Recollections of Joe Ragucci.
As I was growing up we always had a backyard pool. This post is about the 2 major pools, one in Port Reading as I was growing up and one in Carteret at Rose & Joe’s first home.
Larch Street Pool:
When I was growing up on Larch Street in Port Reading, we had a 24 foot round pool, 4 foot high, that took up half our yard. My dad (Dominic) insisted that we assemble and disassemble the pool each year. Each year we would assemble the pool to be ready for our Memorial Day picnic. The pool consisted of a 6 foot long curved aluminum top and bottom frame that connected to 4 foot round posts at the top and bottom. The bottom was filled with sand with extra sand along the frame edge. Inside this we would put the 24 foot, 6 foot high pool liner which was held onto the top frame with a 1 foot wide aluminum cap. Then we would start to fill it up with water going inside to make sure it didn’t form creases or shift from the weight of the water. Putting it up was a real ordeal.
My Dad created a filter by using a 55 gallon drum filled with coal that he got from work. It worked much better than a commercial filter and lasted all summer without major cleaning. We used the pool very often usually alone but when we had picnics with friends and family. At the end of the summer we would drain and disassemble the pool and bring it into the basement where my Dad would repair, repaint and store it for the spring. The pool lasted a long time this way but it was an ordeal. I think we eventually gave the pool away when we grew up and didn’t use it any more.
Monroe Avenue Pool: When Rose and I bought our first home on on Monroe Avenue in Carteret, It came with a 32 foot long, 16 foot wide oval pool that was directly behind our back door. (Fortunately we lived on a corner and had lots of space on the side yard including a basketball court!). We were excited to have a large pool but were shocked when we uncovered it that first spring. The previous owners had put some chemical in the pool that caused all the calcium and other minerals in the water to be deposited on the side walls. It was thick and crustly. We had to drain the water and then use acid to strip the mineral deposit off the pool liner. It was difficult (and probably very dangerous) but we used gloves, and glasses and were able to remove it all. But we also discovered that the filter had been leaking for many years onto the side wall and had dissolved the aluminum wall in that area. My Dad got a new sheet of aluminum and we riveted it in place and then covered it with a protective lining. My Dad created a filter out of a 55 gallon drum with coal as a filter.
We filled the pool and used it many, many years (without ever disassembling it). It was a great asset when we had family picnics. It was very common for me to go into the pool when it was dark or after working around the house to cool down. When Rosalie was born we added a chain-link fence all around it for protection. It lasted until we moved.
