Kearfott Lake (Paterson, Wayne, Little Falls: hotel, school, live)

[DecaturHeel]

Hi, everyone--

I was born in Haledon and moved away in the early '70s. My father worked for Kearfott, and the company had a lake for employees' use. Does that lake still exist? It was really great--my brother and I loved going there.

Thanks for any information.

Tom

[Bigrcube]

Same question. I had an uncle (man married to my mother's sister), who worked for Singer-Kearfott in Little Falls, NJ off Rt. 46 W.
He was an electronics executive who retired from there after many years of service.
He and my aunt used to take me and my sister and their own two kids to Kearfott Lake in the summer. We boys rented a boat and went fishing, had cookouts, went swimming.....had a grand old time. Then on the way home, we would stop at the "Old Barn Milk Bar"
or just "The Old Milk Barn" on the Hamburg Tpk in Wayne for ICE CREAM.

The ice cream place is gone, but the lake must still be around.....albeit maybe not called Kearfott Lake anymore.
Where was that located? Anybody?!

THANX,
Mark

[KatieD]

I too used to go to the kearfott lake, it no longer exists sorry to say.... they have built a burger king and are currently building a Holiday Inn.
sad, i drive by it daily. we had a lot of fun memories there.

[reid]

Hello there my father worked for kearfott, and our whole family went there on a company picnic, write me:

[varsy4]

My Grandfather & Father had both worked for the company. I loved going there every summer. If anyone remembers the layout of the tables starting from the club house. My family is the one that was the 1st one there every weekend. Before the life guards even got there. I have some pics running around the house. I remember making mud puddles (whole bunch of kids, dont know who) and we where all covered. Goodtimes there. Bad--seaweed.....yuck.

Downfall--- It closed up about 15 yrs ago. I found this link. They have pics of what it looks like now. And from what i have just heard, Holiday Inn has already cleared Earl's house, the Weeping Willows, and play equipment.
http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/elks_camp_moore.htmr (broken link).

[varsy4]

My Grandfather & Father had both worked for the company. I loved going there every summer. If anyone remembers the layout of the tables starting from the club house. My family is the one that was the 1st one there every weekend. Before the life guards even got there. I have some pics running around the house. I remember making mud puddles (whole bunch of kids, dont know who) and we where all covered. Goodtimes there. Bad--seaweed.....yuck.

Downfall--- It closed up about 15 yrs ago. I found this link. They have pics of what it looks like now. And from what i have just heard, Holiday Inn has already cleared Earl's house, the Weeping Willows, and play equipment.
http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/elks_camp_moore.htmr (broken link).

[varsy4]

So sad. So mant memeries reduced to a pile of dirt & rubble. Here is a site of the Lake being torn down.


http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten...._lake_demo.htm

[boatman9494]

I also was born and raised in Haledon and my Dad worked for Kearfott his entire career. Dad did not speak much of his work, I knew he worked on the gyros and calibrated them. I was not aware of Kearfott lake but I do remember the milk barn. I moved to Florida in 1979 and several years later Dad retired, he and Mom joined me in Florida. Dad passed away seven years ago. I was perusing the Kearfott site which is how I found this site. Interesting to learn several others from Haledon worked for Kearfott. This spring I returned to Haledon for a visit, first time since I left in 79. A lot changed yet a lot was still the same. Walked through the old Kossuth St school, which is now a storage facility. A lot of memories. I graduated Manchester in 1966. I am wondering if I may have known decaturheel. My name is Tom, my Mom is Marion and my Dad was Henry. We lived in a few places in Haledon, last on Hobart Ave.

[Betty Wing]

Thanks for posting the link to the pictures - they were extraordinary.
How well i remember going there every weekend from Paterson during the 60s. It felt like we were driving to Canada. Wayne wasn't quite so developed yet - still plenty of farms and Hamburg Turnpike mostly small businesses. The Milk Barn, oh yes, and a couple of other places. We barbecued, my family and I - Mom and Dad, my brother and 3 sisters.We'd catch bony sunfish and throw them back in. Swim out to the rafts and dive off , try to reach the bottom which was all gooey out there. My big sisters would flirt with the lifeguards while my little sister and I would go off the trampoline at the deep end. We never walked completely around the whole thing for some reason. Sometimes Kearfott would have a big shindig with a band and everything.
There was also a pavilion with an old jukebox that never quite worked and a player piano that they painted red - there was a canteen with vending machines too. There were ping pong tables indoors and out, along with some other things you could sign out like sporting gear. There were tether balls and badminton too.
The first visits of the year would see the sand all fresh and the rafts and ropes all new and the water all cold - but we went in anyway. On some days the water would be all brackish and tepid as the season went on. There was a bridge over the runoff where the water flowed over and went to the pier on the far end. It felt like such an effort to swim to the other side. Were we ever such small and thin little children.
My father worked 22 years for Kearfott and retired from there working for the Apollo program. When Apollo 13 was in distress, they were the ones who worked behind the scences to advise NASA and bring them safely home. I also worked for them in the late 70s as a gyro calibrator. My coworkers were mostly Vietnam or army vets and the stories they would tell! The 3rd shift was the one I worked for the pay differential while i was in tech school. Where has the time gone? I see it all in the pictures.

[DeeTut]

The lake is there, but everything else is gone. The hotel that was due to go there has been stalled for a couple of years, but only yesterday I passed by and it looks like it is starting again.

A Burger King is now located adjacent to that area.

It was a great summer place. All my children learned to swim there.