Well, we found it, and you can too! Set your gps for millville, stay on 47 through the town, until you cross over 49. One and a half miles past that, just outside the city, you'll see the sign for Peek's Preserve on the right and a small parking lot. There is a nice little walking trail and a boardwalk overlook with a pretty view of the marshland along the Maurice River. There is also a 'field office' where you can get a brochure and trail map (which you don't really need) and there is a clean visitor's bathroom beside the parking lot.
My hiking buddy and I were a bit confused at two contrasting signs. One said this was a wildlife refuge, the other said it was hunting by permit. I don't know about you, but I thought 'REFUGE' meant no hunting. The ranger in the field office said it was okay, it was only bow hunting by permit. Well, just because it is quieter than bullets, bow hunting does not, to my mind, fit in the idea of REFUGE and as a hiker, I don't find it comforting. He gave us the usual talk on overpopulation of deer.
Nonetheless it is a nice little appetizer trail to a bigger hike at Maurice River Bluffs, which I have written about before. You go back into town, cross over the river (I think it may be 49) take the left after the WAWA, which I think is 555 and a left on Silver Run Rd. My sketchy directions however, can and should be supplemented by a trip on the internet via google to the site on the Maurice River Bluffs, which also offers a trail map for the bluffs - a BEAUTIFUL hike! We like about 3 miles or a hour, so the two together work well and don't forget lunch at Wildflowers. We had a delicious acorn squash soup.
Peek's Preserve offered about 1 and a half miles. You can get in a good hour at the bluffs with, again, the World War II bunkers and other interesting sites, and some beaches for picnics.
On a different topic:
A friend and fellow volunteer at Red Bank sent us this link to an article about our re-enactment at Red Bank Battlefield, just passed this last Sunday, if you'd like to read about it, here's the link:
http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2013/10/national_park_recreates_history_at_red_bank_battlefield.html#incart_river
If that doesn't work, (as I see it isn't in html format) try taking the first part and using that by cut and paste by itself.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
And don't forget you can always contact me at
wrightj45@yahho.com
pss. Thanks to all those who have sent comments. I find them very interesting and encouragine!
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Good Site Review Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, and more...
Yesterday we had our biggest event of the year at the Whitall House, Red Bank Battleifield. It was the Batttle of Red Bank Re-enactment, a very impressive affair if you are interested in history, the Revolution, South Jersey History or re-enactment.
I worked as docent in the surgery room of the house but had to leave early due to a head-cold.
One of the Whitall Descendant branches, Russ Worthington's family, comes to visit us from time to time and they were there yesterday. We keep in touch via e-mail and he sent me this site that he has put up about the house. It is very interesting and I wanted to pass it along:
http://worthy2be.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/the-whitall-house/
Today, a hiking buddy and I are going to find Peek's Preserve outside of Millville; we heard of it through our boat trips with Capt. Dave on the Maurice River and today we are going to actually walk the trail. I will let you know about it after I return from it. We are hoping it has gotten cold enough to force the ticks and chiggers into retreat as my hiking buddy was down with Lymes and has stayed out of the woods for the past couple of months.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
I worked as docent in the surgery room of the house but had to leave early due to a head-cold.
One of the Whitall Descendant branches, Russ Worthington's family, comes to visit us from time to time and they were there yesterday. We keep in touch via e-mail and he sent me this site that he has put up about the house. It is very interesting and I wanted to pass it along:
http://worthy2be.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/the-whitall-house/
Today, a hiking buddy and I are going to find Peek's Preserve outside of Millville; we heard of it through our boat trips with Capt. Dave on the Maurice River and today we are going to actually walk the trail. I will let you know about it after I return from it. We are hoping it has gotten cold enough to force the ticks and chiggers into retreat as my hiking buddy was down with Lymes and has stayed out of the woods for the past couple of months.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Friday, October 25, 2013
EVENT & More
EVENT - This Sunday, October 27, 2013, don't miss the annual Re-enactment of the Battle of Red Bank at National Park, (not the Red Bank up north - OUR Red Bank on the Delaware!) Forgive me, those of you who are familiar with our South Jersey historic sites. You'd be surprised how many people think the Battle of Red Bank took place in Red Bank, up north. Anyhow, the Whitall house will be open for tours beginnning at 10:00 a.m. and there will be two periods of re-enactment complete with cannons roaring and rifles firing. I'll be giving tours in the room we call the Surgery, where we talk about Revolutionary Era medicine and the wounded of Red Bank. Hope to see you there! For more info:
100 County Road 642 National Park, NJ 08063
MORE: I think I mentioned in a blog some time ago that when I was a child, my Uncle Yock (Joseph Frederick Young) worked at the Ocean City Post Office as a mail sorter. Whenever he had postals with no addresses, he would put our family's address which was on Warnock Street, in South Philadelphia at that time (the late 1940's and early 1950's). That began my life-long interest in postcards and in mail related things such as stamps. I sold my stamp collection in the 1980's in one of my 19 moves. You will let go of a lot of treasure when you move often. Like an over burdened pack mule, you just can't carry one more thing up the mountain.
