06/18/2026
DeVoe lake beach and Spotswood Community Building
"You asked us about our most personal outstanding recollections.Two come to mind. Swimming in DeVoe Lake. My mom didn't drive, but one of the neighbors did have a car, and she drove. Most of the men were at work during the day, and she'd pile us all on the back of her Chevy and take us down to the beach at the lake. There was a little concession stand, and we'd swim out to a square dock in the water, and there was a diving board, but there was such a long line, a lot of us would climb up the tree and not be able to get off the treebecause you just couldn't wait to get in the water, particularly when it was hot. The other very strong personal memory is the community house. When I was young, the community house had the police station up on the top floor and had the library on the right-hand side of the first floor, and then there was a meeting room to the left. We'd spend a lot of time talking to Helen Arrow and the library at that point, and out front usually a couple of the older guys would be sitting under one of the trees in front of the community house, and they'd be passing the time of day. Learned a lot of town history by just listening to them. Mr. Culver would be sitting there. We had a borough clerk who had been around forever, and he would go out front and chat. Bill Goldsmith. That's who he was. He'd chat with the guys, and he'd talk about the old days when he would take the train and was a broker in New York City, and about a lot of the old families and things like that. I really enjoyed the building. After the police station moved out, we had arts and crafts in the summertime on the upper floors, and Jim and George Philcox ran that program and did a bang-up job of it. And just had a lot of fun with my friends there, and I remember running around with you."
Sources:
Spotswood Oral History Interviews 2010
kayejayeb on YouTube
Spotswood Cultural & Heritage Commission
Jack Eichenlaub
Bruce Eckman
Chuck Hager
Leo Servis
Barry H. Zagnit
Roy B. Dey
Gary Castellano
Curt Hansen
Schuchardt's Holiday House
