To me it was my world, to this day I couldn't
think of a better place for a child to play. The park was literally
in my back yard. We lived on North 6th Street between Delavan Ave.
and Franklin St. Just over the back yard fence the Newark city subway
ran, on the other side of the tracks was the park. We would enter
the park on Devenport Ave., over the trolley walk bridge and into
the park or go by Heller Parkway, until we found that we could go
over or under a fence just about anywhere we wanted too.
We certainly didn't limit our playing areas. We knew every inch
of that
park and we took full advantage of it. In the summer we were around
the lakes and little streams that ran throughout park. If you were
old enough you were able to rent a horse, go boat riding or just
play Cowboys and Indians.
In the winter we could be found in Belleville park, not too far
from the
golf course. There was a hill that we called Dead Mans hill. When
I was nine years old, it was a big and challenging. By the time
I turned 15 it was a little bump. Let me tell you we had fun sliding
down on our sleds. There were times we lost track of time and had
to walk home in the dark.
That park was well maintained, the grass was always cut. Never,
ever was that park trashy, it was always neat. You can count on
the park police being around with their motorcycle and a little
side car, when we were up to something we shouldn't be.
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