Round Valley: The Town That Disappeared Overnight

on that unusually warm day in 1959 Emma haver stared at her house high off its foundation on the back of a truck the day the man came and knocked on the door he said I came to appraise your property for the state I said we don't want to sell he said you have no choice it was hot enough she remembered that the soil underneath dried out to a fine powdered sand was such a traumatic experience for all of us that loved the valley families broken up three generations of Havers watched their house trek out of the valley to rest on a road so new it hadn't even been given a name yet we had so many tears just seemed like the more we fought it the worse of a game they had to get out of the valley before the state flooded it and washed her small town from the map forever I wish I could make people I wish they could see what had happened there it was such a traumatic experience for all of us that love the valley people once lived there they don't know that they think it's a place to go and run their boats and swim and so on people live there people loved there on most mornings the reservoir round Valley New Jersey is frigid and clear legend claims that on calm days you can see the tops of the farmhouses submerged beneath it round Valley is called the Bermuda Triangle of New Jersey people are seeing things in the water 18th 19th century buildings Brown Valley Reservoir flooded a valley where people lived there was a town there there is a town there there's some kernel of truth to what people believe in Round Valley now a state park Indians and farmers alike sustain themselves for generations on the land cloistered from the outside world now the park is a bit of wilderness in a pretty busy part of New Jersey the reservoir occupies close to 2,400 acres and the Parkland of about close to 1,300 acres surrounds that it's passive recreation it's basically basically wilderness they say the soil in that valley could grow anything and for a time before the waters maybe it did raw earth black earth Good Earth Round Valley takes its name from its natural bowl shape easily defensible from outsiders with only one entrance the first human inhabitants of the empty Valley were the Lenape the original people the Indians of course never had a written language they had a storytelling language and so what really has come down to us is not only their stories but archeological digs have shown us where they lived how they lived everything came to them from the great spirit and subsequently if they took something from the earth they put it back they were always near water because water is life itself these Algonquin speakers lived communally cultivating maize beans and squash along the creek the bisect of the valley they buried their Chiefs high in the hills to watch over the living the early and English colonists were concerned with several things the new world represented a place where they could start over but they could build what they termed a city on the hill Economic Opportunity was at or near the top of their list every square inch of Europe was owned by somebody if you were a peasant you didn't own anything you worked for somebody else they'd been there for thousands of years but in less than a century the Lenape were gone from the valley forced ever westward by expansionism selling their land and intermarrying with other tribes and whites until their footprint had all but disappeared the Native Americans sold their land nothing in New Jersey was taken just as the Lenape attended the land for millennia so too would the Dutch English and later German settlers who trafficked in the golden currency of the new world land they brought with them land husbandry traditions of the old country their religious practices along with names like Voorhees Welsh Kenny Huffman and haver we moved to Round Valley when I was about 15 those were the happiest days of my lives when I finally had a room away from my brothers I would had a very close relationship with my dad I loved him very much my family's home was like an anchor we had such good times in that home they grew everything there I mean we even had strawberries we never went hungry like the Indians before them residents continued farming finding the soil rich and giving most of the people that were in Round Valley were farmers and had been farmers for many years they were really dedicated to their farm and their animals along the densely populated East Coast an unprecedented shift from rural to urban living was already well underway New York City's population increased by nearly half between 1890 and 1900 then half again in the next decade alone in 1800 approximately 94 percent of Americans lived what we would today define as a rural setting today that number is under 20 percent so in the course of a little over 200 years we've completely inverted where we are as in and rural population within sight across the Hudson River Newark New Jersey a hub for rail transportation industry in the state newark was booming the emergence of the American railroad Network greatly helped out migration from rural areas into cities people could hop on a train and be in another city in a matter of days in our own eyes we were becoming something much greater than we had been industrialization challenged accepted practices of manufacturing and farming automobiles were becoming evermore commonplace but in the valley life for this agrarian society remain largely undisturbed a slight one row town 24 farms 26 houses and Valley Road bisecting the valley it barely registered on the map and old deeds it's referred to as the