Finnish Log Construction - The Art by F. W. Eld

On Sunday, September 27, 2015, a friend and I drove down to Greenwich for the Artisan's Fair.  I love this fair because they are really artisans and not crafters or souvenir vendors.  These people blow glass, smith iron, throw pottery, and weave, and we get to see and buy their products. 

As with every year, they also have music and this year it was a country western band with a singer who sounded a lot like Willie Nelson.  They were terrific.

Also, this year, there were re-enactors and a particulary erudite and charming one told us a great deal about the Revolution in New Jersey.  Some of it I knew from my extensive reading when I was a volunteer at the Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield, but almost all of it was new to my pal and he made it so vivid.  I had his card to share with you and now it is lost but it will turn up.

Another man who was very interesting was Joseph Matthews, Archivist.  He told us a great deal about the Swedish Granary in the yard of the Gibbon House Museum, and the site of the Fair.  As good luck would have it, a WONDERFUL book had been for sale at the Cumberland County Historical Society, where I always like to drop in and see the exhibits and say hello to the unfailingly polite an welcoming volunteers there.  The book is
Finnish Log Constructio - The Art, Anniversary Edition, author, Frank W. Eld.  He had been speaking at the CCHS the ay before. 

When I got home, I got cozy on the sofa and read the book from cover to cover.  I was filled with gratitude and admiration for Mr. Eld and all the others who make it their life's vocation to save our cultural material heritage.  The past speaks to me through many voices, re-enactors, books, and most particularlu buildings.  I tell you truly, I have fallen in love with buildings.  It is why I went tow work as a volunteer at Whitall Hosue those many years ago, and why I visit Greenwich regularly, and why I used to wade through the flood waters of swampy For Elfsborg to visit the solitary and, I feel, lonely, Abel Nichilson House. 

As I grew up in Philadelphia, and attended Gloria Dei, Old Swedes Church, I believe I aborbed the spirit of old places and found my first love, Old Swedes. 

Un beknownst to me, until I did my dna test through ancestry.com, I always believed myself to be German, English and Irish.  I never knew I wa 17% Scandinavian!  Most likely it was the blending of Germans and Danes along the Holstein/Schleswig border which is the peninsula of Jutland, nonetheless, I now feel a vested interest in the Scandinavian Colonial history of the NJ/Pa.Delaware River region.  Buy the book.  It is fascinating - then visit the log houses we have, one, the VanLeer Schorn cabin at Trinity Church in Swedesboro, one at Salem, just as you enter the city, and the Nothnagle Cabin near Mickleton. 

Happy Trails! 
By the way, did you play with Lincoln Logs when you were a child? 
Jo Ann

Saddlertown, Civil War Weekend, Mullica Hill, NJ

Sadly, sometimes I'm writing to you about something that already happened in which case you can't go see it, but you can tuck it away for next year! 
SADDLERTOWN DAY
Today, the people of Saddlertown celebrated almost 175 years of history.  The town was founded by a man who escaped freedom and came to work for a Quaker in New Jersey named Evans.  Evans helped Saddler raise enough money to buy his own place and the small hamlet of Saddlertown began.  The next event that helped make a village out of a farm was the construction of the Rhoads Temple Church, built in 1882 with the help of Charles and Beulah Rhoads, another Quaker family.  As with so many of the inspiring stories of New Jersey's prouder moments in history, the Quakers were central motivators. 

When Joshua Saddler passed away, he left a provision in his will to protect a patch of old growth forest forever.  Over the many years, his family and now, the Saddler's Woods Conservation Association have fought tirelessly to protect these woods from many selfish interests that would have destroyed the forest for their own purposes in defiance of the purpose and spirit of Saddler's will. 

I've hiked the Saddler's Woods path many times and often red in the papers when volunteers come together to go through the woods and pick up debris left by the careless.

Today was Saddlertown Day, and there was an open house in the Rhoads Temple Church and there were tables with volunteers ready to talk about the history of this remarkable treasure tucked away in the middle of suburban sprawl.  I wouldn't have known about it if my Cousin Patty hadn't saved a newspaper (Phila. Inquirer Thurs. Sept. 10) article for me.  When I visited her Friday she gave it to me, but I already had plans for early today and couldn't get to Saddlertown Day until afternoon, when it was ending.

