Today, Sunday, 2/26/17, a couple of my friends took me to a park they had found once before and wanted to hike again, Ceres Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Mantua Twp, NJ.
We had a little trouble finding it, but it is off Broadway. I wasn't driving so I can only tell you we took Lambs Rd. coming from Fries Mill in Sewell, then alternate 553, then Broadway and it was on the left as we faced west.
There is a broad trail through a 53 acre tract which contains a couple of lakes and a running stream. The first and larger of the two lakes is a strange jade green color. One of my friends thought it was algae, but it is too cold and early in the season for algae and the color wasn't quite right for algae. I instantly knew it was marl, without actually knowing why I knew that. Long ago, I came across information in regard to fertilizing farm fields in Southern New Jersey, which had become severely exhausted from being over farmed. Someone discovered that if they enriched the soil with marl, they could bring back the fertility. Marl, then, became the reason for town names such as Marlton. That knowledge built on my prior experience with quarry swimming in the pines in my youth, instantly led me to conclude the green lake was from marl mining, as later research corroborated. Plus I knew most ponds and lakes in South Jersey come from mills, or mining pits for sand or marl, or clay for example, or from agricultural uses like cranberry bogs (as in the case of my favorite pond in the world, Pakim Pond, created for Reeves Cranberry Bogs a long time ago).
Speaking of fertility, Ceres was the ancient Roman goddess of fertility and agriculture. She was especially devoted to grains and germination and hence, her name is the root of words like create, and recreate, which brings us back to recreation!
Ceres Park has a website with much better directions which you can find simply by googling the name. There is a small parking lot and although the website said the park could be busy on Sunday, we found it delightfully quiet. I think the unexpected return of the cold after all those unseasonably warm days kept everyone home. It was my favorite hiking weather however, crisp and clean and cool.
One thing I did not discover but I theorize is that the stream is somehow connected to Mantua Creek. I will look into that. Meanwhile, I would strongly recommend Ceres Park for hiking, and not too far away is Tall Pines, which you may remember from a blog entry a long time ago when a hiking buddy and I were
researching all the little parks in Camden County and Gloucester County.
I don't know how it could have possibly been a more beautiful day for a hike with Ceres, goddess of fertility. The sun was bright and the water sparkled and you could feel the spirit of spring just waiting to emerge from the brown leaf and pine needle carpet covering the earth.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Crossroads item, and restaurant review for Naked Lunch Saturday, 2/24/17
Here is a bit of information from a Crossroads of the Revolution e-mail I received:
The first St. Patrick's Day celebration in the not yet entirely born United States of America was declared by General George Washington when he gave the troops a much needed day of rest on 3/17. A quarter of the troops were Irish or of Irish descent (as am I) and the choice of the day off was no coincidence. It happened at Morristown, New Jersey, the 2nd winter encampment there.
Now, as for my trip to Mom's Organic Market in Cherry Hill and lunch at the cafe' there, Naked Lunch, the food was excellent but I HATE those tall counter stools. If you have a bad back, like I do and so many of my friends, you want to put your feet on the floor when you sit down in a chair. I know those high stools are trendy, for some reason, but they are NOT comfortable. But perhaps they didn't want people hanging around too long.
Anyhow we had the black bean burgers, very good, and I chose the kale and spinach side, while my friend, Nancy, chose the home-made pretzels. Very tasty. I bought yoghurt and freshly ground coffee, along with cashew butter and a great multi-grain bread while there. Very worth the money and the effort.
Mom's is located in what used to be I Goldberg's a long time ago, on the Cherry Hill side of Route 70 on King's Highway. They carried a very large selection of produce and many other kinds of products. Of course everything is more expensive that it is at ShopRite, but you expect that when you shop higher quality goods. I would go back for food item, but not for lunch, though I enjoyed the food, I can't stand those high stools where you can't rest properly while seated.
Such beautiful weather, my mini-daffodils are in full bloom, and I am heartened by the discernible approach of spring. Soon, a rain storm will be here, in an hour or two, but I got my walk in early today at Knight's Park and I hope you got out while the sun was shining too! A friend and I, an old friend from the old neighborhood in Philadelphia, Gale, and I walked then enjoyed a nice peaceful lunch at the Station House corner cafe' in Haddon Heights, a place of which we are both very fond. We had breakfast items.
Happy Trails! (wrightj45@yahoo.com)
Jo Ann
The first St. Patrick's Day celebration in the not yet entirely born United States of America was declared by General George Washington when he gave the troops a much needed day of rest on 3/17. A quarter of the troops were Irish or of Irish descent (as am I) and the choice of the day off was no coincidence. It happened at Morristown, New Jersey, the 2nd winter encampment there.
