
Army National Guard, made history again as she<br />
presented the Best Warrior awards to Grieco,<br />
who won the junior enlisted competition, and<br />
to Sgt. 1st Class Antonella Catalioti, winner of<br />
the non-commissioned officer award.<br />
Hou expressed how proud she was of both<br />
women, according to Grieco.<br />
As the junior enlisted winner, Grieco<br />
advanced to the regional Best Warrior<br />
competition in Maine in May. Representing<br />
New Jersey, Grieco placed sixth out of seven.<br />
A day after returning home, Grieco headed<br />
to the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort<br />
Johnson in Louisiana to prepare for her next<br />
challenge—deployment to the Middle East.<br />
“That was probably one of the hardest things<br />
I’ve done,” she said of the month-long training.<br />
“There was a 16- to 17-day period where we<br />
were sleeping in the middle of woods playing a<br />
very glorified version of laser tag.”<br />
In November, Grieco received another great<br />
honor, a call inviting her and her family to<br />
represent New Jersey at the White House for<br />
an event called Joining Forces.<br />
Caleb and Penelope were asked to participate<br />
in a roundtable of military kids, during which<br />
Caleb was chosen to introduce First Lady Jill<br />
Biden.<br />
Grieco said she was starstruck by all the<br />
multi-star generals she encountered, including<br />
Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, the chief of the<br />
National Guard. She said she was glad her kids<br />
saw a little bit of what mom does when she’s<br />
away.<br />
“This was something that they got to be<br />
part of. They also got to talk about their<br />
...continued on page 24<br />
Top to bottom, left to right: Penelope and Caleb Grieco,<br />
seated at table facing camera, sit to the right of First Lady<br />
Jill Biden during a visit to the White House in November.<br />
(Photo courtesy of Michael Grieco.) Laura Grieco evaluates a<br />
Tactical Combat Casualty Care Exportable kit mannequin<br />
during the stress shoot/warrior tasks portion of the New<br />
Jersey Army National Guard’s Best Warrior Competition<br />
at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on April 26, 2023.<br />
(Photo courtesy of Spc. Michael Schwenk.) Penelope, Caleb,<br />
Michael and Laura Grieco at home enjoying a favorite<br />
board game.<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 23
Barbells to Battlefields, (cont’d.)<br />
Laura Grieco packs her gear<br />
getting ready for deployment.<br />
experience. I felt like it was therapeutic in a<br />
way,” she said. “This is us. This is our life. It’s<br />
different, but it’s a special and adventurous<br />
life that we live,” adding that her children may<br />
never totally understand the significance of<br />
being chosen for the visit to the White House.<br />
“I did something special, and I try to represent<br />
our family well.”<br />
Over the next few months, Grieco and her<br />
husband evaluated every part of their family<br />
life in preparation for her deployment to the<br />
Middle East this past January.<br />
She will be gone for nine to 11 months, just a<br />
bit longer than her basic and advanced training<br />
when she first enlisted. “We’ve done a big<br />
chunk of time apart before. Knowing that, this<br />
deployment will not be undoable,” Grieco said.<br />
The family spent time getting a system in<br />
place and developing a schedule that allowed<br />
her husband to work and both kids to continue<br />
homeschooling. A tutor comes twice a week<br />
and keeps them on track with schoolwork. “I<br />
have other homeschool families that have<br />
come alongside of us and give us the support<br />
we need when I’m not here,” Grieco said.<br />
One of those families takes Caleb and<br />
Penelope once a week, and her in-laws take<br />
the children another day for extracurricular<br />
activities. Other families offer rides and meals<br />
to the kids as needed.<br />
“Even things like taking my daughter out for<br />
a manicure,” Michael Grieco added. “People<br />
have really embraced the opportunity to help.”<br />
“I’ve lost so many hours of sleep over these<br />
things,” Laura Grieco said. “It makes me feel<br />
good to know everything is going to work out.”<br />
It doesn’t make it easier, though, to be away<br />
from her family.<br />
“I was on the plane coming home from<br />
training at [the Joint Readiness Training Center],<br />
and I hadn’t been home for about two months<br />
— and it was only two months. I was just going<br />
through my phone looking at old pictures and<br />
then I got to a point where I had nine months<br />
of pictures missing,” Grieco said with the tears<br />
starting to seep through.<br />
“My son—I had left him as a little boy and<br />
when he picked me up, he was like 6 inches<br />
taller, and his voice dropped and he had a<br />
beard and a mustache, and I missed all of that.<br />
You don’t realize so much happens in a short<br />
time when they’re kids,” Grieco said, recalling<br />
her time away from her family during basic and<br />
advanced training.<br />
During her deployment, she won’t be there<br />
for certain things. “Somebody else is going<br />
to have to fill that role,” said Grieco. “And<br />
hopefully they won’t see that their mom just<br />
left them. That’s the hardest part.”<br />
She holds onto a piece of advice she was<br />
given when she first joined the National Guard<br />
about being sent overseas.<br />
“I was told that if the doors are all open and<br />
you get in, you have to trust the fact that God<br />
is going to provide. The people are just going<br />
to be there for you. I remember thinking, ‘I<br />
don’t know, that’s a lot of trust, that’ll take a lot<br />
of faith.’ And I kind of tucked it back in there,<br />
