Inspired by my new book “Walking the Newark Branch” , an adventure of the old railroad tracks,
I saw photos of where I grew up, and decided to venture back to that neighbor hood today.
I grew up there in the late 40’s early 50’s. My first bicycle was a Columbia, I believe.
I was lucky to have a driveway with a slight downhill to the street to practice on.
Then even luckier when I got to the street it was another downhill grade to the park.
This is taking me back seventy years! I soon mastered the balance and was pedaling along.
This gave me a new freedom at seven years old, I could cover great distances that before on foot were daunting.
It was great having a park at the end of my road too. After a few years I graduated up to the Schwinn with a Springer fork and all.
There was no keeping me home at this point. My sisters still remember I had a curfew of not being allowed to leave the house until seven AM.
My adventures took me many miles. So now after leaving that town sixty years ago it was a fun trip back to see the changes.
my old house today, looks the same
looking down the street to the park
the waterfall in the park where I used to play
view down stream from the falls
the stream went under the tracks, a great place to play, in the tunnel
we also used to play on the box cars parked here, cowboys & indians.
this is another way into the park from High st. it's still the same, was great sledding down in winter