Wildlife Around Willard School in the 1960s

While the area commonly known as Upper Ridgewood was filling up its empty lots with house all through the 1960s, one area close to me remained in a somewhat "natural" state. I'm referring to the border to my backyard which abutted the Willard School playground. This area in the mid-1960s, before what was called the "New Wing" was constructed, was filled with wild berry bushes along one of its fences. One year my Mom actually made a jam out of these berries before the birds were able to strip the bushes clean. There was also a tall apple tree which we used to climb up and build tree forts on its branches. The apples it produced weren't much good for eating but they did come in handy during the occasional apple fight between rival grades of kids.

I can also recall us once or twice using this area to plant gardens of flowers, in particular, Sunflowers. These were the first Sunflower plants I had ever seen and I marveled at their enormous size and was flabbergasted when I was told that we were going to eat the seeds.

This small, bucolic setting was vanquished from the seen when the construction began on the New Wing for Willard School. They needed some place to pile the dirt and that meant clearing away all the undergrowth and inadvertently ripping out the wild berry bushes. The funny thing in hindsight was that they left the overgrown apple tree. They trimmed its branches so we couldn't climb it anymore but left the source of ammunition for our apple fights largely intact.

Today all my youthful memories are gone and a state-of-the-art playground resides in its stead. I suppose this is progress but I wonder where the children today find their own bits of nature to admire and be amazed about? The equipment is nice and safe but I'll be able to recall the wonder of homemade jam from our backyard wild berries, as well as roasted sunflower seeds from our makeshift garden, long after they have outgrown the shiny new swing set and the new jungle gym. These replaced the small patch of wildlife which was a normal part of my growing up and one I wish the children attending Willard today would have been given a chance to experience for themselves.