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RIVERDALE — Local historian Tom Riley will be presenting his popular presentation "Nazis in Riverdale?" at the borough library on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

The retired educator, who grew up in Bloomingdale, said he first learned of the infamous German Bund camp on Federal Hill from the ghost stories in his youth.

The camp, active in the 1930s, was in Bloomingdale but was reached from behind Slater's Mill off Hamburg Turnpike in Riverdale. The bridge behind the mill was washed out in 1903.

"There really was a German camp on Federal Hill," Riley said. "So, of course, that just got my imagination going and I was just a sponge for anything to do with Federal Hill."

Camp Bergwald was raided several times by the FBI, and 19 members were put on trial in 1944. Four were convicted as spies for conspiring to transmit military information to Germany in violation of the Espionage Act in 1943.

"So you had spies right here looking down at you from Federal Hill," Riley said.

The camp was ultimately confiscated by the United States government and the land eventually bought by Tilcon Quarry, which owns more land on Federal Hill.

Riley recently had a chance to do some exploring on Federal Hill as part of the production of a new documentary available on YouTube called: "Bloomingdale — An American Small Town."

Remnants of a camp building, visible today, are included in the film, along with some archive footage of camp activities. The film producers received special permission to explore the camp site, accompanied by Tilcon security.

Riley's presentation also includes photographs. Camp Bergwald was a youth camp for boys and girls 8 to 18, Riley said. Members spoke German, and along with normal camp activities they were indoctrinated with a "heavy dose of national socialism," he said.

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Members handed out fliers and sold pamphlets and Nazi collectibles, he said. At its height there were 20 chapters across the United States, most concentrated in the Northeast.

"Make no mistake: They were just as anti-Roosevelt-administration as anybody possibly could be," Riley said. "The same spiel that Hitler was spreading across Europe at this time, this German American Vocational League are spreading right here."

The group evolved from the Friends of Hitler Movement, the Friends of New Germany and then, by 1936, the German American Bund. Riley cited a 1944 New York Times article that traced $13,000 used to purchase the land on Federal Hill back to Nazi Germany, the Vocational League and the German Labor movement.

Federal Hill, it turns out, also played a role in the Revolutionary War and was part of a beacon system. The early-warning system was used to alert Gen. George Washington of British troops' movements.

Washington even put down a mutiny on Federal Hill, and two of the three mutineers were executed. So the ghosts stories about mutineers that Riley heard as a child had some merit. So did the ones about Nazis on Federal Hill.

The site where Camp Bergwald and the beacon were located may end up being quarried, the historian said. There is no access to the old Bund Camp site, he said, and the area is fenced off. The camp is now within the active blast area of Tilcon.

Register online for the event at riverdalelibrary.org, or call the library at 973-835-5044.

Riley is also known for his presentations on the connection of Babe Ruth and minor league baseball to the area. Keep an eye on the local library calendars for his talks.

Popular department store Bloomingdale’s is set to open its second outlet store in New Jersey.

Bloomingdale’s The Outlet Store is coming to The Mills at Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth, at 651 Kapkowski Rd. It will open on Friday, Oct. 1.

The outlet store will feature men’s, women’s and kids apparel, shoes, handbags, accessories and home goods.

The Bloomingdale’s outlet concept was introduced in 2010 and has since expanded to 22 stores nationwide.

New Jersey currently has one other Bloomingdale’s outlet, in Paramus, and four Bloomingdale’s department stores.

“Bloomingdale’s is thrilled to offer our Union County communities a new avenue for discovering great style,” Denise Magid, executive VP and general merchandise manager for Bloomingdale’s Outlets, said in a statement. “Whether it’s a stylish item for your closet or home, shoppers can discover special finds and compelling prices at this new location.”

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An emphasis on nighttime paving work by its biggest client — the state Department of Transportation — has quarry conglomerate Tilcon New York continuing its push to build a private access road off Union Avenue in Wanaque to its Bloomingdale facility abutting Interstate 287.

Tilcon representatives were at the Wanaque Planning Board earlier this month to file another application for site plan approval for the company’s long-running proposal to extend Susquehanna Avenue. Next to the Union Avenue Burger King, Susquehanna Avenue leads to the Elks Camp Moore property just north of the Bloomingdale quarry.

In the works for more than six years, the proposed half-mile road is designed to get the quarry’s trucks on the interstate and off local streets, said Vincent Gallo, vice-president of Tilcon.

“Most of our truck traffic, probably 90 to 95 percent, goes south - south and east – and by putting it on 287, we’re getting our trucks off the local roadways as quickly as possible,” he said.

As proposed, the project would divert all truck traffic from the quarry's current entrance on Broad Street in Pompton Lakes. That entrance would remain only for employees and emergencies, he said.

Gallo said the project would allow for a greater volume of trucks to come and go from the facility but would also allow Tilcon to spread out the traffic. Regulations in Bloomingdale and Pompton Lakes restrict shipping and transportation of quarry products to daytime hours.

