Still the Garden State

Hello!  If you read the last blog, you might be wondering what a vegan eats.
I can't speak for the others but I can tell you my diet.  I have a couple of special considerations:  1.  I don't cook  2.  I love vegetables and fruits

Each morning, for breakfast, I have Bare Naked cereal with strawberries, a banana and either rice milk or almond breeze - all of which I buy at Shop-Rite in Bellmawr. 

For lunch I have crackers and hummus and baby carrots (all my veg and fruits are organic and all are available at Shop-Rite, though I do buy from farm stands and local farm markets both to support local grown produce efforts and to get fresh stuff).

For dinner, every day, I have a BIG salad:  a bed or organic baby leaf spinach, chick peas, black olives, broccolli florets, grated carrots, and other kinds of vegetables in season and for variety such as cauliflower and peppers and famous Jersey tomatoes.  I use raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

For snacks, I eat a lot of peanuts (in the shell and unsalted) or walnuts and cranberries, or almonds. 

I drink green tea with honey, or any number of other varieties of tea - organic and decaf.

In summer I supplement with ears of corn and in winter with sweet potatoes and I make a good vegetarian chili and lots of vegetable soup.

My needs are simple.  For bigger and better recipes, new vegans or vegetarians should get magazines and books with recipes.

New, small town markets are springing up all over the place.  The venerable one in Collingswood offers music and a place to sit down and eat as well as lots of vendors with a wide array of delicious fruits, vegetables and breads.  I've heard there is one in Westmont and another in Haddonfield.  I'll try to check them out this summer and give some reviews and special notes of good things to buy.

If you wonder how a vegan eats out - there are a surprising number of options.  I go to the movies at the Rave Cinema in Voorhees and have lunch at the Olive garden where I get the soup and salad lunch, minnestrone soup.

Also, I like to eat at Bankock City Restaurant, next door to the cinema, in Eagle Plaza.  They have many kinds of vegan and vegetarian selections.  In Collingswood there is a vegetarian/Asian food restaurant, and Salad Works and also Tortilla Press has some good items.  Most places, such as diners, have spanikopita (spinache pie) and vegeburgers now, and there are lots of food substitutes at the Shop Rite near the organic vegetables.

Last year I heard a great lecture from a big farm concern in far South Jersey, it was at Bivalve at a 2nd Friday evening, and the farmer said his brother had split off and gone into organics.  It is the future!

Off to Bankock City right now to see an old school friend for lunch and a movie - a good thing to do on a 95 degree day.  My dog and i visited Big Timber Creek Park but cut our walk short this morning because even though we left at 8:30 and it was fairly cool, by 10:00 my dog was lying down in the shade and refusing to move!
Happy Trails!  May they all be shady - Jo Ann

Historic Vegetarianism

It may come as a surprise to recent vegetarians or non-vegetarians, but the vegetarian movement had a very early start in America and is not at all a new idea.  One of the most famous of early vegetarians was New Jersian John Woolman.  You may have seen my post on visiting his historic house 99 Branch Street, Mount Holly.

Anyhow, I've been a vegetarian for the most part of the last 40 years or so and it was interesting to me that two of my friends attended the American Vegan Garden Party in Malaga on Sunday, May 26th.  As soon as my yoghurt and honey are gone, I'm going vegan too.  My daughter was a vegan for some years and it gave me an insight into the possibility of it. 
My  motives are both health and ethics. 

If you are interested in learning more the American Vegan Society is at 56-72 Dinshah Lane, Malaga, NJ 08328, phone 856-694-2887 and
www.americanvegan.org.  
I'm joining the society and plan to attend the next Garden Party.  I'll let you know when it will be held. 

Here is a quote from the journal of John Woolman, influential Quaker theologian

The Exercise of Cruelty ~ John Woolman

"...as by his breath the flame of life was kindled in all animal and sensitive creatures, to say we love God ... and at the same time exercise cruelty toward the least creature ... was a contradiction in itself."

John Woolman, 1772

Happy Trails!  Jo Ann

Genealogy News

I just received an e-mail notice with the following information for anyone interested in family history in our area:
"On June 1st, there are two events happening of interest to genealogists. The Genealogical Society of New Jersey is having their Spring Genealogy Program in Burlington County. The topics and speakers for the day are:

• "No Person Shall...Gallop Horses In the Streets" - Using Court Records to Tell the Story of Our Ancestors' Lives by Judy G. Russell, CG, CGL
• Quiltmaking That Saw Us Through WWII by Sue Reich
• Quaker Genealogy Research by Dr. C. Miller Biddle
• Building A Family From Circumstantial Evidence by Judy G. Russell, CG, CGL
• With Needle and Scroll presented by Sue Reich
• This Land Is Your Land! House and Property Research presented by Larry Fermi
• Burlington County Genealogical Resources presented by Judith M. Olsen

I hope many of you are able to attend this great opportunity! Click here for more information and details about registering by May 28th. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njgsnj/pdf/2013SpringProgram.pdf

Also on June 1st, if you are planning on staying in Salem County, we will have a booth set up at the Pennsville Historical Society's Farm Day at Church Landing Farm."
Once we were the Garden State and if you are a hiker as I am and spend time in the woods and beside the creeks and rivers, you know what a blessedly watery place we live.  This morning as I walked my dog, Trixie beside the Big Timber Creek in the light shower, I couldn't help but feel how lucky we are to live in such a green and verdant place.  I would like to learn more about the farms and farm communities.  I'll be visiting a farm market held at Collingswood in the morning on June 1st, so I don't know if I can make the Pennsville Historical Society's Farm Day but things can change in an instant and I may end up there instead. 

