Walk Across New Jersey Part X - Preview

In Walk Across New Jersey (WANJ) Part X we abandon, for the rest of the series, even the pretense of semi-wilderness (as experienced in the Watchung and South Mountain Reservations on the previous two hikes) and head into the heart of megalopolis.  We still have pleasant parks to traverse, but with more of an urban park character.  Additionally we will be walking through elegant pre-automobile age suburbs and old working class neighborhoods and lively commercial districts.  And past old factories, warehouses, Superfund sites, beautiful old churches, schools, cemeteries, etc. - a plethora of stuff almost too great to describe.

The hike begins with the pleasant railroad suburb of South Orange and ends seriously urban upon reaching Newark's Broad Street Station.  

The old firehouse (1926) near the South Orange train station.

There are many old factories in Orange - "hatmaking capital of the world", including a few where hats were made.  But my favorite is this art deco pile where Monroe calculators (those old fashioned things with lots of moving parts) were manufactured.

Starting at the historic South Orange train station we head north into the City of Orange with its distinctly more blue collar ambiance. A consequence of its industrial heritage - especially the manufacture of hats. Boasting some 21 or more (numbers vary from different sources) hat factories in its prime, including the original ones of of the Stetson family who went on to iconic western hat fame.  We'll see a few extant old factories along with elements of the ongoing transformation of this sometimes gritty formerly industrial zone into the "Valley Arts District" (click here).

Sad rivers of northeastern New Jersey.  We cross the almost imperceptible high ground between the  watershed of the Rahway River  (on the left)  draining into the Arthur Kill and  that of the Second River (on the right) draining into Newark Bay (via the Passaic River).  Both just below their headwaters in the Watchung Mountains.

Some of the giant light bulbs strewn about in West Orange - these in front of the municipal building.  Commemorating Thomas Edison who lived the latter part of his life and died in West Orange.  We pass by the entrances to his gated community and his laboratory.

Next, crossing from the Rahway to the Passaic River watershed, we visit West Orange - land of light bulbs thanks to its most famous resident, Thomas Edison (who actually "invented" the light bulb elsewhere - in Menlo Park visited on WANJ VI where we saw a much larger light bulb).  The hike passes through three of the four Oranges - only East Orange is missed.

As you can see from the sign, there are spaces available in Rosedale Cemetery. Should you be looking for a final resting place among New Jersey's captains of industry, you will be out of luck on the hike as the office will be closed.

Then beautifully landscaped Rosedale Cemetery - one of the oldest and most historic in the state.  New Jersey's industrial graveyard whose permanent residents include the founders of Colgate, Merck, Upjohn, Johnson & Johnson and A&P along with famous architect Charles McKim, pioneering tennis star Althea Gibson and a few other famous people.

This 1920's last of the bow bridges over the Morris Canal was still present March, 2014 and will certainly still be there when we do the hike.

From Rosedale Cemetery we make our way to the Morris Canal in Bloomfield.  Having used the Delaware and Raritan Canal for much of the early WANJ, it is  essential to include at least a snippet of New Jersey's greatest and most innovative (if much less well preserved) canal as well - and this is it.   There is not really any canal left here but there is a pleasant park along the alignment including a historic bridge slated for demolition (but still there at last check).  

Cherry blossoms in Branch Brook Park on April 16, 2013 - indications are that we should have them close to peak on the day of the hike.  Let's hope.

Just before reaching the end of the hike at Broad Street Station, we pass the very large Newark Cathedral - impressively sited on the highest natural elevation in the city,

A bit more street walking takes us to the north end of Newark's Branch Brook Park where the cherry blossoms could well be spectacular.  Ostensibly too late, a recent NJ.com article forecasts the peak to be one day after the hike. We'll walk through Branch Brook Park right the way down , then on to Broad Street Station passing a more few historic sites including the impressive Newark Cathedral. 

For a map showing all the Walk Across and Ramble Across New Jersey hikes completed prior to this one, click here.  WANJ hikes are in red, the alternate WANJ route through the Plainfields in pink, and RANJ in green.

