Idylease’s Owner Plots its Future

WEST MILFORD. Richard Zampella is planning a restaurant and guest house at the historic landmark. –––RICH ADAMONIS WEST MILFORD / | 25 MAR 2023 | 01:47

The next chapter in the 120-year history of Idylease, West Milford’s first historic landmark building and estate, is taking shape.

Owner Richard Zampella is aiming for New Year’s Day 2025, which would be 122 years after Idylease opened its doors.

“Idylease will reopen a guest house and retreat for visiting guests,” he said. “We’ll have a full-service restaurant with a classic dining room and sun porch to accommodate over 60 guests and bar service.

“Idylease will be a cultural and social center, venue for the arts and theater, special events, weddings, and holiday and country get-aways - not a bed-and-breakfast, as I don’t like to apply the term to our unique environment.”

Zampella said he’s making progress toward those goals and is “in a position to be ready for the public despite the many challenges and heavy workload that comes with restoring a place that is more than a century old and on several occasions was dormant.”

He continues his effort to place Idylease on the National Register of Historic Places.

To win that designation, a property must meet criteria related to its age, significance and integrity.

New Jersey’s Historic Preservation Office has offered its support to Zampella, who is weighing a final submission based on his holistic plan for Idylease.

“The historic designation would help preserve and protect Idylease for future generations,” he noted.

A public open house at Idylease is planned in September.

Temporary steward

Zampella, 57, is the son of Dr. Arthur Zampella, the estate’s third owner, who purchased the property in 1954 and operated his medical practice there until he died in 1992.

Richard, who was born in West Milford, bought the estate in 2016 from his family trust. He has focused on preserving Idylease and sustaining its value for future generations.

“Like my father and the owners before him, I’m only a temporary steward of Idylease,” he said.

“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 places that can teach us about our collective past. By preserving historic structures - whether related to someone famous or recognizably dramatic - we share the very spaces and environments in which the generations before us lived. Strangers can witness the aesthetic and cultural history of an area.

“Old buildings maintain a sense of permanency and heritage. You can’t renovate or save a historic site once gone. And we can never be certain what will be valued in the future.”

To that end, Zampella embraces adaptive reuse, or finding a new purpose for the structure and land to be preserved.

“There are inherent risks to an old structure as it can’t be replaced,” he said. “Adaptive reuse ensures that it can be sustainable, financially and more, to both protect the past and ensure a valued future.”

He embraces the journey with his long-time life partner, Shannon.

Film on Idylease

Zampella grew up at Idylease and graduated from West Milford High School in 1984. At Rutgers University, he earned a degree from the Mason Gross School of Arts and produced an award-winning film on Idylease.

After four years of active-duty military service in the Intelligence Corps and during 12 years in the Army Reserves, he lived in New York City as he pursued a multifaceted career as a documentary film maker and cameo actor (credits include “The Guiding Light” and “The Thomas Crowne Affair”) and as a professional in the food and beverage and hotel industries.

His company, Transmultimedia Entertainment, has produced and aired film documentaries on PBS and elsewhere.

He worked at several well-known restaurants and hotels, including the Essex House and the Plaza Hotel’s Oak Room. For 15 years, he worked at Rockefeller Plaza’s Rainbow Room for renowned restaurateur Joe Baum.

Baum urged Zampella to create a business plan for Idylease.

Zampella also engaged famed architect Hugh Hardy, who provided valuable insights now being applied in the restoration.

“Hugh wondered how we could express an urbane concept and idea into a rural setting. He left me in awe and along with Joe (Baum) and others influenced my life and work at Idylease.”

Combination of old and new

Located on the western end of Union Valley Road just a quarter-mile from Route 23 in Newfoundland, Idylease boasts an iconic four-story 50-room Dutch revival main house with neo-classical elements.

Its spacious porch with 40-feet-wide steps and distinctive columns, which Zampella has restored personally, is 100 feet long with two 50-foot sections on the north and south sides of the house.

“One of my favorite pastimes, both today and as a youngster, is sitting on the porch with a cold drink and taking in the surrounding beauty,” he said.

Atop a 30-foot pole mounted on the front lawn flies an American flag - in part recognizing the military service of the Zampellas father and son.

The building’s interior is a throwback in time.

The entrance’s large foyer, with ornate dark oak trim, paneling and floors, gives way to a sizeable dining room, sewing and sitting rooms, and private alcoves as well as a double-wide wooden stairway to the floors above. Original paintings and photos adorn the hallways and rooms.

The 100-acre property has five other last-century buildings, a heliport used by West Milford and local area emergency services, and well-manicured lawns, gardens and stately trees that include lines of Evergreens planted by young Rick at his father’s behest.

The house’s 24 guest rooms serve 17 long-term tenants who by design are largely creative types, including artists who help make Idylease a reinfusing place, Zampella said.

“Idylease offers a rural and historic living opportunity, so our tenants need to be the right fit for our house and our community, people who have a reverence for Idylease and its history.”

Edward Karas, 62, occupies a newly renovated room on the second floor.

“Richard and Shannon are kind and welcoming very intelligent people who care about Idylease and everyone here as well as this town - its history and its future,” he said.

“Richard has done a beautiful job in renovating and preserving the house, including the floors and woodwork, furniture and artwork, plumbing and electric - things are original as original could be,” he added. “When you care about something and put your heart and life into it like Richard does, that’s what you get: something very special.”

