My recent trip to jog every street in Niles - as a contemporary de Tocqueville (look it up) - took me over to the southern part of the Village where I found a street that I didn’t even know existed. Anyone know what I’m talking about? Many of you probably pass it by every day but have no idea it’s there.
I started off on a glorious Saturday morning around Home Depot where my son was umpiring a baseball game. Since this area borders the forest preserve, it made for quite a few dead end streets. I guess having the forest preserve as your back yard would have made childhood a bit more interesting - the dead ends would have made street baseball and hockey a little easier.
Further south took me past the Police station and then past the waterfall and war memorial. Right behind this spot is Newark Ave. If you have never gone down this way, you wouldn’t know that this street basically bisects St. Adelbert's Cemetery. It’s only the cemetery on both sides and as you walk through it almost feels like you are out in the country. It appears to run about a half a mile and would make a great place for anyone wishing to get a run or bike ride outside of the busy traffic. It’s very isolated; wonder why I didn’t know about that when I was a teenager?
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Take a look at the map and some of the pictures. Not a Niles that most of us probably see most of the time.
Niles really is a beautiful place - get out there and enjoy it! I think I've covered at least half so far. Wave if you see me!!