Now, as for my trip to Mom's Organic Market in Cherry Hill and lunch at the cafe' there, Naked Lunch, the food was excellent but I HATE those tall counter stools. If you have a bad back, like I do and so many of my friends, you want to put your feet on the floor when you sit down in a chair. I know those high stools are trendy, for some reason, but they are NOT comfortable. But perhaps they didn't want people hanging around too long.
Anyhow we had the black bean burgers, very good, and I chose the kale and spinach side, while my friend, Nancy, chose the home-made pretzels. Very tasty. I bought yoghurt and freshly ground coffee, along with cashew butter and a great multi-grain bread while there. Very worth the money and the effort.
Mom's is located in what used to be I Goldberg's a long time ago, on the Cherry Hill side of Route 70 on King's Highway. They carried a very large selection of produce and many other kinds of products. Of course everything is more expensive that it is at ShopRite, but you expect that when you shop higher quality goods. I would go back for food item, but not for lunch, though I enjoyed the food, I can't stand those high stools where you can't rest properly while seated.
Such beautiful weather, my mini-daffodils are in full bloom, and I am heartened by the discernible approach of spring. Soon, a rain storm will be here, in an hour or two, but I got my walk in early today at Knight's Park and I hope you got out while the sun was shining too! A friend and I, an old friend from the old neighborhood in Philadelphia, Gale, and I walked then enjoyed a nice peaceful lunch at the Station House corner cafe' in Haddon Heights, a place of which we are both very fond. We had breakfast items.
Happy Trails! (wrightj45@yahoo.com)
Jo Ann
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Stuff Going On All over South Jersey!
Just got issue of SJFirst, a AAA magazine and found a few things to tell you about. Generally when I am posting, I am thinking of the person who is looking for something to do and may have heard about this blog. That was why I created it. When I was retiring, a few other retirees were saying they didn't know what to do with themselves and I had so many things to do and places to go I was busy every day, so I thought I would share them. I am a big reader, of magazines, brochures, local papers, you name it. And I have rarely to never met a brochure I didn't take home with me. So:
1. If you love lighthouses (and I do!) Hereford Inslet Lighthouse Maritime Festival North Wildwood is being held in mid June - food, music, living history pirates - sounds like fun. The magazine didn't post an exact date or a place to get information. They want you to book their tours, so you will have to look this one up on your own, but if you found me, you can find the lighthouse site!
2. If you like theater:
Barefoot in thePark, Friday March 10 at 8 p.m. The Broadway Theater of Pitman thebroadwaytheatre.org
To Kill A Mockingbird, Friday March 17, 8 p.m. at The Ritz Theatre Company, Oaklyn (my personal favorite and what could be a better time to revisit this classic since Go Tell a Watchman was published to great hoopla a year or so ago!) ritztheatreco.org
If it is food that rings your bell, A Taste of Collingwood takes place Saturday, March 11 from 1-3 downtown Collingwood
onthetownfoodtours.com (now food is not generally my thing but tomorrow I will be visiting Mom's Organic Market, Kings Highway off Rt. 70 in Cherry Hill, to have lunch at the cafe' there called Naked Lunch. I will let you know how it is, and since we are on the subject of food, I LOVE the Bankok City lunch special, spring roll, soup or salad, and an entire, all for under $10 and the food is delicious and the atmosphere is serene.
Don't forget in March, Lines On the Pines!
If you like to look ahead: From April through August Wheaton Arts, Millville, a series of selected days throughout the month with free admission for all visitors I can't seem to figure out when these free admission days are but it looks like three day weekends, so I guess not during the week. www.wheatonarts.org
Some weather we are having! I have been enjoying my daily walks with my dog pal Trixie! I hope summer doesn't descend too suddenly however, neither she nor I can take the heat. I do like 70 though! Knight Park has been wonderful - still empty, kinds in school, still peaceful, and still beautiful.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
1. If you love lighthouses (and I do!) Hereford Inslet Lighthouse Maritime Festival North Wildwood is being held in mid June - food, music, living history pirates - sounds like fun. The magazine didn't post an exact date or a place to get information. They want you to book their tours, so you will have to look this one up on your own, but if you found me, you can find the lighthouse site!
