The “Depe Voll” ravine played a very prominent role in the history of Wyckoff. It is likely that this natural wonder was created in prehistoric times by a melting glacier that pushed, scraped and carved thousands of tons of rock and soil down the hill toward what is now Goffle Road. The ancestors of the Lenape Indians are thought to have first settled in the area about ten thousand years ago.

The Lenapes called the ravine “Muksukemuk,” and the original Dutch settlers of the area called it “Diepte Voll” (later shortened to “Depe Voll”), which according to some accounts translates to “deep fall.” It certainly an apt description of the waterfalls all along the ravine. The 1876 Bergen atlas noted it as “Cold Brook,” which it certainly is, especially on hot summer days.The 1995 U.S. Geological Survey captioned it as “Deep Brook.” To many Wyckoff residents, it is simply known as “the ravine.”

A Favorite of Walkers and Joggers
Dutch settlers arrived in northern New Jersey in larger numbers in the eighteenth century, and the upper portion of the ravine at Grandview Avenue was the site of a mill owned by the Blauvelt family. (There is the remnant of a stairway leading down from Ravine Avenue into the ravine near the intersection of Ravine and Grandview.)  In 1809, Ravine Avenue was constructed along the northerly end of the ravine to link Grandview Avenue to Goffle Road. Now a favorite of walkers, joggers and children who walk to school, Ravine Avenue between Lafayette and Grandview avenues is an excellent vantage point from which to enjoy the ravine and the woods still remaining.
In the later part of the nineteenth century, Judge Preston Stevenson, a gentleman farmer, took over the over portion of the ravine from descendants of the Blauvelt family. His butter molds were imprinted with “Depe Voll” in honor of the ravine.

Account of the Paterson Rambling Club, 1907
Because of its great beauty, this beautiful deep gorge was the site of many excursions by naturalists-botanists and geologists-and hundreds of students over the last century. Joseph Rydings, the leader of the Paterson Rambling Club, reporting on one excursion around 1907, wrote, The Ramblers have known and visited [Deep Brook GIen] for years, and its charms have been revealed at last to many lovers of Nature outside the Rambling Club. Man may thirst for fame, but Sylvan Nature is a shy, retiring maiden who wants no intrusion on her solitude, and though the poet seems to pity the flower that is born to blush unseen, the flower itself may be supposed to rejoice in such a condition.
These thoughts occupied the mind of one of the Ramblers last Sunday, as he wandered through the glen, bemoaning the disappearance of the old woodland favorites, which Flora had cherished and cultivated in this sequestered spot ever since the Red Man dwelt within the grove. The wintergreen plant, once so common here, is almost extinct. [Note: Wintergreen was still to be found in the Ravine in as recently as the 1950s.]
[In the south] we ...passed through meadows watered by the sprightly little Goffle Brook, until we came to the beginning of the enchanted delI which goes by the name of Deep-Brook GIen. Here the Ramblers were met by Mr. Van Blarcum, who welcomed them and gave them full permission to wander over his own grounds…. In this way the Ramblers went on until the end of the ravine was reached. Here the woodland path gives place to the public highway [Grandview Avenue ].
Boy Scout excursions have searched for—and found—arrowheads in the ravine. For many long-time residents of Wyckoff, it was the site where many summer afternoons were spent. After a heavy rain, the sight and sound of the huge flood of water that runs through the ravine is spectacular.
The ravine is truly one of North Jersey’s greatest sites, rivaled only by Paterson’s Great Falls, and it has brought both joy and awe to the faces of all who seen it. We have squandered much of this natural wonder, which is why, now more than ever, it is important to protect what remains for future generations to enjoy.