Anyhow, a coincident event was that I learned you could send a letter to a Chamber of Commerce at almost any city in the USA and you'd get a response, usually a large manila envelope with maps, brochuresand other interesting things, including once, a pen pal. To a child between the ages of 5 and 12, this was incredible power. You could travel the country by brochure, and that's just what I did. My parents were kind enough to allow me to tack up a huge map of the USA above my 'vanity' and they supplied me with stamps and I wrote to states as far away as Alaska and Texas.
Recently, I wrote an essay on that for my writers' club, Riverton Writers, and as an experiment, I wrote to St. Louis, Missouri Chamber of Commerce, to see if they were still there and still sent stuff, sixty years after my original experiement in this age of the internet. Today, in the mail, I got another large manila envelope with a glossy tour magazine, map and brochures to that city. I chose that city because I had just finished reading Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark expedition. In fact, Merriweather Lewis had just committed suicide at the end of the book, a day or two after I sent off to the Chamber of Commerce.
If you, too, have been a Lewis and Clark fan, and if you have wondered if he had been murdered or killed himself, and I have wavered between those two possibilities many times over the years when each new decade another essay came along purporting to prove one theory or another. I am convinced it was suicide and let that be a lesson to us all to maintain balanced lives and not overextend ourselves, especially if we have a family history of depression. My family history, fortunately is more riddled by enthusiasm that depression. We go up but rarely come down.
Write to a Chamber of Commerce of your choice and let me know what happens:
wrightj45@yahoo.com
I love to get stuff in the mail, don't you?
Happy Trails and Happy Mails, Jo Ann
100 County Road 642 National Park, NJ 08063
MORE: I think I mentioned in a blog some time ago that when I was a child, my Uncle Yock (Joseph Frederick Young) worked at the Ocean City Post Office as a mail sorter. Whenever he had postals with no addresses, he would put our family's address which was on Warnock Street, in South Philadelphia at that time (the late 1940's and early 1950's). That began my life-long interest in postcards and in mail related things such as stamps. I sold my stamp collection in the 1980's in one of my 19 moves. You will let go of a lot of treasure when you move often. Like an over burdened pack mule, you just can't carry one more thing up the mountain.
Anyhow, a coincident event was that I learned you could send a letter to a Chamber of Commerce at almost any city in the USA and you'd get a response, usually a large manila envelope with maps, brochuresand other interesting things, including once, a pen pal. To a child between the ages of 5 and 12, this was incredible power. You could travel the country by brochure, and that's just what I did. My parents were kind enough to allow me to tack up a huge map of the USA above my 'vanity' and they supplied me with stamps and I wrote to states as far away as Alaska and Texas.
Recently, I wrote an essay on that for my writers' club, Riverton Writers, and as an experiment, I wrote to St. Louis, Missouri Chamber of Commerce, to see if they were still there and still sent stuff, sixty years after my original experiement in this age of the internet. Today, in the mail, I got another large manila envelope with a glossy tour magazine, map and brochures to that city. I chose that city because I had just finished reading Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark expedition. In fact, Merriweather Lewis had just committed suicide at the end of the book, a day or two after I sent off to the Chamber of Commerce.
If you, too, have been a Lewis and Clark fan, and if you have wondered if he had been murdered or killed himself, and I have wavered between those two possibilities many times over the years when each new decade another essay came along purporting to prove one theory or another. I am convinced it was suicide and let that be a lesson to us all to maintain balanced lives and not overextend ourselves, especially if we have a family history of depression. My family history, fortunately is more riddled by enthusiasm that depression. We go up but rarely come down.
Write to a Chamber of Commerce of your choice and let me know what happens:
wrightj45@yahoo.com
I love to get stuff in the mail, don't you?
Happy Trails and Happy Mails, Jo Ann
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Lecture at the Library
A lecture will be given on "Hidden History in South Jersey" tomorrow night, Wednesday Oct 23 at 7:00 p.m. at the Cherry Hill Library. I've heard this author speak before, recently actually at the Ocean Co. Historical Society. He spoke about Harriet Tubman in Cape May. His is very personable and his lectures are fun and interesting. Hope to see you there!