Inspired by his father

During its first 50 years, Idylease served as a resort for those who sought a country getaway and a hostel for individuals seeking restorative health and medical services, including those suffering from autism, tuberculosis and other conditions.

“My father saw the unique setting and opportunity in Idylease,” Zampella said. “Very important to dad was creating a distinctive environment for his family and medical practice, and building on the foundational work of his physician predecessors at Idylease.”

He proudly describes his father as a Jersey City kid who became a country doctor, a dedicated public servant, a lover of the arts and culture, and an innovator who augmented his on-site medical practice with a nursing home for the infirmed elderly that operated until 1972. At any given time, there were more than 70 staff, patients and guests at Idylease.

“My father believed that art and culture need to be essential in our daily lives and can teach us about ourselves. He thought that the arts can be transformative, take us out of our normal lives and change our thinking. He felt sometimes medicine was more art than science. That it wasn’t always about what you prescribe but how you prescribed it.”

Idylease was built by New York City physician Edgar Day in 1902 as a tribute to his daughter, who died in Newfoundland at the age of 16. After Day’s death in 1906, his mission continued with Dr. Drake, who took ownership of Idylease until his death in 1952.

“When railroad service ended in 1930s, effectively, too, did the area’s robust tourism business,” Zampella said. “Most other hotels and inns closed, and Idylease was unoccupied and dormant for many years. Further proof that change is a constant, and you must adapt to thrive, grow and succeed.”

A quintessential do-it-yourselfer when it comes to the restoration, he looks to the estate’s future with confidence and optimism. Yet the past often drives his work, passion and commitment to Idylease.

“Every day I think about my dad, Doctors Day and Drake, and those who have passed through Idylease,” he said. “They would be proud. When my hands run down the stairway banister, I smile knowing that their hands, along with Thomas Edison and other luminaries, have also touched them. We have a great past and look forward to a great future here.”

The 2021 Holiday Season at Idylease

Idylease Turns 119 Years Old on New Year's Day 2022

Idylease first opened its doors to the public on New Year's Day 1903. On this New Year's Day 2022 -- We celebrate our 119th Anniversary. #happynewyear2022

Season's Greeting from Idylease 

Happy Holidays from #Idylease: A Historic Landmark. Celebrating Our 118th Christmas Season. #historicpreservation #happyholidays #westmilfordnj

Idylease Tree Farm

My dad was proud that in 1991 his tree farm at Idylease was selected as the Outstanding Tree Farm of the Year by the US Dept. of Agriculture and the State of New Jersey. He was attuned to the environment his entire life and saw the tree farm at Idylease as his contribution to preservation efforts. On this Christmas Day, his gravesite is adorned with a grave blanket made of branches from the trees he loved so. Merry Christmas Dad. Thank you to Andy Bennett at Ridge & Valley Forest Management for helping me maintain the 100 acre forest for generations to come.

Dr Arthur Zampella's Bond with Ernest Hemingway

Dr Arthur Zampella purchased the sister ship of Ernest Hemingway's La Bella Jolla in 1947. 

    There was a bond my father had with Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway had re-shaped the definition of masculinity of American males in the 1940s and 1950s. A large segment of these men fashioned themselves after Hemingway, taking their cues from his sense of adventurism. 

    Dr. Arthur Zampella was not immune from the influences of Hemingway's works as a writer. So much was that influence, that he purchased the sister ship of La Bella Lola that was built for Hemingway in the Cayman Islands in 1947. 

    In 1948, may dad took the schooner on a Hemingway inspired deep sea fishing trip and landed a 12 foot sailfish off the coast of Venezuela. That fish hangs on the wall of the indoor pool at Idylease to this very day: A relic connected to Ernest Hemingway hanging on walls of Idylease. How cool is that?

    The boat was moored in the Long Island Sound for many years before it tore loose in a hurricane and ended up on the rocks at Atlantic Highlands in New Jersey. The vessel was unable to be salvaged. A sad ending to a vibrant period of my dads life.

    At my dads funeral in 1992, his best friend Andy Bertone, laughed about a drunken night in the 50s when they attempted to board the schooner and impress their dates with a stolen row boat. They all gave up because they simply couldn't find the boat in the pitch dark.

    Little would my father know that many years later, the connection with Hemingway would culminate with a documentary I produced on Ernest Hemingway with John Mulholland and his daughter Shannon. The film received a Critics Pic from the New York Times in 2013. Post production work was completed at Idylease, with my father being a constant inspiration to tell the story. Patrick Hemingway; Ernest's last surviving son, was fascinated by the connection between these two men when discussing it over dinner at the Yale Club a few years ago.

