CHAPTER FIFTEEN—LEARNING TO SWIM IN CORTLANDT LAKE

Left to right: Billy Wert, Eustelle Palmer, Eugene Palmer and girls whose names the author does not recall. Teenagers enjoying sun and water at Cortlandt Lake.

 

Chapter Fifteen—Learning to Swim in Cortlandt Lake

     I learned to swim when I was nine years old. It was the summer of 1948. Cortlandt Lake was pristine and the beaches were not crowded. There were two beaches, one with sand by the Clubhouse, and the other a dirt and grass clearing off Tryon Circle and Putnam Road. I began my swimming in an area that was corded with floats. A sign said that it was "for beginners only."

     I remember how my brother John tried to teach me to swim. It usually ended with a head dunk and "I quit because you quit." He left to swim with friends. Alone, I allowed air to fill my baggy swimsuit and I did the dog paddle with my feet touching the shallow lake bottom. Eventually the air in my swim suit was all the help I needed. Then one day I found myself swimming without any support. It was an exuberant experience, a confirmation that I could achieve almost anything if I persisted.

     Soon I was swimming with a modified dog paddle, side stroke and back stroke. I swam to the island and back to the beach near the Clubhouse with John and his friends. I dove and jumped off the diving platform.

     We used to take available rowboats to the middle of the lake and use them as diving platforms. Once my brother overturned a boat, jumped into the water and disappeared. We looked around and didn’t see him come to the surface. Several minutes passed. Some of the older boys dove to the lake bottom and swam underwater searching for him. Exhausted, they returned to the surface. While they talked about the search, they heard John laughing. He was hiding inside the overturned boat in an air space. I remembered that trick and used it to great effect while swimming with girls a few years later.

     Years later our family dog joined us in the lake. Her name was “Lady.” She was a black and white English Setter. John and I would enter the lake near Tryon Circle. The dog followed us. We swam across the lake to the beach near the Clubhouse. We walked to the convenience store, which was located downstairs at the Clubhouse. We bought three dixie cups of ice cream and gave the dog one as a reward for swimming with us. She ate the ice cream quicker than we did. This activity, the swim across the lake and the ice cream reward, became a regular summer undertaking. It cost us fifteen cents per swim.