The Bluff
We spent so much time on the bluff. Growing up in what is called the 'Heights' was considered a luxury since it was in the city, but afforded a feeling of openess. Located at the south-east end of Newburgh, the Heights was a type of cul-de-sac with no industry and no thoroughfare. It afforded gorgeous views of the Hudson River and Bannerman's Island.
Bascially if you were on the Heights you had better have a good reason, since it was all residential. There was no 'hanging out' on the heights without every mom knowing what you were up to. Those women had a phone tree before they even called it a phone tree. If you got out of line, your mom knew before you could ever get home to explain.
Now...according to the city, they outline a larger area and call it the Heights.
But to those of us who grew up there, the top of the hill is the actual 'Heights'. Everything else is nothing more than a 'wanna-be' to us. We were the Heights. We were the Bluff.
We spent every free moment on the bluff, down the bluff and around the bluff. It became a part of us. If you notice, as we grew up, most of the pictures of us are taken on the bluff overlooking the Hudson River.
It was a family member to us.
Even though I had moved away from the Heights many years before, the Bluff was even included in my wedding photos.
Living so close to a personal park gave us such an advantage that many do not experience. We enjoyed it, we took care of it and we loved it.
Our Grandfather lived there, our Dad grew up there and we were all raised there. Even our nieces spent all their childhood there.
So many of our childhood stories centered around the bluff. It was our haven, our playground and a place for reflection, day-dreaming and rough-housing.
Football, baseball (with a few broken windows of our neighbors) frisbee and so many other games that we played on the bluff. Laying in the cool grass on a warm summer day and watching the clouds float by, trying to see what kind of shapes they would create. Flying kites and watching the wind carry them over the Hudson.
Now it is cared for by the city, which means it isnt cared for very well. They mow about 3 times a summer. When we were kids, it was mowed every week. Our neighbor Mack, was the main caretaker of the bluff.
The point is, is that Tony was the unofficial KING of the bluff. The boys had made a game of jumping over the edge of the bluff to see who could fly the farthest before landing down the roughly 40 degree embankment. Tony was fearless, and would start in the Cornells' backyard...get the all clear from us...and he would take off running down the alley, across the street, across the bluff and then would literally jump as high and long as he could over the edge of the bluff.
It was always a test to see who could outdo the other.
I did it a number of times, but the boy's ruled that particular form of art. They even did it with bikes at times.
They were insane and amazing.
I think that is why Tony broke records in High School for pole jumping. Fearless.
I'd like to think that when Tony died, he found himself on the bluff again.
He was able to start at the back of the Cornell's property, and start running down the alley and across the street...across the bluff and jump as high and long as he could over the edge of the bluff.
Only this time he would be able to fly free, soaring over the Hudson and beyond.