MY TURN By Jim Wright

A postcard from Bellvale’s past I try not to bid too often on the eBay online auction site, but when I came across a postcard from Bellvale from August 1909 - a century ago — I could not resist. To my surprise and delight, I “won” the bid ($3), and the postcard arrived by mail the other week, and prompted me to write this. The postcard is of the Bellvale Post Office, a century ago, and it brought back so many memories of my more than two decades in this wonderful hamlet. I am writing this, and including a copy of the card, in hopes that it will bring back memories for others. The card itself is instructive of how times change, because the main advertising on the building indicates that the store in those days sold Jewel Stoves. It reminded me how the store and post office have changed over the years. When I arrived in Bellvale 31 years ago, the postmaster was Arthur “Arpie” Quackenbush, a charming older gent who was a World War I veteran. His son Dudley and Dudley’s wife Mary ran the adjacent Bellvale Store. The store sold canned goods and candy and had a freezer full of ice-cream treats. The counter was a 20-foot-long, one-inch-thick plank of black walnut. The store was something of a communal gathering point as well, and a good place to catch up with neighbors and gossip. In those days I was commuting to Hackensack most mornings, but every so often I would take the bus into New York City for work. The bus ride took nearly two hours (probably still does), and just after the driver left off passengers near the top of Mount Peter and started his descent into Bellvale, he announced the next stop: “Quackenbush Mall.” On my way to work, I would sometimes stop at the store to pick up an item. I suggested to Dudley that he install a coffee pot, buy some Styrofoam cups and sell coffee to commuters. He seemed reluctant but eventually tried it, and the idea over the years became a bit of a money-maker. Karl and Femi Roecker later ran the store, then Bob and Annie, and I always felt that I was entering a friend’s place whenever I stopped in. In the meantime, Arpie gave way to Margaret Benedict and Corry Van DuynHoven, and they always shared a laugh or a bit of news. There were gas pumps out front for the longest time, and a red phone booth that would later become part of a movie (Darryl Hannah can be seen leaving the booth in a snippet from “The Pope of Greenwich Village.”) I reluctantly moved away in the year 2000 because the daily commute over the mountains got to be too much of a grind. I have not been to the “new” pizza place. As far as my heart is concerned, when I go over Mount Peter the place at the bottom of the hill will always be the Quackenbush Mall, filled with great friends and neighbors and the fondest of memories. Jim Wright lived on Iron Forge Road by Longhouse Creek from 1978 to 2000. He now lives on the Celery Farm in Allendale, N.J. His nature blog can be found at celeryfarm.net. Wright’s latest nature book, “Hawk Mountain,” will be published by Camino Books later this month.