Historic Places in South Jersey

Historic Places in South Jersey - Places to Go and Things to Do

A discussion of things to do and places to go, with the purpose
of sharing, and encouraging exploration of South Jersey.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Three "Pleasntries" in One - Places and Thing - including Trains

Yesterday, I went to Point Pleasant with a friend who lives a little North of here, Westampton to be precise.  I had never been there before but I can tell you I have found a new favorite place, though it is a far drive for me.  It worked out well for us, because my friend lives a half hour drive from me, and so I drove to her house and she drove to Point Pleasant.  We walked along the main street of the town and looked in all the shops.

My favorite shop was The Train Room, 715 Arnold Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742, 723-892-5145
http://www.thetrainroomnj.com

They had a very nice set-up in the window which drew us inside.  They have n, ho, and o gauge railroad supplies and they had a flyer for a BIG train exhibition at the InfoAge Science Center, Saturdays and Sundays throughout December, 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall, NJ (Route 18 exit 7-A) www.InfoAge.org   The Gardent State
 Central Railroad Club is presenting the exhibit.  I hope I can go!.


Speaking of the Holidays, A presentation I always wanted to make for Family History buffs, and historical societies, was WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE PHOTOS AND MEMORIES.  However, I don't do presentations anymore, so I will do a brief summary here as I plan to execute one of my ideas this year and already did two or three in years past.  

This year I am going to make family photo postcards.  I have family pictures from the 1940s and 1950s that I would like to make into holiday cards to send to friends and relatives, so I stopped in at my all time most favorite and most useful copy center, BELIA Copy Center in Woodbury.  I was informed that the designer charges a one-time fee of $80 to design the card then you pay $20 for, I think it was 50 or 100 cards.  I have two photos of my brother and I visiting Santa in Philadelphia in 1955 that I want to use this year.

Last year, I took one photo each for every family member that I had a photo of, scanned them and arranged the scans  into a family tree chronology collage from 1868 to the present, then took it to Belia where it was scanned and printed into a poster.  I found five inexpensive ($5 each) frames in yard sales during the summer, but also supplemented with poster frames from Walmart at about $20 a frame, and gave one family photo collage to each sibling (4) and my daughter plus a few nieces and nephews that expressed interest in the project.  I typed and printed a key and pasted it on back.  

The year before, I scanned and printed then created scrapbooks for my daughter's 30th Birthday and another for my sister's 50th Birthday.  Since I am the only one who does this kind of thing, I created one for myself for my 70th birthday last year.  

A friend of mine has an Art Studio and perhaps I will suggest to her that I would do a one time only presentation on this topic as I would like to do something to promote the spread and continuation of family history, which is such an important subject for me.

Finally:  In Christmas 2016 issue of Early American Life, a long-time favorite magazine of mine, I found this interesting piece of historical information:  On page 73 there was a re-print of a 1909 photo postcard "the invention of the relatively inexpensive box camera in 1888, coupled with the popularity of photo postcards that met postal regulations, enabled families to record and share special events with distant relatives."

Happy Trails and Happy Memories!
Jo Ann


 

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Whitesbog concert and film Satuday September 17, 2016

It isn't often my life intersects with my daughter, Lavinia's life, but as I may have mentioned, among her many talents and career pursuits, she is a filmmaker.  She and Alex Steirmark made a film called The 78 Project a few years back which I viewed at both the Library of Congress and the International House at UPenn. 

A friend of hers has recently completed a film on the Pinelands and it will debut tonight at Whitesbog.  Lavinia was to go with me, but at the last minute, her film got scheduled at another festival so she had to cancel out an another friend is taking her place.

David Kessler is the filmmaker and he spent about 3 years on the film.  He interviewed a friend of mine about the impact of the State of New Jersey on the people known as The Pineys.  A group of us joined her for the filming and we are all going to the show tonight.

The show which is also featuring a concert is sold out, but I suppose there is always a chance for a last minute cancellation if you put your name on a wait list or just show up and ask.  In fact I may leave before the film because I just found out the concert is at 5:00 and the film at 8:00 and as I can't see well, I am not happy about driving home after it is dark in the pines.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Upcoming Events in the History World and nearby


From Crossroads of the AMerican Revolution, to which I have subscribed, here are two local events worth noting.  I have been to many events at Burrough Dover in Pennsauken, and spoken many times to Robert Fisher Hughes, who is also instrumental in the Griffith-Morgan House in Pennsauken, where they also have open house events during the year.  I won't get to the Burrough Dover event this year because my brother will be up for his birthday that day, but if I were free, I would go.
 
Also, I want to applaud the efforts of Gary Stone from Momouth Battlefield and the other people who work for us all to save and disseminate our history through the Crossroads effort.  
 
We had more happen in New Jersey than in any other state and yet, we do not have a publicity awareness that makes the rest of the colonies aware of it, nor do we have the awareness to save what we have as witnessed by the Harrison House conflict off Browning Rd. in Bellmawr and the loss of the Railroad Museum up near Browns Mills.  
 
Keep our History Alive!  Share the news!
 
 
September 17 - Fall Festival at the Burrough-Dover House in Pennsauken. Tour a 300 year-old stone house and enjoy country music! 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. More information


September 18 - War Comes to the Whitall House in National Park. Hearth cooking, battlefield tours and more at the site of the Battle of Red Bank. 12:00 noon. More information.

Healing Trees Helping Apps

As you know if you have visited this blog before, when I am sad or downhearted, I go to the woods and walk it off.  Usually a park is good enough, and I have particular trees that just to see them is enough to make me feel better, but sometimes, I am so sad, I have to go to the forest.  In case you think that is sentimental rubbish, I have a book that demonstrates it is scientific fact that forest tree have healing powers.

We, humans, are used to seeing and hearing, but we often discount or forget the power of smell.  I remember once a police unit brought drug sniffing dogs to the school where I was teaching, for an auditorium program.  One of the officers said that a dog walks in an ocean of scent.  

We all know that they have done tests that show babies can recognize their own mother's smell from nursing bras, and they have done tests to show that women prefer the scents of certain men over others, but using t-shirts for testers.

Certainly my dog finds her way around by both picking up and leaving scents.  

Anyhow, chemical signals come in many forms, not just smell, although trees communicate with one another through pushing out scents, and I have to say one of my all time, lifelong, favorite fragrances is the smell of pine trees.  We also have seen the green mists of pollen season in the forest, another kind of chemical communication.  

Trees also release various chemicals when they are attacked by insects, certain toxins through their leaf systems that drive off the insect attackers and warn other trees to do the same.  

In another book some years back, I also read about specific healing properties of particular trees that are cultivated in Japan for people to walk through to enjoy healing properties similar to people taking the waters in Europe, or healing springs.  

The book I am reading is The Hidden Life of TREES:  What they Feel, How They Communicate, by Peter Wohlleben, a German professional forester.   

In a separate subject, I once read how German immigrants were shocked at the spoilage of agricultural practices in America in the periods of the 1700 and 1800.  Having limited land, German farmers already practiced crop rotation and other agricultural improvements to keep their soil vigorous. At the same time, in America, over planting of the same crops, in particular tobacco and cotten, ruined the soil and engendered the land grabs of the Westward expansion.  Wasteful farmers including Jeferson and Washington, destroyed their soil and just bought more forest land, cleared it and ruined new land, then moved on.

I cant help thinking it is much the way these early capitalists exploited labor, both enslaved, indentured and exploited factory workers during those periods before abolition and unions gave a voice to the exploited and oppresed.

So far, I am not very smart with my smart phone but my daughter put an app on my new iphone that I haven't used yet but about which I am excited.  It is called Snapleaf, and you can take a photo of a tree and get it identified with this app.  An app I would like to get but haven't done the research yet is a tracking app, that would follow me in the woods and help me find my way out again.  I haven't been lost often, but the couple of times I was, I would have loved to have had some help.  If you know of such an app, write me at
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Happy Trails and Healthful Hiking!
Jo Ann


Monday, September 12, 2016

Up date on essential to happiness after retirement

I had breakfast at the Metro Diner with three friends this morning and we talked about the essentials to happiness.  One said, health and fitness, outdoor activities, animal companions and friends.  Another said precious times with her family along with her friends and her dog, Abby!  Another said financial security was in the top five.  

After our fine breakfast, I had pumpkin spice silver dollars, one friend and I hiked around Newton Creek then went over to Red Bank Battlefield to see the Delaware River when the Pokeman people didn't have the parking lots filled up.  Then we went to another landing on the Delaware and met a nice man named Dave who chatted with us for half an hour or so and let us look through his binoculars.  

All in all it was a delightful day!
Happy Trails

ps.  Another friend just texted:  Good health, good relationships and interesting pursuits.  Sounds like a good life to me!  

The things that sustain over the long haul

On Saturday, I was having lunch at one of my favorite luncheonettes, Maritza's in Maple Shade on Main Street.  It was their street fair day and my friend, Gail, and I walked outside in the tents for a block or so, but to be honest, most people our age are clearing out our houses and trying to avoid gathering any additional clutter so we don't feel like shopping or even taking home several more bags of free stuff.  Stuff is never free.

I noticed, actually, I looked it up, the Wood Street Fair in Burlington City was the same day and I thought briefly about going there, but it was an hour's drive and it was already 2:00, so we ould have been there in time for the packing up, and again, we didn't want any stuff and we don't do crafts any more.  Gail used to make and sell stuff and I used to make things, even up to a few Christmas times ago, I was still making crafts for gifts, but I don't anymore.

So what do I do?  I started this blog when I still worked as a volunteer.  I worked at six different places at that time, about ten years ago already.  I started volunteering at Alice Paul Foundation in Mount Laurel, then Whitall House in Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, then Bayshore Discovery Project at Bivalve, Gloucester County Historical Society in Woodbury, and Camden County Historical Society in Camden.  I did lots of things in those places and visited lots of historic sites.  I was smitten.  I drove from the bay, Greenwich to Bordentown seeking lost and found places and wrote about mot of them here on this blog to help my fellow retirees find places to go and things to do.  

