the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Mahwah NJ, of the many artists and writers who lived in Cragemere, poet Joyce Kilmer may be the most famous. Kilmer was born December 6, 1886, in New Brunswick, NJ. He moved to Cragmere in 1912, while working as a special reporter for the New York Times Magazine. A fellow commuter would recall that Kilmer was never dressed for work on time and was busy putting himself together on the school bus that dropped them off at the train station.
Kilmer’s most famous poems, “Trees” and “The House with Nobody In It,” were written in Mahwah. “The House with Nobody In It” caused a bit of local controversy. For years many people believed that the building of Nobody’s Inn (now the restaurant Roxanne’s) was the subject of the poem. The matter was clarified in 1945 when Annie Winter wrote the following letter to interested parties:
“To Whom it may concern-
Recently there has been considerable agitation as to the exact location of the house which was the subject of Joyce Kilmer’s famous poem “The House with Nobody In It.” A number of people have claimed that it is the old Winter homestead, lately known as “Galli’s Inn,” and more recently as “Doyle’s Tavern” located on Franklin Turnpike, west side, about halfway between Mahwah and Suffern. This may be due to the fact that these two inn-keepers (probably ignorantly) advertised the tavern for publicity purposes.
When I was a kid my grandfather used to recite “The House with Nobody In It” almost as many times as “Casey at the Bat “.
This claim is entirely erroneous. This house was occupied by the Winter family since the town was first settled, the original deed to there being written in Dutch. It was later rented by them for a few years, was always occupied, and sold in 1919 to George Babcock. At no time was the property in disrepair, on the contrary it was one of the fine old places of the town and the Winter family kept both house and grounds in excellent condition. In recent years several changes have been made in the building (tho’ in order) has lost most of its charm.
The house to which Kilmer undoubtedly referred was known as “the old Christie place,” located on the east side of Franklin Turnpike, considerably further north. This has been torn down for some time, but it is remembered by many and was exactly as described in his poem.”
Kilmer enlisted in the army during World War I and was one of the three Mahwah men to be killed in action. He died on July 30, 1918, and is interred in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, France. The Mahwah Garden Club honored him with a memorial in May 1952 and dedicated a plaque at the Kilmer house at the corner of Airmount and Armour roads.