Goffle Hill

Last updated
Goffle Hill
Watchung Mountains
Watchungs GoffleHillWest.JPG
The western flank of Goffle Hill is seen from High Mountain in Wayne, New Jersey.
Highest point
Elevation 602 ft (183 m)
Coordinates 40°58′33.81″N74°10′07.93″W / 40.9760583°N 74.1688694°W / 40.9760583; -74.1688694
Dimensions
Length6 mi (9.7 km)north–south
Geography
Country United States of America
State New Jersey
Geology
Age of rock Triassic and Jurassic
Type of rock extrusive igneous and trap rock

Goffle Hill, also referred to as Goffle Mountain and historically known as Totoway Mountain and Wagaraw Mountain, is a range of the trap rock Watchung Mountains on the western edge of the Newark Basin in northern New Jersey. The hill straddles part of the border of Bergen County and Passaic County, underlying a mostly suburban setting. While hosting patches of woodlands, perched wetlands, and traprock glades, the hill is largely unprotected from development. Extensive quarrying for trap rock has obliterated large tracts of the hill in North Haledon, and Prospect Park. Conservation efforts seeking to preserve undeveloped land, such as the local Save the Woods initiative (2007–present), are ongoing. [1]

Contents

Geography

Goffle Hill generally refers to the ridge of First Watchung Mountain north of the Passaic River and south of Campgaw Mountain. West of the ridge is a narrow valley dividing the tall peaks of the Preakness Range (part of Second and Third Watchung Mountain) from Goffle Hill. The east side of the ridge faces out over a wide, shallow valley extending to the Palisades. [2] Historically, the ridge comprising Goffle Hill was known as Totoway Mountain, with the name Goffle Hill applied to the more prominent southern part of the ridge. Today, the name Goffle Hill is commonly used to describe the entire ridge despite the fact that the northern and southern sections of the ridge are quite different in terms of topography and surficial geology.

Basalt cliffs on the southern ridge GoffleHill BasaltCliffs.jpg
Basalt cliffs on the southern ridge

Southern Ridge

The southern ridge traverses the boroughs of Prospect Park, Haledon, North Haledon, Hawthorne and the township of Wyckoff, running generally north to south. Starting at the Great Falls of the Passaic River, the southern ridge rises gently to the north, culminating at an elevation of 602 ft 40°58′33.81″N74°10′07.93″W / 40.9760583°N 74.1688694°W / 40.9760583; -74.1688694 just inside of Hawthorne, near the border with North Haledon and Wyckoff. The summit marks the highest peak of Goffle Hill, though comparable peaks exist in the northern part of the ridge. The southern ridge is distinguished from the northern part of Goffle Hill by the presence of trap rock glades and vertical basalt cliffs which rise abruptly on portions of its eastern flank. [2]

Northern Ridge

The northern part of Goffle Hill, underlying the area of Sicomac and the boroughs of Franklin Lakes and a section of Oakland, exists primarily as a low, broken ridgeline lacking in large precipices and running northwest to southeast. Modern maps show only one named peak on the northern ridge, a small trap rock prominence known as Knob Hill 41°00′30.29″N74°12′39.92″W / 41.0084139°N 74.2110889°W / 41.0084139; -74.2110889 which attains an elevation of 518 ft (158 m). This peak, which is located just north of Summit Ave in Franklin Lakes, marks the only significant trap rock found at the surface of the northern ridge. In addition to Knob Hill, five other unnamed peaks reach an elevation over five hundred feet, with the highest summit on the northern ridge reaching an elevation of 584 ft 41°00′19.96″N74°12′22.45″W / 41.0055444°N 74.2062361°W / 41.0055444; -74.2062361 in Franklin Lakes.

History

Goffle Hill was first inhabited by the Lenape, whose language the ridge’s historical name, Totoway Mountain, is derived from. Totoway, or the more contemporary Totowa, means ‘the falls between river and mountain’. The term was used to describe the Great Falls of the Passaic River, which spill over a notch in the ridge of First Watchung Mountain. [3] Europeans later applied the name to the section of ridge north of the falls.