whole people tended to not embellish so much as they sought they said oh that's a whole children worked the land as soon as they were old enough to handle a tool one resident wrote of taking long cool summer baths on the lawn in a tin tub beyond the reach of indoor plumbing electricity didn't arrive until the 1940s it was a safe place if you need help the other farmers are there immediately for generations they tended the crops and intermarried no one bothered to lock their doors at night when one farmer would be bringing in crops the other farmers would help it would remind me very much of real olden times when people work together to bring in crops prone to extreme drought and flood cycles across New Jersey even the fertile valley could be a difficult place to farm from year to year a shortage of rain meant lower crop yields and livestock famine first a depression in 1929 then a three year drought recorded as the second worst in state history drained water reserves and withered crops punishing New Jersey New York and much of the Northeast in a very short period of time Americans move from up from an idea that government has no role in the economy to and the idea that government shouldn't play if not a central role and at least a prominent role in the economy Americans were looking for jobs good jobs and we're finding them in the factories retooled from World War two at the encouragement of state government industry exploded across New Jersey and Newark but with industry comes need the water supply planners back then the engineers the dam builders they were looking at the northeastern New Jersey area they call that metropolitan district and trying to figure out where that would get its water they are outstripping the water sources nearby in heavily populated East Jersey dominated by Newark water was becoming scarce the unspoken acknowledgement that factories would be forced to ration water frightened many decision-makers in Newark and across the state they wanted to find a water source that would supply what they needed that a clean water source for them but also looking at future growth after the drought of 1929 smaller cities in North Jersey tapped the easily accessible water supplies to the north while more populous cities became mired in politics bickering and incremental change it's like arriving late at the picnic grounds on an August Sunday one newspaper wrote of the procrastination you won't get that shady table by the brook they had a number of projections up through about fifty years at that time looking at how many more people would there be in that district and trying to find a water source that would supply all those people state officials were charged with looking for new sources of water farther west in New Jersey to satiate manufacturing needs people started looking outward that meant going west what was then the unpopulated wooded areas a call to action began appearing in Newark newspapers go west or go without the question was rapidly becoming not one of when or if but instead just how far west business brought prosperity to the state dirt roads disappeared and pavement appeared there are no natural lakes in New Jersey that could supply the amount of water needed to support the major population centers in Northeast New Jersey that's why the reservoirs were built another painful drought in 1953 reignited fears of scarcity there was a terrible terrible drought it almost drained the reservoirs in the northern part of New Jersey almost drained them dry almost something had to be done and then of course round Valley came into view round Valley is ideally suited for reservoir because of his topography a lot of water can be stored for it is comparatively small disruption of land surface it's the best site in New Jersey for a reservoir of that sort the politician settled on Round Valley the hole with a perfect Basin shape large enough for the proposed reservoir and its light population it seemed a natural choice to feed the rest of the state and so round Valley has been represented as sort of a last chance for a huge new reservoir one paper wrote entirely within the state's boundaries everybody was agitated about it we had a lot of meetings to fight it local lawmakers objections fell on deaf ears elsewhere in the state on June 1st 1956 the Round Valley acquisition Act was rushed through the state halls in Trenton and signed by Governor Robert B manor of the 21 counties in New Jersey only Hunterdon County home to Round Valley voted against it this is a democracy the majority rules the valley was taken and they were going to make a reservoir Brown Valley reservoir flooded a valley where people lived it does seem like a mysterious place sometimes when you're there with the bowl shape you do get the winds whipping up you will get the fog rolling in and then you can't see the shoreline you have the feeling that people are seeing things in the water despite vocal opposition from Round Valley 46 million dollars to be repaid to taxpayers through the sale of water was allocated for a special bond to fund the project Newark was to be the state's first and largest customer the state knew they were going to get round-bellied they know the rest of the state would would vote for it all they had to do was press the button and in the valley when the appraisers almost overnight appraisers descended on the valley the day the man came and knocked on the door and I was there and I answered and he said I came to appraise your property for the state I said we don't want to sell he said you have no choice the states offer was absolute residents were to sell their houses