BACK IN TIME: A history of River Vale’s Stonewell Poultry Farm

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By KRISTEN BEUSCHER
OF PASCACK PRESS

RIVER VALE, NEW JERSY —— Not long after our Jan. 22 Back in Time feature on the River Vale Lodge hit driveways, we heard from a woman named Marjorie Adams who called our attention to an important fact: we had misidentified her family’s Stonewell Farm, which was visible in the background of the photo. We mistakenly said it was owned by the LaMannas, who actually lived on the property behind.

Mrs. Adams was gracious enough to dig out some old family photos, and writes the following:

The large house seen on the left side with the peak facing the River Vale Lodge and the ridge facing Rivervale Road was in fact the home of the LaManna family. This home had been previously used as a boarding house.

The smaller white building seen between the No Parking sign and the phone booth was a store that sold chicken and turkeys. This business was known as the Stonewell Poultry Farm [pictured at top left].

Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Marjorie Johnston operated this store starting about 1950 and closed it around 1959. As can be seen in some of the attached pictures [at left, second from top] the store was located on the Rivervale Road side of a very large old barn.

We are led to believe that the barn at one time was used as a dance hall and was known as the Cavalcade Dance Hall. The Johnstons used the barn for raising chickens. The turkeys were raised in several shelters located on the property.

In 1967 the farm property was sold as well as some of the LaMannas’ property for the development of houses along Rivervale Road and LaManna Drive. The road going through the development was named LaManna Drive.

Before the property could be developed the barn and store had to be razed. The River Vale Fire Department used the barn razing for training and as you can see it provided a very big fire [bottom photos]. The small store had been pushed back by a bulldozer so that it could also be razed.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnston went on to purchase and operate the Tiedemann’s Taxi Company in Westwood. Mr. Johnston had spent many years as a volunteer fireman and Mrs. Johnston was an active member of the Ladies Auxiliary. Their youngest son John was also a long standing active member of the Fire Department, as well as his son Jonathan, which all shows a family dedication to the township.

Many thanks, Mrs. Adams, and thanks for writing!