On Friday, April 26, 2013, three other volunteers from the Whitall House and myself took the self-guided walking tour of Historic Woodbury and ended our tour with the second part of the EXCELLENT Quilt exhibit at the Jessup Hunter Lawrence House on Broad St. which is the Gloucester County Historical Society Museum. Before I forget, here is an upcoming event there:
My Garden of Quilts - Botanical Textiles, Quilt program by Karen Dever plus quilt exhibit Thurs. May 16 at 7:00 p.m.
I will certainly be going there for that. One of the things I admire most at any exhibit at the GCHSM is the level of knowledge and expertise of the curator and the volunteers. On Friday, were were triple lucky in having two GCHSM volunteers join us who gave us additional insights into the needlepoint samplers and the world of quilting. Two other guests that day were expert quilters.
My grandmother was a quilter. I have such wonderful memories of her sewing a quilt stretched out across her bed as the seabreeze blew in the window of her upstairs apartment in Ocean City, NJ. I have two of her quilts but one is disintegrating - a Sunbonnet Babies quilt that I have used since early childhood and washed innumerable times, sadly. Also, I have my great-grandmother's sewing maching which is especially poignant to me as both my great-grand and paternal grandmother supported themselves and their families by sewing when they were widowed.
The day was perfect for a walking tour and I found the buildings connected to the Green family medicinal empire especially interesting. There is the Green carriage house, the Green Laboratory and the Green Castle, a former hotel which now sports ominous red signs with white X's on them. What does that mean? No one we spoke with seemed to know what those signs portend.
Anyone who loves history could weep at the continual destruction of our historic landmarks. The fight goes on. Schools want to take wooded reserves and make soccer fields (Saddler's Woods), and a church wants to take The Green Castle and demolish it for new building.
Ah well, it is best to look at the glass half full and enjoy what we have without becoming too distraught about what we are losing (unless we are willing to get involved in the fight - and I'm too old now and tired).
We had lunch at Charlie Brown's, itself a former historic tavern, and I can most heartily recommend the salad bar which is well known in the area for freshness and variety!
If you are interested in the walking tour, you can get the free booklet, with photos of all the houses and descriptions as well as a map, at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library, which is just behind the Museum and has a parking lot. This is the best time of the year for historic town walks because you can also enjoy the gardens!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
ps. Photos were taken and will be added in the new way, as a page added as you scroll down my blog to the bottom.
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