These blog entries are meant to capture moments of life in a different time–primarily the mid-20th century–in a neighborhood in the northeast Bronx. But before we get to that there’s earlier history to review, beginning with a prominent early settler, Jonas Bronck.
Our neighbors on Westervelt Avenue who knew me before I was born (as they used to say) often dropped by for an evening visit. Sometimes the conversation would turn to reminiscences of the neighborhood’s earliest days, as most of them were original residents. For me, these conversations were enormously interesting, and I would press them for more stories, more details.
Many of these stories are based on those primary sources of information. Others are based on my own recollections or those of my older sister and brother, who still remember the early days.
