On the day I attended HEAR MY VOICE, the Alice Paul presentation at the Moorestown Community Center, I had stopped for lunch at Maritza's in Maple Shade, a place I strongly recommend for very good food at very reasonable prices! It is a popular place, too, always a good sign. Since I was early to meet my old junior high school friend, Chris, I strolled along Main Street and visited the shop of an old college pal. Diane Paul Hackett and I had attended Rutgers, the State University, graduating in1981. I was older because it was my second college degree. We studied Art and for some time afterwards visited and shared our new projects, then, as often happens, we moved, got married or, as in my case, divorced, and lost touch.
Diane opened Main Street Art, 18 East Main Street Maple Shade, NJ. and there you can explore and discover a number of different forms of art, jewelry, sculpture, and of course painting. She hosts Art parties for young and old, larger and smaller groups, and it is also a great place for your children to develop their interests in art. You can reach her at 856-979-5356, and www.mainstreetartnj.com. It is also an excellent place to find that unique gift for someone with a special occasion!
As I have often mentioned, I began this blog back some years, around 2007, I think, when I was promplted by my many retired friends who were looking for places to go and things to do. At that time, I was very invested in several volunteer efforts, Bayshore Discovery, in Bivalve, Whitall House at National Park, and Paulsdale, in Mount Laurel. I was also working for Camden County Historical Society. Since then, I have retired from those and other volunteer experiences and spend my time reading, exploring, hiking, making art and visiting with my many friends. I hope these blog posts have given any of you searching for fun things to do and places to visit, both inspiration as well as destination!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Over the Moon about Under the Moon - Great Lunch in Bordentown
On Friday, February 19, two friends and I had decided to make a day of it in Bordentown, one of my favorite towns to visit. We had looked on the internet for places to eat, but decided to just go there and see what we might find. As we strolled along Farnsworth, the main street, we saw a pair of charming windows decorated in vintage furnishings. We checked the posted menu and the variety and novelty of th choices made up our minds for us.
It is fortunate when we find a restaurant that has both vegetarian and non vegetarian options. On this day, my two friends were not vegetarian, but I am. I was surprised and pleased to find an item I had always wondered about but never had the opportunity to try before, tapas.
Our food was delicious. The one thing all three of us ordered was cream of kale soup. Delicious! Nancy had fish tacos and Gail had a burger. I had patata brava tapas and I found them delicious. I would strongly recommend Under the Moon if you are heading to Bordentown.
location:
210 Farnsorth Avenue, Bordentown, NJ 609-291-8301 underthemooncafe.com
Wonderful decor, very charming, great staff and an interesting array of options.
Cafe Hours are Mon. - Thurs. 11am-9pm,
Fri., & Sat. 11 am to 10 pm. Sunday 10 - 8 and prices are very reasonable.
MARCH-WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
One of the places I like to visit in Bordentown is the Clara Barton School. As many history buffs are aware, most education in the 1700-s and into the 1800's was conducted in the home by mothers and sometimes by hired tutors.
Children of families with more modest means often were illiterate and received no education. Into the 1800's, people often pooled their money and hired tutors for a group of children, usually from the more prosperous class of citizens. In Bordentown, Miss Barton was hired to teach these children, but she eventually convinced the citizens to put more money into it and allow all the children to learn.
After she had established schooling for 500 children, the administrators decided to hire a man to put in a position of authority over Miss Burton, passing her over for this post of Superintendent. She was so disappointed and insulted that she left, to work as a volunteer in the Civil War, in the hospitals and then later, gathering names and addresses to contact families of wounded and deceased soldiers. Of course, she went on to found the Red Cross.
In my next post, I will talk about the wonderful presentation I attended at the Moorestown Community Center on Alice Paul, Mount Laurel native, and the struggle for women to win the right to vote. It is a very appropriate topic both for March and for the period we are in when politics and the run for the Presidency of the United States are on all our minds!
Happy Trails
Jo Ann
It is fortunate when we find a restaurant that has both vegetarian and non vegetarian options. On this day, my two friends were not vegetarian, but I am. I was surprised and pleased to find an item I had always wondered about but never had the opportunity to try before, tapas.
Our food was delicious. The one thing all three of us ordered was cream of kale soup. Delicious! Nancy had fish tacos and Gail had a burger. I had patata brava tapas and I found them delicious. I would strongly recommend Under the Moon if you are heading to Bordentown.
location:
210 Farnsorth Avenue, Bordentown, NJ 609-291-8301 underthemooncafe.com
Wonderful decor, very charming, great staff and an interesting array of options.