but he was totally right.”<br />
Grieco said she’s seen that faith come<br />
through for them, after a rough month last fall<br />
where things weren’t working out.<br />
“We prayed about it and God provided just<br />
what we needed and just who we needed to fill<br />
in the gaps so we could make this happen, and<br />
I can go and serve and be part of something<br />
bigger.”<br />
Because Grieco and her husband started in<br />
a disciplined, long-distance relationship, they<br />
feel better prepared for the time apart. “It<br />
was almost like<br />
God gave us that<br />
training early on<br />
so that we’ll be<br />
ready for now,”<br />
she said.<br />
The experience<br />
of being the<br />
spouse of a National Guard member is different<br />
for a man, Laura Grieco said. The wives manage<br />
schedules and details differently and have<br />
more in common when they get together.<br />
When the “CEO” of the family is away, it leaves<br />
a big hole, she added. “There are not a lot of<br />
people that he can relate with that are dealing<br />
with things on that kind of level.”<br />
Michael Grieco said he is proud of everything<br />
his wife has accomplished, after having begun<br />
her military career later in life.<br />
“At points, I know it would have been easy<br />
to give up or just maintain the status quo,”<br />
he said. “But at her heart I know she strives<br />
for excellence, to be the best that she can<br />
be in what she does. Seeing everything<br />
she’s accomplished in her military career in<br />
such a short period of time has been pretty<br />
phenomenal.”<br />
Having traveled around the world, Grieco<br />
realizes she may not have been able to<br />
accomplish what she has as an American had<br />
she been born elsewhere.<br />
“There are other places in the world where<br />
women don’t have the same rights and<br />
privileges that we have. We take that for<br />
granted,” she said. “As much as our country<br />
may come with its flaws, we have so much<br />
to be thankful for here and there’s so much<br />
opportunity here. You can change your life.”<br />
And she certainly has shown that to be<br />
true—multiple times.<br />
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
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lakehopatcongnews.com 25
Record Number at Annual<br />
Leap in the Lake<br />
Story and photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
steady rain was no match for the 856 participants—a new record—<br />
A at the 14th annual Leap in the Lake in early March.<br />
To the cheers of hundreds of very wet onlookers, 28 teams, some<br />
wearing costumes, some just wearing a bathing suit, braved the cold,<br />
dreary day and made the run from the beach at Hopatcong State Park into<br />
the lake, most wading out to the line of local fire and rescue members<br />
standing chest high in the water.<br />
The event, hosted by Lake Hopatcong Elks Lodge #782, raised more<br />
than $104,000, said Rick Gathen, Elks trustee and event coordinator. He<br />
noted that this year’s total came in just shy of last year’s recordbreaking<br />
amount of $111,000.<br />
“It’s essential to shine a spotlight on how these funds are<br />
making a tangible difference in the lives of those in need within<br />
the Lake Hopatcong community and beyond,” said Gathen.<br />
“Beyond the record-breaking numbers, the true impact lies in<br />
the transformative programs and initiatives that these funds<br />
support.”<br />
One of the primary beneficiaries of the event’s proceeds<br />
are the 16 area public school special needs classrooms, he said.<br />
These classrooms receive sizable donations “that enable them<br />
to enhance their educational resources, provide specialized<br />
equipment and create a nurturing environment where every<br />
child can thrive,” he said.<br />
The money raised also offsets the cost of events and<br />
experiences for children and adults with special needs and their<br />
families, he said.<br />
Throughout the year, the Elks lodge hosts a variety of seasonal<br />
events tailored to children with special needs, including breakfasts<br />
with the Easter Bunny and Santa, Trunk or Treat events and an<br />
annual Sussex County Miners baseball game and BBQ at the park.<br />
“Moreover,” he said, “the funds raised from the Leap enable<br />
the Lake Hopatcong Elks to directly address the practical needs of special children.<br />
Whether it’s purchasing motorized wheelchairs, adaptive equipment or other<br />
essential resources, these investments ensure that every child has access to the<br />
tools they need to live life to the fullest.”<br />
Mark the calendar. The 2025 Leap in the Lake is scheduled for Saturday, March 1.<br />
To sign up or to donate, visit www.lakehopatcongelks.com.<br />
Photos: Participants in the 14th annual Leap in the Lake fundraiser brave the<br />
38-degree waters of Lake Hopatcong on Saturday, March 2.<br />
26<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
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lakehopatcongnews.com 29
Bunny Brunch Back and<br />
Raising Money<br />
Story and photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
After a three-year hiatus, the Junior Woman’s Club<br />
of Jefferson Township once again hosted its Bunny<br />
Brunch and Tricky Tray on Saturday, March 23. This year<br />
marked the 39th time the club has hosted the event.<br />
The Bunny Brunch raised over $6,000. A portion of<br />
that will be donated to the Jefferson Township Education<br />
Foundation, specifically to help fund grants that are offered<br />
twice a year to teachers in the school district, said Antonella<br />
DaSilva, event co-chair.<br />
The remaining proceeds will fund the operating budget<br />
for the Junior Woman’s Club. The club’s budget includes<br />
