Autumn, 2019 Day 11...Drive By

Monday, October 28

    Today was always going to be a light day.   I was up early and standing on the beach for the sunrise, seemingly by myself.

    Just before the sun actually peaked over the horizon, I noticed a woman standing perhaps twenty feet away.  She seemed more fascinated by the sun being punctual than anything else.  It’s supposed to rise at 7:22A, and isn’t it amazing that 7:22 hits, and the sun peaks over the horizon.  She turned around and walked away.

      I had some time to kill.   After packing up the room, I left the car at the motel and simply walked up and down the boardwalk.

    Those of you who are familiar with Point Pleasant Beach’s boardwalk will recognize the name Jenkinson..  They pretty much own the boardwalk and the adjacent beach.   The city and state decided to spend a whole lot of money to build up the sand dunes to protect the beach, the boardwalk and the adjacent homes.

.  The Jenkinsons didn’t want to lose their view.  So, in the middle stretch of the boardwalk, they’re building a seawall instead, and covering some of the cost.

     My only commitment for the day was noon in Red Bank.  I was meeting my high school friend Stacey for lunch at a  pizza place called Urban Coalhouse.
 

     Eventually, it was time for Stacey to go back to work, so we said or good-byes out front.

     Stacey went to work, and I went off to explore a little New Jersey history.  But first, a little fun.  In my business, there are people you work with on a regular basis.  Some you know personally.  Some work in other cities and you get to know each other via headsets.  A few years ago, I finally met Jenna.  She works in the in the New York bureau and we had been chatting on headsets for years.
     On a more recent trip to the city, I didn't have a lot of time.  As I walked by the Time Warner Center, I snapped a picture and texted it to her with the caption, "drive-by."
     The drive from Red Bank to Alpine took me on a stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike.  I noticed the skyline off to my right, grabbed the camera and blindly snapped a dozen shots through the passenger window.  Later that day, I sent this shot to Jenna with the caption once again, "drive-by."  She texted it back with an arrow pointing to the new building.  Yes, all this does eventually come back in the narrative.

   
     This is a part of the state I had never explored before, and I had two stops in the town of Alpine.  The first sits in a rather high end neighborhood.  According to Forbes, Alpine is one of the richest suburbs in America.

     It's simply referred to as the Alpine Tower... It's since picked up the nickname The Devil's Tower.  It was originally built in 1900 by the landowner Manuel Rionda for his wife Harriet.  This way she could see the New York skyline from their property.
     Harriet always suspected Manuel of cheating on her.  One day, she saw him in the tower with another woman.  Later that night, she jumped out of the tower from the top window.   Soon after, he started feeling uneasy in the tower.  He spoke of footsteps following him, voices and cold hands touching him.  Others described the random scent of perfume. He decided to close up the tower.
   

     Manuel died in the 1950's, leaving the tower abandoned.  The city of Alpine tried knocking it down.  Numerous demolition crew members reported voices and being shoved around.  This only strengthened the tower's legend.  So, the tower remained.
     The urban legend associated with the tower states that if you walk or drive backwards around the tower six times, Harriet appears in an upper window.  Being mid-afternoon, I didn't bother testing the the myth.
      Overlooking another posh Alpine neighborhood is this unassuming transmission tower.

     It's known as the Armstrong Tower.  Built by Edwin Armstrong in 1938, he used it for experiments with what would become known as FM radio.  After the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, many radio and TV stations used this tower as their back-up transmitter.
    My home for the next two nights was the Clinton Inn in Tenafly.   The name comes from the Dutch term Tiene Vly, meaning Ten Swamps.  After checking in, it was off to check out the neighborhood.

     Running behind the hotel is an abandoned rail line.  Passenger service ended here in 1966.  I found a few sites claiming that freight still moves through.  Based on the condition of the tracks and the downed tree limbs, I doubt that's happened in a while.

     There's a restaurant and bar in the hotel.  After wandering the neighborhood for a while, I stopped in for dinner and was much humored by the craft beer offerings...

     I wound up lingering over a second and having a great chat with some of the other folks staying at the hotel.  A check of the weather and I called it a day.

Coming Up,
A not so scenic view