2. If you like theater:
Barefoot in thePark, Friday March 10 at 8 p.m. The Broadway Theater of Pitman thebroadwaytheatre.org
To Kill A Mockingbird, Friday March 17, 8 p.m. at The Ritz Theatre Company, Oaklyn (my personal favorite and what could be a better time to revisit this classic since Go Tell a Watchman was published to great hoopla a year or so ago!) ritztheatreco.org
If it is food that rings your bell, A Taste of Collingwood takes place Saturday, March 11 from 1-3 downtown Collingwood
onthetownfoodtours.com (now food is not generally my thing but tomorrow I will be visiting Mom's Organic Market, Kings Highway off Rt. 70 in Cherry Hill, to have lunch at the cafe' there called Naked Lunch. I will let you know how it is, and since we are on the subject of food, I LOVE the Bankok City lunch special, spring roll, soup or salad, and an entire, all for under $10 and the food is delicious and the atmosphere is serene.
Don't forget in March, Lines On the Pines!
If you like to look ahead: From April through August Wheaton Arts, Millville, a series of selected days throughout the month with free admission for all visitors I can't seem to figure out when these free admission days are but it looks like three day weekends, so I guess not during the week. www.wheatonarts.org
Some weather we are having! I have been enjoying my daily walks with my dog pal Trixie! I hope summer doesn't descend too suddenly however, neither she nor I can take the heat. I do like 70 though! Knight Park has been wonderful - still empty, kinds in school, still peaceful, and still beautiful.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Washington Square and the dead
Well, I looked it up and in an article at a site called Chestnut Hill, a plaque was cited that did indeed proclaim that thousands of sick and wounded Revolutionary War soldiers were buried under the park, not yellow fever victims! During the years when I worked at W. B. Saunders, I must have seen the plaque.
Today at the gym, although I was listening to music on my iPod shuffle, the tv directly in front of me was showing black and white footage from World War II. I didn't unplug and tune in because the music helps me keep moving but I saw sailors boarding ships, many of whom looked like my dad. My father was on troop transport ships both in the North Atlantic and the Pacific. The year he died, I had bought him a book about the Battle of Tassaferonga, which he witnessed. Needless to say, it brought tears to my eyes to see those young men, many of whom would never be coming home to get married and make families like my father was fortunate enough to do. He lived to be 89.
At the end of the footage, or actually, at the end of my bicycling time, they showed an elder vet looking at the USS NEW JERSEY in Camden. It reminded me of my many visits there, including one with my father before he passed away in 2011.
My father had also been in the Merchant Marines, and before that the Civilian Conservation Corps. He worked on the Skyline Drive and we spent many happy family vacations there when I was growing up. His experiences helped to inspire in me an interest in history as well as an appreciation for the service and sacrifice of our citizens in uniform.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Today at the gym, although I was listening to music on my iPod shuffle, the tv directly in front of me was showing black and white footage from World War II. I didn't unplug and tune in because the music helps me keep moving but I saw sailors boarding ships, many of whom looked like my dad. My father was on troop transport ships both in the North Atlantic and the Pacific. The year he died, I had bought him a book about the Battle of Tassaferonga, which he witnessed. Needless to say, it brought tears to my eyes to see those young men, many of whom would never be coming home to get married and make families like my father was fortunate enough to do. He lived to be 89.
At the end of the footage, or actually, at the end of my bicycling time, they showed an elder vet looking at the USS NEW JERSEY in Camden. It reminded me of my many visits there, including one with my father before he passed away in 2011.
My father had also been in the Merchant Marines, and before that the Civilian Conservation Corps. He worked on the Skyline Drive and we spent many happy family vacations there when I was growing up. His experiences helped to inspire in me an interest in history as well as an appreciation for the service and sacrifice of our citizens in uniform.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
The Museum of the American Revolution
Okay, it is in Philadelphia, Pa., not South Jersey, nonetheless, our history is inextricably linked with our sister across the river, and I am personally linked as well. That is where I was born!
In my just received issue of Early American Life, a magazine I treasure, on page 6, there is a half page piece on the Museum of the American Revolution. The official opening will take place April 19 through 23rd, beginning with a wreath laying at Washington Square (where I had my first job at W. B Saunders) at the tomb of the unknown Revolutionary War soldier. AS I had always heard, over a thousand yellow fever victims/soldiers are buried in a mass grave at Washington Square. I have never corroborated that. A representative of the Oneida Nation will offer a blessing, readings and music. There will be a procession and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. For more information, go to -
amrevmuseum.org
I am so excited about this. It is long overdue. So that is a special event available each month - Lines on the Pines in March and the opening of the Rev. War museum in April. A man I have much admired over the years, Gary Stone, was working on a Rev. War site map for New Jersey. He is at Morristown Battlefield. I look forward to that being completed and published some day too!