funding scholarships for high school seniors from Jefferson,<br />
sponsoring local youth sports teams and supporting local<br />
food pantries and first responders, she said.<br />
More than 200 tickets were sold, with a few participants<br />
sporting bunny ears in a nod to the occasion.<br />
Following a pancake brunch, guests embarked on the<br />
tricky tray ritual of choosing where to drop their tickets.<br />
There were 132 prizes ranging from towers of assorted<br />
candy to tickets to a professional sporting event to a round<br />
of golf for four to a bucketful of gift cards worth $425.<br />
“We think the Bunny Brunch went<br />
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co-chair. “We are so grateful to all who<br />
attended—our generous sponsors<br />
and our wonderful Juniors and families<br />
who helped run the event. We truly<br />
hope the community enjoyed it!”<br />
30<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
Top to bottom, left to right: The Easter Bunny with Charlee<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 33
HISTORY<br />
by MARTY KANE<br />
Photos courtesy of<br />
the<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG<br />
HISTORICAL<br />
MUSEUM<br />
The emergence of the outline of a<br />
large boat embedded in the muck off<br />
Kingsland Road in Landing Channel generated<br />
much interest and excitement last fall when<br />
Lake Hopatcong was dropped for its five-year<br />
drawdown.<br />
While it turned out some neighborhood<br />
“old-timers” knew of it, the boat remains were<br />
perceived as a great discovery for most at the<br />
lake.<br />
It is almost certain the hull’s increased<br />
visibility was due to an application of Phoslock<br />
in 2020 to combat Harmful Algal Blooms. In<br />
addition to locking phosphorous to the lake<br />
bottom, this clay-like substance compresses<br />
the muck, thereby making the ship’s skeleton<br />
more apparent than it had been for decades.<br />
While the Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum<br />
was able to make an educated guess as to the<br />
origin of the boat, what might lie beneath the<br />
visible portion remained a mystery.<br />
With no permits in hand or plans in place for<br />
an archaeological investigation, the museum<br />
consulted experts on ground penetrating radar<br />
to determine the feasibility of scanning the<br />
area. It was soon learned that although such<br />
radar has difficulty under normal situations<br />
separating wood from muck, much better<br />
results can be obtained once an area freezes.<br />
While we patiently waited for a freeze,<br />
Mother Nature had other plans as more than<br />
10 inches of rain fell in December, and the lake<br />
rose almost 4 feet before the area froze.<br />
Stuck in the Mud<br />
The boat remains were quickly covered with<br />
water as Landing Channel refilled.<br />
Although a physical investigation could not<br />
move forward, a thorough investigation was<br />
conducted as to how this artifact came to be in<br />
Landing Channel.<br />
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,<br />
almost all transportation at Lake Hopatcong<br />
was conducted by water. Roads did not circle<br />
the lake and those that existed were of poor<br />
quality. Most goods, even mail going to the<br />
existing post offices, were delivered by boat.<br />
While steamboats were introduced to the<br />
lake in the 1830s to tow vessels filled with iron<br />
ore to the Morris Canal, the lake’s first power<br />
passenger boat, the Stella, arrived in 1871. This<br />
boat was the idea of C.C. Veber, proprietor<br />
of the Lake View House, a hotel located high<br />
above Great Cove in Mount Arlington (where<br />
Floyd and Hover Drive are located today).<br />
Until the introduction of the Stella, travelers<br />
to the lake were picked up by horse and wagon<br />
at the Lackawanna Railroad’s Drakesville Station<br />
(located near where Mount Arlington Station is<br />
situated today off Howard Boulevard).<br />
To facilitate tourism, Veber devised a plan to<br />
simplify the journey using the Morris Canal. He<br />
convinced the Lackawanna Railroad to stop its<br />
trains in an area of Roxbury Township where the<br />
canal paralleled the railroad tracks for some 800<br />
feet, a perfect spot for a steamboat to dock<br />
and await incoming trains.<br />
Arriving rail passengers could then debark,<br />
cross the platform, and board waiting<br />
steamboats while porters transferred their<br />
luggage. The Stella could then proceed<br />
westward on the canal, turn into the “feeder<br />
canal” that connected to Lake Hopatcong, pass<br />
through the lock (located roughly where the<br />
Lake Hopatcong dam sits today) and continue<br />
to the Lake View House.<br />
Since hotel porters moved luggage while<br />
passengers checked in at the front desk, visitors<br />
did not have to handle their bags from the time<br />
they boarded the train until they arrived in their<br />
hotel room.<br />
The Lake View House ran the Stella until 1880,<br />
when it was replaced by the Matilda. As the lake<br />
began to develop, the Lake View’s new owner,<br />
F.W. Zuck, along with other prominent local<br />
businessmen, launched the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Steamboat Company in 1885 under the<br />
leadership of G.W. Campbell.<br />
An organized steamboat company with<br />
regular routes was just what the fledgling<br />
lake resort needed. The Matilda became an<br />
excursion boat, available for private events.<br />
The steamboat company, quickly dubbed the<br />
Black Line, started with three boats traveling<br />
from the lake’s southern shore at Landing to<br />
its northernmost point in Woodport. (Brady<br />
Bridge and East Shore Estates did not yet exist,<br />