Modern quarry in Prospect Park GoffleHill Quarry.jpg
Modern quarry in Prospect Park

The ridge’s modern name, Goffle Hill, is derived from the Dutch. Goffle is a corruption of the word gaffel, which means ‘fork’, referring to the fact that Goffle Hill stood at a fork in a prominent Lenape trail. [4] [5] For a time, Goffle Hill was also known as Wagaraw Mountain. Wagaraw was a Lenape term, meaning ‘low country at the bend of the river’ –the north bend of the Passaic River. [6]

It is fitting that the ridge’s Lenape names are derived from terms involving the Passaic River. Lenape camps have been discovered mostly along the banks of the river’s tributaries at the foot of the hill. [7] Originally, these streams served as a vital freshwater and fishing source. Later, with the arrival of Europeans, the hill’s streams powered mills, aiding in the settlement and farming of the northern Passaic River valley. [8] Trap rock and sandstone (freestone) quarrying on the hill served the building boom that occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. [2]

During the American Revolutionary War, the hill, as with the rest of the Watchungs, served as a lookout. In 1780, General Lafayette’s light infantry were stationed on the eastern flank of the hill. Lafayette’s headquarters were situated at the foot of the hill in what is now Goffle Brook Park in Hawthorne. [9] [10]

Geology

Sandstone cliff in Hawthorne GoffleHill SandstoneCliff.jpg
Sandstone cliff in Hawthorne

Goffle Hill formed as molten rock extruded onto the surface 185 million years ago. At that time the range occupied the northern section of an active rift valley running through northern and central New Jersey and part of Pennsylvania. After the rift failed in the early Jurassic, the range was elevated as erosion removed the sandstone and shale surrounding the basalt lava flows of Goffle Hill. [11]

The northern part of Goffle Hill, except in a few locations, is buried under a mantle of glacially derived sediments and sandstone, greatly reducing its topographic prominence. [12] The southern part of the ridge displays a significant amount of trap rock, though some underlying red sandstone reaches up to the ridgeline halfway along the border of North Haledon and Hawthorne where quarrying has stripped away overlying trap rock. The majority of exposed trap rock occurs along high mural precipices facing to the east.

Exposures of hornfels on Goffle Hill are limited, but they occur readily in at least one location. Along the Hawthorne-North Haledon border a contact can be seen between adjacent sandstone and basalt. This contact reveals the presence of indurated red sandstone that has been baked into a grey hornfels by the heat of the First Watchung lava flow.

Ecology

Trap rock glade on the border of Hawthorne and North Haledon GoffleHill TraprockGlade.jpg
Trap rock glade on the border of Hawthorne and North Haledon

The native forests of Goffle Hill have been devastated by suburbanization and disease. An 1894 New Jersey forestry report indicated that, in addition to oak, redcedar and chestnut were the most abundant trees on Goffle Hill. [13] Today, chestnuts have been eliminated by the accidental importation of chestnut blight in the early twentieth century. Redcedar, which was cited as the most prevalent tree on the ridge in 1894, [13] a pioneering tree of secondary forest, can be found only in a few isolated clusters along the southern ridgeline.

A few trap rock glades continue to exist on Goffle Hill, though development is slowly reducing their numbers. The majority of the remaining trap rock glades straddle the ridgeline of Goffle Hill along the border of North Haledon and Hawthorne. Residential development has been hindered somewhat at the ridgeline due to the presence of high, vertical basalt cliffs. However, quarrying has removed a considerable section of trap rock glade in this area.

Perched wetlands are scattered along the ridge. One of the larger wetlands contains Goffle Pond, which feeds a headstream of Goffle Brook. Other significant wetlands help feed Molly Ann Brook and Deep Voll Brook.

