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Clifton takes its name from the cliffs of Garret Mountain, the basalt ridge that rises above its Albion Place neighborhood, and from there the city spreads east across Passaic County to the banks of the Passaic River. With just over 90,000 residents it is one of New Jersey's largest cities, yet it reads as a patchwork of neighborhoods such as Allwood, Athenia, Delawanna and Botany Village.
A Lenape deed of 1679 opened the land to European farmers, and it stayed rural as part of Acquackanonk Township until voters chose to become the City of Clifton in 1917. Dutch sandstone farmhouses survive from that era, while the Dundee Dam and Dundee Canal recall the mills that later powered Botany Village. From 1903 a federal Animal Quarantine Station here held imported horses, cattle and zoo animals.
Today people come for the deep-fried rippers at Rutt's Hut, the Olmsted-designed Weasel Brook Park and the house museum on Valley Road. Clifton Commons covers shopping and movies, NJ Transit trains run to Hoboken, and Paterson's Great Falls and the Garret Mountain overlook are a short drive away.
A roadside hot dog stand opened by Abe and Anna Rutt in 1928, famous for the ripper, a dog deep-fried until its casing splits, and for a tangy house relish of mustard, pickle and cabbage. One side is a take-out counter, the other a bar and dining room. Order a 'cremator' if you like yours charred black.
A sandstone farmhouse with a gambrel roof, built around 1817 by Anna and John Vreeland and later owned for more than a century by the Hamilton dairy-farming family. In 1973 the city moved it about 1,000 feet along Valley Road to save it from demolition, and it now serves as Clifton's house museum. Check opening days before you go.
A long masonry dam across the Passaic River between Clifton and Garfield, built with the Dundee Canal between 1858 and 1861 to send water power to the mills downstream. It was the lowest hydropower site on the river, just above the tidal reach. The spill is most dramatic after heavy rain; view it from the riverside streets.
A 19-acre Passaic County park laid out by the Olmsted Brothers firm along Weasel Brook, with lawns, mature shade trees and paths that follow the stream. At its heart stands the Vanderhoef-Westervelt House, a Dutch-era stone home on the National Register of Historic Places. An easy spot for a stroll or a picnic lunch.
Clifton's northernmost neighborhood grew up around the Botany Worsted Mills and the Dundee Canal that powered them, and its compact blocks once housed European mill workers. Today Latin American bakeries, cafes and shops fill the storefronts. Come hungry at lunchtime, then look for surviving stretches of the old canal nearby.
A large open-air shopping center beside Route 3 with roughly 450,000 square feet of stores, chain restaurants and a 16-screen AMC movie theater. It is the city's easy answer to errands, a meal and a film on a rainy day. Route 3 traffic builds at rush hour, so aim for mid-morning or a later evening visit.
A city-run art gallery at the municipal complex on Clifton Avenue, with rotating exhibitions of regional painters, photographers and craft artists, and a sculpture park where large outdoor works are set around the lawns. The outdoor pieces can be seen anytime, but check gallery hours before planning to go inside.
A small wooded preserve where a water-filled stretch of the historic Morris Canal survives. The 19th-century canal carried coal barges across northern New Jersey, climbing hills on inclined planes. Short paths follow the old channel and its tree-lined banks. Wear sturdy shoes, as trails can be muddy after rain.
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