Idylease: It’s Role in Tourism at the Turn of the Century in West Milford, NJ. A Multimedia Presentation at The West Milford Township Public Library on March 12, 2020 at 7PM

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, West Milford township was a major resort destination in New Jersey. At its height, the area had over forty hotels and boarding houses that catered to the tourists that flocked to the area for its magnificent scenery and healthful climate. Since the turn-of-the-century, West Milford also attracted visitors for its rustic beauty and natural resources. It’s approximately eighty square miles of mountains and lakes have delighted visitors for more than a century. In the mid-1800s, renowned Hudson River School painter Jasper F. Cropsey, captured many West Milford landscapes in their autumnal splendor. He married West Milford resident Maria Cooley at the WM Presbyterian Church in 1847.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many resorts opened in the township and railroads brought wealthy vacationers from New York City to enjoy the countryside. The transportation revolution of the mid 1920’s, caused tourism to decline in this part of New Jersey, with other, more distant locations rising in popularity. Around the turn of the century, the City of Newark, NJ systematically acquired large parcels of land until it owned close to a third of West Milford. The City’s Master Plan called for the razing of buildings that were on the watershed preserve, including most of the hotels and resorts. It was their goal to ensure there would be no development or contamination of the many reservoirs in the area that supply the drinking water for resident of the city.

Of all the hotels that once graced the region, only one, the resort hotel know as Idylease remains standing as proof of a once thriving tourism industry. Opened on New Years’s Day in 1903, Idylease thrived during the Ragtime Era. The inn was a short trip from the Newfoundland Train station on the way to tourist-filled Greenwood Lake. Promoted as a health retreat, it sits amid pastoral country in the foot hills of the Kittatinny Mountains in the Highlands Region of NJ.

Idylease, with its prominent central gable, was opened in 1902 by Brooklyn doctor Edgar Arthur Day who billed the Inn as “a modern health resort, delightful in autumn.” Visitors described it as a “haven of rest” whose “masseuses are among the best in the country” and where fine meals were served in the 46 room hotel’s main dining room. Idylease attracted a variety of prominent guests, including Thomas Edison. Based in West Orange, Edison opened a self-named mine near Sussex County’s Franklin-Ogdensburg mining district in 1889. When making the trip across North Jersey, Idylease marked the half-way point to the mine from his lab in the Oranges. Edison would have his car serviced at a local garage and spend the night at Idylease before continuing onto the mine the following morning. His plan was to harvest a previously overlooked pocket of lower-quality ore on Sparta Mountain, break up the rock on conveyor belts and suck out the iron with electromagnets.

Other noted guests include: Joseph French Johnson, Dean of New York University’s School of Commerce, who hoped to salve his ill health but died there on January 19, 1925. Sports writer William B. Hanna, Civil War correspondent David Banks Sickels, and Grace Abbott, the head of the United States Children’s Bureau from 1921 to 1934. The Inn’s guestbook reveals the names of famous politicians, including New Jersey’s first female congresswoman, Mary T. Norton.

At the peak of the once thriving tourism industry in West Milford, NJ, tourists could board a ferry at Debrosses Street in New York City and catch a train from Hackensack to Newfoundland to escape the confines of the city. As Early as 1857, tourists accessed the area by stagecoach when Browns Hotel in Newfoundland instituted coach service to from Paterson with a stop in Newfoundland. The Paterson and Deckertown stage got off to an auspicious start and operated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Agent John P. Brown advertised “Good coaches, fine horses and careful drivers”. The approximately 40-mile trip from Paterson to Deckertown was a bumpy ride along the old Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. Individuals who wanted to make the trip left Paterson about 10 a.m. Nearly four hours later, they reached Brown’s Hotel in Newfoundland. An untold number of North Jersey residents considered a trip from the Highlands to Paterson something equivalent to a trip across the continent.

A tourists account of his visit to West Milford was recorded by E. Hewitt, an English traveler from London in 1819. It tells of his visit to Brown’s Hotel, two years after its completion:

“This afternoon, completely drenched with rain, we stayed at a tavern newly erected, in a village called Newfoundland. Here we procured a small private room and a good fire, dried our clothes, and got tea very comfortably. Our landlord, a very intelligent man, spent the evening with us, and related several interesting anecdotes of General Washington, with whom he was personally acquainted. I observed he was always addressed with the title of Squire, being a magistrate.

Bears, deer, and wolves are very numerous in this neighborhood in the fall. A barn not exceeding 60 feet by 30 costs here about $125.00; shingles or wood tiles,15 to 20 dollars per thousand. The whip-poor-will we heard for the first time at this place, repeating its plaintive notes through the whole night.

Our accommodations at this place were very comfortable. and our charge, including hay, one peck of Indian corn, our room, fuel, liquor, one pound of butter, what milk we chose and tar and tallow for our wagon, three quarters of a dollar. I gave our kind host one dollar, which he accepted with reluctance; and at our setting off, he prepared us a quantity of egg-nog, a mixture of apple spirits, eggs and milk. Terrible roads still, and the bridges over the small streams nothing more than poles laid across”.

Although many brave tourists did access the the natural resources of West Milford by coach, by the turn of the century, the railroad became the preferred method to frequent the many resorts that adorned the area. Destinations such as Brown’s Hotel, Idylease, The Hotel Bel Air and the Green Pond Hotel catered to the burgeoning tourists that flocked to the area for its scenic beauty and healthy climate. The 1920’s also marked the height of passenger service provided by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway to the Newfoundland Station. Thirteen passenger trains in each direction stopped at Newfoundland Station on a daily basis. The Great depression struck in October 1929 and lasted well into the late 1930’s and the growth of tourism began to decline. In 1937, the NYS&W declared bankruptcy and shortly thereafter was spun off from its parent, the Erie Railroad, which had controlled it since 1898. Also, the mass production of the automobile by Henry Ford in the 1930s rendered the passenger railroad obsolete, making more distant locales such as the Poconos and the Adirondack accessible by car. Passenger service ceased completely by 1966.