Recently, however, I noticed that I don't do many of those things or visit those places any more.  I still go out to lunch and I still hike.  Yesterday I had a delightful time at Pakim Pond.  Picked up a grilled cheese at Wawa on the 72 circle and at it in the picnic shelter looking at the Pond.  Then Trixie and I (my Lab mix and constant companion) hiked around the pond twice.  Her leg was sore so we cut it short and didn't go for the Cranberry Trail.  I didn't stop at the markets on the way although I had planned to get apples and maybe some chrysanthemums.  

What I do now is go to the gym.  It made me think of what is important in life, what you should do to sustain yourself over the long life.  Focus on health is one of the all time most rewarding endeavors and that's why I hike or walk every day and go to the gym everyday.  What good is a clean house or a new car, if you've had a stroke or can't walk?  So I work out and I have to say just three months of a serious 6 day a week work out habit have changed my life.

So, what sustains you?  I thought I would ask my friends today when we meet for breakfast at the Metro Diner on Kings Hwy and Rt. 130.  Some would say family, others might say friends, and there are those who devoted more of themselves to their volunteer work and it still sustains them.  I have family and certainly friends mean a lot.  I see a friend or two every day.  So I guess friends are high on my list, as is nature.  In fact when I am down and can't get myself out of the ditch, I always head for the woods, which I find healing.  That's why I was at Pakim Pond yesterday.  The park didn't do the job and I still felt sad, so I went to Pakim Pond, and that always works.  Nature, then has to be in my top five:  Friends, health, nature and pets.  Every day my cats and my dog give me affection, companionship, and many smiles.  The cats are the funniest.  The dog mostly naps.  The cats, however, play!  They chase and make games for themselves and they make me get out of bed in the morning by burrowing under the covers and biting my toe (not o much fun).  The trees outside my window give me enormous joy daily, when they twinkle with the rising un, and dance in the breeze, change colors in fall and drop plops of snow in winter.  

One think I worry about and another reason I must stay healthy is to protect my 18 trees.  The neighbors have slaughtered their trees one by one over the years and my house which looked like the others once, is now a grove unto itself!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Monday, September 5, 2016

Peter J. Maguire, Father of Labor Day, Arlington Cemetery, Pennsauken, NJ

Today is Labor Day and I decided to go for a hike at Pakim Pond and on the Cranberry Trail rather than a party another friend was hosting.  When I got home from the hike with friend, Barbara Solem, and my dog Trixie, I felt that I should have done something to mark the holiday which has had so prominent a place in my life, so I went to pay my respects at the grave of Peter J. Maguire.

Arlington Cemetery is in the 1600 block of Cover Road in Pennsauken, a place I know well as my ex-husband lived nearby on Cove Rd. when we were dating as teens.

There was a large and glorious wreath placed at the imposing monument to Peter J. Maguire, father of Labor Day, who many feel died an early death due to the heartbreak and the demands of the brutal struggle that has always been the Labor Movement in America.

Here is what I owe to the Labor Movement:  My father, Joseph Robert Wright, began his work life after his service in World War II, as a laborer in the Ironwork and Structural Steel field.  It is a hard and dangerous line of work.  The laborers however were protected by their union, the AFof L, CIO, Ironworkers and Structural Steel Union.  Through the union, the men were guaranteed coverage if they were hurt on the job, decent benefits, and a fair wage so that men like my father, who had sacrificed so much in the war, could now come home, start a family and buy a nice home in the suburbs of New Jersey. 

My father was able to support a wife and five children comfortably on his wage and his salary as he rose in the company.  He also worked as treasurer of the Union for many years, and at night, my mother would clear off the dining room table and my father would work late into the night, keeping the books accurate and up to date.  He was a remarkable and honorable man and I am fortunate to have had a father like him.

Also, as a teacher, I am indebted to the work of the American Federation of Teachers and the scale they set for all other educators and associations of teachers.  I am retired today with a decent pension and benefits package to keep me in my old age thanks to their efforts.  And as various state politicians try from time to time to steal away our pension money, which was collected from our wages and invested for us, the union continues to work to prevent that.

So many people fought and died so that the American Working Class, the men and women who built this fine nation, could have dignity and fair treatment in the work arena, that the least I can do, each year on Labor Day is think of them and thank them in my heart for their work.  My grandmothers were seamstresses.  My grandfathers were laborers.  All the lives of working people in every field were enriched and enhanced by the sacrifices of heroes such as Mother Jones and Joe Hill, among others.

By the way to read more about Peter J. Maguire, go to All About Pennsauken, an essay by Robert Fisher Hughes, a fine local historian ans writer who did an excellent job on Maguire's work and life. 

Happy Labor Day!
Jo Ann