NOTICE
Please be advised that on 28-29 December 2011, from 9am-4pm, Olinville Avenue between Adee Avenue and Burke Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic due to a crane operation at 666 Burke Avenue in the Bronx. This is closing is pending approval by the N.Y.C Department of Transportation. This notice is for your information only and no reply is necessary. If you have any questions, please contact me at the above number.
Contact: Patty Kuras
Authorized Representative
Structural Systems, Inc.
718.497.4806
Stories of Seton Falls Park
Whether or not it still exists, an underground tunnel, which handled cascades of water during a rain storm, ran through the park. I recall one particular exploration with boyhood friends through these underground caverns. We had removed the usual metal cap over the sewer and climbed down the metal rungs within. Shortly after, we heard a roaring noise through the underground caverns like lions approaching. What a scramble going up those rungs to the surface. We later learned other boys had seen us and had howled through another manhole.
There is a minor “Palisades” in Seton Falls Park called Indian Rock. We all crawled through the hole in the high rocks. The origin of the rock name is not known, but where explanations did not exist, we created stories to fit. Near Indian Rock could be found the best local dangerous skiing. I recall adults skiing off jumps they had built and skiing down the steep hill. The carnage was fascinating.
The greatest sleigh riding in the world must have been that long unbelievable half-mile stretch that started the snowy trip from the top of the Seton Falls Park on Seton Avenue and ended at the bottom of the park at the creek near Pratt Avenue. When the snow became frozen and glazed after a day’s partial melting, the side-skidding on the sleigh at full speeds near the end of the run was incomparably thrilling. -James W. Salta
Seton Falls Park was an important part of Edenwald. What a playground it was for us kids. We had two falls and a pretty good swimming hole at the foot of the lower fall. This stream found its way through the park and into Hollers Pond. I can recall our friends, neighbors, relatives from Manhattan and the lower Bronx picnicking in these beautiful woods. This was the country to them.
Seton Falls Park was our playground. After we had taken care of our chores (we had over 100 chickens, 4 cats and 1 dog) we would go over to the woods. Sometimes we would watch the filming of movies—William S. Hart, westerns, Pearl White, the thrillers and sometimes, I recall, Wally Reid. We would pick blackberries, raspberries, and elderberries. What jams and jellies we had!
Winter was skiing time—on barrel staves; ice skating on the creek, and if we had a dime, Hollers ice pond. Sleigh riding was great. When we were adventurous, we would start at Barnes Avenue and 233 Street and finish at Wilder Avenue. There was also quite a pond in the back of a residence on the northeast corner of Baychester and Strang Avenues. I know –my cousin lived there.
To sum it all up, in the early nineteen hundreds, Edenwald was a GREAT place. –Walter T. Swanson
Seton Falls Park was bordered on the north by East 233 Street and the north by East 233 Street and the west by Baychester Avenue. These roads were as wide as they are today; however, only the two center lanes were paved, and they had very little traffic. To the south was the Boston Post Road. This was a cobblestone road and a major truck route.
The park itself was, for the most part, dense woods with a small ball field on the east side and a picnic area which was located about 1,000 feet from the foot of the Monticello Avenue.
Running through the entire park was a small stream known as Rattlesnake Creek. The source of this book was underground springs. The creek began from a tunnel under 233 Street at DeReimer Avenue. If you followed the creek from this tunnel, there were two small falls. This creek proceeded through a valley, which at places was bordered by high, sheer cliffs. The river passed the baseball field and ran under a Boston Road into a very beautiful large pond known as Hollers Pond. At the east side of the pond, was an ice house and a dam. The stream flowed past the dam alongside a small, very beautiful road known as Mill Lane. Finally the creek emptied into the great salt marsh of the Hutchinson River.
The entire area was inhabited by many types of small animals, such as fox, rabbit, possum, skunk, raccoon, muskrat and all varieties of birds—owls, hawks, pheasant, etc.
As a young boy the creek became the hub of most of my activities. There were always large frogs to be caught, as well as snakes and turtles. At one point I had over 60 turtles from this creek and pond, one of which weighed over 30 pounds. A trip to the pond was always productive, and it was a sure bet that I’d come home completely covered with mud. However, the mud was a small price to pay for a fine snapping turtle.
The great salt marsh was one of the most beautiful areas of all and abundant with wildlife during all of the seasons. Taking a small boat through its many winding water ways was much like a trip to the Everglades of Florida.
During the winter there was always good sleigh riding, and after a fresh snow, it was always good fun to tract rabbits and foxes to their dens. -Buzz Driscoll
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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
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