Happy Trails, Jo Ann
To confirm call Phone - 856.667.0300
Happy Trails, Jo Ann
To confirm call Phone - 856.667.0300
Monday, October 21, 2013
Model Trains continued
There will be a model train show at the Burlington County Massonic Lodge, November 2 from 9:a.m. to 3 p.m.. The address is 2308 Mt. Holly Rd., Burlington Twp., NJ.
I will try to get there but I have a post-50th Reunion breakfast in Maple Shade that day. It may break up early enough to leave time to go over and if it does, I'll be happy to stop in and see the trains.
Even though the train museum is closed at Jim Thorpe, there is still the train ride and the train station, though I'm not sure when the train stops running. I know it is seasonal. My family always loved to take train rides, short though they usually were. We took several in W.Va. where my parents lived before they passed away and several in Pennsylvania like the Strasbourg Train ride. It is a fun thing to do especially this time of year.
A friend told me on the phone that there is a huge train display at a place called Roadside America. Don't know much about that but I'll look itup.
Okay, here's the link
http://www.roadsideamericainc.com/
And it is open September through the winter daily and costs about $7. It looks pretty far, though. They say they are about 40 miles from a few places that are over an hour from here, Gettysburg and Harrisburg, so I would guess it must be a 2 hour drive. For now, I think I'll stick with Burlington.
Happy Trails (If you want to take the train ride at Jim Thorpe, here is the info copied from their website. They warn you to call ahead, especially on weekdays, to make sure the train is open and running.
Jo Ann
I will try to get there but I have a post-50th Reunion breakfast in Maple Shade that day. It may break up early enough to leave time to go over and if it does, I'll be happy to stop in and see the trains.
Even though the train museum is closed at Jim Thorpe, there is still the train ride and the train station, though I'm not sure when the train stops running. I know it is seasonal. My family always loved to take train rides, short though they usually were. We took several in W.Va. where my parents lived before they passed away and several in Pennsylvania like the Strasbourg Train ride. It is a fun thing to do especially this time of year.
A friend told me on the phone that there is a huge train display at a place called Roadside America. Don't know much about that but I'll look itup.
Okay, here's the link
http://www.roadsideamericainc.com/
And it is open September through the winter daily and costs about $7. It looks pretty far, though. They say they are about 40 miles from a few places that are over an hour from here, Gettysburg and Harrisburg, so I would guess it must be a 2 hour drive. For now, I think I'll stick with Burlington.
Happy Trails (If you want to take the train ride at Jim Thorpe, here is the info copied from their website. They warn you to call ahead, especially on weekdays, to make sure the train is open and running.
Jo Ann
| LEHIGH GORGE SCENIC RAILWAY INC. -website- |
Bring
the entire family for a spectacular one-hour train ride into the
beautiful Lehigh Gorge State Park. From the comfort of our historic
1920's era open window coaches, you can witness the grand sights
available only by train. Mountain vistas, trackside streams and flowing
rivers, and fellow adventurers enjoying hiking, biking and white water
rafting are just a few of the visual delights waiting for you on the
Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway.
|
Former Central RR of New Jersey Train Station, Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229
570-325-8485 |
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Dinah Won't You Blow Your Horn! More train stuff
Bad News model train afficianados! I don't know how many of you ever visited the Model Train exhibit at Jim Thorpe, Pa., but I did and it was MAGNIFICENT! It even had a nighttime display where all the lights went down and the houses and trains lit up. I loved it! So I was planning to visit again this fall now that I'm to become the proud owner of an "N" gauge train set of my own, but the Train Exhibit is no more.
As of January 2012, they closed their doors forever. I'm glad I did get to see it at least once, but I'm heartbroken that I will never see it again. Anyone know of any other model train exhibits? My e-mail is wrightj45@yahoo.com
If I don't hear of any others, I'll ask at Mac's Trains. He probably knows where they are.
Jo Ann
As of January 2012, they closed their doors forever. I'm glad I did get to see it at least once, but I'm heartbroken that I will never see it again. Anyone know of any other model train exhibits? My e-mail is wrightj45@yahoo.com
If I don't hear of any others, I'll ask at Mac's Trains. He probably knows where they are.
Jo Ann
The Magic of Model Trains
Mac's Trains
Every day when I drive to Big Timber Creek to walk my dog, Trixie Belden, I pass a small store-front shop with trains and models in boxes and bins out front. I always mean to stop by because since childhood I have been a big fan of model trains, though from a distance..
