A hard working member of Harmony Hall’s Board of Directors, Noel Jablonski passed away July 16, 2012 at the age of 72.  She was also the owner of Angelheart Antiques on Rt. 17 in Tuxexo. A retired Civil Engineer, she was born on November 23, 1940 in Brooklyn, NY. and lived in Campbell Hall, N.Y. Noel Jablonski studied Civil and Environmental Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Planning, Zoning and Drainage Law at Rutgers University and Airport Engineering at PENN State. Continue Reading

Sloatsburg to the rescue.

According to an initial report by the Rockland edition of Newsday.com, a 21-year-old hiker camping out with a group of six or 7 people fell down a ravine early Sunday morning, July 15, injuring her leg. A 3 a.m. rescue call was put into the Sloatsburg Volunteer Fire Department, which carried out the early morning rescue. Sloatsburg Fire Department Chief Aniello Vacchiano said the department got the call following a 3:20 a.m. 911 call and a crew gathered their gear and, along with a Sloatsburg Emergency Medical Services crew, made their way into Harriman State Park by headlights.

Back on April 10, the SFD also dispatched a fire crew through Pine Grove Lakes and up to Torne Mountain to investigate a brush fire that burned out a lower ridge. For that fire call, the department used its rugged 15-ATV brush truck, a 1950s Dodge Power Wagon, originally a US Army military vehicle used for transporting troops and equipment.

Contacted Monday, Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright said that “the men and women of our Emergency Services certainly demonstrated their dedication and commitment by achieving this successful rescue. We owe all our volunteers a great vote of thanks and appreciation for their dedicated services.”

The talented “Hudson River School” artist, David Johnson (1823-1908) loved the scenery in the Ramapo Mountains around Sloatsburg so much that he traveled here during the summers of 1873, 1874 and 1876, producing some remarkable drawings and paintings. He depicted Torne Mountain, the Ramapo River, Potake Lake and Torne Valley views of rock formations with groves of cedar and oak trees. I have collected all the David Johnson art work from these travels that I could locate  into a show presented at Harmony Hall last year. Recently, however another painting has surfaced, Cascade, Rockland County, N-Y, David Johnson, 1876. If you recognize this view, please email, geoffwelch@gmail.com so we can correctly identify the location of this  rocky waterfall.