In the article they mention a site where you can reearch the history further, should you wish to do so:  haddontwphistoricalsociety.org

While having lunch at the Blue Plate Cafe in Mullica Hill today, I picked up a postcard announcing Civil War Living History Weekend Fall Open House and Pumpkin Festival.  This takes plae on Oct. 10th and 11th.  So here, at least is something coming up for you to enjoy!

For more info www.mullicahill.com or call (856) 223-5440

Happy Trails!

Thank You Tom Wolfe at Pakim Pond

Yesterday when I hiked at Pakim Pond with my dog, Trixie, I had stopped to take a photo of two frolicking deer, and apparently that's where I dropped my expensive prescription glasses.  My eyesight has grown progressively worse over the past few years and I needed prescription glasses to drive.  Last night, I decided I would drive back this morning and see if I could find my lost glasses.  The eyesight problem, by the way, is why I put the text in a larger size.  

This morning I stopped at the Ranger Office on my way to the pond to drop off a card with my name in case anyone might turn in the glasses and THERE THEY WERE!  I said I wished I could thank the ranger who had found them and turned them in.  The lady at the counter said his name was Tom Wolfe.

When I got to the pond some fellows were clearing brush from the fences.  I asked one if his name was Tom Wolfe and it was so I got to thank him in person.  He said he had found them where the fence meets the sand road, and that was where I had stopped to take a picture of the deer.  He said the deer were around there a lot.  I asked if hunting was allowed there and he said it was not.  What a relief.

He said the three deer had been there since they were orphaned little fawns.  

When Trixie and I got back from hiking around the pond, I wanted to give Tom Wolfe a copy of my book, White Horse Black Horse, but he had already gone, so I gave it to another fellow along with a copy for himself.  

It is so encouraging in this world to find people who are thoughtful and kind and go the extra step to help someone out.  From now on, I will be more careful with my glasses and tomorrow I will post a photo of Tom Wolf patting Trixie. 

Outdoor Club of South Jersey

Having seen the movie A WALK IN THE WOODS, from the book by Bill Bryson, I became interested in teh Batona Trail, and that reminded me of the Oudoor Club of South Jersey, which group is one of the supporters of the Batona Trail.

More than 8 years ago, I was a member of the OCSJ, for a few years and enjoyed many wonderful hikes and kayak trips, not to mention bus trips to Washington DC and picnics and parties.  Finally, I left when my declining physical abilities made it too difficult for me to do hikes of 6 miles or to get in and out of a kayak.  When I was a member, however, I thought someone should try to collect the history. 

To my complete surprise when I tried to contact the founder, Bert Nixdorf, he was alive andbiking in New England though in his 80's.  He has since passed away but I feel honored to have made his acquaintance.  I left the club before I had a chance to make any progress on the history but I wanted to preserve the small introduction that I had begun, so I thought this would be a good place for it.  I was a newbie and only starting down the trail so this is no 'history' only an introduction to a possible future history, but perhaps it might be of some help to anyone else in the future taking up this task.

by the way, it was also my great good fortune to find Bert Nixdorf's book on bike trails at Murphy's Book Loft before that venerable book barn closed.  That book is a treasure to anyone with an interest i the OCSJ, and almost impossible to find these days.

So here, cut and pasted, is that rough draft of a start on a search for the history of the OCSJ.  Please forgive any errors or misunderstandings you might find within it. 
Happy Trails!  Jo Ann

The History of the Outdoor Club of South Jersey

through interviews with Joe Trujillo and Christine Denneler

revised March 9, 2008

            The Outdoor Club of South Jersey started in Mount Holly in 1967.  Two couples, Bert Nixdorf, his wife, along with Dale and Kay Knapschaefer really initiated the club.  Bert Nixdorf was a school principal.  These couples liked the outdoors and started walking around Mount Holly together.  The group grew to about six people walking around the Smithville area, in the woods up near Rancocas.  Their earliest organized hikes were out of Lake Oswego.  Everybody pretty much knew their way around out there.  There was a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in that area and that’s where they began to run hikes. 

In 1970, Norah Hayes, a botanist who originally came from England, designed an “Edible Plants” walk around Oswego Lake.  Nixdorf was a bike rider too.  He did D rides of about 25 miles.  Another couple who were early members would lead rides around the Chatsworth area.  Sometimes Bert would lead a bike ride on one day of the weekend and a hike the next day. 

When they decided to make it a more officially organized club, Bert wrote it up and advertised it in the Shoppers’ Guide.  He affiliated his group with the A. Y. H., the American Youth Hostels.  They were the umbrella group.  They supplied a logo and Bert added a cartoon character to it, a little hiking guy somewhat like a Charles Schultz’s Peanuts character.

