Down the Hill, Over the River, Up the Hill

As you drive north on route 22
Don’t drive too fast, but enjoy the view

Wild flower field and trees galore
Rock walls, lake views, and much much more

Then voila’, you’re in Willsboro
Look all around, be sure to be thorough

A village of sort that one might forget
As it sits and straddles the river Boquet

But it has stores, real entrepreneurs
One with unbeaten meat and full cans of Coors

It has gravel and stone for sale by the ton
Once sold by the father, now sold by the son

There’s even a local Tower of Babel
Known to all who subscribe as TV by cable

There’s antiques and junque, and items quite used
Many quite tired, a few look abused

For a work-out drop in at Noblewood Park
You can swim all day, and drink until dark

Or tennis courts that are open to all
But alas no toilet if you hear nature’s call

And golf, of course, on the road to The Point
The holes test your skill, the terrain every joint

Restaurants are many, some good, some OK
But all offer drinks, it’s The North Country Way

But to really commit a gastronomical sin
Have a Michigan (buried) at the Dew Drop Inn

Or to feed the mind, make a real knowledge gain
Take an hour or two to visit the Paine

There’s a museum too with views of the past
And a center for seniors, all good to the last

So that’s Willsboro, with a Point and a Heights
But nothing is better than one of its sights

It’s the river that flows all the way to Champlain
And like all rivers, it’s never the same

Ice in the winter, flooding in spring
In summer and fall, it has beauty to bring

So Willsboro has no need for regret
For its greatest treasure is the river Boquet

Jeff Moredock ~ July 13, 2015

Boquet River Association (BRASS) (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
It Takes All Kinds To Raise A Village (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
The Annual Essex 4th of July Parade (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
The Transfer Station (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Excess Day in the Village of Essex (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

About Jeff Moredock

Bred and buttered in Dry Tavern, PA, Jeff Moredock was, before he gainfully retired in 2004, a farmer, folksinger, minister, teacher, coach chaplain, headmaster, and a chief operating officer. Married to a saint, he and his wife, Etta, have two children and four grandchildren. They have been summer residents of Essex since 1980.

He first began writing poetry in 1979 when he was the head of North Country School in Lake Placid. In a fit of scotch-fueled frenzy he wrote a long narrative poem that included the names of the school’s 87 children, 25 teachers, 10 staff members, and countless community pets. Read aloud at the school’s annual Christmas dinner, it received sufficient praise to encourage him to continue the practice through his career as headmaster at three schools. More poetry followed, most often poetic testimonials for various friends’ birthdays, weddings, and retirements.

Poems about Essex started to bubble up about the turn of the century, and since then he has written more than a dozen, all noting and celebrating people, places, and events in and around Essex. He has published a collection of poems, Poems from Essex & Elsewhere and a collection of short stories, Nine Holes, Nine Lives: The Front Nine. He has also written an unpublished mystery novel, A Zebra in the Lake, set in Essex. Suffice to say, he loves words and he loves Essex.