The name Elks-Brox for a memorial park to me when I first heard it was confounding. I didn’t know what to make of it. I’ve visited the park on more than one occasion years ago but only now upon making this video came to learn that it stood for the fraternal order that was once exclusively-male and all-white, Elks Lodge, who originally bought the property in 1914, and a man’s last name, Charles Brox, who as far as I know had nothing to do with the park but whose sister-in-law-yes, no blood-relation, either-made a “substantial” donation toward this park in 1932.
The park sits atop what was once known as the Twin Mountain Tract, or Point Peter and Mount William, an 800-foot mountain overlooking the town of Port Jervis. Clearly visible from the park across the Delaware River to the west is the state of Pennsylvania and to the south are New Jersey’s Kittatinny Mountains-a continuation of New York’s Shawangunk Mountains-with its 220-foot High Point obelisk piercing the sky, so to speak.
Once you’ve driven to the park-yes, there is no need for hiking to reach the mountaintop unless one is so inclined-and witnessed this grand, majestic vista, I suppose the park’s name would be shoved far back into the recesses of one’s mind and not matter anymore. But as appreciation sinks in as I’m sure will happen at some point and one becomes curious as I did, one can look back to who made this possible and perhaps be moved by the realization that as undercurrent to the Elks-Brox beginnings as the open and public land that families enjoy today was a story of erosion along the lines of gender, race, and blood.
Music:
"All The Colours" by Nick Petrov
"New Step Forward" by Mocha Music"
30 сен 2024