The great lawns at the Idylease, once a place where bonneted ladies and jacketed gentlemen relaxed and played croquet, now serves as a landing pad for medivac helicopters under the supervision of the West Milford Office of Emergency Management. Idylease was the first property named on West Milford Township’s list of historic sites, and the last of more than a dozen similar facilities that stood in town during the tourism heyday of the early-20th century.

Idylease was initially advertised in 1908 as a modern health resort, offering “All Forms of Hydro-Therapy and Massage.” Idylease was a “quiet, homelike place for Semi-Invalids, Convalescents, Neurasthenics, and Mild Cases of Cardiac, Nephritic and Stomachic Troubles, and for those desiring change of environment. No Tubercular or Objectionable Cases.” The resident physician and superintendent from 1906 until 1943 was Dr. D.E. Drake. A brochure published in about 1930 stressed the round-the-clock availability of staff physicians, Norwegian-trained massage therapists, and the “most approved scientific apparatus for administering baths, sprays, and douches.” Potential guests, in the accepted social order of the day, were reassured by the policy boldly stated on the first page of the brochure: “Hebrew Patronage Not Solicited.”

By the late 1930s Dr. Drake understood that declining tourism required the facility to adapt to advances in medical science in order to ensure the future of Idylease. Idylease’s initial prohibition of tubercular cases reflected modern understanding of tuberculosis as a transmissible infection caused by bacteria. Robert Koch in Germany first isolated the tubercle bacillus in 1882, although it took some years for the medical community to fully accept the infectious nature of the disease.

By 1940, Drake conceded to accept guests suffering from Tuberculosis. With this change, Idylease would established itself as one of the most prominent Tubercular Sanitoriums on the East Coast. With the subsequent development of the TB vaccine around 1927, Dr Drake treated patient that had already been infected prior to the vaccine. Throughout the 1940s the number of tubercular patients slowly began to decline and Idylease would face an uncertain future.

Dr. Drake would shutter Idylease in 1943 and he would pass away in 1951. Idylease would sit vacant for a period of thirteen years with the windows boarded up and its plumbing shattered.

Dr Arthur Zampella had graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine in 1943. He had always had an interest in geriatric care and the elderly. It was his wish to find a facility where he could practice medicine and serve the needs of an aging population. As a lifelong scholar, Zampella’s interest in this area were reflected in his authorship of many published medical articles, chapters and books on various aspects of aging, care of the elderly, as well as ethical, socio-economic and philosophic discussion in these fields. In an article entitled, “Sampling of the Attitudes of the Aged,” Zampella explored the dilemma of the aging process whereby the elderly are striped of their social identities after being admitted to a nursing home. He felt that a sterile environment, devoid of a homelike atmosphere reduced life expectancy. For many years Zampella had searched for a facility suitable to realize his vision for extended geriatric care and in 1954, he was introduced to Idylease. Dr. Zampella purchased Idylease from the Estate of Dr. Daniel Drake and and converted Idylease into a Nursing Home. The renovated facility maintained a staff of 11 doctors and employed 65 people. Idylease Nursing home closed in 1972. #westmilford #history #tourism #public #library

Idylease Article Appears in northjersey.com

Thanks to Ann Genader for her April 19, 2018 article on Idylease. Ann was a tireless supporter of my father, Dr Arthur Zampella. She served as public relations director at Idylease when it was a nursing home for the elderly from 1954-1972.


Read Article at: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/passaic/west-milford/2018/04/19/west-milford-nj-jefferson-nj-remembering-idylease-arthur-dante-louis-zampella/529633002/

Dr Arthur Zampella 1917-1992

Dr Arthur Zampella May 15, 1917 - January 9, 1992

January 9, 1992  was a rainy and cold day. I was living in a railroad flat in Jersey City, NJ. I was living a few blocks from the place that my father had been born in 1917.  It had been many years since my father had a series of heart attacks, and  coronary by-pass surgery. Most of his brothers had all died and I remember him being saddened that most of his friends were also gone.

Growing up, I knew he was not always in the best health, but on that fateful day, I still lament January 9th as his final goodbye. I was twenty four when he died. I am fifty-one now. I carry his memory with me each and every day. His wedding ring on my finger as a daily companion. Once while playing softball in Central Park I thought I had lost his ring. I sat in the grass devastated that I had lost yet another link to him. The ring was recovered. I have his watch and some other personal possessions of his. He was a man of humility with few items collected throughout a lifetime.

I am most grateful that each and every day I can walk the very grounds at Idylease that he did. If it snows, I can remember him pulling me on a sled with his rubber galoshes. Everywhere I look, I can remember a story or a spot of him being there.  I am grateful that he equipped me to carry on. I belong here. I have so many people amongst the living that have made this possible. They know who they are and I am eternally indebted to them.

I often feel his presence with me at milestones in my life since he is gone. I know he would be saddened by my setbacks and elated by my successes.

When I was twenty-four, I thought my father’s death would teach me about dying. At fifty-one, I think it has taught me mostly about living; that life is short but meaningful; that even though time is measured, there is some time, if you pay attention; and that everything that matters in life is in the here and now.

I miss you Dad.

