Wow, where do I start with this place? This place was my summer home for many years.
Let me try and explain the Ravine Club if you have no clue what I’m taking about. It was a swimming club located in West Trenton right next to the New Jersey State Police complex.
You drive down a long road and it felt like you were driving through a forest. You always had to watch out for deer crossing the road and there it was on your right.
The Ravine Club! It contained a full length pool where swim meets would occur, a shallow area for little kids, a deep end which contained a diving board and the depths of the water went to 12 feet.
I can’t forget about the baby pool and the ping pong table that greeted you when you walked in, and the delicious snack bar.
When you walked in to the “Ravine” or “the pool” as we called it, you would dodge ping pong balls while signing into the member book.
A lifeguard manned the sign-in book around a little white circular metal table with a big umbrella in the middle of it. After signing in and making sure you didn’t interfere with the intense ping pong game happening to your left, you walked into paradise. A beautiful blue pool with white and blue chaise lounges surrounding this oasis.
I think where my story started with the Ravine was when my brother George got a summer job working with his best friend Paul in the “Snack Bar.” At this point of my life, I only heard about the Ravine but my family weren’t members yet.
My best friend Karl and his family were members and Karl took me as his guest one day in the summer.
I’ve heard about this magical place so many times but I’ve never been there. I expected it to be Disney World and it was just that!
Not because there were rides and attractions, it was because all of the public school girls that I had crushes on, were at this pool. Thank you Karl, we hit the jackpot!
My parents became members of the Ravine a couple years later and now I felt official.
Karl and I would go to the pool every day in the summer and would most likely get in trouble aka “benched.”
When you get “benched” at the Ravine, it means you were being too loud, or just plain being a pain in the you know what. The latter describes Karl and I to a T. We sat on those blue benches a lot.
Two catholic school boys sitting across the pool from eachother not able to leave our bench. Our parents seldom would come to the pool and would post up on the lawn.
“The lawn” was in the way back of the pool near the volleyball court and the field where ferocious soccer matches would take place. My parents, The Abel’s and the Kelly’s(didn’t smoke) hung out there because you could smoke and not be judged.
A few feet away was the “cool” table. The “cool table” consisted of the Fisher/Lore kids and their families. Karl and I always made fun of the cool table because we thought we were the cool table but after a few years of being at the Ravine club and the firehouse dances, we united forces with the cool table and all became friends.
These friendships lasted for a very long time and over years, became family. I have to shout out the Zieglers, the Cameron’s, the Lazarick’s, the Chmielewski’s, and the Rutkowski’s as they let Karl and I integrate ourselves with their group.
Bringing guests who were not members of “The Pool” was a big thing during the summer.
All of my buddies wanted to come during the day and hang out. This place defined my childhood and I’m so glad Karl and his parents took me that one day.
The Ravine Club is currently closed and it makes me sad. I hope one day soon someone opens it back up so kids like me and my friends experienced what we experienced.
Life long friendships, sometimes relationships, but overall just a family atmosphere. Can the next person who owns it just pave the driveway? Those rocks ruined a ton of tires!
Donnie Black was born and grew up in Ewing Township. He currently works at radio station XTU in Philadelphia as a producer, on air personality and promotions director.
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