[NJARC] Mysterious Radio Towers in Belvidere, NJ

[Pete Malvasi]

I can tell you of a similar story based here in Ramsey, Bergen County.  When I was told of the odd, huge antennas - a tower supposedly built in wood by the owner of the property on which it was installed, I did some digging and found an earlier owner who thankfully turns out to be the town's official historian and the publisher of the former local Home and Stores Newpaper.  

He told me he was working for the military just before and during WW2 to monitor possible enemy movements in the event we were invaded.  Specifically, there is a RR line running through town and his set up was about 1 mile from it.   He was not technical but given certain test exercises and scripts.  He said it was a form of radar.  The scale of the antenna system was similar to the photo here.  In fact when the new owner moved into the house only a few years ago, he told me he found a bunch of electrical equipment in a large garage and threw it all out. !

So this sounds very similar. The property in question here was not a major estate, but a 3 acre parcel 25 miles NW of NYC.  Back in the days of WW2 the area here was farms too - and this property was surrounded by strawberry fields and apple orchards.  It sits on a modest hill of 100 ft (at 300 ft AMSL) sloping to the SE - NYC too.

No Nazi's or other subversives that I know of.  Not even many Democrats up here either for that matter.    Lots of early Indian tales however, and escapades of Washington personally and his troops making raids on Brits, but not sure the equipment is question is THAT old ...

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 14, 2011, at 9:26, Robert Lilley <speyerdom at me.com> wrote:

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> Hello,
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> Anyone know anything about this?
> 
> My next door neighbors are 15 or so Mexican nuns - The Augustinian Recollect Sisters who recently took over the old 'Massenat Estate' in Belvidere, NJ (actually White Township) from the Brothers of The Sacred Heart. Stick with me, this is going somewhere -  Helen Kent Massenat owned this estate which was also known as 'Pequest Farms' from 1918 till her death in 1949.   After her death her heirs, et al sold off much of the old farmstead.  Approximately 30 acres to include the estate mansion were acquired by the Brothers in 1961.  The mansion and grounds were a park like setting which at one time sported a 9 hole golf course, a working water wheel on the Pequest River (still there), a swimming pool, tennis courts, faux streams & ponds, an industrial sized water tower ...and sometime between 1918 and 1949 - huge radio towers! 
> 
> According to local lore and 'ruburan legends' the radio towers were: a secret radio research project during the war; and or a nest of Nazi spies sending information to the Fatherland.  Recently I received some pictures of the estate in former days from a local who got them a while back from one of the Brothers.  Apparently the Brothers found German newpapers 1937-1943, and framed photos of Hitler and Goering along with several Nazi arm bands when cleaning out the old mansion when they moved in.  Personally, I have a hard time with the Nazi spy thing as these towers were huge (check out the car in the photo) - something the local wartime FBI would have tumbled onto rather quickly.  
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/64054409@N07/
> 
> Rob
> White Township, NJ
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