What a coincidence, since I had just posted about Common Cause and Paine's house in Bordertown yesterday (or the day before). When I worked at the Whittal House, Red Bank Battlefield, as a volunteer, I was very much enamored with Revolutionary War history. I believe I may have posted some time ago on books you can read about events in SJ during the war. I have a long shelf full of them, some are very special to me, such as the one about the battle for the Delaware River - between the forts in Philadelphia and Red Bank Battlefield. Well, I don't know if I will be at the opening, but I will definitely be at the museum later in the spring. I rarely go to Philadelphia these days but I will make the special effort for this event.
Happy Trails! If you want to contact me and cannot use the comments feature, you can write me at wrightj45@yahoo.com
In my just received issue of Early American Life, a magazine I treasure, on page 6, there is a half page piece on the Museum of the American Revolution. The official opening will take place April 19 through 23rd, beginning with a wreath laying at Washington Square (where I had my first job at W. B Saunders) at the tomb of the unknown Revolutionary War soldier. AS I had always heard, over a thousand yellow fever victims/soldiers are buried in a mass grave at Washington Square. I have never corroborated that. A representative of the Oneida Nation will offer a blessing, readings and music. There will be a procession and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. For more information, go to -
amrevmuseum.org
I am so excited about this. It is long overdue. So that is a special event available each month - Lines on the Pines in March and the opening of the Rev. War museum in April. A man I have much admired over the years, Gary Stone, was working on a Rev. War site map for New Jersey. He is at Morristown Battlefield. I look forward to that being completed and published some day too!
What a coincidence, since I had just posted about Common Cause and Paine's house in Bordertown yesterday (or the day before). When I worked at the Whittal House, Red Bank Battlefield, as a volunteer, I was very much enamored with Revolutionary War history. I believe I may have posted some time ago on books you can read about events in SJ during the war. I have a long shelf full of them, some are very special to me, such as the one about the battle for the Delaware River - between the forts in Philadelphia and Red Bank Battlefield. Well, I don't know if I will be at the opening, but I will definitely be at the museum later in the spring. I rarely go to Philadelphia these days but I will make the special effort for this event.
Happy Trails! If you want to contact me and cannot use the comments feature, you can write me at wrightj45@yahoo.com
Monday, February 20, 2017
Contact
If you wish to contact me and have trouble with the comments, you can reach me at:
wrightj45@yahoo.com
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Thomas Paine in Bordertown and printing presses
I was sure no one wanted to look at snow, so I changed my photograph today and put in a photo I took at (I think) Camden County Historical Society Museum in Camden, New Jersey. I visited there recently and found this photo in my camera roll, so I thought I would post it and drop in a little printing press history.
During the Colonial period, printing was one of the few trades open to women. During the Revolution, about 30 women printers were in operation. In Baltimore, Mary Goddard devoted the front page of The Maryland Journal to the Declaration of Independence. Like most printers, including Benjamin Franklin, Mary K. Goddard had to keep a second business in order to earn enough money as the printing business was not particularly profitable. Sometimes her paper subscribers would pay her in goods rather than money, and she sold these goods in her store. Franklin, himself, ran a stationers next door to his print shop, although to be fair, we should say that most of the time, his partner Deborah ran the store as Franklin spent decades in Europe on behalf of the new American government . Mary also worked as a postmaster as did Franklin.
My New Jersey Great Grandfather, William C. Garwood also worked as a postmaster in Turnersville.
A second connection is that I studied printmaking when I was in my second college, Rutgers the State University, which I attended from 1979 through 1981 or 82. I had already taken a degree in English with certification to teach at what was then Glamssboro State Teachers' College, and at Rutgers, I was taking a major in Art and certification to teach. Many of my education credits could be transferred, so I finished in less than 4 years.
The kind of printmaking I studied used a press, but we drew with grease pencils on fine grained slabs of limestone from Germany, then used a variety of etching chemicals to make the stone ink resistant while the grease pencil lines could pick up ink. It was a laborious process, but I liked it and I continued it after I graduated and moved to Philadelphia, by studying at Fletcher Art Memorial on Catherine Street.
Eventually, I changed over to woodblock printing because I could do it without a press, and finally, I gave it up and made paintings. However, My personal history has always made me interested in printing presses. Add to my Art history, my work history - I worked at W. B. Saunders Publisher on Washington Square, and McMillan, a subsidiary, in Riverside, New Jersey, and the interest in printing expands. Also, since I worked as a secretary, I have also always been interested in typewriters, and I have both a 1919 Underwood, and a 1980 Smith Corona electric typewriter.