A Quiet Memorial Day weekend

Before I blog about the weekend in the abandoned cities, I have a question:  Does anyone know where Lebanon Lake is?  It is the site of the Cheesman Millk but I have driven all over and searched the web and cannot find the location of this lake.  It must be large and it must be nearby, and I've ssen it on maps, but can't make out the bordering streets.  If you know please contact me at    wrightj45@yahoo.com - Thanks in advance for any help.

Sunday, a friend and I decided to visit Bordentown and Burlington cities.  They were like ghost towns, which is fine by me.  On Friday, coming home from Estell Manor, I had passed over a solid log jam of cars on 42 on the way to the seashore, and the same on 295 and Black Horse Pike. 
It was a good weekend to stay home, or at least, close to home.  So in Bordentown, we stopped for lunch after walking the charming streets and visiting the Iris Garden, which had passed its prime, but it was still pretty.
We ate in an Italian restaurant, but were shocked to discover, on paying the bill, that we had been charged $3 or every decaf coffee refill!  Our salads were $10 each, but our coffee was almost equal! 

What made up for it a  little was stopping at the OLD BOOK SHOP OF BORDENTOWN, open Tues. to Sun. also from 11 to 5, but I recommend you call and let them know you are coming if you are going there especially to buy something.  (609) 324-9909.  Their web address is:
www.oldbooshopofbordentown.com
I bought several pamphlet type booklets there
1.   One Hudred and Fiftieth Aniiversary of the Battle of Red Bank
2.  Letters and Papers of Richard Somers
3.  An Archaeological Journey at Point Breeze
4.  Old Farms and Farmhouses in New Jersey
5.  Gloucester County in the Civil War
When I finish reading them, I will donate them to the appropriate places.*

Next we headed over to Burlington City to visit St. Mary's Episcopal Church and walk in the churchyard and also to go down and look at the Delaware River.  While there, we stopped in to browse at the  HISTORIC BURLINGTON ANTIQUES & ART EMPORIUM.  It is open 7 days a week from 11-5, which was quite a relief because almost everything else in both towns was closed.  My friend Nancy was looking for intereting patio furnishings, I was looking at everything but my favorite thing was a wooden picnic basket lined in red checked gingham with a checkers game painted on the inside of the lid.  It was very reasonable too, only $15, but I rarely have that kind of picnic anymore.  Their web address is
www.antiquesnj.com

*Speaking of donating my booklets to the appropriate places.  I hope to visit the Atlantic Heritage Center one day soon and to finally get inside the Somers Mansion on Somers Point where the old Somers Point circle used to be.
Heritage web addres is: 
www.AtlanticHeritageCenterNJ.org

So, a lovely weekend with no traffic and a beautiful cool walk at the Big Timber Creek Dog Park with Trixie each day early in the morning.  Hope your Memorial Day was safe and that you had a moment to contemplate the men who gave their lives to keep our nation free.  I was fortunate enough to catch the last part of a ceremony on the Black Horse Pike at a War Memorial.

Upcoming Event:  Blrulington County Historians Roundtable June 8th Saturday.  Maybe I'll see you there!
Happy Trails, Jo Ann

Things to do Places to go

Bay Day at Bivalve is coming up, June 1st.  I used to volunteer giving tours of the museum at Bivalve and I can promise you it is a fascinating place with a relevent history and dedicated volunteers.  On Bay Day there is music, food, and many kinds of activities including a 'wetlands' lecture/tour on the boardwalk bird watch, very short distance but packed with interesting facts.
Parking can be a problem on Bay Day as it is rightfully popular and there are provisions for that.  You can park in a lot in town, Port Norris, and there are shuttles to take you to Bivalve, or you can get there early (it officially starts around noon, I think) and park down at Bivalve, but it might be closed to traffic other than volunteers that day, so consider parking at Port Norris.  You may even wish to hike down there from Port Norris, not far, probably not a mile (which for the average walker is about 20 minutes).  For more info, here is the web site.  You can also google it at Bayshore Discovery Project:
http://www.ajmeerwald.org/

Also on June 1st there is a big "do" at the Indian King Tavern, another place I used to volunteer and that I highly recommend.  Here is a quote from the e-mail:
The British will be making themselves comfortable at the Indian King Tavern, while the Continentals will find themselves camped out at the Historic Society of Haddonfield.

 At approximately 1P.M., the two groups shall meet for a skirmish right on Kings Highway in front of the Indian King Tavern.

(One block of Kings Highway will be shut down to traffic for this.)

 The British will be making themselves comfortable at the Indian King Tavern, while the Continentals will find themselves camped out at the Historic Society of Haddonfield.

