It’s that time of year again: the official start of summer. School’s out, the weather is warm, and soon it will be hot. People across the Northern Valley will be cranking up the A/C and hitting the pool. For 21st century kids, it’s difficult to imagine a time before such luxuries.
Of course, in our grandparents’ day (and for some of us, our parents’ day, or maybe OUR day) there was no air conditioning. Backyard pools were a rarity. So how did everyone beat the summer heat? A dip at the local swimming hole!
The photo above shows a group of boys taking a swim in the Tenakill Brook in Demarest. While the exact date of this photo is unknown, judging by the swimsuits (yes, boys and men wore one-pieces back then) this was the 1910s.
Below, some bathing beauties pose for a photo in the Hackensack River in Old Tappan. This photo was taken north of Washington Avenue, in an area that’s long since been covered by the reservoir. The Hackensack River, with its many bends providing great swimming holes, was a favorite spot for decades of Northern Valley residents.