Once, I visited the Parker Press up near Perth Amboy. This was a Revolutionary era printer shop and there is a nice little park beside the tiny shop. I have a book on Parker, the printer, but I confess I haven't read it yet.
New Jersey History - Thomas Paine's famous and highly influential pamphlet, Common Sense was printed by Robert Bell. Half a million copies of the pamphlet were sold. "...In proportion to the population......It had the largest sale of any book in American History." It is still in print today. You can find a plaque commemorating Thomas Paine's home in Bordentown, New Jersey and there is a statue of him at Prince and Courtland Sts.
One day we will have a great book of historic places in New Jersey, in the meantime, the rest of us will have to do our little parts in keeping the history alive by visiting and writing about it on blogs and newsletters!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
During the Colonial period, printing was one of the few trades open to women. During the Revolution, about 30 women printers were in operation. In Baltimore, Mary Goddard devoted the front page of The Maryland Journal to the Declaration of Independence. Like most printers, including Benjamin Franklin, Mary K. Goddard had to keep a second business in order to earn enough money as the printing business was not particularly profitable. Sometimes her paper subscribers would pay her in goods rather than money, and she sold these goods in her store. Franklin, himself, ran a stationers next door to his print shop, although to be fair, we should say that most of the time, his partner Deborah ran the store as Franklin spent decades in Europe on behalf of the new American government . Mary also worked as a postmaster as did Franklin.
My New Jersey Great Grandfather, William C. Garwood also worked as a postmaster in Turnersville.
A second connection is that I studied printmaking when I was in my second college, Rutgers the State University, which I attended from 1979 through 1981 or 82. I had already taken a degree in English with certification to teach at what was then Glamssboro State Teachers' College, and at Rutgers, I was taking a major in Art and certification to teach. Many of my education credits could be transferred, so I finished in less than 4 years.
The kind of printmaking I studied used a press, but we drew with grease pencils on fine grained slabs of limestone from Germany, then used a variety of etching chemicals to make the stone ink resistant while the grease pencil lines could pick up ink. It was a laborious process, but I liked it and I continued it after I graduated and moved to Philadelphia, by studying at Fletcher Art Memorial on Catherine Street.
Eventually, I changed over to woodblock printing because I could do it without a press, and finally, I gave it up and made paintings. However, My personal history has always made me interested in printing presses. Add to my Art history, my work history - I worked at W. B. Saunders Publisher on Washington Square, and McMillan, a subsidiary, in Riverside, New Jersey, and the interest in printing expands. Also, since I worked as a secretary, I have also always been interested in typewriters, and I have both a 1919 Underwood, and a 1980 Smith Corona electric typewriter.
Once, I visited the Parker Press up near Perth Amboy. This was a Revolutionary era printer shop and there is a nice little park beside the tiny shop. I have a book on Parker, the printer, but I confess I haven't read it yet.
New Jersey History - Thomas Paine's famous and highly influential pamphlet, Common Sense was printed by Robert Bell. Half a million copies of the pamphlet were sold. "...In proportion to the population......It had the largest sale of any book in American History." It is still in print today. You can find a plaque commemorating Thomas Paine's home in Bordentown, New Jersey and there is a statue of him at Prince and Courtland Sts.
One day we will have a great book of historic places in New Jersey, in the meantime, the rest of us will have to do our little parts in keeping the history alive by visiting and writing about it on blogs and newsletters!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Collingswood, a town arisen from the dead
Yesterday, a friend and I after being disappointed at The Cooper House, tried our luck at Sabrina's for lunch. My friend is vegan, I am only vegetarian. Cooper House had only a brunch menu and nothing without eggs. We knew for certain Sabrina's had vegan friendly menu items so we headed over there.
I was astonished to find, not for the first time, a line so long, we had to give up. And Sabrina's has a serious noise problem. Although I have been a mother and was a teacher for 32 years, I have to become inured to the high pitched shrieks of toddlers. Similarly, I have a dog, but prefer not to be plagued by incessant barking. If my dog barks, I bring her in from the yard. I taught my daughter restaurant manners, but she seemed to know how to behave and it was never a problem. Anyhow, we marched on to find another place to eat. We went to SaladWorks, an old favorite of mine.
But the theme of our conversation became how Collingwood, once a dead, or dying town, was resuscitated and has become the hip and happening place it is, vibrant with new restaurants, young families, and beautifully maintained houses and properties. They have spring garden tours and porch teas and summer park movies! This is a great place to live and visit. The park is clean, and all of us dog walkers scoop and bag and use the many receptacles. There are no dirty diapers in the parking areas and there are only bottles thrown during sports seasons when sports parents seem to either not teach their children manners or to not have manners themselves, then you find bags of fast food wrappers and discarded sport drink bottles, right next to receptacles for recyclables and trash. Oh well.