 At approximately 1P.M., the two groups shall meet for a skirmish right on Kings Highway in front of the Indian King Tavern.

(One block of Kings Highway will be shut down to traffic for this.)

 

James and Ann Whittall House at Red Bank Battlefield is open for tours again.  We had our first open house "Field Day" last Sunday and there is a new tour theme around the Yellow Fever, so if you've visited before, please go back for another visit.  You can finally see the upstairs as well as one of the rooms is now fitted out to the the new theme and open for visitors - a first!

 

Yesterday, two friends and I visited Estell Manor for a hike and we stopped to consider the flags in the veterans cemetery there.  So many young men  gave up their lives to keep our nation free.......I stopped to think about the meaning of that phrase "gave up their lives" literally, they gave up their adulthood, their chance to marry, have children, buy a house, plant a garden, make a career, travel the endlessly adventurous road from youth to old age.  How sad and how grateful we should be, so this Memorial Day, take a moment to give them a respectful consideration, or if you are so inclined a prayer.  Naturally on Memorial Day, I think of my dad who died two years ago this month and who served in World War II.  He was in the navy on troop transports and despite their high casualty average, he survivied to the venerable age of 89 and left five adult children behind and eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.  The last book he was reading before he died was "The Battle of Tassaferonga" which he had seen first hand.  Another sad thought is how soon the last WWII vets will all be gone.  Most will be in their nineties now.

 

If you go into the woods, spray WELL!  I had three ticks on my legs when I left Estell Manor and I had sprayed my shoes but I had on khaki pants that were wide  at the ankle and short socks.  My friends wisely wore long socks and tucked their pants into them before they sprayed.  That is precisely what I will do in the future, and, I will get a blood test at the end of summer as usual to make sure I didn't get Lynes Disease, which I have been spared so far. 

 

If you like astronomy there is a SKYWATCH on Sat. June 15th at Estell Manor Park Nature Center from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.

 

And Whitall House has field days third Sunday of the month, so there will be another in June if you missed May or wish to return. 

 

Today I'm off to Bordentown to walk the Main street and visit the quaint shops and have lunch.  I'll let you know what I learn there about interesting things to do and places to go in historic South Jersey.

Happy Trails To You!  Jo Ann

Pollen in the Pines

On Tuesday, Barb Solem and I took a hike with my dog Trixie at Pakim Pond in Brendon Byrne Forest.  There was so much pollen it literally looked as though the woods were on fire and filled with smoke.  It was an entire fog bound forest except the fog was pollen.  I have never seen so much pollen anywhere.
Two documentaries I have seen really seemed pertinent to this experience.  One was a pbs nature series production called "What Plants Talk About."  Among the many revelations was how little we know about plants in general.
The other documentary was about Albert Einstein and an observation he made about asking questions about the things we see all around us, how that is what leads to the explorations into the deep secrets of our universe.
So the question I'm asking myself and anyone else who has experienced this phenomenon is Why was there so much pollen, such an unbelievable choking and clogging air-full of pollen this year?  I've been going to the woods for 50 years and never experienced this amount of pollen.
Perhaps the woods are like the Great Barrier Reef, and have a giant quiet explosion of mating materials, sperm and egg, all at one time.  And perhaps this was the day or the week when that happens.  Somewhere, someone, perhaps at Rutgers or Stockton must be studying pollen. 
Barbara's car was completely covered with a coating of it and when I got home, my glasses had a layer.  Also, the pond had a thick coat like a pancake batter, or more accurately, like a crepe batter, a dark golden color, coagulating on the surface. 
The pollen was so bad we had to cut our 5 mile hike from the pond to the Ranger Station in half and go back because it was choking us, and the dog, a mouth breather, of course, couldn't get a drink from any of the tiny path-side ponds because they had dried up and what little water was left was a mush and covered with the pollen.
Is this the natural expression of the pines in the last week of May?  Anyone out there know?

Egg Harbor City, Peace Pilgrim Park

If you have ever happened onto Peace Pilgrim Park in Egg Harbor City and wondered what it was all about, this is a good year to ask, as this is the 60th anniversary of Peace Pilgrim's monumental gesture to encourage people to consider Peace.  She walked for 28 years across the United States carrying only a pencil.  She had prepared for her journey by hiking rhe Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia.  She wanted to promote the Power of Peace and she DID!  Newspapers all over America documented her journey and thereby, her message. 
There is a newsletter called Friends of Peace Pilgrim which is how I found out that this year is the 60th anniversary of the beginning of her immense  effort.  There are many books about her life and message and also there are events to celebrate her life and her message.  You can write to Friends of Peace Pilgrim, P.O. Box 2207, Shelton, CT.06484 or call (203-926-1581 or visit the web site     http://www.peacepilgrim.org/news/index.htm
The Peace Pilgrim weekend celebrating her work and her mission will be held September 20-22, 2013.  I attended last year and I can tell you it was uplifting and interesting.  It was held at the Egg Harbor City Middle School.  Over 70 people attended the event I attended (which is how I got on the mailing list) and also attending was Peace Pilgrim's 97 year old sister Helene Young.  Although one of the events of that weekend was a walk to Peace Pilgrim's birthplace on the outskirts of Egg Harbor City, I didn't attend that walk having visited that site on my own some time earlier in the year and also having hunted for her burial place, which I didn't succeed in finding.  I would have left a flower for this brave and devoted advocate for Peace. 
I found Peace Pilgrim Park when I was hunting out the 'Serpentine' canal.  I think I may have written about that before.   If not, I'll dig up my information on that and blog about it next time.  It is well worth the trip.  I have been there many times to visit the charming Historical Society on the same grounds. 
Happy Trails and may you go in peace and stay in peace.
Jo Ann