so large steamboats had no limitation reaching<br />
the northern end of the lake.)<br />
Because of the steamboat service, the<br />
Lackawanna Railroad erected a station at<br />
Landing in the 1880s. When the Central Railroad<br />
of New Jersey introduced regular train service to<br />
Nolan’s Point in 1886, the Black Line expanded<br />
its service to meet these trains, as well.<br />
In those years, almost every arriving passenger<br />
was dependent on steamboats to reach their<br />
hotel, cottage or campsite. The Black Line<br />
advertised service to any public or private dock.<br />
Public docks were established in many areas as<br />
a means to deliver passengers to areas where<br />
docks were non-existent or insufficient to<br />
support boats ranging from 35 to over 60 feet<br />
long.<br />
In 1890, a group led by Theodore F. King<br />
founded the Hopatcong Steamboat Company,<br />
dubbed the White Line, as competition for the<br />
lake’s steamer business. Though it also serviced<br />
the docks at Nolan’s Point, the White Line was<br />
unable to obtain the right to use the Morris<br />
Canal due to the canal’s exclusive contract with<br />
the Black Line.<br />
To provide service to the Lackawanna Railroad,<br />
the White Line dredged the southernmost part<br />
of the lake, which was then non-navigable<br />
wetlands, thus creating Landing Channel. The<br />
Hopatcong Steamboat Company used the<br />
channel to bring its boats to within a block of<br />
Landing Station.<br />
Since a trip on the White Line avoided a<br />
shaky trip through the canal lock, many patrons<br />
preferred to walk the extra block to take the<br />
White Line. Porters were available to help<br />
transfer luggage. The White Line included two<br />
side-wheelers—boats with paddle wheels on<br />
each side—that were allowed to carry up to 300<br />
passengers under the loose safety standards of<br />
the day.<br />
For the next two decades, the two steamboat<br />
companies competed aggressively for business<br />
34<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
Left to right: Boats from the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Steamboat (Black Line) on the Morris Canal at<br />
Lackawanna Railroad Station in Landing, circa<br />
1905. The skeletal remains of what is thought<br />
to be an old steamboat, discovered in Landing<br />
Channel in November.
Left to right: The Lake Hopatcong Steamboat Company (Black Line) crew in<br />
1895. The steamboat Hopatcong, from the Hopatcong Steamboat Company<br />
(White Line) fleet, full of passengers, circa 1900.<br />
on Lake Hopatcong, at times accusing each<br />
other of having unseaworthy boats, artificially<br />
lowering the lake and stealing customers.<br />
Despite management’s squabbling, the<br />
captains and crews of the rival steamboats<br />
jointly held a large annual charity ball to benefit<br />
local people in need.<br />
The state began to conduct safety inspections<br />
in 1905, following a tragedy in New York City’s<br />
East River the previous year, when a fire aboard<br />
the steamboat General Slocum resulted in over<br />
1,000 deaths.<br />
At Lake Hopatcong, both steamboat<br />
companies resisted investing heavily in their<br />
aging boats. The pressure only increased when<br />
the White Line side-wheeler Musconetcong<br />
sank in 1905 in River Styx Cove with 120<br />
passengers requiring rescue. While that boat<br />
was quickly raised and resumed duties, the<br />
White Line ceased operations after the 1906<br />
season.<br />
The Black Line reduced its fleet, finally ending<br />
operations in the early 1910s.<br />
Despite the demise of the two large<br />
steamboat companies, water transportation<br />
persisted thanks to many smaller, familyrun<br />
operations. Families such as the Decker,<br />
ready Chaplin, to tackle Willis, any Hulmes, project. Beck and Lee families<br />
all continued to offer transportation services at<br />
the lake.<br />
By the 1930s, with roads finally built around<br />
the entire lake and automobiles becoming<br />
commonplace, boat service Hablamos evolved into Español water<br />
taxis and sightseeing boats.<br />
By the 1950s, Bertrand Island Park’s 40-foot<br />
tour boats offered the only passenger service<br />
around the lake. After the park’s closure in 1983,<br />
the tradition of sightseeing boats continued for<br />
years from the Jefferson House and, in 2014, with<br />
the debut of the Miss Lotta, the first doubledecker<br />
boat on the lake in over 100 years.<br />
Judging from its size and location, the boat<br />
hull in Landing Channel is almost certainly the<br />
remains of one of the White Line steamboats.<br />
White Line boats were moored in this area and<br />
abandoned there when operations ceased after<br />
the 1906 season.<br />
The boats can be seen sitting idly in this part<br />
of Landing Channel in photos circa 1907-1908.<br />
The July 10, 1910 edition of the Lake Hopatcong<br />
Breeze reported that “the dilapidated steamers<br />
of the old White Line, which had been drawn<br />
up on shore at Landing for several years, were<br />
removed this past winter.”<br />
In a July 1977 letter to the Breeze, then<br />
longtime resident Carrel C. Bryant provided<br />
further details. “Many will recall that one of the<br />
boats was allowed to disintegrate on the West<br />
Shore, opposite the Powder Works [today’s<br />
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It is likely one of the steamboats left<br />
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difficult to move by the time cleanup was<br />
conducted in the winter of 1909-1910, and<br />
it was deemed easier to let the hull remain<br />
on the lake bottom and remove anything<br />
above the water level.<br />
The exact extent of the ruins must<br />
wait until a future drawdown. The museum is<br />