Many years ago, I lived in Collingwood. It was the 1970's and I was married. We lived i one apartment then another, and liked it there so much, we bought a house, a little brick row home facing the Cooper River. We were both fitness oriented and we both biked and hiked the 4 mile Cooper River trail daily. I loved that house and that town. Often I would walk from Cooper River to Knight's Park, then to Newton Creek, about a 5 mile walk, maybe 7 miles round trip.
During my early years, the occupying force was Reverend Carl McIntyre and the Bible Presbyterian Church. The 20the Century Reformation Building on Haddon Ave. faced it's brethren The Missionary Bible Building across the street. It was a town of old-timers and fundamentalist religious people. Then something happened. Perhaps it was the death of Rev. McIntyre in 2002, and the closure of his radio program, but the town began to founder. McIntyre was a grass roots, fundamentalist, and populist preacher and a prolific fundraiser.
Now I have nothing against religion, but I do hold to the very basic principle that your rights end at the end of my nose. An old saying of my fathers, which means I have a right to my own beliefs and my own body. The period in which I grew up was a period when religion was on the wane but still held some sway.
My mother was a deeply religious woman and my father was a respectful agnostic. We children went to Sunday School and our first church, Gloria Dei, Old Swedes Church, in Philadelphia, was a place I actually enjoyed. I liked Sunday School, and the churchyard, the interesting cemetery and the old and heart warming church building located at 916 Swanson St. 215-389-1513 for information. It is the oldest church in Pennsylvania and was built around 1698. I attended Sunday School there with my mother and my brother Joe from my earliest years to my early teens when we moved to New Jersey.
The town we visited during our whole lives for vacation was another of those old religiously founded towns, Ocean City, NJ. My grandmother lived there. The religious basis of the town kept it dry (as in non-alcoholic), clean, and family friendly. Compare it to Wild Wood for example a hellish nightmare of ugly bars and ignorant and rude drunks like a "Pottersville" (from It's a Wonderful Life, the film).
In the case of Collingwood however, Rev. McIntyre became a despot. His need to dominate and exert his will over everything and everyone finally brought about the ruin of the empire he created. He fought not only with the non-religious, but with other fundamentalists. He alienated all his former associates and co-religionists.
He brought "Pirate Radio" to the New Jersey shore, from which he broadcast his fiery sermons against Satan on earth, and apostates, and communists! He had fought a long battle with the FCC and they finally won. His voice could be heard over hundreds of other religious radio stations but his pirate ship was closed down. Those were the days when people took the separaation of church and state seriously. Eventually, like a disease, Reverend McIntyre's poisonous rage destroyed its own host. He lived to be 95 and to see his empire crumble to dust and debt. The Missionary building was demolished and I believe the 20th Century Reformation building is now a municipal office of some kind.
I had an amusing experience some years back in Collingwood when I was out to lunch with my cousin, Patty. We were walking down Haddon Avenue window shop amidst an unusually large number of other pedestrians. Suddenly there were also major network news trucks, CBS, NBC, ABC. Collingwood was allowing same sex couples to apply for marriage licenses, and later, ten couples celebrated their nuptials at the Scottish Rite Auditorium. My cousin said we might be on tv and how shocked our friends and family would be if we were misidentified as one of the couples looking for a license. Patty was a widow by then and I, a long time divorcee.
Collingswood had come a long way from the stodgy, angry, excluding and hell-fire and damnation of McIntyre's period, to the vibrant, open, cafe and restaurant decorated town of today. Once, those store fronts were boarded up and covered with cardboard, now you see the faces of the happy people through the glass.
It is a town I would be happy to live in if I didn't live in the house I love already.
If you want a walk and a lunch, you couldn't find a nicer spot - three parks - 4 miles at Cooper River and lunch at the Cooper House, 1 1/2 miles at Knight's Park, and lunch at Sabrina's or Salad Works, or 3 miles at Newton Creek. By the way, I have kayaked on Newton Creek as well, you can go from Cuthbert Blvd. up to the BlackHorse Pike, not a long ride, but an interesting one. I once saw a dozen white herons roosting in a tree along the banks of the creek near the Black Horse Pike.