In 1980, Bert Nixdorf wrote the following note about the start of the club:  “The club was formalized with a constitution and by-laws in 1967, at the home of Dale and Kay Knapschaefer.  The club was quite informal in the beginning with only two or three activities per month.  When the Knapschaefers left the area, Bert Nixdorf, then vice-resident, took the helm by default.  Past presidents (of those early years) were:  1967-68, Dale Knapschaefer; 1968-70, Bert Nixdorf; 1970-71, Walter Hayes,; 1971-72, Joe Sigona; 1972-1981, Bert Nixdorf.

In 1970, the club affiliated with American Youth Hostels.  Membership in 1970 was less than 50 persons.  Slowly the club increased its membership as well as its activity program.  By 1973, the program ran year round with the addition of water course explorations and moonlight hikes.  Membership was between 450-500.  By 1975, bicycle rides and a Wilderness Survival Course, had been added to on-going activities.  Membership had risen to around 750.

Eventually, Nixdorf began to combine camping trips with the hiking and biking.  The A. Y. H. ran a lot of camping trips and travel hostel trips and the early OCSJ began to put them in their schedule. 

Nixdorf would lead hikes and bike trips on woods roads and he liked to get in the water, too.  Pretty soon he added tubing trips to the schedule.  Advertising in the Shoppers Guide brought about 60 regulars into the group.  Evan’s Bridge was a popular spot for the tubing trips.  We would hike up to Godfrey bridge carrying inner tubes and wearing bathing suits, then we’d float back down to where the cars were parked. 

Once or twice a month, Bert held moonlight hikes.  There was nothing comparable in the South Jersey area. 

In the early 1970’s, Nixdorf got a column in the Burlington County Times, a weekly column.  He wrote about nature and the hiking, biking, camping and tubing trips they were having.  After Knapschaeffer left, the club became more official and Bert Nixdorf served as the second president.  He served two terms, not consecutively, and he incorporated the group with an official hierarchy consisting of a president, vice president, treasurer, and recording secretary.  The club was run out of Bert’s house.  At first, he mimeographed a newsletter from his home.  Then he got hold of a good printing company to do the newsletter. 

The current president, Kathleen Pearce is the historian and holds the archives where there are copies of the original newsletter and scrapbooks that show the kinds of things we did.  Dave S. kept the scrapbooks up to date for us. 

During the 1970’s, Bert developed short hikes of about 6 miles, boating that he titled “Water Course Explorations” which were mostly out of Atsion, Evans Bridge and Oswego Lakes, and bike rides out of Mount Holley.  During this early period, Bert also wrote two books.  One was called “Hikes and Bikes” and there was another book that was only bike rides.  Bert had a long tenure, from the 1970’s up to 1981.  He developed and built the club during that decade.  He did most of the leading and only had one or two other leaders for each of the other areas of activities.  During that time we also branched out into back packing, sometime in the middle 1970’s.

Participation in activities was one of Bert Nixdorf’s great joys, the more members attended an activity, the more he enjoyed it.  Some highlights of his most popular activities were:  “Swan Migration trip to West Meadows in 1972, 30 attended.  The record turnout for the swan hike was in 1978 when 157 hiked to view the swans.  Based on turnout, moonlight hikes were most popular.  The first one was held in 1970, a six miler out of Vincentown.  On average moonlight hikes attracted 50 – 100 persons in those days.  The famous Halloween Hike in 1977, brought out an overwhelming 280 for something special, donuts and cider.  We bought for an anticipated 1800.  We ended up slicing doughnuts into 1 inch slices, and giving everyone a sip of cider.  The line in the dark was a half a mile long.  Several members are still in the club who recall the famous incident.

In her own words, here is Christine Denneler’s memory of that event:

“I joined the OCSJ in 1976. The first hike I went on was the Halloween hike

of that year.  I went along with my mother, Betty Carroll, and my aunt Annamarie

Seifried  who is still a member and has been co-leader of the Harper's Ferry ATC

volunteer trip  for more than 20 years. We arrived at the hike along with 200 other participants! It was a beautiful moonlit night.  All I could see was the dust from 200 pairs of feet. When we stopped for a break  my mother sat down on a piece of broken beer bottle and punctured her butt ( not a serious cut, Mom was tough!!) But she never went hiking with the OCSJ again. In spite of it all Annamarie and I were hooked. Within a year or so we were leading hikes and serving on the board of trustees.  Annamarie is one of the signers of our incorporation papers. I was hiking chair for almost 20 years.”