Conservation

Recent residential development on Goffle Hill GoffleHill Development.jpg
Recent residential development on Goffle Hill

Development along Goffle Hill has accelerated in recent years, with new homes and backyards being built atop former trap rock glades and forests. As the ridgeline of the mountain has become increasingly suburbanized, fears have been raised about runoff and the continued destruction of what could be preserved in the public interest. Locals in Hawthorne in Wyckoff have formed an initiative known as Save the Woods, which is seeking to preserve 19 acres (77,000 m2) of woodlands soon to be developed. [1] Other initiatives to stop a townhouse development in Hawthorne and a residential development Wyckoff have failed. It is thought that these developments have since led to an increase in local flooding. [14]

As of 2009, Goffle Hill contains no preserved land. Only one park, Hofstra Park, a municipal recreation facility maintained by Prospect Park, exists wholly on Goffle Hill. Goffle Brook Park, maintained by Passaic County, sits on the foot of the hill, partly overlapping the lowest part of the eastern flank.

Recreation

From north to south,

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passaic River</span> River in New Jersey, United States

The Passaic River is a river, approximately 80 miles (130 km) long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, called the Great Swamp, draining much of the northern portion of the state through its tributaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Passaic</span> Former proglacial lake in New Jersey, U.S.

Lake Passaic was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in northern New Jersey in the United States at the end of the last ice age approximately 19,000–14,000 years ago. The lake was formed of waters released by the retreating Wisconsin Glacier, which had pushed large quantities of earth and rock ahead of its advance, blocking the previous natural drainage of the ancestral Passaic River through a gap in the central Watchung Mountains. The lake persisted for several thousand years as melting ice and eroding moraine dams slowly drained the former lake basin. The effect of the lake's creation permanently altered the course of the Passaic River, forcing it to take a circuitous route through the northern Watchung Mountains before spilling out into the lower piedmont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watchung Mountains</span> Group of three long low ridges in northern New Jersey

The Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between 400 and 500 feet high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States. The name is derived from the American Native Lenape name for them, Wach Unks. The Watchung Mountains are known for their numerous scenic vistas overlooking the skylines of New York City and Newark, New Jersey, as well as their isolated ecosystems containing rare plants, endangered wildlife, rich minerals, and globally imperiled trap rock glade communities. The ridges traditionally contained the westward spread of urbanization, forming a significant geologic barrier beyond the piedmont west of the Hudson River; the town of Newark, for example, once included lands from the Hudson to the base of the mountains. Later treaties moved the boundary to the top of the mountain, to include the springs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevenson Brook</span>

Stevenson Brook is a tributary of the Passaic River in Hawthorne, Passaic County, New Jersey in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goffle Brook</span> River in New Jersey, United States

Goffle Brook is a tributary of the Passaic River which flows south through a section of Passaic County and Bergen County in New Jersey and drains the eastern side of the First Watchung Mountain. Heading up the brook from the confluence with the Passaic River, one encounters the borough of Hawthorne, the village of Ridgewood, the borough of Midland Park, and the township of Wyckoff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sourland Mountain</span> Geological formation in New Jersey, US

Sourland Mountain is a 17 miles (27 km) long ridge in central New Jersey, U.S., extending from the Delaware River at Lambertville to the western end of Hillsborough Township near the community of Neshanic, through Montgomery Township and into Hopewell Township in Mercer County. It comprises the largest contiguous forest in Central Jersey, nearly 90 square miles (233 km2) in area. The highest point is only 568 feet (173 m) above sea level, but the way it rises steeply from the surrounding farmland has earned it the title of 'mountain'. The ridge itself sits within a larger area of rough terrain called The Sourlands.