-Richard Zampella
January 9, 2018

Room Restoration at Idylease

Room Restoration Completed in August 2017 by Richard Zampella, Owner & Operator of Idylease

1906 Walnut & Mahogany Dresser Restoration from the Workshop at Idylease

For over 35 years Richard Zampella has envisioned an opportunity to celebrate the history and future of Idylease where he grew up on in Newfoundland, NJ. Consistent with the wishes of his late father, Dr. Arthur Zampella, the property along with it’s historic structure is finally under the stewardship of his son.  Majestically standing on Union Valley Road since the day she opened her doors to the public in 1903, Idylease remains one of Newfoundland's most beautiful and impressive structures.

Living at Idylease offers old world charm harking back to the popular resort hotel era that took place at the turn of the century in the Highland Region of New Jersey. Each room at Idylease is being meticulously restored to reflect the time when Idylease first greeted guests on New Years Day in 1903. Rooms are furnished with period decor and recall a time that celebrates the tradition of gracious hotel living.

For more information about Historic Preservation and Idylease Visit us on the Web at:

http://www.idylease.org/richard-zampella.html

A Walking Tour of Idylease on September 24, 2017

Join us on Sunday September 24th at 1:00, for a walking tour of Idylease. The Greenpond History Association invites you to a gathering at the Historic Landmark located at 124 Union Valley Road in Newfoundland, NJ. The tour will be hosted by Richard Zampella who is the current owner & operator of Idylease. The tour will  highlight the role Idylease played in the early history of tourism in Newfoundland.

Construction of the Historic Landmark began in the summer of 1902 and took 8 months to complete. On New Year’s Day in 1903 Idylease opened her doors to the public, advertising the facility as a “Modern Heath Resort.” It had been the dream of owner, Dr. Edgar Day to construct a country escape where cheerful hospitality reigned for persons “wearied or worn with the ceaseless turmoil of the city.”

Edgar Day was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but was no stranger to the area. His family owned a summer house on Dunkers Pond off Paradise Road for many years. As a young man Edgar spent his summers exploring the Newfoundland area. It no doubt made an impression on him, even after the family sold the summer home to the North Jersey Water Company that was acquiring land to build the water system for the City of Newark, NJ.

A graduate of the Long Island School of Medicine, Dr. Day choose to return to Newfoundland, as the spot to build his facility. He purchased 112 acres from the family that owned & operated Brown’s Hotel. At the turn of the 20th century. The Brown family owned a parcel of land in Newfoundland that exceeded 1,000 acres. There he set about the task of constructing an Inn that would maintain the most modern mechanical & sanitary systems that could be devised for the time.

Dr. Day was a proponent of “Nature Cures” whereby regular diet, scientifically administered baths, massage and exercise could cure a myriad of ailments. Dr. Day would employ a staff of Norwegian-trained massage therapists, and maintain facilities for the “most approved scientific apparatus for administering baths, sprays, and douches.” Potential guests, in the accepted social order of the day, were reassured by the policy boldly stated on the first page of the brochure: “Hebrew Patronage Not Solicited.” Idylease’s prohibition of tubercular cases reflected modern understanding of tuberculosis as a transmissible infection caused by bacteria.

Tragically, Dr Edgar Day would only live 4 years after the completion of Idylease, but his nephew George would continue on as the General Manager of the hotel until his retirement in 1920. Dr. Daniel Drake who had been the resident physician at Idylease after Days death, would go on to purchase the property from the Estate of Dr. Edgar Day. Also practicing medicine at Idylease was Dr.  Leo B. Drake, Daniels brother who was a 1917 graduate of the Harvard School of Medicine.

The Inn would flourish for several decades until the advent of the automobile would render the area obsolete as a tourist destination. The railroad, which had maintained a schedule of 13 station stops per day to Newfoundland, was facing an uncertain future. No longer tied the rails as the sole means of transportation, travelers could now drive to more distant locales such as the Adirondacks or the Poconos. At the peak of the tourism industry in Newfoundland, there where a dozen or so hotel that catered to the tourists that had flocked to the area. Most notable was; Brown’s Hotel, The Green Pond Hotel, and the Hotel Belair.

Dr. Drake saw the necessity in to keep the Inn functioning and in the mid 1930s, he concentrated to the needs of those suffering from Tuberculosis. It is ironic that after Idylease had prohibited tubercular cases for many years, it would cater exclusively to the disease. This change was a result of the failing tourism industry. The Inn would go on to be listed as one of several prominent Tubercular Sanitoriums on the East Coast. With the development of the TB vaccine, Dr Drake set about to treat those that had already been infected prior the vaccine. Slowly the patient base began to dissipate and Idylease would fall on hard times. Dr. Drake would shutter Idylease in 1943 an he passed away in 1951. Idylease would sit vacant for a period of ten years with the windows boarded up and its plumbing shattered.


Dr Arthur Zampella had graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine in 1943. He had always had an interest in geriatric care and the elderly. It was his wish to find a facility where he could practice medicine and serve the needs of an aging population. As a lifelong scholar, Zampella’s interest in this area were reflected in his authorship of many published medical articles, chapters and books on various aspects of aging, care of the elderly, as well as ethical, socio-economic and philosophic discussion in these fields. In a article entitled, “Sampling of the Attitudes of the Aged,” Zampella explored the dilemma of the aging process whereby the elderly are characteristically striped of their social identities after being admitted to a nursing homes. He felt that a sterile environment, devoid of a homelike atmosphere reduced life expectancy.