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
I was astonished to find, not for the first time, a line so long, we had to give up. And Sabrina's has a serious noise problem. Although I have been a mother and was a teacher for 32 years, I have to become inured to the high pitched shrieks of toddlers. Similarly, I have a dog, but prefer not to be plagued by incessant barking. If my dog barks, I bring her in from the yard. I taught my daughter restaurant manners, but she seemed to know how to behave and it was never a problem. Anyhow, we marched on to find another place to eat. We went to SaladWorks, an old favorite of mine.
But the theme of our conversation became how Collingwood, once a dead, or dying town, was resuscitated and has become the hip and happening place it is, vibrant with new restaurants, young families, and beautifully maintained houses and properties. They have spring garden tours and porch teas and summer park movies! This is a great place to live and visit. The park is clean, and all of us dog walkers scoop and bag and use the many receptacles. There are no dirty diapers in the parking areas and there are only bottles thrown during sports seasons when sports parents seem to either not teach their children manners or to not have manners themselves, then you find bags of fast food wrappers and discarded sport drink bottles, right next to receptacles for recyclables and trash. Oh well.
Many years ago, I lived in Collingwood. It was the 1970's and I was married. We lived i one apartment then another, and liked it there so much, we bought a house, a little brick row home facing the Cooper River. We were both fitness oriented and we both biked and hiked the 4 mile Cooper River trail daily. I loved that house and that town. Often I would walk from Cooper River to Knight's Park, then to Newton Creek, about a 5 mile walk, maybe 7 miles round trip.
During my early years, the occupying force was Reverend Carl McIntyre and the Bible Presbyterian Church. The 20the Century Reformation Building on Haddon Ave. faced it's brethren The Missionary Bible Building across the street. It was a town of old-timers and fundamentalist religious people. Then something happened. Perhaps it was the death of Rev. McIntyre in 2002, and the closure of his radio program, but the town began to founder. McIntyre was a grass roots, fundamentalist, and populist preacher and a prolific fundraiser.
Now I have nothing against religion, but I do hold to the very basic principle that your rights end at the end of my nose. An old saying of my fathers, which means I have a right to my own beliefs and my own body. The period in which I grew up was a period when religion was on the wane but still held some sway.
My mother was a deeply religious woman and my father was a respectful agnostic. We children went to Sunday School and our first church, Gloria Dei, Old Swedes Church, in Philadelphia, was a place I actually enjoyed. I liked Sunday School, and the churchyard, the interesting cemetery and the old and heart warming church building located at 916 Swanson St. 215-389-1513 for information. It is the oldest church in Pennsylvania and was built around 1698. I attended Sunday School there with my mother and my brother Joe from my earliest years to my early teens when we moved to New Jersey.
The town we visited during our whole lives for vacation was another of those old religiously founded towns, Ocean City, NJ. My grandmother lived there. The religious basis of the town kept it dry (as in non-alcoholic), clean, and family friendly. Compare it to Wild Wood for example a hellish nightmare of ugly bars and ignorant and rude drunks like a "Pottersville" (from It's a Wonderful Life, the film).
In the case of Collingwood however, Rev. McIntyre became a despot. His need to dominate and exert his will over everything and everyone finally brought about the ruin of the empire he created. He fought not only with the non-religious, but with other fundamentalists. He alienated all his former associates and co-religionists.
He brought "Pirate Radio" to the New Jersey shore, from which he broadcast his fiery sermons against Satan on earth, and apostates, and communists! He had fought a long battle with the FCC and they finally won. His voice could be heard over hundreds of other religious radio stations but his pirate ship was closed down. Those were the days when people took the separaation of church and state seriously. Eventually, like a disease, Reverend McIntyre's poisonous rage destroyed its own host. He lived to be 95 and to see his empire crumble to dust and debt. The Missionary building was demolished and I believe the 20th Century Reformation building is now a municipal office of some kind.
I had an amusing experience some years back in Collingwood when I was out to lunch with my cousin, Patty. We were walking down Haddon Avenue window shop amidst an unusually large number of other pedestrians. Suddenly there were also major network news trucks, CBS, NBC, ABC. Collingwood was allowing same sex couples to apply for marriage licenses, and later, ten couples celebrated their nuptials at the Scottish Rite Auditorium. My cousin said we might be on tv and how shocked our friends and family would be if we were misidentified as one of the couples looking for a license. Patty was a widow by then and I, a long time divorcee.
Collingswood had come a long way from the stodgy, angry, excluding and hell-fire and damnation of McIntyre's period, to the vibrant, open, cafe and restaurant decorated town of today. Once, those store fronts were boarded up and covered with cardboard, now you see the faces of the happy people through the glass.
It is a town I would be happy to live in if I didn't live in the house I love already.