currently investigating the permits that will be<br />
required to support such an excavation.<br />
So, for at least the next five years, the mystery<br />
of this steamboat remains at the bottom of<br />
Landing Channel.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 35
COOKING<br />
WITH SCRATCH ©<br />
My<br />
Friend,<br />
Brenda<br />
Story and photos by<br />
BARBARA SIMMONS<br />
How many of you out there enjoy having<br />
company? For dinner? Overnight? A<br />
weekend or even a three-week stretch? (Wow!)<br />
I wonder if hosting is becoming a lost art,<br />
along with cooking and baking. There are just<br />
so many excuses not to: It’s too much work, the<br />
house isn’t clean enough, how can I possibly<br />
make enough food. These are concerns that<br />
usually end the idea of a party even before it<br />
starts.<br />
Most people would rather go to a private<br />
home instead of a restaurant, but rarely want<br />
the home to be their own.<br />
I learned firsthand that living on Lake<br />
Hopatcong was a big draw for our friends and<br />
relatives and, at my mother’s side, I experienced<br />
all of the work that went into entertaining and<br />
preparing for company.<br />
We loved it, though, and looking back,<br />
certainly enjoyed all the fun we had.<br />
However, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone make<br />
entertaining look easier than my friend, Brenda<br />
Robinson Agamie.<br />
Brenda was a fourth generation resident<br />
of Lake Hopatcong. I met her in elementary<br />
school when my family moved to the lake in<br />
the middle of winter. It was a tough transition<br />
for me—a “city kid” who was used to blocks,<br />
sidewalks and a candy store right around the<br />
corner.<br />
In that little fifth-grade classroom at the Ellen<br />
T. Briggs Elementary School, her welcoming<br />
smile and wonderful sense of humor thawed<br />
out my frozen heart and a lifetime friendship<br />
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I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that<br />
she is gone. Far too soon.<br />
Brenda and I graduated from Jefferson<br />
Township High School together and then went<br />
off to college in Boulder, Colorado. We shared<br />
all our life’s milestones: marriage, careers,<br />
having kids, all of the ski training and races with<br />
our kids (home and away), having grandkids,<br />
learning to enjoy cooking. Brenda was always a<br />
constant in my life.<br />
I miss her greatly. We made so many fun<br />
memories together. From movie night to<br />
Friendsgiving, to Fire and Ice parties on the<br />
lake in front of her house, to a very memorable<br />
ladies’ only sleepover two summers ago<br />
(complete with goodie bags!) to a ski trip to<br />
Aspen, Colorado. Time spent with Brenda was<br />
just the best.<br />
Brenda and her husband, Mark Fisch, owned<br />
Espanong Market in Jefferson for about 19<br />
years. We loved going on Wednesday nights<br />
during the summer, when they offered a<br />
variety of holiday-style dinners like a Rosh<br />
Hashanah brisket and a Thanksgiving turkey<br />
feast. Those mid-week dinners were so popular<br />
with their friends and customers from Nolan’s<br />
Point, Mount Arlington and East Shore Estates,<br />
that it was often hard to get a table.<br />
Like I said earlier, Brenda made throwing all<br />
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36 LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
Left to right: Brenda (Robinson) Agamie and Barbara<br />
(Kertscher) Simmons in Boulder, Colorado in 1972.<br />
Brenda Agamie and Mark Fisch in 2000. Aaron and<br />
Barbara Simmons dressed for a “Jaws” movie night at<br />
Agamie’s Lake Hopatcong home in 2022.<br />
these parties, dinners and events look easy. I<br />
remember asking her for advice about a big<br />
Oktoberfest I was planning several years ago.<br />
I had some basic ideas, but what followed was<br />
a two-hour phone call that went into details<br />
like scheduling a timeline, menu planning, food<br />
quantity estimation, decorations, drawing out<br />
maps of how to lay out the buffet table and<br />
starting the bonfire.<br />
I took detailed notes and archived them<br />
all in my cookbook binder. To this day I am<br />
grateful for her help and advice. It sounds like<br />
it was daunting and complicated to get all the<br />
logistics down, but it was so much fun, and so<br />
worth the effort.<br />
Brenda’s trademark for hosting an event was<br />
to always have a theme—it contributed to<br />
the success of the evening and created the<br />
memories that all of us took away. Our movie<br />
nights (Brenda’s idea) were a great example of<br />
this.<br />
We set them up as a “dine-around” format—<br />
we all took turns hosting every month. We<br />
matched the movie to the dinner menu and<br />
often came dressed in costumes to go with<br />
the theme.<br />
For our “Jaws” movie night two summers ago,<br />
dinner was out on Brenda’s patio, decorated<br />
with nautical touches. Brenda asked my<br />
husband, Aaron, to carve a shark out of a<br />
watermelon with half of a Barbie doll in its<br />
jaws. (There are YouTube videos that show you<br />
how to do this!) We came dressed as lifeguards,<br />
complete with white sunblock on our noses<br />
and whistles around our necks. Brenda served<br />
a spectacular seafood tower that featured<br />
shrimp, crab claws, lox, pickled calamari and an<br />
octopus salad. It was a wonderful evening and<br />
that old movie, “Jaws,” held up really well.<br />
It was unforgettable, just like the lifetime’s<br />
worth of memories we made together, which<br />
I treasure and have only begun to scratch the<br />
surface of.<br />
Brenda, how I miss you. Please know that so<br />
many loved you so much.<br />
Rest easy, my friend.
