At a time of year when everyone in North Jersey seems to be running around in circles, Shelly Frattarola took time Sunday to walk around in circles, slowly and deliberately.

Frattarola led a group of about a dozen hikers and nature lovers through the twists and turns of the Turtle Peace Labyrinth at the Teaneck Creek Conservancy. “Clear your mind, follow the path and get in touch with yourself,” she told the group, as they stepped off onto a narrow path laid out in a clearing in the park.

Labyrinths are elaborate designs, installed in the floor of a building or outdoors in public places, with patterns that guide walkers in a spiraling path to the center of the design. The ancient Greeks believed they could trap evil spirits. Medieval architects used them in cathedrals to symbolize man’s path to God. And at Teaneck Creek, labyrinth walkers often contemplate the life cycles of the park itself, from dumping ground to reclaimed natural habitat.

The 46-acre nature preserve, part of Overpeck County Park, sits alongside the intersection of Routes 80 and 95 in Teaneck. The construction crews that built those highways dumped concrete slabs and other debris there, and for decades the land served as Teaneck’s town dump and became the final resting place of stoves, refrigerators and other abandoned appliances.

“When we started here, this was nothing but a bunch of weeds and old refrigerators,” said George Reskakis, one of the volunteers who carted off rusty refrigerators and built hiking trails to create the park.

The volunteers recycled the construction rubble into a thing of beauty, carting chunks of concrete into a grassy knoll at the heart of the park and using the slabs to create the labyrinth’s pathways and a circular sitting area at the center of the labyrinth.

Larger concrete slabs were used to create “Migration Mileposts” along one of the park’s path. Carved into each slab is information about one of the species of birds that fly over the park during migration.

Three nature trails opened to the public in May. The trails were laid out with a nod to their Jersey roots, Reskakis said. They converge at a “roundabout” or pedestrian traffic circle. “This wouldn’t be New Jersey if we didn’t have a roundabout,” he said.

The Teaneck Creek labyrinth was designed by artist Ariane Burgess in the shape of a turtle, in homage to the original walkers on the land, the Leni-Lenape Indians, who believed the Earth was formed when a giant turtle rose out of the sea.

Before beginning the labyrinth walk, Frattarola performed a Leni- Lenape “cleansing” ceremony intended to drive away negative energy. She waved a smoldering bundle of sage around each walker as they entered the labyrinth.

Frattarola, who lives near the park, became involved in the reclamation effort five years ago. She said she often walks the labyrinth after work or on weekends and said following the path is a form of meditation for her. “It’s amazing how wonderfully meditative and contemplative you feel. It sort of puts you in a different state of mind,” she said.

As he walks the trails leading to the labyrinth, Reskakis looks and listens for signs the land’s reclamation has come full circle signs such as a pair of mating foxes, or a nesting hawk. But he’s still waiting for one sign: the sound of spring peepers, tiny frogs that signal a restored wetlands.

“We were out here this spring listening real hard for them, but not yet,” he said.

* *

E-mail: verdon@northjersey.com

(c) 2006 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.