Cherry Hill: Looking Below the Surface

Last night, Tueday, May 14, at 7:00 p.m. the Cherry Hill Library hosted an excellent presentation given by Dr. Ilene Grossman-Bailey, president of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey.  Although the focus was on Cherry Hill sites, Dr. Bailey did a generous overview and introduction for those new to archaeology.  She spent a good deal of time on artifacts found from the Native Americans who once lived in the area, and offered a glimpse at several historic sites from the 1700's and 1800's which are still preserved in the Cherry Hill area, such as the Croft farm and Bonnie's Bridge.

This was so intriguing, I kept thinking it could have been an introduction to a series of programs and I am certain it would attract an audience.  I counted twelve rows of ten seats each in the 'filled to capacity' conference room downstairs in the library. 

For those who want more, there is an Archaeological Society of NJ May Meeting from 11:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at Croft Farm (Kay-Evans Farmhouse) at 100 Borton's Mill Rd.  It is free and open to the public and there will be four talks given.  The schedule offers a Board Meeting at 11:00, followed by lunch at 12, 12:30 President's Welcome, then a talk on the Cherry Hill Site, speakers- Tony Bonfiglio and Jack Cressons, followed by at 1:15 Results of Archaeology on the Madeiro I site, Moorestown, presented by Dr. Bailey, and finally at 1:30, Archaeology of the Kay Evans Farm, speaker, Michael Gall.

There is a number given on the flyer for more information 856-488-7886 or CHHC@CHTownship.com

I am hoping to attend.  I'm meeting earlier in the morning with a friend from my old high school graduating class, but if we finish in time, I'll try to get there.  In fact, Dr. Bailey said it was possible to skip the Board Meeting and come for the talks, which is what I plan to try to do.

I think the Colonial period would have been of interest to me, the families who came to the area and established the farms.   But, I have to admit that the 1700's and 1800's are  my favorite periods in history in this area, so I'm biased.

I enjoyed the talk enormously and was also glad to run into an old pal, Paul Schopp, who let me know the next Burlington County Historians Roundtable will be held on June 8.  That is always an enlightening event and I've had to miss the last several meetings due to conflicts in scheduling.  For more information on that, check out the web site.
http://www.burlcohistorian.com/
The roundtable will be held at Bordentown Library at 10:00 a.m., 18 E. Union Street.  There are many interesting events posted at this site, be sure to check it out.  If I had not already been booked for both days this weekend, I would have taken the Quaker Meeting House bus tour mentioned on the Burlco web site as there are still seats available.

I picked up a brochure on the Archaeological Socity of NJ and there was a Volunteer opportunity on Saturdays from June 1 to July 6 with the Monmouth University's field school dig at Fieldsboro, Burlington County.  To learn more about this hands-on opportunity to be a part of a real dig, go to
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D49ACAD2FA64-fieldsboro

Happy Trails!  Jo Ann

Late breaking news!

"What's Below The Surface" at the Cherry Hill Library, dowmstairs in the conference room, a lecture on local archaeology at 7:00 tonight.  I'll be there!  No advance registration needed.
Since blogspot tells me people check in every day I thought I'd let anyone checking in know about this event.

Happy Trails

In my last post, just a few minutes ago, I ended with my usual closing wish for you to enjoy "Happy Trails" and then I mentioned the recent (January 27, 2013) death of Sally Starr.  You may have wondered what the connection was.  It was simply that I always thought of the Happy trails son as a 'cowboy' song and when I think of cowboys, I think of Sally Starr, although the song belongs to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, who were not a New Jersey celebrities, as Sally Starr most certainly was.  By the way, the song was written by Dale Evans.
Anyhow I like the lyrics and here they are:

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcYsO890YJY
(Here's a link to youtube where you can hear Roy Rogers and Dale Evans sing this song.)

(Maybe hiking every day at Big Timber Creek, site of the former Slimm's Ranch, has put me in a cowboy mood.)