For this issue, I’m offering an Asian-themed dinner plus an appetizer. If you’re doing a<br />
movie night, maybe you’d pick “Godzilla?”<br />
The dip with rice crackers and the salmon nori cups are very sushi-like in their flavors and<br />
the ingredients can be found in most grocery stores. There’s always Amazon, if needed.<br />
Ginger-Wasabi Cream Cheese Dip<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 8-ounce tub whipped cream cheese<br />
1/4 cup pickled ginger slices<br />
1 to 2 teaspoons pickled ginger syrup (as needed)<br />
1 to 2 tablespoons wasabi paste<br />
2 tablespoons soy sauce<br />
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil<br />
Procedure:<br />
1. Empty the contents of the cream cheese tub into a bowl and allow it to come to room<br />
temperature.<br />
2. Finely chop the ginger slices and add them to the cream cheese, blending together with a fork.<br />
3. Scoop the mixture into a shallow bowl and dot with the wasabi paste.<br />
4. Whisk the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil together and drizzle over the top of the dip.<br />
5. Serve with sesame rice crackers.<br />
Salmon Sushi Cups<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1-pound skinless salmon filet<br />
2 tablespoons sesame seeds<br />
1½ packages nori (seaweed) snack sheets<br />
(20 sheets per package)<br />
Marinade:<br />
2/3 cup mayonnaise<br />
3 tablespoons Korean gochujang paste<br />
(or 2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce)*<br />
1 tablespoon soy sauce<br />
2 scallions, thinly sliced<br />
Prepared kimchi (Korean-style pickled<br />
cabbage)<br />
Sushi rice:<br />
1 cup sushi rice<br />
2 cups water<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar<br />
*I love Korean gochujang paste for marinating the salmon, but you can substitute sriracha hot<br />
sauce. If you don’t like spicy, you can omit the gochujang or the sriracha, substituting a teaspoon<br />
of minced garlic and a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger (or 2 teaspoons of ginger-garlic paste,<br />
which can now be found at your local supermarket).<br />
Procedure:<br />
1. Add the sushi rice to a medium-sized saucepan with the water and salt. Set the saucepan over<br />
high heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook, covered, for 20<br />
minutes. When finished, take off heat and let cool for about 10 minutes, covered. Then sprinkle<br />
the seasoned rice vinegar over the cooked rice and mix well.<br />
2. While the rice is cooking, make the marinade and prepare the salmon.<br />
3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the marinade ingredients together. Set aside.<br />
4. Cut the salmon into ¾-inch cubes. Add to the marinade and mix until well coated.<br />
5. Toast the sesame seeds for 2 minutes in the microwave or on the stovetop in a small saucepan,<br />
being careful not to scorch them. Set aside.<br />
6. Preheat the oven to 350°.<br />
7. Set a muffin tin on the counter with the saucepan of cooked rice, the nori sheets and the<br />
marinating salmon nearby.<br />
8. Place 2 of the nori sheets in the palm of your hand, overlapping them in the center. With the<br />
other hand, scoop about 1 ½ tablespoons of rice into the center of the nori sheets. Cupping<br />
your hand, mold the sheets around the rice, forming a sort of rounded shape, leaving the top<br />
open. Put the nori-rice “cupcake” into the muffin tin, open side up.<br />
9. Continue until all 12 cups are filled.<br />
10. Place about 2 tablespoons of marinated salmon cubes on top of the rice cups.<br />
12. Sprinkle each cup with some toasted sesame seeds.<br />
13. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until you just start to see some browning around the edges.<br />
14. Toss the sliced scallions over the top of the salmon sushi cups.<br />
15. Serve with kimchi and maybe some steamed broccoli if you think you need a vegetable.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 37
WORDS OF<br />
A FEATHER<br />
Backyard Besties<br />
38<br />
Story by HEATHER SHIRLEY<br />
Photos by KYLE MATERA<br />
It’s finally here! Spring! The season of<br />
renewed growth, full of hope and splendor.<br />
Sunlight stretches its span across the day<br />
and blooming forsythias electrify hillsides.<br />
Daffodils, jonquils and crocuses poke their<br />
vibrant heads out of the sleeping earth.<br />
Birds joyously sing out to announce their<br />
arrival, advertise their territories and tempt<br />
prospective mates.<br />
Many birds will migrate north this spring, but<br />
many have resided right alongside us all winter<br />
long. They might not have been as noticeable,<br />
both because we may not have been outside<br />
as much in the cold winter months and also<br />
because birds do not sing as much in winter.<br />
But as anyone who enjoys watching bird<br />
feeders knows, our backyards are full of truly<br />
spectacular birds all year long.<br />
Northern cardinals are probably the most<br />
conspicuous and most splendiferous. These<br />
