Autumn Years Summer 2023

NEVER LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY

C loster has an abundance of documented history. However, three undocumented stories have persisted.

FIRST is a tale about how Closter got its name. In 1894, the Passaic Daily News published what can only be called an absurd story. According to the publication, in 1639 King Charles I of England gave land (that includes Closter) as an award to one of his soldiers named Frederick Closter, who was then killed by Indians in 1643. The facts: u In 1639, this was a Dutch colony. u No English king was giving away land in another country’s colony. u No Europeans lived anywhere near Closter at that time. u Not a single historical document shows the name Frederick Closter. Yet, Wikipedia refuses to remove this work of fiction from its Closter page. NEXT is a yarn first published by the Newark Evening News in 1923. In this fable, a young Closter girl named Polly Wyckoff saw the British army passing by on November 19, 1776. She first finished eating her porridge, and then—like Paul Revere—alerted the countryside. The facts: u Not a single record shows a Wyckoff family living in Bergen County during the Revolution. u The first Polly Wyckoff was not born until 1792 (in Somerset County). However, before being killed, he named the area after himself.

u The British marched through today’s Alpine and Cresskill (not Closter) to capture Fort Lee. u That invasion did not take place on November 19, but rather November 20, 1776. This fictional character is the namesake of a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. INVENTED IN THE 1950s , our final story features the Closter Horseman. According to the fable, on the morning of November 20, 1776, an unnamed farmer from the Borough of Closter was in north

(created by one of the British officers present) show that the British landed at Lower Closter (today’s southern Alpine). u The British marched down into today’s Cresskill and then went south to Fort Lee (the highways on the Palisades, of course, did not yet exist). u Documents from the National Archives show that Lieutenant John Clifford of Heard’s Brigade of New Jersey State Troops (who was from Hunterdon County) rode from his post along the Palisades, near Englewood Cliffs, to alert the garrison at Fort Lee.

ern Alpine. He saw the British ascending the cliffs from the Upper Closter Dock, and he rode through the town, and then down to Fort Lee—as Bergen County’s Paul Revere. The British then marched down what is today Closter Dock Road, through town, and then to Fort Lee.

The facts: u In November 1776, Closter was not a borough, but rather a region that extended as far south as Englewood. u No historical records show that the man who alerted Fort Lee was from today’s Closter. u None of the old Closter families have ever claimed that it was their ancestor who was the local hero. u Documents, maps and even a painting

So yes, technically, there was a horseman. And the area was generally known as Closter. However, the rider was from out side the area, and his ride went through today’s Englewood Cliffs to Fort Lee—six miles from today’s Closter.

SUMMER 2018 I AUTUMN YEARS 57