When I was growing up in South Philadelphia in the 1950's, my father bought trains for my brother, two years younger than I am. Now, don't get me wrong, my brother loved the trains, but I adored them from afar not just because they were for him, but because they made an entire small world. We had the really big platform that you can imagine a gifted carpenter and an iron-worker such as my father was, would make. It took the major part of the living room with a tree to the ceiling. We had tunnels and mountains, lakes and a village, a skating pond and a great number of lead figures walking, skating, waiting in the train station.
The hosues were that glittering pasteboard type made in "occupied Japan" with waxed paper windows and a hole in the botttom so you cluld put Christmas lights in them and they would glow.
The magic of it all just entranced me. The sets grew as the years went by and my other brother, Neal, got his set. The trains would cross one another with heart-stopping speed. Truth be told, I never ASKED for a set, I simply privately loved them because I knew they weren't for girls. That doesn't mean that I, in any way scorned my dolls. I loved them too, it was just the power of those trains was magnetic. They raced around the track in all their weighty metal complexity. Once in awhile, I was allowed to drive the trains from the control box and that was an awesome responsibility. .
Adding to the magic was the tradition of the time and place, of putting everything up in one night after the children were put to bed. Armed with hammers, nails, industrial staplers, and my Godfather, Neal Schmidt, my mother's cooking and a case of beer, they would stay up all night to perform the magic every year on Christmas Eve and when we awoke on Christmas morning, there would be this entire tiny world and the whistle blowing train. Under the platform were the gifts, robots and trucks for my brother Joe, dolls and books and tea sets for me.
Eventually my father gave the train sets to my brothers who, less sentimental than I am, and into which category most people would belong, my brothers sold their train sets.
Well, you can't hold on to everything, as I have grown to understand myself.
Back to today, Saturday, October 17, on the way home from the Big Timber Creek dog park, I decided to pull over and drop in at the little train shop. Mac, the proprietor, gave me a tour and it was impressive. He had stacked platforms to allow him to display several kinds of train sets, Lionel and others, which I am too train ignormant to be able to name. The top set in a 3 tiered shelving area were enormous. But the star of the show to me was the middle set, just like the ones I knew growing up except this one not only blew a whistle and had smoke coming out the stack, but there were voices coming out of it giving orders to the train engineer. As much as I loved it, it is far too large for my house.
The little 'N' gauge, however looked just right and I'm going to buy it for myself for Christmas this year (or maybe even for my birthday which is in November. Mac kindly offered to help me with securing the tracks to a sheet of wood when I'm ready to buy my set. I'm so excited! In return, I told him I'd blog about his shop.
Mac's Trains
Buy Sell Trade
304 N. Black Horse Pike
Runnemede, NJ 08078
cell 856-725-5479
shop 856-939-0350
I can't wait to get started. I think I'll leave mine up the whole first year and simply change the landscape to match the season. I could have spring, then little boats on the pond in the summer, and snow in the winter.
Train Postcards
On another but relatd topic, as I mentioned before, I collect postcards and have been sending 30 of them to my daughter for her birthday. Recently, almost as if a prediction, I came across three train postcards, which I rarely to never see. Two of them are the Mount Royal train station, one a train passing through at Mount Royal and the other is a color postal of a train in the mountains in Pennsylvania.
I hope a new obsession isn't rooting itself in my heart. There is just too much to learn and know to get too deep into the model train hobby at this point in my life, though one 'N' gauge set seems modest enough.
Happy Trails! Can't You hear the whistle blowing?
Hope to see you at Mac's Trains one of these days! It is just in time for Christmas.
As it happens, I didn't have my camera with me but I'll go back and take some photos to post SOON!
And I'll post a pic of my new train set when I get it set up.
Every day when I drive to Big Timber Creek to walk my dog, Trixie Belden, I pass a small store-front shop with trains and models in boxes and bins out front. I always mean to stop by because since childhood I have been a big fan of model trains, though from a distance..
When I was growing up in South Philadelphia in the 1950's, my father bought trains for my brother, two years younger than I am. Now, don't get me wrong, my brother loved the trains, but I adored them from afar not just because they were for him, but because they made an entire small world. We had the really big platform that you can imagine a gifted carpenter and an iron-worker such as my father was, would make. It took the major part of the living room with a tree to the ceiling. We had tunnels and mountains, lakes and a village, a skating pond and a great number of lead figures walking, skating, waiting in the train station.
The hosues were that glittering pasteboard type made in "occupied Japan" with waxed paper windows and a hole in the botttom so you cluld put Christmas lights in them and they would glow.