beauties are usually seen in pairs during spring<br />
and summer.<br />
The male is a brilliant cardinal color, hence<br />
the species’ name. He has a perky crest, a<br />
dashing black mask and a shiny orange beak.<br />
His female partner is equally lovely, though<br />
less flamboyant. She is mostly soft brown, but<br />
sports a reddish tinge on her wings, crest and<br />
tail. She also has a black mask and orange bill.<br />
Cardinals can raise and lower their crests.<br />
When agitated, their crest is erect; when they’re<br />
relaxed, it can be so flat it is barely noticeable.<br />
These birds tend to hop through low<br />
branches or shrubs and usually forage on or<br />
near the ground for seeds and nuts. They eat<br />
some insects and mostly feed their young a<br />
diet of insects. (All that protein!)<br />
They will readily visit feeders and prefer<br />
black oil sunflower seeds. When they sing,<br />
which they frequently do, they choose a<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
higher perch. Their<br />
song is a lovely, clear<br />
whistle.<br />
And while male<br />
cardinals do the<br />
majority of singing,<br />
female cardinals do,<br />
too. It’s rare among<br />
birds for females<br />
to sing (most only<br />
Left to right: Adult male northern<br />
cardinal, adult blue jay<br />
make what are called chip notes). Even more<br />
interesting, female cardinals will call when they<br />
are sitting on a nest.<br />
One theory is they are communicating a sort<br />
of grocery order to their mate. “Go visit the<br />
neighbor’s feeder, and please bring me some of<br />
those tasty seeds, would you, dear?”<br />
Cardinals are mostly monogamous. Many<br />
pairs stay together after nesting season and<br />
through the winter, but about 20 percent will<br />
split up by the next breeding season.<br />
In the spring, a male will perform elaborate<br />
displays for his mate. He will twist and turn,<br />
shift his weight from side to side and start to<br />
sing to get his lady’s attention. Gotta appreciate<br />
that he tries to keep things fresh in their birdy<br />
relationship!<br />
Cardinals don’t migrate, so they’re around all<br />
year for us to enjoy.<br />
Another backyard dweller is the blue jay.<br />
Male and female blue jays look alike, and their<br />
appearance is unmistakable.<br />
Like cardinals, blue jays have a crest they<br />
can raise and lower. They’re the only bird in<br />
North America that is bright blue with white<br />
on their wings and tail. While they appear blue,<br />
the pigment in their feathers is brown, from<br />
melanin, the same substance in our bodies that<br />
produces hair color and skin pigmentation. The<br />
blue color we see is a result of light reflecting<br />
on special cells on the barbs of their feathers.<br />
Blue jays also have black on their faces that<br />
resembles a bridle or necklace. These black<br />
markings vary from bird to bird and may help<br />
them recognize each other.<br />
Jays are highly intelligent and have complex<br />
social systems. They form strong family ties.<br />
Blue jay pairs are much more monogamous than<br />
their cardinal neighbors. Many monogamous<br />
species of birds separate when it’s not mating<br />
season, but blue jay pairs not only mate for life,<br />
they stay together throughout the year.<br />
Blue jays will also happily frequent bird<br />
feeders, although they prefer a tray-style<br />
feeder. They enjoy the same sunflower seeds<br />
as cardinals, and they love suet and nuts such<br />
as peanuts and acorns.<br />
Capable of carrying up to five acorns at<br />
a time by stashing them in a special throat<br />
pocket, jays often transport nuts and cache<br />
them. Scientists tracked six birds one autumn<br />
and found they cached about 5,000 acorns!<br />
Jays are credited with spreading oak trees<br />
across the continent after the last glacial age.<br />
They very accurately choose only the best<br />
acorns, free from weevils or other pests, so the<br />
acorns they cache but don’t eat can turn into<br />
forests.<br />
Unlike non-migrating cardinals, blue jays may<br />
occasionally migrate. Their migration patterns<br />
are a mystery. Most don’t migrate at all, but<br />
some do.<br />
Sometimes it’s younger birds that migrate<br />
(but not always). A blue jay may migrate one<br />
year but not the next.<br />
I love that in this age of information overload,<br />
there are still things we don’t understand.<br />
Nature is a constant source of wonder. Get out<br />
there and enjoy it!<br />
Scan the QR code with<br />
your phone’s camera<br />
to hear the sounds of<br />
cardinals and blue jays.<br />
Is something hairy going on at home? (Leaks? Drains?)<br />
$<br />
25<br />
off your next<br />
hairy situation!<br />
Coupon must be presented at time of service. Applies only to<br />
work performed. Cannot be used for dispatch/diagnostic fees.<br />
No cash value. Cannot be combined with any other discounts.<br />
Remember...we will never ask how it happened!