barns land and livestock the rest would be seized by eminent domain to accommodate a pipeline to Newark for the public good like the Lenape before them generations needed to be moved out in the name of progress we were going to keep our house after we sold it to them we get the option to buy it back we wanted to and we decided to do that a lot of them did the state wanted the land not the houses residents could purchase their homes back from the government and move them further uphill those who didn't would have their houses dismantled brick by brick if you bought it from the state it was your responsibility to get it out of there they were going to be involved in any that undeveloped land was made available from the state for residents to purchase at the top of the hill looking down into the reservoir houses would be placed along a road so knew that it hadn't even been named yet not everyone in Round Valley intended to leave so easily or so quietly farmers john Gasca and Silvo Lanza vowed to fight the eviction adjacent farmers with a combined 240 acres of farmland they owned less than 10% of the total space in Round Valley but dominated its Northside angry over principle and with wounded pride from the appraisers low offer Gasca and Lanza prepared to dig in Gasca a Polish immigrant with new roots in the valley told a local paper I pulled out rocks with these arms that have never felt the same sense I feel rotten after working so hard contractors for the massive round valley project submitted bids including one from local engineer Paul Rico Rico had done business in Newark for years with Mayor Hugh addonizio a former seven-term US congressman and world war ii Silver Star veteran in a five-year stretch alone Rico and his firm kicked back a quarter million dollars for Newark Engineering jobs meanwhile back in the valley the difficulty of moving out and moving entire houses up the hill was becoming readily apparent the main road was a dirt road straight across the bottom of the valley and out the other side that was the access into the valley with only the slight steep valley road meant for light traffic progress was slowed until residents could forge a new path through the valley through farmer's fields and across yards Round Valley would finally have another road and it took time to prepare the route that we all were going to use we had to make a road to get them up there and we did that we all work together and we all put our money together to raise the power lines and telephone lines and so on a lot of pre-work the Round Valley where just a year earlier residents didn't even lock their doors was no longer recognizable houses were shuttered abandoned or moved as quickly as Arrangements could be made one woman she said when we we had to turn over the key to the house to the state and she said but we never locked the door so we had to have a locksmith come in and make a key so we could give a key to the safe police patrolled the valley every hour to prevent outsiders from looting people had moved out of their houses and had left a lot of things in their homes yet they had moved everything out my husband stayed with it he stayed out in the field and slept in it on the tractor trailer thing he had a stepladder that he used to get in and out of it because it was up off the ground but let me tell you a strange seeing your house in the middle of the field but he was not going to leave it because they had all our belongings in it with the new road came the panic and with the panic in the con men with big promises and bigger trucks I didn't see how it could be moved a man came in said he could cut it the house in the middle well that man eventually moved at one of the other houses and he lost it coming up the hill it slid right off whatever he had this other man came and he says no I'll move the house in one trip he said if you weren't going up that hill I put a cup of water on your dining room table and it wouldn't spill a drop it's an eerie feeling watching your house go up a hill but it started the bulldozers started churning it really was a lot of anguish a lot of anguish I just think it's hard to explain the emotions that people went through when they moved our house out of Round Valley they had to come up a steep cliff and they had a huge bulldozer was pulling it he couldn't get it all the way up the hill it started slipping and we were frantic or they were going to lose the house as it was we had one crack in the wall that it made coming up the hill a lot of other removed quite a distance some of them will route 15 miles 16 houses were moved out of the valley that summer inch by inch heavy against the will of the hill the other 10 remain property of the state Gasca and Lanza continued to hold out a pushback against the state's mandate for over 10 years I've put sweat blood and heart attacks into this place said the school teacher Lanza as condemnation loomed in July of 1957 you won't find another one like it in the valley great many of them were very embittered they felt that the government didn't treat them right not only that but when your family has been in a place for many generations that's your home that's your heritage that's everything that you ever knew was wrapped up in that Valley and suddenly now it's going to be a reservoir Lanza in particular was wounded by his fractured and scared community the people around here shivered in their boots because they were afraid he said we'll be condemned that's the only way they're going to get it it will be an amazing thing if their conscience lets them sleep there was a heartbreaking thing to see these beautiful