Brunch at the Telford Inn, Mantua, NJ

Today I took a friend with whom I was a volunteer for a few years at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library in Woodbury, to a 90th Birthday brunch at the Telford Inn in Mantua.  
The history of the Telford Inn is as follows:  (adapted from a sheet available from the hostess)  In 1812, the Tonkin Brothers owned a large frame farm house that later became the Telford Inn.  It stood in the forks of the highways, Mullica Road and Glassboro/Mantua Road, as it does today.  Names of residents of Mantua which at the time was home to 16 families are familiar to anyone from these parts, Heritage (of the dairy farms), Collins (ancestors to my William C. Garwood), Ashcroft (of the cemetery in what is now Glendora, where some 60 Hessian soldiers were buried after the Revolutionary battle at the Whitall family farm at what is now Red Bank Battlefield , National Park, Eastlack, and of course, Tonkin.
It was kept as a tavern by a widow named Mrs. Taylor in whose name the property remained.  One of the Tonkin brothers married her daughter.  The tavern was also the postoffice, which I gather was a common practice in the time.  
The Tonkin brothers also ran a store in the same location in the fork of the road.  That fork in the road had also been home to a blacksmith, Samuel Archer, and another store, owned by Richard Clark.  The blacksmith business later was run by Curry and Pancoast and a wheelright shop there was run by Denn and Wallace.  
At some point, a planing mill owned by Samuel Sooy (a name familiar in the Pine Barrens) stood near the forks on Mantua Creek  which later became a lumber company and even later, a canning factory for fruit.  In 1881, Henry Leppee ran a steam grist mill there.  
Needless to say, whenever I have a chance to enjoy a meal in a historic tavern, I am happy, and the Telford Inn had no disappointments.  The food was plentiful and delicious in their buffet which is open from 9:30 to 1:p.m., reservations requested but not required.  We made reservations.  I didn't want any hitches in a 90th Birthday event.  The Inn is located at 145 Bridgeton Pike and it is open 7 days a week for lunch, dinner and late night fare.
Take-out is also available and you can order a specialty cake with 24 hour notice.  Call 856-468-0535. 
Personally, I can't wait for a return visit!
Happy Trails, Happy Meals, Jo Ann

Memorial Day Weekend Hike at Estelle Manor

Both my hiking buddy Barb Sp. and I agree that route 559 is a beauty.  It is never crowded, always scenic and peaceful and it goes to so many great places such as Lake Lenape and the Sugar Hill Restaurant and Egg Harbor City.  Today, though, it was taking us to Estelle Manor for a hike.

The woods were beautiful, the ferns incredibly new, lush and stunning.  They were huge, thanks to the moisture in this swampy, fertile forest.  It was peaceful in the woods, not very many people hiking, though a happy group of revelers were in the picnic/playground area of the park.  

We stopped to pay our respects at the Veterans Cemetery.  I walked among the markers for the veterans of the Korean Conflict and stopped at the World War II markers.  All the graves were decorated with flags.  This is something my brother does where he lives in West Virginia.  My brother, Joe is a veteran of Vietnam.  Each Memorial Day weekend, he and other members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars group in Maysville, place hundreds of flags on the graves of those who came forward when their nation asked them to and served.  Our father was a veteran of World War II.   He was in the Navy, my brother was in the Marines.  We also have veteran ancestors from World War I,  the Spanish American War, the Civil War and the Revolution.  As for me, I, too, served in a very small way with the Red Cross at the army clinic at Wharton Barracks in Heilbronn, Germany, when my ex-husband was stationed there from 1969 to 1971.

My heart goes out to all the members of the US services currently serving and to those who gave when their help was needed and are now in civilian life in our magnificent land of freedom and plenty.  Marking the Memorial Day weekend by showing the flag and honoring veterans is one small way we can express our gratitude to those who have signed on to keep us free.  THANK YOU!