Cafe Hours are Mon. - Thurs. 11am-9pm,
Fri., & Sat. 11 am to 10 pm. Sunday 10 - 8 and prices are very reasonable.
MARCH-WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
One of the places I like to visit in Bordentown is the Clara Barton School. As many history buffs are aware, most education in the 1700-s and into the 1800's was conducted in the home by mothers and sometimes by hired tutors.
Children of families with more modest means often were illiterate and received no education. Into the 1800's, people often pooled their money and hired tutors for a group of children, usually from the more prosperous class of citizens. In Bordentown, Miss Barton was hired to teach these children, but she eventually convinced the citizens to put more money into it and allow all the children to learn.
After she had established schooling for 500 children, the administrators decided to hire a man to put in a position of authority over Miss Burton, passing her over for this post of Superintendent. She was so disappointed and insulted that she left, to work as a volunteer in the Civil War, in the hospitals and then later, gathering names and addresses to contact families of wounded and deceased soldiers. Of course, she went on to found the Red Cross.
In my next post, I will talk about the wonderful presentation I attended at the Moorestown Community Center on Alice Paul, Mount Laurel native, and the struggle for women to win the right to vote. It is a very appropriate topic both for March and for the period we are in when politics and the run for the Presidency of the United States are on all our minds!
Happy Trails
Jo Ann
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Lines On The Pines, March 13, 2016
...an annual gathering of artists, authors and artisans whose passion is the Pines! Held in March, Lines on the Pines has become the harbinger of spring for many like-minded NJ Pine Barrens enthusiasts!
Location: Historic Renault Winery! for more information, go to their website,
Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Same Day, Another topic - Preserving the Pine Barrens
I wanted so much to express my sorrow over the 2016 scheduling of the demolition of the Huggs/Harrison/Glover House, but I also wanted to share my joy in the irreplaceable treaure we share in our Pinlands Reserve. Today I hiked with two friends at Goshen Pond. How beautiful to be in the woods again; the sand roads had absorbed all the water from the recent rains and the melted snow and gave us a fine, hard, clean surface to hike upon.
Last Sunday in the Courier Post, page 20A, Section VOICES, there was a cemmentary by Albert Horner, well known and highly respected photographer, who has recently had a book published by Plexus, of Pinelands photographs. His Commentary entitled, "Public Land Must Be Protected From Off-Road Vehicles' Misuse" brings public attention to another kind of destruction by those same kind of ignorant people who destroy our landmark buildings. Thrill seeking out-of-state motor clubs destroy our roads, streams and the tranquility and beauty of our lands, crushing and destroying the rare plants and animal habitat in their path. I believe Albert Horner has a web site and/or blog on this topic which you should visit for more information. I am deeply grateful to him and other warriors for our shared natural heritage, who continue to fight the good battle against the ignorance and destructiveness of the thoughtless invaders who seek only to destroy.
Pinelands Preservation Alliance also works tirelessly to acquaint people with our national treasure, and to conserve it. Also, I would like to thank all of the volunteers and good people who give their valuable time as volunteers at hsitoric places in the Pine Barrens, such as Atsion, and Batsto. These are wonderful places to visit and bring your family members for picnics and to share the beauty.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
http://pinebarrensundersiege.com/author/alberthorner/
Last Sunday in the Courier Post, page 20A, Section VOICES, there was a cemmentary by Albert Horner, well known and highly respected photographer, who has recently had a book published by Plexus, of Pinelands photographs. His Commentary entitled, "Public Land Must Be Protected From Off-Road Vehicles' Misuse" brings public attention to another kind of destruction by those same kind of ignorant people who destroy our landmark buildings. Thrill seeking out-of-state motor clubs destroy our roads, streams and the tranquility and beauty of our lands, crushing and destroying the rare plants and animal habitat in their path. I believe Albert Horner has a web site and/or blog on this topic which you should visit for more information. I am deeply grateful to him and other warriors for our shared natural heritage, who continue to fight the good battle against the ignorance and destructiveness of the thoughtless invaders who seek only to destroy.
Pinelands Preservation Alliance also works tirelessly to acquaint people with our national treasure, and to conserve it. Also, I would like to thank all of the volunteers and good people who give their valuable time as volunteers at hsitoric places in the Pine Barrens, such as Atsion, and Batsto. These are wonderful places to visit and bring your family members for picnics and to share the beauty.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
http://pinebarrensundersiege.com/author/alberthorner/
House on the Hill, Tears in the Rain
Yesterday I drove over to the New St. Mary's Cemetary, Browning Rd., Bellmawr, to say goodbye to the Huggs//Harrison//Glover House, built in Pre-Revolutionary New Jersey. It is slated to be demolished this year, 2016. For more and accurate information please visit Jerseyman's blog History Then and Now.