Diners as Dots

Connecting dots is a way of structuring peripatetic perambulations. Sometimes it forms the basis for a hike, as in the Brooklyn Patrick Keely hikes of years past, or my IND electrical substations hike planned for June.  The range of possibilities is endless.  Jean Arrington leads great hikes connecting NYC schools built by the visionary architect C.B.J. Snyder. Connecting dots of a particular sort works best when there are enough of them spread over a walkable distance and when there are plenty of dots of other sorts to maintain interest between those which form the main theme. Rarely a problem in NYC but elsewhere, it depends.  In a sense all good urban hikes can be thought of as "connect the dots" hikes. 

The Summit Diner (Union County).  A 1938 O'Mahony Diner, this is one of the most historic in the state.  Right by the Summit train station, it is easy to connect on various hikes.

So what about a New Jersey diner connect-the-dots hike?  It is a good thought and I keep notes just in case.   I've done Texas Wiener restaurant hikes in Clifton and Paterson which were generally well received (even by participants who actually consumed hot dogs at each site).  Diners are an iconic part of the NJ landscape and NJ was a major center for their manufacture - some say the Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth made the first diners, although Wikipedia cites earlier examples.  Depends in part on how a diner is defined. 

Harris Diner - a 1952 O'Mahony in East Orange (Essex County).  Less than a half mile off the route of  Walk Across NJ No. 10.  But given distance constraints we will give it a miss.

There are serious diner enthusiasts out there.  Some focus on New Jersey diners and all of them, if they are really serious, have to make a pilgrimage to the Garden State at some point.  They organize tours (invariably by car) and have useful websites (one of the best can be found here) and fight for landmarking and preservation of historic diners, for which they are occasionally successful.  Michael Gabriele has written perhaps the definitive history of New Jersey diners (click here).  So there is plenty of source material to draw upon.  

The Arlington Diner in North Arlington (Bergen County) dates to 1966 (Kullman). Easily connected when bridgebagging the lower Passaic River.

I am not one of those serious diner enthusiasts. Although I do really like the old ones.  I find the food fine and generally good value - at least when ordering the right things - but I can't say I am extremely enthusiastic about it. I go inside as much to admire the often retro interiors as to have a meal or cup of coffee.  My interest in diners here is simply as dots to connect on hikes.

The Colonial Diner  in Lyndhurst (Bergen County) is a ca. 1948 Mountain View Co. diner.  Right across the street from the graves of William Carlos Williams and Joey Ramone (among others).

But I am unlikely to organize a diner themed connect-the-dots hike. For one thing, diners came into existence and grew up with the automobile and are largely tied to the automobile dependent parts of the NJ landscape.  Spread out, often on major highways.   Even in the more densely populated northeastern part of the state, a route to connect the requisite numbers of diners (I'd say at least five or six) is likely to mean more highway walking than even I am up for.

The old Short Stop Diner (Kullman/Manno, 1953) in Bloomfield (Essex County) masquerading as a Dunkin' Donuts.  Possible restroom stop on Walk Across NJ No. 10.  

So I think of diners more as adventitious dots to connect on hikes with other things in mind.  Some, like the Summit Diner are right by the train station and easy.  We get great views of the wonderful Arlington diner consequently to crossing the Route 7 bridge across the Passaic River.  I'm confident an excuse could be found to pass by almost every interesting and historic diner in the northern part of the state on some hike or other. Not that I have any intention of actually trying to do that, although it is a nice thought.  

Another New Jersey Diner pretending to be something else - in this case a New York Diner as if that were something to take pride in.   In Woodside, Queens and built ca. 1949 by the Mountain View Co.  The phony canopy thing in front is unfortunate.  Connected on Long Island Railroad bridgebagging hike in February, 2014. 

So here are examples of diners throughout megalopolis, all manufactured in NJ, which I have passed by on a hike of some sort. I could easily drive around and take pictures of lots more diners, but that would be cheating.  It would suggest, quite wrongly, that I am serious about diners.