Old Mill Pool

In Paramus sits the Old Mill Bathing Beach, closed for literally decades, its sits abandoned and fenced in, waiting to get reopened. Nearest I can tell, dirt bikers ride around in the sand of the pool's bottom but otherwise it sits untouched. It was an easy find, but we got spooked when we saw some dude walking around in the woods behind us, kinda checking us out, so we took our last shots and went on our merry way.

My dad remembers going there for a trip when he was in the third grade and seeing his Uncle Eugene there with someone other than his Aunt Dorothea and yea it just went downhill from there.

The way my dad tells the story goes something like,
Talking to his mother-
"Guess what Mom!"
"What?"
"I saw uncle Eugene on da field twip toooday!"
"No you didn't, he was at work."
"Nuh-uh, I saw'd him, he was wit some pwetty lady with bwonde hair."
"Aunt Dorothea has brown hair."
"I knoooow. But this lady had bwonde hair."
"It wasn't him, Allen."
"Yes it was, he talked'd to me. He say he see you on Labor Day at Uncle Petey's."
"It wasn't him."
(Throws his hands up)
"Otay! If you say so!"

He'll carry that on, talking like a little kid, for a half-hour.
Funny thing was, this guy is/was/I'm not sure if he's still alive or what, my father's godfather. To this day, I still think my grandmother doesn't believe that my dad say Uncle Eugene there. Granted, we put the 'funk' dysfunctional.

I also think this is where my grandparents first met. Kinda strange because my grandmother lived in Jersey City and grandfather from Hoboken, originally Ireland. It was either this one or Graydon Pond in Ridgewood. More likely, this one. Poppy used to tell the story about seeing the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen there, doggy-paddling up to her and went about telling her that.

So if you wanna look at it like that, The Old Mill Bathing Beach holds an interesting place in my family. And the funny thing is, thousands drive past it every day and wouldnt give it a second thought.
















Be Legendary,
-AK