The reason New England seems to beat us in representing itself as a place to visit to enjoy a look at our glorious past, is that they seem more able to recognize and protect cultural landmarks.
In 2002, the Harrison House in Mount Ephraim was demolished for no other reason than that the property purchaser had the idea the property might sell faster without that 'old house' on it. The house was owned by the Harrison family and put up for a loan to finance a militia that fought alongside the Marquis d'Lafayette in the Battle of Gloucester City during the Revolutionary War. The lot remains empty and overgrown, a mute and sad witness to, and testimony to the ignorance the allows people to destroy our irreplaceable cultural landmarks.
Both houses were neither derelict, nor crumbling. Historians such as the author of the excellent blog History Then and Now, Jerseyman, fought to save the house on the hill at the New St. Mary's Cemetary, but they were defeated, and so are we all.
In truth, tears ran down my cheeks, and joined the rain, when I looked at that house and pondered all it had survived, weather, war, economic ups and downs, the change of the area from farming to suburbs, all of that swept by and left the house standing until the giant snake of highways wrapped around it and squeezed the life from it. How sad.
I cannot understand the blind and ignorant thing in the heart that allows people to destroy what is irreplaceable, a beautiful old tree that has witnessed many human lifetimes go by, a beautiful old house that can tell a story about our history. All my years as a teacher, I did my best, although I was, in fact not a history teacher, I tried to incorporate history into everything I taught whether Language Arts or Art. Also, I tried to instill in my students a respect for each other and for material culture and our history. Apparently the forces in charge of this particular challenge had not such experiences, and therefore were not moved by any such love of the material culture of our historic past. Thank goodness other people in other places have been able to withstand such blind destructive ignorance and save those treasures that teach us so much about our ancestors and how they lived, such as Elfreth's Alley and Betsy Ross House, to name just two, because they were the buildings of the common people.
My hat is off to and my salute goes out to those who work still, to save those fewer and fewer treasures of our New Jersey Colonial history that still stand, Whitall House, in National Park, Burrough Dover House, in Pennsauken, the old Mills converted into Antique Emporeums, old schools converted into community centers and Taverns such as The Indian King in Haddonfield. If only our administrators had the foresight that the people of Haddonfield had in saving that historic treasure.
The reason New England seems to beat us in representing itself as a place to visit to enjoy a look at our glorious past, is that they seem more able to recognize and protect cultural landmarks.
In 2002, the Harrison House in Mount Ephraim was demolished for no other reason than that the property purchaser had the idea the property might sell faster without that 'old house' on it. The house was owned by the Harrison family and put up for a loan to finance a militia that fought alongside the Marquis d'Lafayette in the Battle of Gloucester City during the Revolutionary War. The lot remains empty and overgrown, a mute and sad witness to, and testimony to the ignorance the allows people to destroy our irreplaceable cultural landmarks.
Both houses were neither derelict, nor crumbling. Historians such as the author of the excellent blog History Then and Now, Jerseyman, fought to save the house on the hill at the New St. Mary's Cemetary, but they were defeated, and so are we all.
In truth, tears ran down my cheeks, and joined the rain, when I looked at that house and pondered all it had survived, weather, war, economic ups and downs, the change of the area from farming to suburbs, all of that swept by and left the house standing until the giant snake of highways wrapped around it and squeezed the life from it. How sad.
I cannot understand the blind and ignorant thing in the heart that allows people to destroy what is irreplaceable, a beautiful old tree that has witnessed many human lifetimes go by, a beautiful old house that can tell a story about our history. All my years as a teacher, I did my best, although I was, in fact not a history teacher, I tried to incorporate history into everything I taught whether Language Arts or Art. Also, I tried to instill in my students a respect for each other and for material culture and our history. Apparently the forces in charge of this particular challenge had not such experiences, and therefore were not moved by any such love of the material culture of our historic past. Thank goodness other people in other places have been able to withstand such blind destructive ignorance and save those treasures that teach us so much about our ancestors and how they lived, such as Elfreth's Alley and Betsy Ross House, to name just two, because they were the buildings of the common people.
My hat is off to and my salute goes out to those who work still, to save those fewer and fewer treasures of our New Jersey Colonial history that still stand, Whitall House, in National Park, Burrough Dover House, in Pennsauken, the old Mills converted into Antique Emporeums, old schools converted into community centers and Taverns such as The Indian King in Haddonfield. If only our administrators had the foresight that the people of Haddonfield had in saving that historic treasure.
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