High Mountain Park Preserve is a protected area of the Preakness Range of the Watchung Mountains in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. Established in 1993, it comprises 1,153 acres (5 km2) of woodlands and wetlands owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watchung Reservation</span> Largest nature reserve in Union County, New Jersey, US

Watchung Reservation is the largest nature reserve in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The Watchung area is located on a ridge within northern-central New Jersey, as it consists mainly of the upper valley of Blue Brook, between the ridges of the First Watchung Mountain and Second Watchung Mountains. A dam near the headwaters of the creek creates Lake Surprise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cushetunk Mountain</span> Mountain in New Jersey, US

Cushetunk Mountain is a ring shaped mountain in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located in Readington and Clinton Township in Hunterdon County. The Lenape Native Americans called the mountain "Cushetunk" meaning "place of hogs" after the wild hogs found there. In the 1960s, the valley at the heart of the mountain was dammed and filled with water to create Round Valley Reservoir. Today, the mountain and its accompanying lake act as a vital water supply to Central New Jersey, while at the same time providing numerous recreational opportunities to the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campgaw Mountain</span> Mountain in New Jersey, United States

Campgaw Mountain is the northernmost ridge of the volcanically formed Watchung Mountains, along the border of Franklin Lakes, Oakland, and Mahwah in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Located almost entirely within the bounds of Campgaw Mountain Reservation, the mountain offers numerous outdoor recreational opportunities, including the only ski slope in the Watchungs. Campgaw Mountain is commonly considered to be part of the greater Ramapo Mountains region, but the flora and geology of the mountain is quite different from the surrounding area and more closely resembles the nearby Preakness Range to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metacomet Ridge</span> Mountain range in Connecticut and Massachusetts, United States

The Metacomet Ridge, Metacomet Ridge Mountains, or Metacomet Range of southern New England is a narrow and steep fault-block mountain ridge known for its extensive cliff faces, scenic vistas, microclimate ecosystems, and rare or endangered plants. The ridge is an important recreation resource located within 10 miles (16 km) of more than 1.5 million people, offering four long-distance hiking trails and over a dozen parks and recreation areas, including several historic sites. It has been the focus of ongoing conservation efforts because of its natural, historic, and recreational value, involving municipal, state, and national agencies and nearly two dozen non-profit organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep Voll Brook</span> Tributary of Goffle Brook and part of the Passaic River in New Jersey, USA

Deep Voll Brook, also known as Deep Brook, is a tributary of Goffle Brook and part of the Passaic River watershed. The brook drains part of the eastern flank of First Watchung Mountain, cutting through portions of Bergen and Passaic county in New Jersey. Heading up the brook from its junction with Goffle Brook, one encounters the towns of Hawthorne and Wyckoff.

The Lenape Trail is a trail through Essex County, connecting many county parks and reservations, wooded spaces, and historical sites. It begins in Newark, New Jersey and ends in Millburn, New Jersey. It was established in 1982. It is the fifth longest trail in the state behind the Delaware and Raritan Canal Trail, the Appalachian Trail, the completed section of the Highlands Trail in the state and the Batona Trail. The Lenape trail traverses Newark and its suburbs, as well as the Watchung Mountains and Passaic Meadows. Because of the steepness of the Watchung Mountains and the flood-prone nature of the Passaic Meadows, the former basin of Glacial Lake Passaic, these areas have remained much less developed than the rest of the northeastern part of the state. This trail therefore offers hikers an opportunity to see cultural and historical sites of an urban trail, as well as large natural and undeveloped areas. The trail's proximity to New York City and the various ridges it traverses, including Forest Hill, Orange Mountain, and Second Watchung Mountain, offer many views of the skyline. The Lenape Trail forms a segment of the Liberty-Water Gap Trail and incorporates the West Essex Trail, the Lenape Trail's only rail-to-trail section. The Lenape Trail also connects with Morris County's Patriots Path trail system on its western terminus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Ann Brook</span> River in New Jersey, United States

Molly Ann Brook is a tributary of the Passaic River which flows south between the northern ranges of First Watchung Mountain and Second Watchung Mountain in Passaic County and Bergen County, New Jersey. Traveling north from its confluence with the Passaic River, Molly Ann Brook passes through the city of Paterson and the boroughs of Haledon, Prospect Park, North Haledon and Franklin Lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goffle Brook Park</span>

Goffle Brook Park is a public, county park spanning much of the length of Goffle Brook through the borough of Hawthorne in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Since its designation and construction between 1930 and 1932, the park has served to protect the waters of Goffle Brook while at the same time providing recreational opportunities to the residents of Passaic County and nearby Bergen County. Goffle Brook Park has been included in the National Register of Historic Places since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preakness Range</span>