Sugar Hill Inn, Mays Landing, NJ

I hope any of my readers out there who are mothers had a happy day on Sunday!  My daughter came home from Brooklyn and she, my sister (her godmother) and I all took my favorite route to the seashore, Rt. 559 which runs through Mays Landing, and passes the beautiful Lake Lenape and the interesting and long abandoned mill on the lake. This road is never busy even in the thick of the summer traffic to Ocean City.  It is a quiet shady little road that runs past the Winding River, several campgrounds, golf courses and eventually comes in the back end of Somer's Point, an interesting historical spot on its own.  I always look for the Somers Mansion when I approach the bridge to Ocean City.
Speaking of the bridge to Ocean City - it has been replaced by a large expansive causeway but I will always miss the litttle opening bridge of my childhood.  We would sit in a long stream of traffic, entranced (we children, that is) as the center of the bridge opened to allow tall masted boats to pass through, of which, in those days there were quite a few more than there are now.  I am speaking of the first decade of the 1950's. 
Anyhow to back up several miles to the beginning of the trip, I will paste here the description of the history of the Sugar Hill Inn, along with its link so that if you find yourself traveling that quiet backway to Ocean City, you, too, can enjoy a delicious meal there. 

http://www.innatsugarhill.com/history.html

"Mays Landings history has always been tied to the Great Egg Harbor River. In the mid 1700’s George May, a ship builder and black smith, sailed up the river and established a ship building business and ship’s store on the uplands adjacent to Babcock’s Creek. One of the vessels built at Mays Landing during that time was the schooner “License” built for Captain John Pennington. Early papers tell of the “License” bringing a load of sugar back from the West Indies to “May’s Place” with the sweet cargo being stored on “the high banks of the river next to Babcock’s Creek”. That grassy knoll, on which the Inn now sits, has been referred to as “Sugar Hill” from that day to the present.

During the Revolutionary War, Mays Landing became a bustling port for goods bound for Philadelphia. Sugar, molasses and rum were stored on this site awaiting shipment, while charcoal, iron ore and lumber were loaded for export. The war for independence gave birth to another thriving business along the river, privateering. Many captured British ships were brought to “The Landing” to have their captured cargo sold. The New Jersey State Gazette reported that on June 23rd, 1779 an open boat called “The Skunk”, commanded by Captain Samuel Snell, a Mays Landing tavern owner, nicknamed “The Hero of Sugar Hill” captured nineteenth prize off Cape May and moored in the Egg Harbor River to have her valuable cargo sold. The Skunk’s success was one of surprise having a crew of just twelve men and only two cannons concealed in her stern. Upon one occasion, just inside the Egg Harbor inlet, “The Skunk” set her sights on what was thought to be a fine merchant ship. Captain Snell turned his little ship’s stern to the enemy and then gave them a gun. A momentary pause ensued and immediately, the merchant ship was transformed into a British 74 and gave “The Skunk” such a broadside, that it was reported “the water flew around them like ten thousand whale-spouts!” She was cut some in her sails and rigging, but by hard rowing, made her escape to shallow water while the captain shouted, “Lay low boys… lay low for your lives!”

After winning the fight for independence in 1776, Mays Landing continued to grow as a shipbuilding center. During the early to mid 1800’s there were over 100 sailing vessels built at Mays Landing. George Wheaton’s Shipyard turned out over two-dozen schooners, some with lengths greater than 100 feet. In 1845 William Moore came to Mays Landing to manage Weymouth Furnace. It was on the grassy knoll; known as Sugar Hill, that William Moore built his private residence in 1846. Captured by the lure of the river, Mr. Moore became involved in the “building and sailing of vessels”. He eventually owned and managed a small fleet of schooners involved in trade from New York to South America. With his election to Congress in 1867, Mr. Moore enlarged his home to include larger cooking and dining facilities, four guest bedrooms and a large Victorian veranda so that he could sit and gaze upon his beloved Egg Harbor River. At his funeral in 1876, which was held at his home, several of his casket bearers were listed as “sea captains” and “sail makers”.

For the next 90 years or so the “Moore Villa”, as it was commonly known, was home to several generations of the Abbott Family. The Abbott’s were a well to-do family that owned the general store in town. Their children were area lawyers, dentists and a Civil War chaplain. In the early 1900’s the front parlor room even served as a dentist's office. In the 1950’s the house was sold to Frank and Ella Watson, who were involved in small boat building and racing on the river.

In 1986 the house was sold to Larry and Tina Boylan. Who, along with Larry's two brothers, restored the old “Moore Villa” opening it to the public in 1987 as “The Inn at Sugar Hill” a riverfront country inn and restaurant. To this day, the Inn continues to greet the weary travelers with old world hospitality and provide them with “a hot meal, a cold drink and a warm bed”, whether they come by land… or sea. The Inn’s docks are currently the homeport for “Grace”, the innkeeper’s traditional looking, cutter-rigged Gozzard sailboat, which can be chartered by The Inn's guests for river sunset cruises during select times of the year. Since becoming an Innkeeper, Larry Boylan has obtained a U. S. Coast Guard Near Coastal Captain’s license, “just in case privateering makes a come back!” laughs Boylan. History does repeat itself! "

For several years, I passed the Sugar Hill Inn, wishing I could stop in and enjoy a dinner or a lunch, but I never got the right time or season, however, in the past two years, my retirement allows better timing and I was able to have my birthday dinner there and two Mother's Day lunches.  The food was very good and reasonable and if you make a reservation (which I did not) there are tables near a delightful view of the river.  The others room have a warm period charm as well.  It is a bed and breakfast, so if you stop in at the bar after a long day at the shore and want to stay overnight, what a delightful place to do that.  Someday I may do that for my birthday, or even for Mother's  Day!

Enjoy and as always Happy Trails!  Jo Ann

ps.I should have done a memorial blog for Sally Star who passed away this year, but maybe I can do that later.

Reading List for very local history

If you wait long enough, your next subject to study will come to you, slinking up beside you like a beast in the forest, ready to domesticate itself. 
Yesterday, I spent a delightful afternoon, the first after a long dry spell, immersed in my local history books.  By local, I mean Camden County, and since I'm hiking Big Timber Creek and live not 4 miles from the park there, I'm counting Gloucester County as local.  The tie in, other than the dog park and my daily meditation walk beside the Big Timber Creek, is my family history, which I have mentioned many times before, the Cheesman, Garwood lines converge on the Big Timber Creek.
What's on my bookshelf:
1.Camden County, New Jersey 1616-1976 A Narrative History, Dorwart and Mackey
2.Waterways of Camden County, Farr
3.The History of the Township of Gloucester 1695-2003, Fox, Thompson, Kaitz
4.Rambles through Old Highways and Byways of West Jersey, Boyer
5.The Early Dutch and Swedish Settlers of New Jersey, Leiby
6.South Jersey Towns, McMahon
7.Old Mills of Camden County, Boyer (my most recent purchase $5 at Cam.Co.Hist.Society, Camden, NJ)
8.Old Inns and Taverns in West Jersey, Boyer
9.Camden County, NJ, Dorwart
10.A Teacher's Guide to the Watersheds of Camden County (an invaluable resource that I bought at one of the annual C.C.H.S.L. book sales in the spring of the year - I use it regularly and tried to buy another but no luck.)
11.History on the Brink:  An Inventory of Historic Sites and Towns in SJ, Seiter (for SJ Tourism Corp.)
12.Gloucester County in the Eighteen Fifties:  Being the Diary of John Cawman Eastlack

This is only my local history collection.  I have another set of half a dozen rare books on the iron towns of the pines including the hard to find Martha Diary.  And, I have a half dozen books on the Whitall House and Battle of Red Bank.

My interest blinks like a firefly on a summer evening.  Something, a visit, or a conversation, or some newly discovered item of family history, will send me feverishly scurrying from attic to den in search of books on the Wharton family, or lighthouses, or Port Norris, and I'll soon be buried on the sofa between stacks of books with several in the mail from amazon.com. 
I LOVE books.  I'll never be an e-book reader.  I want to highlight and post-it-note pertinent pages.  I want to rest the book on my quilt at night and read until I fall asleep with the book quietly lying like a fallen tombstone over my chest.  I want to ramble from book to book and make notes in the margins.  My books become like my friends, some I've had since grade school.  My oldest book, I've had since before I started school.  I think I blogged about that one before, it is my Hall and Brumbaugh Reader, which I bought at Leary's Book Store in Philadelphia - my first book purchase - what a thrill!
And it is still a thrill to buy a book and to browse the musty shelves of my favorite old book stores such as Murphy's Book Barn in Mullica Hill, which I am happy to say was saved from closing and is still nestled between the church and the carriage house off the main street of town. 
One thing I must do before I perish is  make a list and an inventory so my daughter and sister will know where to donate sections of my collections.  I also have a collection of Revolutionary War history and Civil War history.
I donated most of my Women's History collection to the Paulsdale Library some years back.
Now, I'm going to close so I can read the Eastlack diary.  I have a special fondness for diaries of all kinds.
Perhaps you recall that I'm indexing the diary of Ruth Page Rogers in my volunteer work at the Gloucester County Historical Society.  It is my third diary project for them.  Whenever I look things up on the computer, I think of the many people, like myself and my fellow volunteers working away in historical societies and other venues, putting all this data on the computer for those who will follow us. 
Happy Trails!  Jo Ann

ps.I'd like to hear from some of you who are reading this.  Stats tell me 23,000 have visited, 13 are regulars and I have more than a dozen visits a day!  Tell me what's on your book shelves!  Or if that's too many - what do you have on SJ History that is interesting and perhaps rare?  You can contact me by e-mail if comments is too difficult    wrightj45@yahoo.com

