Looking back: The Macopin/Weaver Road corner

With public anticipation of a new restaurant opening near the Macopin/Weaver Road intersection later this year, some memories of unknown or forgotten businesses that were there before are recalled. Generally, people think of this bar/restaurant location as having been the “Town Tavern Country Inn” while some remember the earlier “Tom -Tom Tavern/Restaurant”, but still earlier, there were other businesses that people today are unaware of.

The first 1920s building was located on now vacant land across from the shuttered restaurant at 736 Macopin Road. It was on part of the hundreds of acres of land in the John F. Mathews estate.

Henry Ford’s Model T Ford car invention in 1908, initially supplied affordable cars to middle class people for $850 with the price dropping to $260 by 1924. Pleasure driving became a popular leisure activity for people living in cities and suburbs in the 1920s. John F. Mathews, a local man born with a keen eye for business opportunities, instinctively knew these explorers would need a place to rest, and enjoy some food. He built “The Stand,” as the original building was known, on Macopin Road, across from the restaurant that was known as the “Tom Tom Tavern” and later the “Town Country Tavern.” He thought people would want to make a quick stop, giving the driver a break, and buying the food and snacks they wanted before. getting back on the road. With that in mind, he designed his building with windows completely across the front, on both sides of the front door. Drivers parked in front of the building facing the windows. The car passengers could walk up to an open window where someone was ready to take and fill and deliver their order of hotdogs, hamburgers, ice cream and soda. They either returned to their vehicles with their food or walked around the country area, having experienced an early “Drive-in” food establishment.

John F. Mathews was in his glory. He welcomed the visitors and thought they might be people who would buy a building lot off his property to build a vacation home – and they did. He dammed some of the streams and created lakes and ponds, before laws were created to prohibit such projects. One of John’s plans involved Mountain Spring Lake, and another was the Van Nostrand Lake on top of Apshawa mountain. Actors and others connected with Broadway shows, including well known stars at the time, were among those from New York City who took leisure drives in the country in the 1920s. Some found their way to the Echo Lake/Apshawa area. Among them was David Luker, of the Luker Brothers, professional movers of theater scenery. He stopped at “The Stand” and before long bought property from John Mathews. He had the luxurious stone house built a short distance away north of the current restaurant building, still a private home, by people who never were able to meet Dave and Betty Luker. After he bought the property and planned to have the house built, he went to Ireland to find a bride and he discovered “Elizabeth”, married her and brought her to live in his home on Macopin Road. The house included servants’ quarters and a chapel, that we saw when we visited. The couple never had their own children, but Elizabeth developed life-long relationships with two generations of Mathews children who referred to her as “Aunt Betty.” The Lukers were parishioners and benefactors for St. Joseph Church and are buried in the church cemetery.

When more people lived in the community, use of “The Stand “changed. A large area inside became a dance hall for Saturday night socials. Music was by local musicians who never had the benefit of formal music instruction. John Mathews, one of them, played the violin so well that the entertainment visitors from the city took him to the WOR radio studio and he played a violin solo that went across the air waves.

John my grandfather, was 63 when he became very ill with pneumonia. He died in in the family farmhouse in 1934. He had been working in damp, rainy weather to complete his Van Nostrand Lake dam project. The family did not reopen “The Stand” after his death. People from the cities and suburbs were starting to build vacation homes in the country, among them my father’s family from Jersey City. They wanted taverns that served food and alcohol and offered a place for them to socialize. The shuttered building owned by the Mathews family would reopen with a series of tavern owners renting it for their business. John’s widow, Martha Gormley now owned the building. There were at least four or five people from the Clifton and Passaic city areas who opened a tavern there at different times for quite a few years. I remember Mr. Kevit and recall the business being called “The Amber Inn.” Another owner was Stanley Markowski who married Louise Stanscik, a local woman, who may have lived with the Lukers. They had an elaborate wedding at St. Joseph Church with my friend Mable Howard and me as flower girls and my brother Bill Genader as ring bearer.

Margaret and Tom Clark from Clifton opened their “Tom Tom” tavern in “The Stand” building. The couple eventually had four children. Margaret was a kindergarten teacher for the Township of West Milford. The Clarks lived at Lindy’s Lake. Their successful business enabled them to buy property across the road from “The Stand.” They built the now shuttered restaurant that was most recently owned and occupied by Bruce and Judy Ziegler. When the Clarks retired, the former physical education teachers from Little Falls, owned and operated “The Town Tavern Country Inn.” The Ziegler family was already known for their family restaurant in Little Falls. They closed in 2017 when township increased tax burdens made business operation unaffordable for them.

After the Clarks moved out of “The Stand” a family in need of housing lived there. Eventually they moved and the aging building, havening fallen into great disrepair, was in poor condition and torn down. The property, with unpaid taxes, when up for Sheriff’s sale. It is now owned by Rocky Hazelman.