Batona Trail and More

Worry I missed the Bluegrass Fest at Woodstown this past weekend. I was supposed to go but plans changed and I ended up having lunch at Curtin's Wharf in Burlington, and it was the last day.  They are closed for the season now.

Today I hiked just a little bit on the Batona Trail, maybe half a mile, but all the way around Pakim Pond.  It was just so hot!  It is part of my 70 miles in 70 days project.  I ran into a Batona Trail through hiker, but I didn't want to make him stop to chat, I only asked if he was doing the Batona and he said he was and that so far, so good.  It was awfully hot today, even in the woods.  The temperature was 95.

On September 13th from 3:00 to 5:00, check out the Art Exhibit of phtograps by Al Horner and paintings by Terry Schmidt at Medford Memorial Center, 21 S. Main St., Medford, NJ.  Both artists focus on the beauty of the Pinelands and you may have seen their work or even met them at LINES ON THE PINES, the annual event that celebrates culture, arts and artists of the Pinelands.  

Camden County Fair will be held at Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ, September 19th nd 20.  I've never gone, so I can't give an opinion, but they advertise music, magic, and all sorts of food and fun.  If you are looking for something to do that wekend, you may want to try it out.  

Next time I have the time and energy, I'd lke to talk a little about the history of the Batona Trail, the Batona Trail Club, and the Outdoor Club of South Jersey.  Those two organizations created and maintain the trail and I know the Outdoor Club hikes the trail on a regular basis.  There are a dozen places to get on and off and perhaps in my next post, I can go into that a bit more.   I've4 seen the trail at Batsto, Pakim Pond, Bass River, and a few other places but I've never hiked any significant distance on it, no more than a couple miles at a time.  It is 53 miles long and runs from Bass River State Park through Brendan Byrne and Wharton.  There is a great deal of information at  the Brendan Byrne Ranger Office.  I picked up 5 brochures and trail maps.  
Happy Trails (And don't forget to go see A Walk in the Woods, the REdform movie based on the book by Bill Bryson)
Jo Ann 

Jim Thorpe, Pa.

I know, this is called historic places South Jersey, but, sometimes, I just have to go to Jim Thorpe, Pa.  It is one of my favorite places in the world.  Fortunately, this time, a good friend of mine, Nancy, who lives in Westampton, a half hour from me and a half hour closer to Jim Thorpe, Pa., was willing to drive us there to spend the day.

Since it was the last weekend of August and the last weekend people had kids home from school, the traffic going to Pa., was meager, everyone was going to the shore.  Since I'm on that subject, Jim Thorpe is a great alternative to the seashore.  Think outside the box, folks!

It was glorious in Jim Thorpe and to my joy, it was filled with healthy families doing athletic and healthy things together, kayaking, Tubing on the Lehigh River, biking along the canal path, or hiking up Glen Onoko Falls.  We didn't do any of those things this trip, I'm not in that physical form these days, though I have hiked the falls in the winter and the summer and biked the path all 25 miles in my time.  I never boated on the river, though.

This time, we were lucky enough to be there on a day the trains were running, so we booked our tickets for the one hour and a half ride, then went to get lunch.  We ate at a historic house turned restaurant, the Albright Mansion, built circa 1860.  Albright is interesting in aany ways.  He was the prosecuting attorney agains the Molly Maguires, nine of whom were hanged.  To me, they are Labor heroes, to thers they were anarchists and criminals.  An interesting point is that after he died, Albright's house fell into the hands of the Molly Maguires defense attorney.  I think the prison is a Labor shrine and it makes me sad whenever I see it.  I've never been there on a day when it was open for tours, and this time, I forgot to look.

We enjoyed delicious locally grown tomatoes in a grilled sandwich called The Bloody Mary, with shoestring fries and coffee.  We walked around the charming streets, stopped in a few shops then headed to our train ride.  I'm like a child all over again when I ride the train! 

A final enjoyable experience was an art show in the Anita Shapolsky Gallery, formerly a Presbyterian Church.  Never having been a big fan of Abstract Art, I enjoyed the stained glass windows more than the art.  The windows were simply breathtaking.  They were among the most beautiful I have ever seen. 

It is well worth your time to take the drive and visit Jim Thorpe and this is a great time of the year for it!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann