Comments on: Egypt Hill, Brown’s Pond and The Great Loves of My Childhood in Westfield, New Jersey

By: Frances Otto Griffin

Frances Otto Griffin — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 03:14:34 +0000

That was special and brought back many memories. I am 86 and graduated from Westfield Senior High School in 1956, from Muhlenberg Hospital School of Nursing in 1959, Seton Hall University with a BSN and St. Joseph’s University with an M.S. I have still been in contact with my McKinley Elementary classmates as of this year. Westfield was a special place to grow and learn. Thank you.

By: Christy Ward

Christy Ward — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 11:15:25 +0000

I lived on Standish Avenue until 1966 when we moved to Wyandotte Trail. I can remember the wooded area at the bottom of Minisink which we called Jackie’s Woods because Jackie lived right across the little road from the woods. We would go down and pick wild blackberries and Mom would make blackberry jam. We rode our bikes around the whole area, including up and over Hillside, and down Lawrence into town all the time – it was how we got places. Sadly, our house on Wyandotte has been torn down and rebuilt. And of course, we went sledding on the hill next to Hillside Road! Wonderful memories!

By: Jane Young Anderson

Jane Young Anderson — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 12:27:30 +0000

I lived on Hillside. I spent so many hours of so many weekends playing pathfinder at Egypt Hill. Such a fun wilderness to have as a kid.

By: Merry Rogers

Merry Rogers — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 11:05:50 +0000

In 1964, my family moved to Westfield and a house on Lawrence Avenue. These descriptions sound like the area around our house which was at the crest of the hill coming up from town towards the 22. And street names like Breeze Knoll and Roanoke were very close by. Interesting!

By: Stu McRobbie

Stu McRobbie — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 11:03:40 +0000

Such a wonderful memory. My family moved to Roanoke Rd in 1965, but my first visit to that area went back to about 1960-61. An Aunt & uncle were one of the first families to build on Orenda Circle. We visited there and stayed for a few weeks one summer. There were only about half dozen houses on Orenda and most of the circle was not even built yet and some cleared parts of “road” were just hard packed road base. Roanoke and the other secondary streets did not exist at all. Most of it was just crudely graded and cleared dirt and rock, covered in tall weeds. Even after we also moved into the neighborhood in ‘65, the backside section of Orenda running along, parallel to Hwy 22 was still not completed and numerous lots along that section remained open for building. Over time, it was all completed and built out. It was a great neighborhood to grow up in and much of the wooded areas and stream from Echo Lake, surrounding the neighborhood, remained to be explored by us adventuresome kids of the 60’s. I had always heard stories about a pond and “Little Egypt Hill” and here, after all these decades, I’m finally reading of the facts. Thanks so much for sharing. (BTW, like numerous areas of Westfield, a growing number of the old, original homes of the 60’s are now being replaced by larger, “McMansions, so the character of the neighborhood is again evolving.