Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. The song "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (performed by The Monkees) was written by Carole King and former husband Gerry Goffin during a period of time when they lived in West Orange. The song is named after Pleasant Valley Way.
2. Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains was once home to Allen Ginsberg's mother. In fact, he makes a direct reference to Greystone in Howl ("Greystone's foetid halls...").
Woodie Guthrie was also a patient there for 5 years. He referred to it as "Gravestone". Guthrie was on ward 40 (or as he called it, "wardy forty"), and while he was there, he was visited by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Pete Seeger.
3. NJ has a bunch of ghost towns. Wallpack and Batsto Village, to name a couple. I've also heard that there's one inside the Watchung Reservation. It's fascinating how these places become abandoned.
I'm a big fan of all the Weird NJ stuff. Everywhere you turn in this state, there's an interesting story. Not to mention, EVERYBODY in north Jersey has a "Did you know George Washington marched through my backyard?" story.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