The magic of it all just entranced me. The sets grew as the years went by and my other brother, Neal, got his set. The trains would cross one another with heart-stopping speed. Truth be told, I never ASKED for a set, I simply privately loved them because I knew they weren't for girls. That doesn't mean that I, in any way scorned my dolls. I loved them too, it was just the power of those trains was magnetic. They raced around the track in all their weighty metal complexity. Once in awhile, I was allowed to drive the trains from the control box and that was an awesome responsibility. .
Adding to the magic was the tradition of the time and place, of putting everything up in one night after the children were put to bed. Armed with hammers, nails, industrial staplers, and my Godfather, Neal Schmidt, my mother's cooking and a case of beer, they would stay up all night to perform the magic every year on Christmas Eve and when we awoke on Christmas morning, there would be this entire tiny world and the whistle blowing train. Under the platform were the gifts, robots and trucks for my brother Joe, dolls and books and tea sets for me.
Eventually my father gave the train sets to my brothers who, less sentimental than I am, and into which category most people would belong, my brothers sold their train sets.
Well, you can't hold on to everything, as I have grown to understand myself.
Back to today, Saturday, October 17, on the way home from the Big Timber Creek dog park, I decided to pull over and drop in at the little train shop. Mac, the proprietor, gave me a tour and it was impressive. He had stacked platforms to allow him to display several kinds of train sets, Lionel and others, which I am too train ignormant to be able to name. The top set in a 3 tiered shelving area were enormous. But the star of the show to me was the middle set, just like the ones I knew growing up except this one not only blew a whistle and had smoke coming out the stack, but there were voices coming out of it giving orders to the train engineer. As much as I loved it, it is far too large for my house.
The little 'N' gauge, however looked just right and I'm going to buy it for myself for Christmas this year (or maybe even for my birthday which is in November. Mac kindly offered to help me with securing the tracks to a sheet of wood when I'm ready to buy my set. I'm so excited! In return, I told him I'd blog about his shop.
Mac's Trains
Buy Sell Trade
304 N. Black Horse Pike
Runnemede, NJ 08078
cell 856-725-5479
shop 856-939-0350
I can't wait to get started. I think I'll leave mine up the whole first year and simply change the landscape to match the season. I could have spring, then little boats on the pond in the summer, and snow in the winter.
Train Postcards
On another but relatd topic, as I mentioned before, I collect postcards and have been sending 30 of them to my daughter for her birthday. Recently, almost as if a prediction, I came across three train postcards, which I rarely to never see. Two of them are the Mount Royal train station, one a train passing through at Mount Royal and the other is a color postal of a train in the mountains in Pennsylvania.
I hope a new obsession isn't rooting itself in my heart. There is just too much to learn and know to get too deep into the model train hobby at this point in my life, though one 'N' gauge set seems modest enough.
Happy Trails! Can't You hear the whistle blowing?
Hope to see you at Mac's Trains one of these days! It is just in time for Christmas.
As it happens, I didn't have my camera with me but I'll go back and take some photos to post SOON!
And I'll post a pic of my new train set when I get it set up.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Upcoming Event-Fossils at Inversand
This was just in my e-mail and I will certainly try to attend:
The Gloucester County Chapter of The Archaeological Society of New Jersey will meet
The Gloucester County Chapter of The Archaeological Society of New Jersey will meet
November 6th, Wednesday 6:00 P.M. at the West Deptford Public Library, 420 Crown Point
Road, Thorofare, New Jersey.
Our program title, Inversand "Dig", will be presented by Dr. Ken Lacovara from Drexel University.
This seminar will be about the fossils found at the Inversand Site located in Gloucester County.
All are welcome to share interest in this educational evening.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Speaker and 'steps'-upcoming events
A speaker from the Mutter Museum will be at the Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield to speak on 18th century medicine on Saturday 10/12/13 morning at 10:00.
To return the favor to our 'Mother City' Philadelphia, let me share with you this excellent web site and an event they are having later that same day in Phila. - a ceremony to install a plaque to commemmorate the steps on the waterfront directly ordered by William Penn.
http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/10/honoring-william-penns-steps-at-last/
Harry K. author of the web site "Hidden City" is a fine speaker and a brilliant and devoted historian of Philadelphia. I have his book on the watefront and have taken a course at Camden County College on that subject after being inspired by his lecture and book. Having been born in Philadelphia and raised there before moving to New Jersey for the rest of my life, I feel a kinship with that noble birthplace of American history.
I will be at the Whitall Hosue lecture, but must return home after that and will not be able to attend the waterfront dedication. Later that day is my 50th High School Reunion! Hard to beliee it was 50 years ago that I graduated from Merchantville High School (so long ago that it isn't a high school anymore).
