Our second home was located at 21 Larchdell Way.  Photo of that house when purchased in 1927 and one of the same house after some changes.  That house has changed appearance since we left in 1942 and moved to the Buffalo, N.Y. area after my father’s death.

The house at 21 Larchdell Way was a typical Hapgood home which my father had redone inside and out (see 1927 photo and a later one).  To me the crowning glory of that location was that it was on the canal, which had been made wider behind our house.  The canal permitted us to have both a row boat and a canoe with which we could travel to either the Big Lake or the Little Lake in the summer time and since the canal was quite shallow, we were able to ice skate there in the winter.  There was no winter skating on either lake until the ice was checked by the police and the "Flag" was hoisted in the Memorial Park and other locations.  Ice skating and hockey were very popular activities for all to enjoy.

The burning of the original Mountain Lakes Club House on the Big Lake on New Year’s Eve (1928) was a big event.  The fire started in the Club kitchen and much effort was expended on keeping the fire from reaching the Stone School next to the Club.  The Club House was a total loss.  Not too long after that the Rockaway River Country Club burned to the ground.

In those days the Mountain Lakes Fire Department trucks, a Ford and a Waterous, were housed in the south end of the Hamilton Automobile Garage (located behind the stores on Baldwin Rd.) in a single wide fashion, one behind the other.  The Fire Dept. was all-volunteer at that time.

The two main lakes were always beautiful.  The Club had a beach on the Big Lake and there was a private beach on the Little Lake located at the north end of the Glen Road Dam.  That beach was constructed by Mr. E.R. Leonard who lived on the lake on the Briarcliff Rd. side.  There was a nice sand beach, high and low diving boards, a long slide with a pump for applying water and a large raft.  Members wore a small brass tag on their bathing suits for identification.  The Browns were members of that beach.  Today there is absolutely no remaining evidence that such a facility ever existed.

Mr. Earl Anibal, our Supervising School Principal was another man of stature and loved by all that knew him.

In those years, Mountain Lakes had many men who worked for Bell Labs in New York and who made their mark in the scientific progress of our nation.

In the summertime and on a Saturday we would hike on the Tourne or at the Fox Lakes where we enjoyed swimming in the "Third Lake" without benefit of a bathing suit.  Almost all of our fun activities were good exercise.  Would that such was true today, our young folks would be better for the experience.

There was also a Mountain Lakes baseball team made up of local young men that were perhaps about ten years my senior.  Mr. Al Driggs was the manager, Harry Kinne (sp?) was the catcher and Mr Beery was always the umpire when the games were played at Naefie's Field in Mountain Lakes.  Naefie's Field was located on the lower part of Midvale Rd.  below the railroad tracks between Crescent Dr. and Maple Way.  That ball diamond was on the Naefie property, which was made into building lots after World War II and became known as Diaper Village.  The Ball diamond has obviously vanished.  Other names of the ball team escape me.  It has been a long time!

Many of my friends’ fathers were in WW-I and many brought home guns, helmets, gas masks, periscopes, and other small items.  One man managed to bring home a German water-cooled machine gun.  These things were all playthings as we boys played at war.  One man, Mr. Lewellyn Watts Jr. (lived on Morris Ave near Midvale, his son Lewellyn the 3rd was a classmate) brought home an wooden airplane propeller which was mounted on the porch of his father, Lewellyn Sr., who lived in the house directly adjacent to original Briarcliff Rd High School.  Lots of that sort of thing came home from France in 1918.

WW-II came at a time when I and my friends were of military age.  I enlisted in the Navy but was almost immediately discharged because of an ear problem.  Many of my classmates were in the various services, some never to return.  Warren P. Edris, known as Pete was a B17 pilot in the 8th Air Force.  He was reported killed in action over France.  He was later found to be a prisoner of war in a German prison camp and freed by Gen Patton and returned home.  He wrote a book about those experiences and a copy of that book is in the mail to me.  We have been good friends since starting school in first grade.  He Lives in North Carolina and I spoke to him this past week.  Bob Corley was a Navy pilot.  He came out ok but has since passed on.  He married Betty Addis who lived on Hanover Rd. and is still with us.  Gilbert Jones who lived on North Glen was also a pilot and did not come home.  Gilbert Higgins who lived on Laurel Hill Rd. was killed in Europe.  Richard Fleming, who had married Jean Hughes, was also killed in Europe.  These were all classmates.  There were others that I did not know well and can’t recall.  That war took its toll in Mountain Lakes.