These days, the Ingram Cove area includes a collection of homes and neighborhoods grown in with trees, lawns, and docks. But at one time, a single home dominated the hilltop and all of its landscape.
Then: Gustave Reinberg was the superintendent of American Forcite Powder Company, located in what is today the Shore Hills section of Landing. Reinberg's house, built in the 1880s and known as "Oldfield," dominated the hill above Ingram Cove. Oldfield's boat house can be seen to the right (of the second picture), while the boat house on the left was part of the property known as "Bird's Nest," owned by the Bird family.
Now: Oldfield was subdivided over the years and the main structure was lost to fire in the 1990s. The exterior shell and foundation can still be seen along Brooklyn Mountain Road. Both of the boat houses survive today, although the Oldfield boat house had an upper floor added while the upper floor of the Bird's Nest was removed.
These and dozens of other "Then and Now" images and stories are available in an updated version of Lake Hopatcong: Then and Now by Marty Kane, president of the Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum. Purchase that and other lake-related history books here on the museum's website. And see hundreds of photos and other historical paraphernalia at the museum, which is located in Hopatcong State Park.