akeside<br />
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contrActor speciAlizing<br />
in the following AreAs:<br />
excAvAting & pAving<br />
Bridges<br />
roAd construction<br />
site work<br />
utilities<br />
crushing<br />
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973-398-4517<br />
Fax 973-398-5623<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 39
directory<br />
CONSTRUCTION/<br />
EXCAVATION<br />
Al Hutchins Excavating<br />
973-663-2142<br />
973-713-8020<br />
Global Contracting<br />
800-292-3268<br />
globalpaving.com<br />
Lakeside Construction<br />
151 Sparta-Stanhope Rd., Hopatcong<br />
973-398-4517<br />
Northwest Explosives<br />
PO Box 806, Hopatcong<br />
973-398-6900<br />
info@northwestexplosives.com<br />
Robertson Excavating<br />
973-398-9476<br />
ENTERTAINMENT/<br />
RECREATION<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 />
Roxbury Arts Alliance<br />
72 Eyland Ave., Succasunna<br />
973-945-0284<br />
roxburyartsalliance.org<br />
HOME SERVICES<br />
Central Comfort<br />
100 Nolan’s Point Rd., LH<br />
973-361-2146<br />
Evening Star<br />
LED Deck/Dock Lights<br />
eveningstarlighting.com<br />
Homestead Lawn Sprinkler<br />
5580 Berkshire Valley Rd., OR<br />
973-208-0967<br />
homesteadlawnsprinkler.com<br />
J-I Renovations<br />
862-462-0183<br />
jirenovation.us<br />
Jefferson Recycling<br />
710 Route 15 N Jefferson<br />
973-361-1589<br />
jefferson-recycling.com<br />
Metro Supply and Service<br />
201 Green Pond Rd., Rockaway<br />
973-627-7626<br />
metrosupplyinc.com<br />
The Polite Plumber<br />
973-398-0875<br />
thepoliteplumber.com<br />
Premier Tech EcoFlow<br />
973-600-9264<br />
premiertechaqua.com<br />
The Probilt Group<br />
973-886-3654<br />
probiltgroup.com<br />
Royalty Cleaning Services<br />
973-309-2858<br />
royaltycleaningserv.com<br />
TriStae Lighting<br />
973-358-9302<br />
LightTheTristate.com<br />
Window Genie<br />
973-726-6555<br />
windowgenie.com/northwest-nj<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<br />
Katz’s Marinas<br />
22 Stonehenge Rd., LH<br />
973-663-0224<br />
katzmarinaatthecove.com<br />
342 Lakeside Ave., Hopatcong<br />
973-663-3214<br />
antiqueboatsales.com<br />
Lake’s End Marina<br />
91 Mt. Arlington Blvd., Landing<br />
973-398-5707<br />
lakesendmarina.net<br />
South Shore Marine<br />
862-254-2514<br />
southshoremarine180@gmail.com<br />
NONPROFITS<br />
Canal Society of NJ<br />
973-292-2755<br />
canalsocietynj.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Commission<br />
260 Lakeside Blvd.,Landing<br />
973-601-7801<br />
commissioner@lakehopatcongcommission.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Elks<br />
201 Howard Blvd, MA<br />
973-668-9302<br />
Lake Hopatcong Foundation<br />
125 Landing Rd., Landing<br />
973-663-2500<br />
lakehopatcongfoundation.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum<br />
260 Lakeside Blvd., Landing<br />
973-398-2616<br />
lakehopatconghistory.com<br />
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES<br />
Barbara Anne Dillon,,O.D.,P.A.<br />
180 Howard Blvd., Ste. 18 MA<br />
973-770-1380<br />
Fox Architectural Design<br />
546 St. Rt. 10 W, Ledgewood<br />
973-970-9355<br />
foxarch.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 International<br />
670 Main St., Towaco<br />
973-570-6633<br />
thedoragroup.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 International<br />
670 Main St., Towaco<br />
973-906-5021<br />
prominentproperties.com<br />
RESTAURANTS & BARS<br />
Alice’s Restaurant<br />
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-9600<br />
alicesrestaurantnj.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 />
Alstede Fresh @ Lindeken<br />
54 NJ Rt 15 N, Wharton<br />
908-879-7189<br />
AlstedeFarms.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 />
Italy Tours with Maria<br />
ItalyTourswithMaria@yahoo.com<br />
JF Woodproducts<br />
973-590-4319<br />
jfwoodproducts.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 />
40<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong><br />
16th Annual<br />
Spring Charity Hike<br />
Hudson Farm Club • 270 Sparta-Stanhope Rd. • Andover<br />
Saturday, May 11, <strong>2024</strong> (Rain or Shine)<br />
7:30AM (Last hiker may enter at 11:00AM)<br />
This event is open to everyone!<br />
Benefits many local organizations<br />
Complete the hike—get $1 per year of age—donate to any participating organization<br />
Lunch and souvenir gift compliments of the Hudson Farm Club<br />
For details call Anthony Luciani at 201-874-1412 or Donna Luciani at 973-222-8398
KAYAKING<br />
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PEDALBOARDING<br />
HIKING<br />
BIKING<br />
DISCOVER THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF LAKE HOPATCONG ON<br />
AND OFF THE WATER WITH OUR GUIDED TOURS<br />
Hassle-free rentals led by fun, experienced guides!<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 41
Nolan’s Point Park Rd., Lake Hopatcong<br />
42<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring <strong>2024</strong>
livethelakenj.com • 973.663.2490 • Connect with us!<br />
LivetheLakeNJ<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 43
SEE THE LAKE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE WITH<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG CRUISES<br />
Whether you are a local or visiting the lake for the first time, a cruise on<br />
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SCAN THE QR CODE FOR MORE INFORMATION<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG CRUISES<br />
MISS LOTTA<br />
· 2014 - <strong>2024</strong><br />
CELEBRATING MISS LOTTA THIS <strong>2024</strong> SEASON!<br />
Let’s celebrate Miss Lotta together for her 10 year anniversary on Lake Hopatcong!