If you have any questions or comments on any of this write me at - wrightj45@yahoo.com
Tomorrow evening I'll be at the Oaklyn Ritz Theater for August in Osage County. I'll write a review after the show but it'll be too late for you to see it because I believe it is the last night of the play. Anyhow the Ritz deserves a little essay too being a historic theater and one of the very few left still standing and operating.
Happy Trails! Jo Ann
To return the favor to our 'Mother City' Philadelphia, let me share with you this excellent web site and an event they are having later that same day in Phila. - a ceremony to install a plaque to commemmorate the steps on the waterfront directly ordered by William Penn.
http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/10/honoring-william-penns-steps-at-last/
Harry K. author of the web site "Hidden City" is a fine speaker and a brilliant and devoted historian of Philadelphia. I have his book on the watefront and have taken a course at Camden County College on that subject after being inspired by his lecture and book. Having been born in Philadelphia and raised there before moving to New Jersey for the rest of my life, I feel a kinship with that noble birthplace of American history.
I will be at the Whitall Hosue lecture, but must return home after that and will not be able to attend the waterfront dedication. Later that day is my 50th High School Reunion! Hard to beliee it was 50 years ago that I graduated from Merchantville High School (so long ago that it isn't a high school anymore).
If you have any questions or comments on any of this write me at - wrightj45@yahoo.com
Tomorrow evening I'll be at the Oaklyn Ritz Theater for August in Osage County. I'll write a review after the show but it'll be too late for you to see it because I believe it is the last night of the play. Anyhow the Ritz deserves a little essay too being a historic theater and one of the very few left still standing and operating.
Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Sunday, October 6, 2013
My favorite cemeteries and why
My four favorite cemeteries are Eglington in Mount Royal, the Newton Friends Burial Ground near the old train station in West Collingswood, The Stranger's Burial Ground in West Deptford and the Mount Vernon Street Cemetery in Camden.
Only one of these is a favorite for aesthetic reasons and that would be Eglington, the oldest still functioning cemetery in the United States, begun in 1776 by John Eglington whose family plot is near the Kings Highway entrance at Mount Royal. It is a beautiful and evocative place, nice to walk in and visit.
Whoops, I lied, I have another which I CANNOT leave out Harleigh Cemetary in Camden.
Old Quaker Burial Ground.
1. Collingswood
The first Quakers in the area settled along Newton Creek in what is now Collingswood. A house of one of the founders, Thackara, is still standing and still occupied with brick work on the roof that says
1754. The Quakers were there in the late 1600's and they had a burial ground near their original meeting house which is now gone and replaced by a train station. The railroad is very important in the
directions. The railroad runs parallel to the White Horse Pike on the West Collingswood side of town. Collings Ave. intersects it. If you take Collings Ave, cross over White Horse pike and cross over the
railroad track. On the right is a small refurbished one room school called the Champion School dating to 1812, but originally called the Union School. To the left is Lynne Ave. and an old train station.
The grassy area runs paralel to the train tracks. At the back corner next to the Newton Creek is the oldest burial ground with stones embedded in a concrete fence and the oldest broken stones thrown into
the center. One of the Quakers was married to a non-member and they wouldn't allow her to be buried there so he started another burial next door, the Sloan family burial ground. There is a plaque that tells the story.
Next to that is the Revolutionary Burial ground filled with members of both the Thackara family and and the Sloans. And that leads back to the Train station.
Now on the other side of the railroad is an apartment complex on Eldridge Ave. (which crosses over to both sides of the railroad.) On Eldridge is the old Thackara house.
When the Quakers moved, they went to the Camden area and built the Newton Meeting which is still there. It is near the bridge approach on the Rutgers side,
I remember seeing it but I can't place it accurately in my mental map now. They wanted to take their burial stones but the local historians wouldn't permit it and that is why they are still in Collingswood.
The Strangers Burial Ground in Deptford and the Ashbook in Glendora are both sites where dead Hessian soldiers were interred after teh Battle of Red Bank, where 300 to 400 of them fell in a 40 minute period in a failed attempt to take Fort Mercer. I visit them because I feel sorry for those young men dead in a foreign place with their families never knowing what happened or where they were and never able to visit their graves. Since I have Hessian ancestors from the 1840's not the Revolutionary Period, I sometimes feel a 'kinship' duty to visit with them.
Harleigh I love because it is majestic and a gem of a setting. Also it is where my favorite poet, is buried, Walt Whitman of course, and right behind it is the Camden County Historical Socity and Pomona Hall - home place of the Cooper family founders of the Camden area.
I'm posting this because it is Halloween and the time to consider the other side of this world.
