As the weather turns warmer, consider stepping out for a socially-distanced walk around Montclair. And if, like us, you find yourself stopping before a house, a church, a park, or a cemetery and wondering about its history, send us an email, or share a photo with us on Facebook or Instagram.
Of course, we’ve been walking and wondering our way around Montclair for quite some time now. Taking pictures, doing research, and sharing what we find. Many of the images seen below were previously posted on our social media accounts, but there is a certain pleasure in seeing them all together. We hope you agree!
Here then is the third in a series of posts with 3 themes: cemeteries, oddities, details.
Previous entries in this series: Part 1, Part 2.
Cemeteries
Sculptural headstone, seen at Rosedale Cemetery (408 Orange Road). Rosedale was founded in 1840 in response to the cemetery reform movement that moved burials from churchyards to independent cemeteries on the edge of towns.
George Inness’s grave, Rosedale Cemetery (408 Orange Road). Rosedale’s Old Section is a prime example of the rural cemetery movement with hills, serpentine drives, and secondary pathways.
Tomb, Rosdale Cemetery (408 Orange Road). Hourglass and wings symbolize swiftness if time's passing and ascent into heaven.
Bird bath, Mt. Hebron Cemetery (851 Valley Road). Mt. Hebron was founded in 1863 by Dutch families who settled in the north end of town in the 1700s and 1800s – Speer, Van Ryper, Doremus, and others. Like Rosedale, Mt. Hebron is an excellent example or rural cemetery design: a park-like setting with winding paths.
This stone marks a family plot at Mt. Hebron Cemetery (851 Valley Road).
oddities
A manhole cover from Brooklyn's historic Floyd Bennett Field, NYC's first municipal airfield found on a street in Montclair.
Edgemont Park (274 Valley Road). Originally part of the Harrison farm, by 1896 the area of today’s Edgemont Park was the Montclair Golf Club. Eventually it became a township park.
A window. In a chimney.
Details
Detail of sandstone trough at 1872 Van Reyer-Bond house 848 Valley Road, on MSU campus.
The recently restored facade of the Madison Building, a Beaux Arts Revival design built in 1912 at 427-429 Bloomfield Avenue. Mr. Madison intended the building to create offices and studios for arts-related professionals; he included depictions of himself -- holding paint brushes -- on the building's facade.
Stair rail, Crane House, 1796
Stone bench, First Congregational Church