For many years he searched for a facility that would meet his vision and in 1954, he was introduced  to Idylease. Dr. Zampella purchased Idylease from the Estate of Dr. Daniel Drake and and converted Idylease into a Nursing Home. The renovated facility maintained a staff of 11 doctors and employed 65 people. Idylease Nursing home closed in 1972. Dr. Zampella operated Idylease as a congregate living facility until his death in 1992.

From 1992 to 2016 Idylease languished in uncertainty until the property was purchased by Richard Zampella, the son of Dr. Arthur Zampella. Since then, the estate has seen a resurgence with various restoration projects conducted on the structure.

http://idylease.org/idylease-blog/about-richard-zampella/

Idylease Internet Short

Watch this interent short film about the history of Idylease in Newfoundland, NJ.
Cinematography & Editing by Richard Zampella.
Shot at Idylease with:

Sony PXW‑X70 4K Camera
Dracast LED Light Panels
Chimera Softboxes

Edited with Adobe After Effects and Avid Media Composer
www.idylease.org/richard-zampella.html

100 Years: Commemorating the Birth of Dr Arthur Zampella

From Negatives Found in a Box Left Behind: Like Fragments of Worthless China

The hands of time have turned a year once more, and I find myself marking the passing of time. Not at the start of another summer, but rather, at the anniversary of my father’s birth. May 15th, marks 100 years since Erminio and Filomenna Zampella welcomed Arthur Dante Louis Zampella into a world that he wanted to make a better place.

That fact he has been a focal point in my world in the decades since his absence is a testament to the profound impact that he had on my life. My dad is the one person in my upbringing that had absolutely faith in my abilities. At various milestones in our time together, he was always my ardent supporter who saw things effortlessly when I could not. He had ultimate faith in me, even when I expressed self doubt. Several days before he died, he shared with me that one day Idylease would be under my stewardship and all the dreams and aspirations I had for the property would become so. When things looked bleak in my endeavors to realize his wish, his words kept me moving forward to its rightful conclusion.

My father represents the legacy that has been drawn over my life. But while a legacy can carry tremendous responsibility, it can also be an unexpected safe harbor—think of a child from a story, who is heartened to find that the older hero-kid is the one who has snuck up behind, to protect him.

Whatever we know about the fate of the dead, it is the tradition of Christians to pray for them and to commemorate them at regular intervals.

I have even come to know my father deeper in his absence. It is not unusual for fate to place me in the path that some inexplicable force brings people to me that knew him at various times in his life. I would venture to say, he has willed certain things to be and I take full advantage of these opportunities. Knowing him thus has given me a way and a role of knowing him in a way that my siblings, did not.

For them, he is the soft-spoken, country doctor—walking slowly in his white bucks, sitting at the kitchen table at night opening mail and reading the Sunday Times. This is the comfortable version of what they chose to remember.

I remember this father, too, and in the 25 years I knew him, he provided an astute example of fathering that I have never lost the memory of or the significance of his gift of making the world a better place: The phone ringing in the dead of night, and my father dressed within minutes with his shirttail hanging out, ready to head out on a medical emergency. He would tell me to grab his bag. He never asked if I wanted to go with him, but rather it was unspoken and understood that I should accompany him.

Sometimes, we would find distraught family members that had been robbed of a loved one. I know that these calls bothered him deeply. Even at an early age, our conversations on the ride home were about the fragility of life.

I saw him in situations that my siblings never saw and for inexplicable reasons, they refuse to acknowledge this. Vivid memories of valiant efforts and fighting to save lives with a defibrillator and adrenaline needle injected directly into a patients un-beating heart. There were triumphs and there were disappointments. It was a metaphor for life and something he wanted me to understand.

My father would often make house calls: at nights, on weekends. When he died, I found drawers full of unpaid bills from dozens of patients, of all backgrounds and standing in life.

I hope that my siblings will tell their children these stories of their grandfather. Perhaps knowing him more fully, they do not have my desire, interest or self awareness to recall in such detail.

The Apostle Paul’s disappointment of bearing witness to the resurrected Christ he had never seen was such, that he spent the rest of his life inhabiting and reconstructing. I like to think my desire is akin to his; I collect details as though reassembling broken china.

If nothing else, I can be custodian of those shattered fragments.

Richard Zampella
Idylease
May 15, 2017

On the 25 Year Anniversary: Dr Arthur Zampella

Arthur Zampella, Robert Lax and Barry Ulanov Editors of the Columbia Review in 1938

Marks, Zampella, Dr Powell, Warsaw, Ferayorni: Members of the  Pre-med Society at Columbia University in 1938

My dad worked as a tour guide in Rockefeller Center while he was a pre-med student at Columbia University. He knew John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who would ask him about his studies. As a child he would stand me before the tablet in Rockefeller Center and read to me the credo he believed in from a man he knew.

“I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.”

Life is a series of moments – and as time passes some moments are indelibly seared in our memory. Some moment we can plan for, but the ones that hit us on idle Wednesday are usually the most unexpected and significant.

The last time I saw him at the age of 25, I remember wishing he were young and vibrant like the photographs I had seen of him as a young man.