If approved, the quarry access road would travel through 30- to 50-foot rock faces that need to be carved into the steep slopes to reach the quarry, Tilcon officials said. With county approval, Tilcon may also have to widen Union Avenue to four total lanes from Susquehanna Avenue to the interchange ramps for Interstate 287.

Though possible, there is no intention to expand operations at the quarry, Gallo said. However, there is a plan to divert more work to the nighttime, he said. The state Department of Transportation emphasized nighttime paving work to alleviate traffic concerns, he said.

If the road is approved, Tilcon agreed to pay the local government a usage fee of $250,000 a year for the first four years and $150,000 a year thereafter. A roughly $100,000 property tax increase based on the improvements has also been estimated by town officials.

Still, the company has struggled to gain support for the project.

Planning Board members rejected the proposal in September, citing concerns about traffic impacts on Union Avenue. The new truck traffic’s potential to create backups on the notoriously busy Ringwood Avenue and to disturb the morning commute on southbound Interstate 287 were also cited.

“Our standard of living is going down with it,” said board member Jack Jordan during the September hearing. “The truck traffic is not going to help us. We’re going to get money. That’s the only plus.”

Bridget DiFalco, who lives on Haskell Avenue, said town officials are right to consider quality of life over revenue. She said the new access road could make the left turn out of Haskell Avenue nearly impossible.

“There’s going to be a big accident there,” she said.

Tilcon owns 16 properties in the area, the home of a failed housing development south of North Twin Lake, records show. It also has an easement agreement to cross the Elks Camp Moore site, records show.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

BLOOMINGDALE — Borough school board members appointed Bloomingdale's director of student services, Michael Nicosia, to take over the superintendent’s role next month.

The board met for an occasionally contentious meeting Thursday to appoint Nicosia as acting superintendent following the pending resignation of Daniel Johnson, who also serves as Butler schools superintendent. Johnson, who took the joint role in January, submitted his resignation last week – claiming both districts need a full-time superintendent.

Members of the public criticized the board Thursday for failing to heed Johnson’s own advice by appointing another part-time superintendent.

Nicosia, who has been working toward a doctorate degree in education, is due to continue in his current roles for Butler and Bloomingdale in addition to the superintendent role. His tenure is expected to start May 1 and earn him an extra $200 a day, records show.

Board members on Thursday expressed confidence in Nicosia to at least close out the school year. Alexis Wilson said she was impressed by his educational philosophies, while Christine Spencer said she was left struck by his emphasis on data-driven assessments to identify weaknesses and boost student performance.

“His desire is to meet every student where they are and get them where they want to be,” Spencer said.

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Still, many expressed frustrations with the need for Nicosia’s appointment. Debra Sondermeyer, a teacher in the district for 16 years, said a lack of consistency in the central office has had a trickle-down impact on programs, teacher training and test scores.

“If we want to see test scores rise and kids work up to their potential, we kind of need to get ourselves somewhere in Bloomingdale where we’re all on the same team with quality in leadership,” she said. “It starts from the top.”

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Elizabeth Santana, another board member, said Johnson was hired with the goal of providing the district with long-term systemic consistency. His departure was unfortunate, unexpected and “seems almost unimaginable,” said Lauren Grecco, the board president who has seen more than a dozen superintendents appointed during her time on the board.

Johnson, who has announced plans to return to his former role as Butler’s full-time superintendent effective May 1, said he will assist Bloomingdale’s school board in its search for a permanent superintendent to promote a spirit of cooperation among the districts that sent students to Butler High School.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

BLOOMINGDALE — A regal image carved into a granite block found Thursday in the bed of the Pequannock River has piqued local curiosity.

Unearthed during the ongoing rehabilitation of the riverbed in Sloan Park, the stone shows a curly-haired person with a cross-topped crown, a ruff around the neck and possibly a scepter in hand. The light-colored granite block measures roughly 14 by 12 inches and its origins are unknown, said Bloomingdale Mayor Jon Dunleavy.

“I have no idea what it could be,” he said. “It is quite an extraordinary find, and the borough hopes to find out what it actually is. I have a few local historians investigating.”

After a Thursday post on the municipality's Facebook page, the speculation began online.

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One Facebook user responding to the borough’s post surmised that it was a carving of a queen, noting that the Pequannock Valley Paper Company supplied tissue paper to Queen Victoria about 150 years ago.

The storycontinues below the post.

Others claimed the image was of Jesus Christ. One user declared the stone carving to be the image of the Infant Jesus of Prague. One of the most recognizable Christian statues in the world, the Spanish work was carved in Spain in about 1340 and landed in a Prague monastery roughly 390 years later.

Construction at the closed park is part of a flood mitigation project to prevent flooding on nearby Main Street, Dunleavy said. The park was first closed after Hurricane Irene, but the town was unable to obtain permits for rehabilitation until August 2016.

A new bridge and landscaping are planned around a riverbank restoration. Cages filled with rocks are currently being positioned 600 feet in both directions from the park bridge to restore the riverbanks to their original height. The park should be reopened in spring 2019, Dunleavy said.