The Walk to Tenafly - Part Three

Thank you for your patience! I know there were some of you out there who were thinking ... "What happens next?"

I left you as I encountered the entrance to St. Peter's College, or, rather, their adult division, on Englewood Cliffs, there in the Palisades. Yes, it must have the best view of all the colleges in the Metropolitan Area:

Photo by St. Peters College

Can you imagine if you had been at the Palisades Mountain House? Or living in the Allison home, at this site?

But maybe you can certainly imagine how attractive this area was for those who could afford to live so far from, yet so close to, the city in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I did, and still do. After all I grew up not three miles from this very spot - but, I was young, had other concerns ... who knew?

So, I will visit St. Peter's soon, and ask those in the know there about their institution. Now, I said to myself, I'm walking on. On up the road - whoosh! More bikers!

And cars. I certainly hoped at this point that my road walking wouldn't last - and indeed, I walked along Hudson Terrace for only 5 minutes (yes, I kept a record! I know how long to each turn on my walk.) before I turned left and walked just about 1 minute to Route 9W, or, and I always thought this name was ironic, Sylvan Boulevard.

At this point I knew I was in Englewood Cliffs. Historically, all Englewood included both Teaneck and Englewood Cliffs, and was originally part of Hackensack, which is now the seat of Bergen County. Without going into all the dates and figures at this time, suffice it to say that although Englewood has less than 30,000 inhabitants (including Eddie Murphy), virtually all of the inhabitants of Englewood Cliffs send their children to private schools; most of the residents of the "East Hill" of Englewood do too. I may talk about schools in another blog ... but now I'm walking!

I turn left at Palisades Avenue (in 4 minutes, if you're keeping track!), and quickly get off that busy road to walk down into the real suburban neighborhood of private homes and lawns. City folk rarely encounter such things, except on television, but these are the staples of the American Dream in the post-war American Dreamscape. And my childhood. We walk:

Well, this is certainly a nice, modest single family home. Leaves on the lawn, nice little awning with pillars at the entry; and wonderfully tall and leafy trees seem to accompany the home and its family in their lives on Floyd Street. This feels familiar ....

But just across the street!

What happened here?! Well, let me leave this Mini-Marriott to your imagination, for I'm sure you all will have seen its like all across the metropolitan area, within sight of the turnpike or the parkway, along highways upstate, clustered like oversized beetles on impossibly green-turfed lawns. I was beginning to become a little afraid for my walk: don't tell me this is all I would have to show of Englewood Cliffs to my walkers?

It's like neighborhoods everywhere, in this particular block, as it proved. But it changed, as I walked on and a little to the west.

One must understand that, like St. Peter's College and the Palisades Mountain House, which were both sited on the former estate and acres of the Allisons', these homes also were on the once expansive acres of prior land-owners. I wonder who they were - and if there's anything left that might remind us of them?

Well, very little is left of the grand estates of yore, and what is has been transformed into the estates of others. But I'll fill you in at least a little when we walk together (we are, aren't we?) about the "Railroad suburbs" of Bergen County.

But we do have watered estates today! A couple of blocks down Pershing brought me to this expanse. A modern luxury. Yet, I hadn't seen anyone yet.

The only people I had seen out were the hired men taking care of the leaves - with machines! The colorful scenery was almost drowned by the roar of leaf blowing machinery; notice the "leaf pusher" this man has - and it's mechanized.

Yes, wide empty streets! But it was a beautiful day.

I was wondering about the neighborhood's history, however, and when I came to North Woodland Street, I turned left.


Hmm. Anyone know Gloria Crest? This was the home of Gloria Swanson, built in 1926 by a member of the Polish royal family (and named after his wife, not Gloria Swanson), and now the home of Jan and Edward Turen, who are also active in the theater world. I didn't poke my nose through the gate ... but we'll look when we all come, ok?

I turned right and began my walk away from the mansion, and down Walnut. Oh! Look at this modest home! Probably an "out" house for one of the neighboring mansions ... but again: where is everyone!

It was a beautiful day, and I was on my way to meet a school friend for lunch in Tenafly, so I had, as they say, things to do and people to meet! And miles to go before I would get a seat?

Well, technically, that's true but not a real problem. It was, you see such a wonderful day!



My ultimate destination: the railroad station in Tenafly - designed by Daniel Topping Atwood and on the National Register of Historic Places - but now it's Cafe Angelique. Time for a brunch snack!