Timber Creek

It is no doubt obvious to most, but nonetheless a reason for wonderment, at least to me, how experience and knowledge branch out, intersect, diverge, then cross over one another again.
Every day, I walk for 2 hours at Timber Creek to enjoy the dog park and the dog pond and the ridge bridle path beside the Timber Creek. 
Long ago, in doing family history research, I had discovered that on my mother's side, we were descended from early settlers in the Blackwood/Turnersville area.  My mother's great-grandfather, William C. Garwood, whose ancestors were from the Haddonfield area, had married the only surviving daughter of Major Peter T. Cheesman, Rachel Ann Cheesman.
At Gloucester County Historical Society, I had found a fascinating book of research on the Cheesman line with a page on the inheritance made to Rachel Ann Cheesman's children because she was dead at the time of the bequest.  The poor young woman had two children, Sarah, and Joseph, and then died in her twenties.  Additional research showed that Joseph had also died young in an accident involving his wagon, leaving his and Patience Ann (Watson) Garwood's son, William C. Garwood to be raised by his grandfather of the same name. 
The grandfather, William C. Garwood, born in Haddonfield, had been a teacher at the Turner school in Turnersville, and also a storekeeper.  He had also farmed and by the time he was raising his grandson, he was back to farming. 
The Cheesman family had at least three mills on the Timber Creek, a sawmill, and two gristmills, during the 1800's, the heyday of mills. 
I just learned how the clearing of the dense, original, native forest, to make farm land went hand in hand with the creating of sawmills and the making of profit from the wood.  So those energetic and probably somewhat desperate first settlers, had to set about with their hand tools, cutting the trees to make their homes, and clearing the land to make the farms, then selling the wood to other markets for money to live on while the farms were becoming profitable.  So, naturally, next came the creating of mills to garner better profit from cut and sawn board-wood and wood products such as shingles, rather than from rough logs, They also needed the mills to refine the grain crops into flour and also for sale of surplus in other markets - specifically, Philadelphia.
I learned a lot about the early mills on the Timber Creek, and the shipbuilding and other industries in that area from an excellent paper written by Laura Iannacone, presented to the Gloucester County Historical Society in 1991.  I found it on Thursday when I was doing my volunteer work there and was idly thumbing through the Timber Creek file in the cabinets.
It was so interesting, it propelled me out to my car today to go to the Camden County Historical Society to buy Charles Boyer's book on the Old Mills of Camden County.  In Boyer's book there is actually a photo of a Cheesman Mill.
I'm guessing the mill was located down Lower Landing Rd. somewhere.  I haven't figured out the exact location yet, though the information is there for the solving of the mystery.
Although I have read a lot and attended many lectures on the Revolution, it is increasingly brought home to me how the pressure of the English merchants on the politicians in England to keep colonists from expanding their industry and selling their products, such as cloth, for example, made the groundswell that eventuated in war. 
These laws directly impacted these struggling settlers who were literally working their fingers to the bone to make products and create profit from their industry. 
The paper by Ms. Iannacone is entitled THE ORIGIN OF COMMERCE ON TIMBER CREEK.  It is well worth the visiting GCHSL to read it.
It is the second time I have been driven to the files to read up on Colonial industry and found excellent works of research by generous and hard-working researchers.  The last time, it was the making of bricks that drew my attention, and on that subject, My Iannacone's paper mentions a brick making concern along the Timber Creek as well.  And there was shipbuilding, the Brewers' shipyard.  In fact, an interesting item was that Brewer contributed the stone quarried from Ridley Creek, and brought up the Timber Creek by his boats, that was used in St. John's Episcopal Chruch on Chews Landing Rd..  The value would have been equal to a $5000. donation in value of that period.
While at the Trenton State Archives these past two weeks, I have been researching Patience Ann Watson and Rachel Ann Cheesman, after all, it is Mother's Day, and these women are my ancestors and the connection to the Big Timber Creek area. 
Often, when I was still working as a teacher in the Gloucester City schools, I would drive, on lunch and prep break, to various places along the Delaware River and one of the spots was the place where the Timber Creek comes out of the Delaware.  I was interested in where the original Fort Nassau might have been located.  I never dreamed, at that time, that the Timber Creek flowed alongside the hsitory of my mother's side of the family.
Family history and local history enrich one another like marl on farm fields.
Happy Mother's Day - give a  kindly thought to your female ancestors this weekend!  Jo Ann

Cheesmanville

Once again, with my friend Barbara Solem, this time in the company of a friend of hers who is a photographer, we headed up to the Trenton State Archives.  A lady named Sherry, the librarian in charge of the room where I was working, was very helpful and again, I caught three good pieces of family information.  I'm beginning to get the hang of it.  I found Peter T. Cheesman's marriage record to Sarah Smallwood (with Sherry's help, it goes without saying) and I found records for William C. Garwood and Rachel Ann Cheesman and their marriage.  Smallwood is another of those old old names you run across regularly when you look into the history of this part of South Jersey (the Camden County/Gloucester Twp., Big Timber Creek/Newton Creek area).

Barbara and her photographer friend, Al, were taking pictures of old photographs and maps of Batsto and environs.  She has been taking meetings gathering background on Batsto recently and also met with Bud Wilson, archaeologist extraordinaire!  He is not only deeply knowledgeable, he is famously generous with help and information sharing.  He is beloved by many.

While organizing my scattered family history files, I ran across a piece of information I had found and lost on Cheesmanville.  You may think the only 'lost villages' are in the pines, but in fact that have sprung up and vanished all around in SJ.  I'd love to hear of any you might know about.

Take Old Upton for example.  That was a very old name and yet no one knows of it now.  The triangle of land from Cross Keys, to Sicklerville, to Turnersville, is the area once known as Cheesmanville.  One son ran a sawmille, one son ran a gristmill and five other sons farmed land in the vicinity.  The Smallwood family also held extensive farm land in the area.  This land was in the junction of the "Big and Little Lebanon" branches of the Big Timber Creek area. 

I have downloaded a watershed map of the Big Timber Creek but it is illegible.  I'll have to do more research on this as time goes by.  This information on Cheesmanville came from ancestry.com back in 2011.  If anyone out there is a Cheesman/Garwood relation and or has information on these families or would like to share what I have, you can reach me at wrightj45@yahoo.com.