The Preakness Range is a range of the trap rock Watchung Mountains on the western edge of the Newark Basin in northern New Jersey. A large portion of this range is included in High Mountain Park Preserve, offering miles of hiking trails with vistas overlooking New Jersey and New York City. The peaks of the Preakness Range, the highest of the Watchung Mountains, shelter endangered ecosystems, including perched wetlands and rare trap rock glade communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey legislative districts, 2001 apportionment</span>

The members of the New Jersey Legislature are chosen from 40 electoral districts. Each district elects one Senator and two Assemblymen.

The Watchung Outliers include six areas of isolated low hills and rock outcrops of volcanic and sedimentary origin in the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These geologic outliers are primarily diminutive and detached remnants of the Triassic/Jurassic age Watchung Mountain basalt flows with intervening layers of sedimentary rock. All six of the outliers are found along the western edge of the Newark Basin, occupying small synclines adjacent to the Ramapo fault system. The outliers, from north to south, are known as: Ladentown, Union Hill, New Germantown/Oldwick, Prospect Hill, Sand Brook, and Jacksonwald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey legislative districts, 2011 apportionment</span>

The members of the New Jersey Legislature are chosen from 40 electoral districts. Each district elects one Senator and two Assemblymen.

References

  1. 1 2 Save the Woods.org Archived 2008-05-13 at the Wayback Machine Accessed September 7, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 Thomas Francis Gordon. Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey – A General View of its Physical and Moral Condition, together with a Topographical and Statistical Account of its Counties, Towns, Villages, Canals, Railroads, &c. Published by D. Fenton, 1834. Available via Internet Archive
  3. Indian Places Names of New Jersey, part of the NJGenWeb project, an Ancestry.com community. Note: Information from this page is originally from the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration 1938-1939 Series, Bulletin 12.
  4. Nelson, William & Shriner, Charles A. History of Paterson and its Environs (The Silk City) Vol. I. Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, 1920. See Page 80. Available via Google Books.
  5. NY-NJ-CT Botany Online – Goffle Brook Park. Accessed September 7, 2009.
  6. The Borough of North Haledon – Borough History. Accessed September 7, 2009.
  7. Henry B. Kummel. Geological Survey of New Jersey – Bulletin 6: Annual Administrative Report of the State Geologist for the year 1911. MacCrellish and Quigley, Printers, Trenton, NJ, 1912. See Page 77, Archaeological Survey, Sites in Northern New Jersey. Available via Google Books
  8. Norman F. Brydon. The Passaic River: past, present, future. Rutgers University Press, 1974.
  9. John Austin Stevens, et al. The Magazine of American history with Notes and Queries. A. S. Barnes., 1879. See Page 490. Available via Google Books
  10. François Jean Chastellux & Howard C Rice. Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782. (Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Va.) University of North Carolina Press, 1963.
  11. U.S. Geological Survey - NYC Regional Geology, Mesozoic Basins
  12. Salisbury, Rollins D. & Peet, Charles E et al. The Glacial Geology of New Jersey. Geological Survey of New Jersey – Volume V of the Final Report to the State Geologist. MacCrellish and Quigley, Book and Job Printers, Trenton, NJ, 1902. See Page 558, part of Chapter XII - Drift of the Triassic Plain. Available via Google Books.
  13. 1 2 Vermeule, C.C. (1896). "Forestry: Report of Progress – Report of Forestry in the Northern Part of the State". Geological Survey of New Jersey – Annual Report of the State Geologist for the Year 1894. Trenton, NJ: John L. Murphy Publishing Company Printers. p. 235.
  14. Brienza, Michael Letters to the Editor: Barrister at Deep Brook project will have effect on Hawthorne. Hawthorne Press, Vol 83, No. 30. July 26, 2007. Available online via Save the Woods News & Press Archived 2008-02-07 at the Wayback Machine .