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Exploring What Remains of the Old Mill Bathing Beach

by Jim Brown, photos by Jon Koons

It was a crisp day in the fall of 2025, and my friend Jon Koons and I wanted to do some exploring together. I had learned of a hiking path that ran along the Saddle River in Paramus, NJ. The idea quickly came to mind that this would be an easy way to get up close to the former site of the Old Mill Bathing Beach without having to park the car in the lot of the CareOne nursing home and be seen going behind their building along Paramus Rd.

So we parked at the beginning of the trail within a public park and hiked north along the trail until we reached the area where I knew we would see what had been the back side of the Old Mill, behind the dance pavilion and Snack Bar.

The chainlink fence was still there along the rear of the property that ran along the river and the hiking trail.

Our first discovery was that the large stones forming the retaining wall were chunks of concrete with black stone aggregate, not just large slabs of stone. They would have been from the demolition of a building that predated the bathing beach — perhaps one of the mills that once lined the Saddle River in the 1800s.

Up ahead we saw what looks like the remains of fence ends and we can enter onto the area that was the Old Mill.

You haven't met Jon yet as he is behind the camera.

JON: Jim, lets go up and in, no need to stay behind the fence. JIM: I'm slowly taking in all the views.

There were several 4x4 wood posts — many with the original blue paint. Back in this area one can assume they were the vertical posts from the dance pavilion.

Below my feet I spotted a leg and brace from one of the wooden picnic tables that were once scattered throughout the shady lawn areas.

I had to pick this up and get a better look. My family and I ate lunch many times at these tables back in the late 50s and into the 60s.

The blue they had once painted on almost everything around the lake was still found everywhere. Here we were, standing behind what had been the Snack Bar and the dance pavilion, with its two small bathrooms.

Jon could only see an abandoned site of wild vegetation, but I saw a place filled with happy childhood experiences. The rock ’n’ roll playing through the speakers in the dance pavilion; playing in the water; the smell of the barbecue pits; families and teenagers everywhere; building things in the sand; the scent of suntan lotion; walking quickly over the hot sand, then feeling the coolness of the wet sand—and so much more.

We finally climbed the retaining wall and onto the portion of the site that had once been the Old Mill Bathing Beach. I was once again in the place where I had spent so many childhood days. Nature had taken back the land, but the memories remained. In the distance was the CareOne nursing home, which had repurposed the front portion of the property. Perhaps some of the residents remember swimming and dancing here when they look out their bedroom windows.

Note: If any readers wish to visit the site, I would suggest approaching it from the back along the Saddle River hiking trail and staying toward the back and sides of the lake, away from the nursing home, as this is technically private property. Please be respectful of the land and explore quietly.

Jon spotted lots of blue painted chips of concrete and concrete blocks scattered about.

This is certainly not the place as I remembered it.

We were now standing on the footprints of the Snack Bar and the dance pavilion, directly behing the diving boards — a popular area to hang out as the music filled the air.

Looking this way, this is the view from the open sides of the dance pavilion. There is still a lake here, though somewhat different in shape; it is no longer swimmable and no longer has a sandy beach. It made little sense to fill it in, as the nursing home only needed the front area, where the parking lot and bathhouse had been.

Much of the perimeter fencing was gone, except along the back. We found many of the poles for the fence, still set in their concrete footings. Since you had to pay to enter, a fence was necessary, both for access control and for safety and security.

Jon spotted some piping that I explained may have been part of the system of pipes that extended far into the ground for the artesian wells that supplied fresh water to the man-made lake. Along both the left and right sides of the grounds was a row of these artesian wells, all feeding into a larger pipe running along the ground. That pipe led to a pump and filtration house on both sides of the site. From there, water was pumped into the lake.

What a surprise. Jon knew I was excited when I stumbled upon a fragment of what I suspect was the north-side retaining wall. It was along a dirt service road that originally led from the parking lot to the pump house.

At first, I thought it was part of the pump house, but the lack of mortar indicated that it would not have been part of the pump house and instead may have been part of the retaining wall. I remember that wall as being rather crudely built. However, the pump house was close by, as the service road ran behind it and under a canopy. If any foundation of the pump house remains, it would be under layers of dirt.

With a few scattered concrete blocks nearby, we decided to rebuild a piece of the Old Mill.

And with a couple more we were reconstructing the past.

Oh well, Jon wanted to leave the past in the past.

This pipe is a bit too big of a diameter to be a fence post. Likely this one was a well pipe that carried millions of gallons of that refreshing water.

After all these years, this bag of water softner from the pump house remained.

When we thought we had seen everything, we spotted this weathered lifeguard boat. It sat in virtually the same spot where a lifeguard boat appears in a photo found on the web. Upon close inspection, it may not be the same boat, as the top edge is different. The Old Mill had a few of these boats prepared around the lake.

As far as we know, this is the only large artifact remaining of this place.

The sun sets once again on the place that many generations got to experience, known as the Old Mill Bathing Beach. Feel free to download these images by first clicking on them to view larger versions, and share them with our permission so future generations can learn about this place long after this website is gone.

Story by Jim Brown, www.optisonics.com
Photos by Jon Koons, www.jestmaster.com