NJ Urban Explorer’s ‘Weird’ Book Tour Is Wrapping Up In Newark

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County photojournalist Wheeler Antabanez can lay claim to something that very few people – if any – will be able to duplicate when the long-awaited Essex-Hudson Greenway is finally built.

He has “walked the Old Boonton Line.”

Last year, the Montclair resident took one last stroll on the abandoned Erie tracks before they were ripped up in preparation for the Essex/Hudson Greenway, a massive hiking and biking path that will run through Jersey City, Secaucus, Kearny, Newark, Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and Montclair. Read More: Essex-Hudson Greenway Closer But Work May Take Years, Officials Say

Antabanez used the drone images and video that he captured on his hike to produce a book and movie about his journey. And according to the veteran urban explorer, “Walking the Old Boonton Line” captures a last look at an iconic, historic railroad.

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Antabanez has also been hosting narrated video presentations of his journey. The grand finale of his tour will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at the Newark Public Library, 5 Washington Street. Antabanez will be taking questions from the audience and signing copies of his book at the event, which is free and open to the public. Learn more at his website.

Antabanez, who has written for Weird NJ, has been sharing some of these intriguing peeks into history on social media, where his posts have inspired some serious nostalgia.

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