Happy Trails and if you know of a cemetery I should visit, let me know and I'll go!
wrightj45@yahoo.com
ps. Don't forget to visit Hoag Levins article on the Camden County Historical Society and Museum Site - it is excellent!
pss. One of these days I've got to get to the National Cemetery in Beverly, NJ because my Grandmother Lyons is buried there.
Only one of these is a favorite for aesthetic reasons and that would be Eglington, the oldest still functioning cemetery in the United States, begun in 1776 by John Eglington whose family plot is near the Kings Highway entrance at Mount Royal. It is a beautiful and evocative place, nice to walk in and visit.
Whoops, I lied, I have another which I CANNOT leave out Harleigh Cemetary in Camden.
Old Quaker Burial Ground.
1. Collingswood
The first Quakers in the area settled along Newton Creek in what is now Collingswood. A house of one of the founders, Thackara, is still standing and still occupied with brick work on the roof that says
1754. The Quakers were there in the late 1600's and they had a burial ground near their original meeting house which is now gone and replaced by a train station. The railroad is very important in the
directions. The railroad runs parallel to the White Horse Pike on the West Collingswood side of town. Collings Ave. intersects it. If you take Collings Ave, cross over White Horse pike and cross over the
railroad track. On the right is a small refurbished one room school called the Champion School dating to 1812, but originally called the Union School. To the left is Lynne Ave. and an old train station.
The grassy area runs paralel to the train tracks. At the back corner next to the Newton Creek is the oldest burial ground with stones embedded in a concrete fence and the oldest broken stones thrown into
the center. One of the Quakers was married to a non-member and they wouldn't allow her to be buried there so he started another burial next door, the Sloan family burial ground. There is a plaque that tells the story.
Next to that is the Revolutionary Burial ground filled with members of both the Thackara family and and the Sloans. And that leads back to the Train station.
Now on the other side of the railroad is an apartment complex on Eldridge Ave. (which crosses over to both sides of the railroad.) On Eldridge is the old Thackara house.
When the Quakers moved, they went to the Camden area and built the Newton Meeting which is still there. It is near the bridge approach on the Rutgers side,
I remember seeing it but I can't place it accurately in my mental map now. They wanted to take their burial stones but the local historians wouldn't permit it and that is why they are still in Collingswood.
The Strangers Burial Ground in Deptford and the Ashbook in Glendora are both sites where dead Hessian soldiers were interred after teh Battle of Red Bank, where 300 to 400 of them fell in a 40 minute period in a failed attempt to take Fort Mercer. I visit them because I feel sorry for those young men dead in a foreign place with their families never knowing what happened or where they were and never able to visit their graves. Since I have Hessian ancestors from the 1840's not the Revolutionary Period, I sometimes feel a 'kinship' duty to visit with them.
Harleigh I love because it is majestic and a gem of a setting. Also it is where my favorite poet, is buried, Walt Whitman of course, and right behind it is the Camden County Historical Socity and Pomona Hall - home place of the Cooper family founders of the Camden area.
I'm posting this because it is Halloween and the time to consider the other side of this world.
Happy Trails and if you know of a cemetery I should visit, let me know and I'll go!
wrightj45@yahoo.com
ps. Don't forget to visit Hoag Levins article on the Camden County Historical Society and Museum Site - it is excellent!
pss. One of these days I've got to get to the National Cemetery in Beverly, NJ because my Grandmother Lyons is buried there.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Hidden History of South Jersey Revisted and Expanded
I just got word that Cherry Hill Library will host a lecture on Hiden History of South Jersey, so the author who spoke today at Cape May County Historic Society Museum is doubtless the speaker, and if you missed him today, you can hear him:
October 23rd, Lower Level Conference Center 1:00 p.m. and I just checked YES it is Gordon Bond
Contact: Cherry Hill Historical Commission 856-488-7886
The last lecture I attended was FASCINATING - Cherry Hill: Looking Below the Surface (of Cherry Hill)
Hope to see you there - Happy Trails! Jo Ann
October 23rd, Lower Level Conference Center 1:00 p.m. and I just checked YES it is Gordon Bond
Contact: Cherry Hill Historical Commission 856-488-7886
The last lecture I attended was FASCINATING - Cherry Hill: Looking Below the Surface (of Cherry Hill)
Hope to see you there - Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Cape May County Museum Lunch and Lectures
Today I enjoyed two excellent lectures at the Cape May Co. Museum:
Dorothy Stanaities did her excellent piece "Remember The Ladies" which focused on women of the Am. Rev. period. She is vivacious, entertaining, and has all her information down pat - a great treat.
