26.2 miles in Leonardo: A Small Community with a Big Personality

Bernie Daus – Middletown BOE Candidate

My 26.2-mile Community Run through Leonardo took me through Bill Kunkel Memorial Park and Kunkel SK8 Park, past Quick Stop, the Post Office, First Aid Station, Leonardo Beach, the lighthouse, the State Marina, Brevent & Community Firehouses, Beacon Hill Country Club, and the American Legion. I also made my way through Croydon Hall, past Bayshore Middle School and Leonardo Elementary School, and, of course, plenty of side streets in between.

Leonardo is a complete community. For a relatively small place, it has just about every civic amenity a town needs: shops, schools, parks, firehouses, first aid, a post office, marina, beach, ballfields, and a Wawa! But listing those places really doesn’t explain Leonardo.  The most prevalent thing in Leonardo is moxie.

“Nardo,” as some folks call it, has always had a gritty energy and attitude that seems bigger than its geography. There is an edgy personality here. A little toughness. A little humor. A little irreverence. Clerks took some of that Nardo attitude and introduced it to the rest of the world.  Leonardo’s attitude is hard to contain, Kevin Smith was simply channeling it and showcasing it.  

And I can say all of that with some authority because this is where I grew up.

Five generations of my family have called Leonardo home, and Leonardo is where most of my own childhood memories were made. I was raised on the wet-side of Leonardo, and from 1986 through 1991, I was one of the town’s paperboys - so I got to know this place and the people thoroughly.  

As a kid, Leonardo seemed to have everything I needed. I was able to attend K-8th grade without leaving Leonardo.  As an energetic boy, I had a lot to do - we had great fishing in the summer, beaches to swim, a park, and endless places to ride our bikes. We had neighborhood stores where I could buy candy, soda or a sub at Slaters! After delivering the newspapers, I would sometimes end up playing tackle football near the old Community Firehouse, or hoops at Kunkel.

One of the things I remember most is the view. From our house, and especially from the beach, New York was always sitting there on the horizon. The Verrazzano Bridge rising above the bay made Leonardo feel connected to someplace much bigger while still feeling like our own little corner of Middletown.

Part of this run happened during a nor’easter, which seemed strangely appropriate.

The streets were quiet during the storm, traffic was light. The wind pushed the smell of the bay well inland, and the water too.  You could smell the saltwater several blocks from the shore. Along some waterfront streets, the high-tide lines were still visible from the moon tides and flooding from the storm. Anyone who grew up along this part of the Bayshore understands that the water is both part of Leonardo’s appeal and it is a danger – a bargain that comes with living here.  Running those streets in the wind, rain, and flooding brought back memories of the numerous nor’easters we endured here.  

Some streets looked almost exactly as I remembered them from my paper route. Others have changed. Kids who grew up here moved away, and new families moved in.  Businesses changed too - the dive bars are now a fence company and a physical therapy place, so…. some buildings were repurposed. But the basic personality of

Leonardo is remarkably durable.

Leonardo has moxie, is bold, and is independent. This is a place where the personality of the community seems much bigger than the few square miles it occupies.  And after 26.2 miles through the streets where I grew up, that may be what stood out to me most. Leonardo has never needed to be polished to be special.