Touring New Jersey by motor car was among the most popular of diversions in the 1930s. In 1934 Newark Evening News reporters drove across the state, photographing sites of interest and writing a weekly tour, complete with maps and directions. Sites in the Watchung Mountains provided fodder for two columns. In the first, the reader was given directions for Camp Middlebrook, then: "Continuing past the camp, the motorist runs into Mountain avenue or Morning Glory road, which passes through very attractive country on its way to Valley road, which is the name of the road which runs through the length of Washington Valley. Turning right into Valley road one soon reaches Warrenville, but instead of turning right for Watchung and State Route 29 [today's 22], continue straight on along the Mt. Bethel road to Mt. Bethel. All these roads are well marked and well paved, and it is easy to find one's way. Attractive farms and a number of Health Farms mark the road to Mt. Bethel. In the village turn left and follow an unpaved but fair road [today's Mountain View Rd.] over the Second Mountain, which affords splendid views of the Passaic River country around Stirling, Millington and Liberty Corner." A second route, billed as "an excellent one for a twilight tour, for a short drive between dinner and dark...," began in Watchung. "We continued through Washingtonville, [and] Warrenville...along Mountain boulevard, which was followed to the end. After leaving Mountain boulevard we turned left on to Valley road , and just before crossing the white bridge on Valley road in Martinsville we turned right on to Dock Watch Hollow road, which nestles in a valley between two peaks of the Watchung mountains. Mountain boulevard is in sharp contrast to this road because on the former we were traveling along the peak of one of the ridges of the Watchung range [?]. Dock Watch Hollow road is a good stone road and the continuation of this road after its crosses another at Mt. Horeb becomes Roundtop road, which we followed up over the top of the hill. This road, secluded as it is, runs through a cool, deep shade where the underbrush is thick and the trees grow tall. At the end of Roundtop road we turned left onto Mountain View Road. Just after entering upon this thoroughfare, look to the right and see the beautiful panorama of the valley in the vicinity of Millington...." |