There is an extensive amount of work done on the Cheesman family in a red book at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library, gathered by Albert Stirling Adams and published in the 1980's.  I don't know where I would have started without it.  An while I'm on the subject of gratitude, thanks to all the tireless and generous volunteers who put data from cards and books into the computer so that we can all share it!

One of my sisters is researching the Wright/Sandman/Young side of the family (English and German) while i research the Cheesman/Garwood side (English in origin and Quaker by religion).  I will later tackle, one more time, the McQuiston/Johnston branches (Scots Irish who came here via Londonderry).  Families are like watersheds in the way they branch out and I love the context of history that they illuminate and make personal.

Yellow Fever

One of the places I still work as a volunteer is the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ.  I also continue to volunteer at Gloucester County Historical Society Library in Woodbury.  I'll take a little digression here to tell you what I do in these places:  At Whitall House, I am a docent, mainly on the special event days once a month during the season from May through December.  Our upcoming event is the Herb Festival on the 19th.  The special event days are always Sundays.  On the 23rd, all the docents who are interested will also be taking training on our newly opened upstairs bedroom.
If you have visited the house in the past and wondered about the upstairs, which has never been open to the public before, here is your chance.  The upstairs has now been certified as safe for visitors (not safe so much for the people but for the house itself which dates back to 1749 and needs protection from wear and tear and the weight of hundres of visitors.)
The upstairs bedroom will feature a discussion yellow fever because the main household member featured in the history of Red Bank Battlefield, is Ann Whitall who stayed in the house during the battle and nursed the wounded in her house afterwards.  I know there is controversy in regard to this history, but so far, we have been convinced this is accurate.  It is in Job Whitall's diary that the family returned to the house and were there during the battle.  Oral history has it that Ann was a notable herbal healer and being a Quaker, would have helped those in need and did so with the wounded Hessians.
Eventually, Ann Whitall, too, succumbed.  She died in 1797 during the yellow fever epidemic which spread from Philadelphia across the Delaware River to NJ.
It is said that mosquitos carrying the disease came up the river with refugees from the Carribbean where a civil war/revolt was taking place.  Ann had lived a long life; she was 81 when she died.  Her husband lived on after her death.
What brought this to mind was an article in the Sunday, May 5th Courier Post, in the South Jersey Living Section, under ARTS, entitled "Recalling an epidemic."  The article talks about an exhibition on the Yellow fever epidemic which is in the Emlen Physick House in Philadelphia.  Ten percent of the inhabitants in Philadelphia died between August 1 and November 9 of 1793, around 5000 people.  The article didn't give statistics on the effect on the people of New Jersey, but those who are familiar with our history know that the ferry boats plied back and forth across the river from NJ to Phila. from numerous points.  The Cooper family, of which Ann Cooper Whitall is a descendant, had ferryservices and a tavern in Camden.  Remember, water wasys were the highways of the period. 
Cape May visitors will wonder about the connection to the Emlen Physick Estate in Dape May.  That man was the grandson of Philadelphia's Emlen Physick.
Yellow Fever still exists and the article said 200,00 cases per year spring up mostly in the African countries of Rwanda and Sierra.  There is a vaccine for the fever now.  The reason it was called "Yellow Fever"  is that it caused liver failure and jaundice which turned people's skin and the whites of their eyes yellow.  Dr. Emlen Physick was killed by the disease.
For more, either visit the Physick house or read the book "Bring Out Your Dead"  which is in my library and I highly recommend it as readable and interesting.

Trenton State Archives

On Monday, April 29th, Barbara Solem and I went to the Trenton State Archives.  She was doing research on Batsto and I was doing family history.  Barbara is coordinating docents for tours of the Atsion Mansion and has written the tour script and trained the volunteers for the past two years.  She has been a tireless promoter of the history of the pines. 
She had better luck than I did and found many boxes of fascinating photographs of Batsto and environs.
I was still tracking the elusive William C. Garwood who married Rachel Ann Cheesman, the only surviviing daughter of the prominent Major Peter T. Cheesman (the major was from his service in the War of 1812).  The Cheesman family were big land holders at one time in the watershed of the Big Timber Creek, with at least 3 mills and numerous descendants farming the land all around the creek.  William C. Garwood came as a schoolteacher and boarded with the Cheesman family, married Rachel Ann, had two children, then she died.  Her daughter Sarah Garwood married Robert Jaggard.  The Jaggard family also had some prominence in the Blackwood area.  Joseph Franklin Garwood married Patience Ann Watson and their son, William C. Garwood was raised by his grandfather after his parents died in his early childhood. 
As with many another thing in life, the more you know, the more questions are raised.  Sometimes I feel like a dope when I go to the Archives, and that is the only place I feel dumb.  I have three college degrees and college always made me feel smart.  But I seem to be foggy when I get to the archives, although it may be that increased exposure gives you the experience you need to find out what you are looking for and how to get it.  I should make a serious set of questions before my next trip there.
One very adept and knowledgeable librarian there, named Betty, helped me find a half dozen pieces of good information which I have brought home and plan to work on before my next trip there. 
By the way, it is FREE and so is the parking.   Anyone else out there working on local family history? 
Jo Ann