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Health & Fitness

A Look Back at Nyack's Swimming Holes

How about taking a skinny dip to cool off this summer?

This summer is a scorcher. One of the best ways to cool off a bit is to head over to the local swimming hole for some skinny dipping. 

Oh, wait a second -- I don't know if there are any places left in our area you might consider a "swimming hole." 

But back quite a few years, long before backyard pools and and swim clubs, there were a few places kids, or the family, could go to cool off on a hot summer's day (and not worry if they were wearing a bathing suit).

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One of the largest was the Nyack Ice Pond located between High Avenue and the Nyack Turnpike (Rte 59). On the north side of the pond was an informal place to spread a blanket or a few chairs and take a dip. Of course, swimmers took a chance as the pond was also home to snapping turtles, black water snakes and a leech or two. The pond was the head water of the Nyack Brook and was decent size. It was filled in to make way for the Thruway and Polhemus Street was constructed connecting Route 59 to the High Avenue ramp.

For those with the quarter for admission, the best place for a dip was Nyack Beach at the north end of Broadway. An fishing pier extended out into the river and anchored the north of a beach that was about 20-feet wide and maybe 100-yards long. The wooden pier was from the days of stone quarrying on Hook Mountain. It was destroyed in a hurricane in 1955 or '56. Soon after, New York State decided it was not longer safe to swim in the Hudson. Today, the beach is long gone and only the concrete steps leading down to the river's edge remain along with the darkened refreshment stand and gymnasium.

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I don't recall ever being "officially" allowed to swim in the Hudson off Nyack's Memorial Park. While plenty of the kids took a dip there was never a formal beach, and the shoreline is not conducive to swimming. I little further up the Nyack Brook though, many of the kids in my younger days managed to keep cool in the shallow pool just below Piermont Avenue. There were many times we scattered wearing little more than our birthday-suits when one of Nyack's finest drove up in a patrol car.

The Nyack Brook also provided some relief from the heat to the neighborhood kids who used a small shallow pool behind Mr. Easter's wood yard located on Railroad Avenue just south of Depew. His wood yard and the street are long gone. Railroad Avenue was also the sight of the Village of Nyack's only municipal swimming pool.  Yes, we had one back in the late 60's for a few years. There were two above-ground pools the village bought from RCC and placed them on the playground of the Liberty Street School. If my memory is correct, they were there only in 1967 and maybe '68.  (I am sure there is someone who will jog my memory.)

The Hackensack still provides water for the Nyack area, and back in the '40s, '50s and '60s, there were several swimming holes to seek relief from the summer's heat. The first one was just south of the old Rte 59 bridge, maybe 100-yards south of the Nyack Water Treatment Plant. Sheltered by large Maple and Oak trees it was one of the coolest spots in West Nyack. A bit further down river just south of the Deer Head Inn (ironically now a church) was another pool we could ride our bikes to for a dip. A little longer ride towards Blauvelt found three more swimming holes. The Old Oak was off Sunset Road and along Firth Avenue was the Seven foot and Forty foot holes. At the seven foot hole there was a rope swing we would use to carry us high over the water and drop into the cool abyss.  Of course, we kept a keen eye out for the snapping turtles, snakes and leeches. I have this weird memory of my Aunt Willie using her cigarette to burn off the blood suckers. 

I hope you can find a place to cool off this summer. If you decide to take a skinny-dip, the shallow pool of the Nyack Brook in Memorial Park is still there -- and Nyack's finest are long gone!   

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