For all intent and purpose, I was raised by the grandfather I never had. Arthur Dante Louis Zampella was born to Filomna & Erminio Zampella in Jersey City, NJ in 1917. I was raised with an appreciation of a different era. The influences of fashion, music and history were from a different time. Something I would not fully appreciate until I grew older.

Time has a way of making you forget some things, but I can recall that moment 25 years ago as if it were yesterday. Standing beside his lifeless body and knowing that whatever life force that made the man I adored stir... was no longer with me or within him.

I dream sometimes that I see a figure in the distance on the grounds at Idylease. I think it is him as my mind is prone to play tricks on me. As I approach, it is not him… but rather a stranger. A painful reminder that he is no longer with me. He did not leave me willingly.

As I sit at Idylease on this eve of this anniversary. The words he spoke to me two days before he left
are still with me. "One day you will own Idylease and your vision for the property will become true."

Most people I speak with that have lost a parent often tell you that there is no such thing as closure, or “getting over it”. Closure would mean forgetting the past and moving forward, For me, the loss itself reinforces my compassion, especially when I see others lose a loved one. Even though you may fill that void, you will never touch, or talk again. It becomes a part of who you are – like where you grew up or remembering reading a good book or a seeing a play.

We should always tell those close to us how we feel about them, even if they have heard it from us before. Tell them why you love them, speak with them like it’s the first time – and the last time.

Moments matter.

- Richard Zampella
On the 25th Anniversary of the Death of
Arthur Dante Louis Zampella

Dr Arthur Zampella: Youngest Editor of “The Columbia Review” in the History of Columbia University

Arthur Zampella received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University on June 1, 1938. He was admitted to the school at the age of sixteen. Zampella pursued a pre-med course in Columbia College. In addition to having held a King’s Crown Scholarship Award, he was also active in extra-curricular activities having been the youngest managing editor & associate editor of “The Columbia Review” in the entire history of the university. 

While at Columbia, Zampella was a member of the King’s Crown Advisory Cabinet and the Debate Council, a member of the university track team and the Van Am Society; Subchairman of the Dean’s Drag, annual charity event; and vice president of the Pre-Medical Society. Zampella was the recipient of gold & silver King’s Crowns, the highest extra-curricular awards of Columbia University.

While attending the Boston University School of Medicine, he was awarded an honor scholarship and upon graduation, successfully passed all examinations by the National Board of Medical Examiners which allowed him to practice in all states and territories as well as numerous foreign countries. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1941, serving as a medical officer in the Pacific during World War II.

Idylease Aerial Video

Majestically standing on Union Valley Road since the day she opened her doors to the public in 1903, Idylease remains one of Newfoundland's most beautiful and impressive structures.

For over 25 years Richard Zampella has envisioned an opportunity to celebrate the history and future of the land that he grew up on in Newfoundland, NJ. Consistent with the wishes of his late father, Dr. Arthur Zampella, the property along with it’s historic structure is finally under the stewardship of his son Richard

I hope you enjoy this tribute to this historic landmark and to my father, Arthur Zampella, M.D.

This footage was filmed over the course of several days over the skies of Idylease. Photographed and Edited by filmmaker Richard Zampella -- The video makes use of a DJI Phantom Drone with a Zenmuse 3-D Gimbal and the GoPro HERO 4 Camera.

For more info about Idylease, visit: http://www.idylease.org

Richard Zampella Launches Educational Website for Idylease

In 1903 when Idylease opened her doors there were 45 stars on the flag, Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States and Orville Wright took flight at Kitty Hawk.

Richard Zampella spent an idyllic childhood growing up on the grounds of Idylease under the watchful eye of his father Dr Arthur Zampella who owned and operated Idylease Nursing Home from 1954 until until 1972.

Both father and son shared a bond with the history of the landmark structure and would both maintain a detailed collection of ephemera and memorabilia related the property. This website was created from that collection in the summer of 2016 shortly after the purchase of Idylease by Richard Zampella in April of 2016.

The Newfoundland section of West Milford has an incredibly detailed history, from the earliest iron and ice cutting industries to farming and and the thriving tourism industry of the early 1900’s. Of all the hotels that once graced the region, only one -- a former resort hotel known as Idylease, remains standing as proof of that once thriving tourism industry. Idylease remains one of Newfoundland’s most beautiful and impressive structures.

Most new residents (and many older residents) of the township are unaware of the richness of it’s local history or possess only a passing familiarity with it. We hope this new website will inspire younger residents of West Milford to discover the local history of the area. For the older residents, it may bring back happy recollections of yesteryear. In either event, perhaps the next time you drive past Idylease, you may pause a moment with a new understanding of it’s rich role in local history from this new website.

Visit Idylease Website

Dr. Arthur Zampella: Lieutenant Commander, USN

"The Greatest Generation" -- From Left to Right:
Alfred Zampella, Dr. Arthur Zampella, Edward Zampella, Nunzio Zampella.

On this Memorial Day weekend, I celebrate and salute the service of Lieutenant Commander Arthur D. Zampella for his service in the pacific during WW II as a medical officer with the 111th United States Naval Construction Battalion.

