History of the Indian Sign – 1930s Hanging from a bracket in the public square is a sign: “Oakland, Bergen County, N. J. Established 1869“. The legend is topped by a portrait of one Chief Laopooh and the words, “Once There Was Indians All Over This Place.” The sign was the donation of Robert T. Sheldon, a resident of Valley Road; Oakland people assert that the ungrammatical construction was insisted upon by Mr. Sheldon, who, they recall, said it was a quotation from some author.
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A Town Within a Town
There’s a new town in town, and it goes by the name of the Ramapo Mountain Lakes, Inc. Technically, it’s not a town but a lake association of Oakland homes; but, the breadth and magnitude of its disputed membership makes it bigger than dozens of towns in New Jersey. The borders of the town within a town would make proud any gerrymandering politician, though the majority of the disputed members live somewhere in the vicinity of Oakland’s Crystal Lake or Mirror Lake. On the other hand, some homes within walking distance are not members, and those who would need to drive to one of the lakes are listed as members. A…