Pink Ladyslipper orchid at Maruice River Bluffs

My Mother's Day Adventure began two days earlier on Thursday, when Barb Sp. and I hiked the Maurice River Bluffs after a delicious lunch at Wilflowers Vegetarian Restaurant on Main Street in Millville, NJ.  It was delightful to chat with the baker as she prepared banana mango cupcakes for the weekend bakery case.  
After our delicious,healthful, and plentiful lunch, we headed down Silver Run Road for the bluffs and joyfully hiked the orange trail, the blue trail, the red trail and the white trail.  Somewhere on the connection between the red and white trails, we got lost, and disoriented.  This doesn't usually happen to us as we are frequent hikers but that day we could not find our way back to the parking lot or the blue trail for anything, so our hike turned into a 4 hour exhaustion.  Finally a nice kid on a scooter out on the roadway, where we had wandered after giving up on the woods trails, pointed us in the right direction and we were saved.  In what I thought was an overly dramatic gesture, my dog threw herself flat on the ground and refused to go one step further, fotunately we were only yards from the car when she quit.  

On Saturday when my daughter came to visit for Mother's Day, we headed back for the same experience, minus getting lost.  This time I brought the trail map and hoped to find the orchids again to show her, but, no luck, they were elusive.  I think you had to be lost to find them.  They were probably off the beaten path as we were on Thursday.
We had the usual wonderful time however, with lunch at Wildflowers again, and the hike, followed by coffee at Bogart's Book Store where a talented guitarist/singer was performing.  A Perfect Mother's Day experience in every way!  And I bought a charming Mother's Day card at Bogart's for my sister.
So here is some information on the interesting orchid that we found:

"Pink lady’s slipper is more reclusive and shy than most other Jersey flowers—perhaps because it knows it’s special. It’s a wild orchid."
"For novices and casual wildflower gazers like myself, native orchids can be tricky to locate without a guide. Compared to your run-of-the-mill wildflowers, orchids are a rarity and usually found off the beaten trail. Plus, these flowers have a network of human bodyguards. In an effort to shield native orchids from being picked, dug up or trampled, naturalists tend to guard orchid locations as if protecting the whereabouts of Captain Kidd’s supposed buried treasure at Sandy Hook. "
http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/flower-power.html

So as you see, the woods were being very kind to me this year and paying me a great compliment in displaying for me one of their gems.  To be honest, I have a feeling I may have seen pink ladyslipper orchids somewhere out near Whitesbog once, too.  I feel honored!

HAPPY TRAILS!  Jo Ann  Happy Tails!  Trixie
and to those of you who have brought offspring into the world, Happy Mother's Day!

Pottsgrove Connection

Last week, the Whitall volunteers group took a field trip to Pottsgrove Manor in Pottsgrove, Pa.  You may wonder what the connection is between an historic house in Pa. and my blog on SJ.  It's IRON!  The volunteers are interested in all sites that relate to our period and Pottsgove Manor, built in 1752, is certainly our period.  They had a remarkable show of clothes from the Colonial period in each room, displayed on dress dummies, depicted both male and female attire. 
John Potts was an ironmaster who established several iron forges in Pennsylvania.  Incidentally, those of you who have visited Batsto or Atsion are aware that Pennsylvania was the cause of the demise of the iron industry in the Pines of New Jersey.  They had ready access to hot burning coal whereas we were forced to denude our forest lands and make charcoal to keep our forges ablaze. 
Washington used Pottsgrove Manor as his headquarters for a period during the Revolutionary War, as well.
The clothing display, comprised of both recently sewn authentic replica clothing and original 18th Century pieces on loan, will be running from March 8th through Nove. 2nd if you should wish to visit.  We had no trouble finding it and it was less than an hour drive.
Tours are on the hour and stop at 3:00 p.m.  There are places to have lunch in the town of Pottstown, nearby, which was, of course, named for the ironmaster, John Potts  The address is 100 West King Street, Pottstown, Pa.  Phone 610-326-4014 and website:
www.montocpa.org/pottsgrovemanor
Happy Trails!  Jo Ann