homes being dismantled and moved out families broken up they had a lot of the inmates from the reformatory came down and they tore down the houses they tore my parents house down I wish I could tell you how people felt deep in their hearts about what was happening to the properties that they loved so much to see tractors and the Train things commanders and the sort plowing through it they were going to destroy them I was watching my father-in-law as they were auctioning off the cattle that he had raised and it broke my heart to see him standing there and seeing all this these cattle being sold it just broke his heart and broke on my heart too to see this happening we had so many tears it was so upset when I visit to see like the more we fought it the worse of a game people were losing everything they had invested for so many years was her home from generation to generation and we couldn't do anything about it it was a special place there is it there is a good feel to it so people remember there was a town there in fact they may have heard I have seen Round Valley from the shore I've seen it from the blimp if you see photos of what was going on when the reservoir was being formed there's a whole lot of earth-moving equipment there's a whole lot of rock and earth but no you can't see buildings in there of course because there are no buildings by 1961 the valley floor had been raised generations old homes were either bulldoze tore moved up hill to the newly christened Valley Crest Road Valley Road once the main artery of Commerce and community life vanished during five more dry slow years drought affected the entire northeastern United States huge dams were erected along the northern and southern borders of the valley choking off the outside world filling began in 1966 just a trickle at first then pumping continuously for nine years until 55 billion gallons of water were stored in the valley those pumps were gigantic I mean they were huge I I would go down there and just listen to them turn them on was frightening because they were so big and so powerful you could drive a pickup truck in that pipe it was so big it was so big but as the valley slowly filled its waters eventual destination Newark backed out of contract other cities nearby followed suit a devastating blow to the farmers displaced for the greater good not a drop of Round Valley water would find its way east with the pipeline project scrapped contractor Paul rego under mob threat fled south of the border from his hideaway in Mexico he agreed to testify against Newark mayor Hugh addonizio on September 22nd 1970 the verdict came down for the disgraced mayor guilty Auden Azio served nine years of a decade-long sentence all the while threatening to get Paul he died in 1981 before carrying out his threat meanwhile Rigo disappeared into federal witness protection where he remained living in constant fear until his death in 1990 I ever go in a house it feels good this house felt good I guess it was like a dream world I look back on it it was a little bit on a different angle I would kind of stagger because it was no longer level like I had been in the valley it was off a little bit and so it made you kind of walk differently I don't even like to go by it anymore don't let go by it anymore I think most Americans still have that sense of destiny that we are on the right side even when we make mistakes we're doing the right thing our greater purpose is a good one we tend not to question that ideal round Valley still exists on a map today not as a town or as a farming community but as a reservoir in state park situated high above the victims of progress can still stare deep into the waters we work in this country for the common good we build schools for the common good we build roads for the common good there had to be a reservoir someplace there had to be when the authorities are planning a water supply reservoir or any facility they're usually looking at what it would cost to build it and even the cost of disrupting the people that are there I'm sure the people who lived at the site were were unhappy I understand that very well the benefit to the state outweighed the imposition the hardships imposed on them someday there's going to be a very severe drought and they're going to need that water somebody is the valley that once housed and fed generations of native peoples and farmers is hidden forever beneath billions of gallons of water intended to feed the thirsts of millions the reservoir now stands as a reminder of how easy it can be to wash away the past overnight you

Channel: Media 523 Documentaries

Views: 151,292

Keywords: Round Valley, david kuznicki, eric althoff, media 523, new jersey, hunterdon county, stephanie stevens, imminent domain, disappearing town, government overreach, pennsylvania, WLVT, PBS, Public Media, Algonquin, American Indian, Lehigh Valley, native american, stolen land, new jersey documentary, whitehouse, whitehouse station, weird documentary, strange places, haunted places, mystery, dead town, ghost town, abandoned town, new york, haunted, haunted town

Id: mhkUyQh_P60

Length: 27min 18sec (1638 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 18 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/Salty_Rock4341]

Thanks for sharing, I've been here but never knew it's history

[u/Cautious-Cricket-281]

This apparently happened often

[u/madhura1599]

I remember watching Ozark S1 where the Snell's family lands were wiped out after a reservoir had been built which pissed them off for 100 years or so against the government.

[u/JimmyTurnpike]

Yeah that was sad. I had no idea.