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Historic Preservation Committee

E-mail Recollection

  1. Name:

    Peter M. O'Neill

  2. Mailing address:

    Princeton, NJ

  3. When and where were you born?

    1946, Summit, NJ.

  4. When did you come to Mountain Lakes?

    December, 1953.

  5. Tell us something about your family. Did your parents also live here?

  6. Where have you lived in the Borough? In which houses?

    58 Melrose Rd.

  7. What do you remember particularly about the houses and properties where you lived?

  8. What are some of your special memories growing up in Mountain Lakes?

    The lakes; the active sports environment; parking on lawns; "Whistle Stop"; hitching allover town.

  9. Where did you go to school? What particular memories do you have from your school years? Are there any special stories you associate with that time of your life?

    I went to Lake Drive school (grades 3-6), then the High School (grades 7-12).

  10. Where did you and your family shop?

    Dell's Village.

  11. What were the roads and the lakes like?

    Tight roads, safe (then) for bicycles; Only dirty part of lakes was canal between Wildwood and Mountain Lake.

  12. Are there any special people you remember who contributed to the life of the town? Why do they stand out in your mind?

    George Wilson was responsible for a generation of honest, hard-working, high-achieving athletes.

  13. What did you do for fun formal recreation, sports and entertainment in general?

    High School sports; summer Hub Lakes games; basketball by the Whistle Stop.

  14. Are there any special events that stand out in your mind?

    Fourth of July!!!!!

  15. Did your parents and the parents of your friends work nearby? In New York or elsewhere? How did they get to work? How did commuting change over your time here?

    Mostly local.

  16. How did various laws affect the way people lived?

  17. Did you have a sense of Mountain Lakes as a unique place in its lifestyle, its homes, as a community?

    Yes!

  18. How did the world's events -- World War I, the Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the assassination of JFK, Viet Nam, Watergate, etc. -- affect you and fellow Mountain Lakes residents when you were growing up?

    JFK's death was my 17th birthday. Time stood still.

  19. What made living in Mountain Lakes special to you, as you think back over your life here?

    A magical place in the 1950's and 1960's. Never to be duplicated.



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