Arthur Zampella enlisted in the United States Navy during World War Two and began his military service as a Naval Interne completing his medical studies at St. Albans Naval Hospital. He was briefly assigned to the Office of Naval Research in Washington, D.C. before being deployed as Medical Officer onboard the USS Samuel Chase which arrived at the 111th, United States Naval Construction Battalion at Calicoan Island, Philippines in 1945. He later traveled on as Medical Officer to U.S. Naval Base Hollandia in Netherlands New Guinea. After the war, Zampella returned to Weill Cornell Medical College from 1949 until 1954 to serve as Project Officer for a study on the biological effects of radiation entitled: Naval Implications of Nuclear Warfare. Zampella was honorably discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

From 1954-1992 Dr. Arthur Zampella was the owner & operator of Idylease. For more info visit: http://arthurzampella.com

Highly Contested Legal Battle Over the Fate of Idylease Results in New Owner

A three year legal battle over the fate of Idylease ended this week with the sale of the historic structure located in the Newfoundland section of West Milford.

Since 2012, The Estate of Alice Zampella unsuccessfully attempted to sell off six individual lots to different buyers. In an effort to maintain the property, beneficiary Richard Zampella filed an order with the Superior Court of New Jersey: Chancery Division.

The lawsuit challenged the intended sales by Estate Executor Clark Zampella and Susan Capadonna and their plan to break up of the estate that would have forced Idylease to face an uncertain future.

Over the course of the legal dispute, the Hon Judge Mary Marget McVeigh ordered the removal of attorney Paul Ross of Ross & Ross from the proceedings pursuant to RPC 3.7.

On April 11, 2016 Idylease was purchased by Richard Zampella who has tried to purchase the property since the death of his father in 1992.

See our new website at: www.idylease.org

Dr. Arthur Zampella: 1917-1992

On this day in 1992 Arthur Zampella was stricken with a fatal heart attack in the Newfoundland section of the Township of West Milford.

Farewell. For he shall go a long, long way
With these thou seëst — if indeed I go
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt) —
To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea

From the Arthurian Legend, Idylls of The Kings
-Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1859

For more information visit: www.arthurzampella.com

100th Birthday of Francis Albert Sinatra

Happy 100th Birthday Francis Albert Sinatra -- b. 1915 in Hoboken, NJ

Married to Nancy Barbato at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City. He rented his tuxedo for the wedding from the family retail clothing store at 279 Newark Avenue. Zampella's Clothes was considered "The Brooks Brothers of New Jersey". Frank would later agree to perform at a benefit arranged by my father Dr. Arthur Zampella to purchased a snow plow to dig out the mountain-top town in the Campangna Region of Italy.

Veterans Day 2015

Each year our country honors Veterans in a day of celebration and remembrance of those who have served our nation in the Armed Forces.

"The Greatest Generation" -- Right Photo -- From Left to Right:
Alfred Zampella, Dr. Arthur Zampella, Edward Zampella, Nunzio Zampella.

My Grandmother, Filomena Zampella received a letter from James Forrestal, United States Secretary of Defense -- Personally thanking her for the service of her sons in WWII.

Richard Zampella is a US Army Veteran who served as an Intelligence Analyst with the 50th Armored Division from 1983 until 1998. He was stationed with: The US Army Intelligence Center & School at Ft Huachuca Arizona & A/4Bn/39th Infantry at Fort Dix, NJ.

Read More: http://www.richardzampella.com

October 4th – Commemorates the Birth of St Francis of Assisi

Richard Zampella Returns the Tomb of St. Francis of Assisi 37 Years Later

October 4th marks the birth of - St. Francis of Assisi. He renounced his family's wealth and founded the Friars Minor (Franciscan Order).

In 1977, I traveled to Assisi in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is the birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208. On that trip I was 11 years old and brought there by my father Arthur Dante Louis Zampella (1917-1992). My father was born a Roman Catholic and despite his eventual conversion to a protestant, he never forgot his humble Catholic beginnings . Throughout his life, my father was sensitive to the unique needs pertaining to the care and protection of the elderly, animals and children. As a result, it was fitting that he would be interested in visiting the birthplace of Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology.

It was a late afternoon in 1977 that we arrived in the provincial town of Assisi. The Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Francesco, Latin: Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor—commonly known as the Franciscan Order—where St. Francis was born and died. The basilica is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy.

Halfway down the nave of the lower basilica one can descend into the crypt via a double stairway. This burial place of St. Francis which was discovered in 1818. His remains had been hidden by Brother Elias to prevent the spread of his relics in medieval Europe. By order of Pope Pius IX a crypt was built under the lower basilica. It was designed by Pasquale Belli with precious marble in neo-classical style. But it was redesigned in bare stone in neo-Romanesque style by Ugo Tarchi between 1925 and 1932.

Upon entering the crypt and paying solemn respect to the tomb of St. Francis, I sensed a hesitation in my father that suggested that he wanted to stay for a moment. I stepped to the rear of the chapel and peered out from behind a column in order to see reason for the delay. From that spot, I observed him kneel and genuflect to signify both his respect and adoration to St. Francis. Upon rising, he turned where we caught each others eyes. In that moment we both understand that he had shown me a deeply personal side of himself. We never spoke a word, and I know he was glad that I was able to see this aspect of him. He took my hand where we quietly ascended the stairs of the basilica together.

In 2013 I returned to the crypt of St Francis to photograph the chapel and quietly reflect upon his experience with my father 37 years earlier.