Anybody know the story behind Holiday Lake?

[patty]

could anyone tell me a little about browns mill , l have a daughter that has cp and she just married a young man in yhe alr force and they will be living in browns mill; i would like to know how safe it is . she has never been away from me and i am scared to death

[gangs and guns]

its a vey bad neiborhood gangs and guns and violence gallore just read the topics on this site. Of course the people stuck there will tell you otherwise but the enlightened will be truthful thats why most of the people left that craphole

[mcbill]

Browns mills is a military based town, a little "woodsy" no more crime than anywhere else, it is like any other town built to support a military base

[Kathy]

I ALMOST DROWNED THERE WHEN I WAS A LITTLE NUGGET ♥

[flapjack]

I lived in Burlington Twp. until 1996. My father used to take us to Sylvan Lake every weekend in the early eighties. I remember floating around in the inner tubes, getting fries at the food stand and jumping off the dock. Lots of fond memories. My friends and I used to fish off the adjoining lakes. There was a dirt path that flanked the lake and connected the two neighborhoods. It was a high school hangout late at night. They paved it over and sanitized all of the wooded areas some time ago.

[pumkinhd1]

..........they "sanitized" all of the wooded areas.........

eeewwwww!!!!!

[A Fenton]

My father is the pastor of Abundant Life Fellowship, the church that now owns Holiday Lake. The sign had to be torn down because a truck ran into it. It was a really cool historical sign. Now people get lost looking for the church, because they're still looking for the sign!

The church closed the lake for swimming because lightening struck the well pump, and in those days we didn't have the thousands of dollars to repair it. Additionally, insurance premiums skyrocketed in those days and made it non-feasible to continue running it for swimming.

I'm glad to see that the Lakes are returning to the roots of recreation, though. We had a great carnival with rides, with spectacular fireworks at the end this summer.

P.S. I almost drowned in the water as a kid too :-)

[Simon]

guess this place went the way the rest of Jersey did and became a slum :-(

[flashingreeneyes]

I was a lifeguard the last year it was open. It was owned by a man called Remy Fox. He used it as a tax write-off and let it go into the ground. Shame really because it had soo much potential. I was sixteen then and will be 48 at end of this year. The year I worked there there were two deaths. Two little children in three feet of water because the parents (of one was aunt to the other) were drinking up in the picnic grove instead of watching the children. I myself made a save while there. A child havig leg cramps out at the diving dock. It was closed for good that year and did not re-open in 1977.

John Safaryn wrote:

<quoted text>
Thanks for the info. Do you know whatever happened to the owners? and does anybody have any old photos of the place in its heyday? I'm wondering if they ever sold any postcards or other souvenirs. You mentioned some frivolous lawsuits. I assume frivolous means some minor injuries- but no deaths or drownings. It looks like a place that big would have had a substantial lifeguard staff-did you know any of them? You said it wasn't expensive-any idea what the admission price was in the 70's? Again thanks for the info

[Simon]

another staple that identified the quality of life in Philly Metro gone to the wayside, as was the fate of places like Goodnoe's and Greenwood Dairies :-(

[don]

holiday lake was not closed in 77 for good