Gordon Bond did a lecture on Harriet Tubman that was very good indeed. It was from his book The Hidden History of South Jersey From the Capitol to the Shore. He, also, gave an excellent and informative talk. We had lunch under the trees on the grounds and the summer, seashore breeze blew under clear skies and leaves just beginning to be burnished by the retreating sun. It was a splendid day in every way.
I have bought Bond's book and can't wait to read it but I am falling behind being a slow reader and I'm only 1/3 through Undaunted Courage, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, so you won't bet a review for a long tim.
Book of Ages is next in line, the story of Benjamin Franklin's sister Jane Mecom.
I'm just now wading through the armload of newlsetters, newspapers, brochures and flyers that I took from the CMCMuseum and if I see anything of special interest you'll see it here tomorrow. I would have told you about this earlier, but I didn't know too far ahead of time where I was going or what was happening there - I only knew I was going to the seashore with a friend.
Dorothy Stanaities did her excellent piece "Remember The Ladies" which focused on women of the Am. Rev. period. She is vivacious, entertaining, and has all her information down pat - a great treat.
Gordon Bond did a lecture on Harriet Tubman that was very good indeed. It was from his book The Hidden History of South Jersey From the Capitol to the Shore. He, also, gave an excellent and informative talk. We had lunch under the trees on the grounds and the summer, seashore breeze blew under clear skies and leaves just beginning to be burnished by the retreating sun. It was a splendid day in every way.
I have bought Bond's book and can't wait to read it but I am falling behind being a slow reader and I'm only 1/3 through Undaunted Courage, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, so you won't bet a review for a long tim.
Book of Ages is next in line, the story of Benjamin Franklin's sister Jane Mecom.
I'm just now wading through the armload of newlsetters, newspapers, brochures and flyers that I took from the CMCMuseum and if I see anything of special interest you'll see it here tomorrow. I would have told you about this earlier, but I didn't know too far ahead of time where I was going or what was happening there - I only knew I was going to the seashore with a friend.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Sites of interest
You may already be signed up for these web sites or you may not have heard of them, so I'm sharing them with you. First is a newly updated Revolutionary war site of great interest and, I think, well done. Perhaps it grew out of the recent series of meetings on this topic which I wish I could have attended. However, my sister is currently without a car and I have to drive her to work four or five days a week and my travels have been somewhat curtailed. Family first!
Site #1
http://www.revolutionarynj.org/place/red-bank-battlefield-park-nhl/
In season with the month of Halloween and recognition of the world of the dead, here is a GREAT cemetery essay. I have visited all the cemeteries in this excellent essay by Hoag Levins and it did give puase to think not only of our mortality and our forebears, but also about the preservation of their last resting places.
site #2
http://historiccamdencounty.com/ccnews81.shtml
Also check out thei home page of the Camden County Historical Society - always interesting
http://cchsnj.com/
Also I regularly receive and read e-mail digests from (site #3) Ghost Towns of Southern New Jersey. In today's digest there was a note of this upcoming event:
Monday, October 7, 2013, 8:00 PM at the
Bud Duble Senior Center
33 Cooper Folly Road
Atco, NJ 08004 (Across from Winslow Township Middle School and
next to the library)
I'll write more later and post some photos from Pennsbury and Red Dragon Canoe Club, but I've got to get the dog over to the Big Timber Creek Dog Park now. We are entranced by the beauty of the autumn weather.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
ps. Feel free to add to the list of sites by e-mailing your favorites to me and I'll post them
Site #1
http://www.revolutionarynj.org/place/red-bank-battlefield-park-nhl/
In season with the month of Halloween and recognition of the world of the dead, here is a GREAT cemetery essay. I have visited all the cemeteries in this excellent essay by Hoag Levins and it did give puase to think not only of our mortality and our forebears, but also about the preservation of their last resting places.
site #2
http://historiccamdencounty.com/ccnews81.shtml
Also check out thei home page of the Camden County Historical Society - always interesting
http://cchsnj.com/
Also I regularly receive and read e-mail digests from (site #3) Ghost Towns of Southern New Jersey. In today's digest there was a note of this upcoming event:
Monday, October 7, 2013, 8:00 PM at the
Bud Duble Senior Center
33 Cooper Folly Road
Atco, NJ 08004 (Across from Winslow Township Middle School and
next to the library)
I'll write more later and post some photos from Pennsbury and Red Dragon Canoe Club, but I've got to get the dog over to the Big Timber Creek Dog Park now. We are entranced by the beauty of the autumn weather.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
ps. Feel free to add to the list of sites by e-mailing your favorites to me and I'll post them
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