Goffle Brook
| Goffle Brook | |
| Wagaraw Brook | |
| River | |
 Goffle Brook viewed from Diamond Bridge Ave in Hawthorne
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | New Jersey |
| Counties | Passaic, Bergen |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Deep Voll Brook |
| Source | Goffle Pond |
| - location | Wyckoff, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States |
| - elevation | 404 ft (123 m) |
| - coordinates | 40°59′29.25″N 74°10′58″W / 40.9914583°N 74.18278°W |
| Mouth | Passaic River |
| - location | Hawthorne, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States |
| - elevation | 36 ft (11 m) |
| - coordinates | 40°56′14.21″N 74°9′42.65″W / 40.9372806°N 74.1618472°WCoordinates: 40°56′14.21″N 74°9′42.65″W / 40.9372806°N 74.1618472°W |
| Length | 7 mi (11 km) |
 Goffle Brook and Diamond Brook Watershed
|
|
Goffle Brook is a tributary of the Passaic River which flows south through a section of Passaic County and Bergen County in New Jersey and drains the eastern side of the First Watchung Mountain. Heading up the brook from the confluence with the Passaic River, one encounters the borough of Hawthorne, the village of Ridgewood, the borough of Midland Park, and the township of Wyckoff.
Goffle Brook has seen human occupation for hundreds of years, as evidenced by abundant Lenape camp sites along its banks. Two such camps are known to have existed near the brook’s mouth, while another two existed about one and a half miles upstream on the east bank. A fifth camp, still locally remembered, sat at the confluence of Deep Voll Brook and Goffle Brook.
During the American Revolutionary War, General Lafayette stationed his men along the banks of the brook. In 1780, Major Lee’s Virginia light horse troop occupied the east bank of the brook, while Lafayette’s light infantry corps occupied the flanks of First Watchung Mountain to the west. Lafayette’s headquarters sat on the western bank of the brook in what is now Goffle Brook Park south of Diamond Bridge Ave in Hawthorne.
Prior to the twentieth century, the brook’s gradation supported saw, grain, and grist mills. It was probably instrumental in initial settlement and farming of the northern Passaic River valley.
In addition to it uses as a drinking water supply and an energy source for mills, the brook has served as a focus for human creativity. New Jersey native William Carlos Williams immortalized the brook in his 1949 poem Spring is Here Again, Sir. The poem opens with the line, Goffle brook of a May day blossoms in the manner of antiquity.
...
Wikipedia