Drone Footage Features Fall Foliage at Idylease: A Historic Landmark Hotel 

WEST MILFORD, NJ – At the turn of the 20th century West Milford catered to tourist that flocked to the area for its scenic views and recreational opportunities. Idylease stands as a reminder that the area was a recreational destination.

Over the course of several days in October, Owner/Operator Richard Zampella launched his Mavic Pro drone to capture the fall color show from the skies above the 100 acre estate. Hues of red, orange, purple and yellow mixed with the evergreens surround the historic hotel. The landmark resort hosted Thomas Edison while he working on a magnetic ore excitation device at the Franklin/Ogdensburg mines for the New Jersey Zinc Corporation.

For more information on Idylease visit our website at www.idylease.org.

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Maintaining A 120 Year Old Historic Landmark

As the owner and operator of Idylease in West Milford, NJ, I am fully aware that I am only a temporary steward of this Historic Landmark. I am fourth in the line of owner/operators who have made the preservation of the structure a part of my lifes work. As a preservationist, I am a proponent that the past can educate. Architecture as an example, is a direct and substantial representation of history and place that can teach us about our collective past. By preserving historic structures, we are able to share the very spaces and environments in which the generations before us lived. Preserving historic buildings―whether related to someone famous or recognizably dramatic―strangers are able to witness the aesthetic and cultural history of a period in time and an another era. Old buildings maintain a sense of permanency and heritage. There is no chance to renovate or to save a historic site once it’s gone. And we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. Jaqueline Onassis once said, “If we don’t care about our past, we cannot hope for the future. … I desperately care about saving old buildings.” At its best preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future. There may have been a time when preservation was about saving an old building here or there, but those days are gone. Preservation is in the business of saving communities and the values they embody. Every day I think about my dad, Doctors Day and Drake who were the previous owners of Idylease. I also think about the myriad of people who have passed through her door since New Year’s Day in 1903. I would like to think they would all be proud. When my hands run down the stairway banisters, I feel a connection that their hands, along with Thomas Edison and other luminaries, have also touched those same places. We have a great past and look forward to a great future here. With the latest round renovations at Idylease I am honored to play my small role in the preservation of this Historic Landmark for future generations to come.

-Richard Zampella
May 2024

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Martel Carl Grays: 1911-1975

Carl Grays at Idylease
Carl awarded Outstanding Employee pin in 1964 on the lobby staircase at Idylease. Carl was awarded for 10 years of meritorious service. Business Administrator Neil Malloy is pictured on the left and my father, Dr. Arthur Zampella on the right.

West Milford was not the most hospitable place for African Americans in this Community in the 1950s. Jake McNeir would tell stories of befriending Carl Grays in the early 50s and how he was given a hard time and found himself defending Carl against racist remarks.

Carl was the Maintenance Supervision of a high rise on Park Avenue when my father met him in 1949. When my dad purchased Idylease in 1954, he asked Carl to come with him. Their friendship spanned over 20 years. When Carl died in 1975, my father oversaw his funeral and burial arrangements. As a nine year old, I had never seen my father shed a tear until that quiet December morning at the Newfoundland Methodist Cemetery.

Carl Grays was born on April 16, 1911 in Philadelphia. He died in on December 24, 1975 in Newfoundland, NJ. He was raised in Harris County, a suburb of Huston, Texas. He had a sister named Lillian Richardson who resided at 1408 Yates Street in Huston. Carl enlisted in the United States Army during WWll in Milwaukee Wisconsin on August 15, 1940. He was honorably discharged in 1945 with the rank of Sergeant. Carl spent the latter part of his life as the maintenance supervisor of Idylease Nursing Home in Newfoundland, NJ. He passed away in his cottage at Idylease on Christmas Eve in 1975.

I spent this morning at the cemetery cleaning Carl’s headstone. He will always be remembered by me for his soft spoken quiet demeanor and ever present smile. Gone but not forgotten.

-Richard Zampella
May 7, 2021

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