Historic Walking Tour of Mountain Lakes

Have you ever wished you could walk around Mountain Lakes with an expert from the Historic Preservation Committee at your side to tell you interesting background about the things you see?

Well now you can…

Taking the Tour

The Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee has created an audio walking tour of Mountain Lakes. It’s a lot like the audio tours in museums and IT’S FREE. You simply download the audio files to your iPod, smart phone, or portable digital audio device, put on your walking shoes and get started.

The tour starts on Elm Rd. across the tracks from the train station and covers 2.1 miles before returning to the train station. It takes about 2 hours to complete. Perfect for a sunny day.

The following sites are covered:

1. Train Station
2. Midvale Stores
3. Midvale Boat Dock
4. Luellen House at 46 Dartmouth Rd,
5. Mountain Lakes Club
6. Lake Drive School
7. St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
8. Boulevard Trolley
9. Little Theater
10. Hapgood’s Original Sales Office
11. Community Church
12. Briarcliff School

1. Taking the Tour — Preferred Method Using a Smartphone

If you have a Smartphone or Tablet with Internet connectivity, taking the tour is extremely easy. Just take your Smartphone or Tablet and walk or drive to the beginning of the tour on Elm Road across from the Train Station. Then pull up the walking tour map on your Smartphone by clicking the link below:

Walking Tour on Smartphone

Follow the route indicated on the map. At each stop, click or touch the marker to hear an expert describing the stop.

That’s all there is to it. Good Luck and Have Fun.

2. Taking the Tour — If you have a Portable Digital Music Device

If you don’t have a Smartphone, you can take the tour using a portable music device such as an iPOD, Walkman, or other portable digital music player. The tour consists of a number of audio files. First, obtain the files as described below and transfer them to your digital music player. Then take your player, walk out your front door, and get started.

The tour starts on Elm Rd. across the tracks from the Train Station. Go there and listen to the Introduction file. Then at each stop, listen to the narration in the corresponding file. At the end of each audio are the instructions for walking to the next stop. Proceed from stop to stop listening to each audio in turn. It’s simple.

3. Taking the Tour — If you have don’t have a Portable Music Device

If you don’t have either a Smartphone or portable music device, you can still take the tour. The Library has several digital players pre-loaded with the Walking Tour audio. You may borrow one. Make sure you ask them to brief you on how to use the device. Then, simply walk out the door to the right, go down to the train station and start the tour. You must return the device when you are finished.

4. Taking the Tour — If you can’t get to Mountain Lakes

If you live too far away or are physically unable to take the tour, you can still take a virtual tour on your PC by clicking the link below:

Virtual Walking Tour on PC

Follow the route indicated on the map. At each stop, click the marker to hear an expert describing the stop.

Download a Map of the Tour

Click on this link to download an Adobe Acrobat file containing a route map of the tour.

Walking Tour Map (Caution: large file)

How to Obtain the Audio Files

From an HPC CD:

The Historic Preservation Committee offers for sale a CD of the audio for the walking tour. It is available at the Library at a price of $10.

From iTunes:

If you have an Apple iPod or iPhone, it’s easy to get the audio from the iTunes Store (it’s free). Launch iTunes on your PC or Mac and select the iTunes Store. Enter “Walking Tour” in the Search iTunes Store field. When iTunes displays the results of your search, select “Podcasts, See All” and then select Mountain Lakes Walking Tour.

Download from the Web

The audios are available from the Mountain Lakes Web site. Use the links below.

1. Introduction
2. STOP01.Train Station
3. STOP02.Midvale Stores
4. STOP03.Midvale Dock
5. STOP04.Luellen House
6. STOP05.Mountain Lakes Club
7. STOP06.Lake Drive School
8. STOP07.St Peters Church
9. STOP08.Boulevard Trolley
10. STOP09.Little Theater
11. STOP10.Sales Office
12. STOP11.Community Church
13. STOP12.Briarcliff School
14. STOP13.Closing

If you prefer, you can download them all together as a zip file of audios and extract them. Use the link below.

Download zip file of Walking Tour audios [Caution, large file]