If you want a walk and a lunch, you couldn't find a nicer spot - three parks - 4 miles at Cooper River and lunch at the Cooper House, 1 1/2 miles at Knight's Park, and lunch at Sabrina's or Salad Works, or 3 miles at Newton Creek. By the way, I have kayaked on Newton Creek as well, you can go from Cuthbert Blvd. up to the BlackHorse Pike, not a long ride, but an interesting one. I once saw a dozen white herons roosting in a tree along the banks of the creek near the Black Horse Pike.
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Great Link
A is so often the case;, I was looking for one thing and found another. I wanted to find out some history of Grenloch Lake but I found Watermills of Camden County, by i William Farr this excellent link instead. In this collection of links and documents was the Water Mills of West Jersey by William Farr, but I couldn't get anything about Grenloch. What I did find was more on my own ancestor's Mills:
Major Peter T. Cheeseman.
Also, a nice postal photo of Evan's Mill at Haddonfield. There is a nice little pond there that I like to walk around also.
I had a good time checking out the many interesting thing on this wonderful web site including the Hessian maps of South Jersey.
Mills have always fascinated me and I was green with envy when I saw the collection of old mill paintings collected by Sue Hueskin and on display in her home. Sue Hueskin is a supplier of Colonial era clothing to re-enactors and a re-enactor herself. You can find her and her stall at most Colonial re-enactment events. When I was a volunteer at Red Bank Battlefield, I had an entire outfit: petticoat, bodice, cape and a mantua for special occasions, from her. She is a very nice person as well as a talented costumer. I wish I had thought to collect those old mill paintings. Perhaps I will simply have to get out my supplies and start painting my own. Maybe I could do a painting of Cheeseman's Mill, a photo of which is in one of the mill booklet from Camden County Historical Society.
A collection of tours and hikes from Mill Ponds, by county, would be an interesting project! Meanwhile, I found nothing on Grenloch.
Another great link for info on Timber Creek.
http://www.bigtimbercreek.org/index.html
Major Peter T. Cheeseman.
Also, a nice postal photo of Evan's Mill at Haddonfield. There is a nice little pond there that I like to walk around also.
I had a good time checking out the many interesting thing on this wonderful web site including the Hessian maps of South Jersey.
Mills have always fascinated me and I was green with envy when I saw the collection of old mill paintings collected by Sue Hueskin and on display in her home. Sue Hueskin is a supplier of Colonial era clothing to re-enactors and a re-enactor herself. You can find her and her stall at most Colonial re-enactment events. When I was a volunteer at Red Bank Battlefield, I had an entire outfit: petticoat, bodice, cape and a mantua for special occasions, from her. She is a very nice person as well as a talented costumer. I wish I had thought to collect those old mill paintings. Perhaps I will simply have to get out my supplies and start painting my own. Maybe I could do a painting of Cheeseman's Mill, a photo of which is in one of the mill booklet from Camden County Historical Society.
A collection of tours and hikes from Mill Ponds, by county, would be an interesting project! Meanwhile, I found nothing on Grenloch.
Another great link for info on Timber Creek.
http://www.bigtimbercreek.org/index.html
Grenloch Lake Trails
Today, I had the chance to explore a new trail with my most loyal hiking buddy, Barb Spector. We bought lunch at Wawa and ate picnic style in the parking lot off Blackhorse Pike at Grenloch Lake. I wasn't sure it was Grenloch Lake until the end of the hike.
For many years my general practitioner family physician, Dr. Vitola, had his office in a little office-park across the street from the lake and I always wondered what lake it was.
As you know, all the lakes in South Jersey are man-made to serve the mills that once proliferated along all the creeks and rivers. My own family history is involved with the mills. Peter T. Cheeseman put up the local teacher, Mr. William Collins Garwood, in his home, as was the custom in the early 1800's. William fell in love with Rachel, Major Cheeseman's daughter, and they married. William was not only the teacher at the Turnersville One-Room School, he was also postmaster for a time.
Rachel died young, after giving birth to a son and a daughter. Anyhow, her father's mills are the theme here, and I don't want to let the family history take me off in a different tributary. Peter T. Cheeseman had two sawmills and a grist mill on the Timber Creek. I have found a photo of one of the mills and a location for another - the Lebanon Branch but haven't found the Lebanon Branch itself. So I am always on the lookout for lakes in the area of Timber Creek.
Since it is winter, I noticed a trail beside the parking lot at the lake along the Black Horse Pike. So today, with my intrepid explorer hiking pal, we returned to follow the trail. We found a nice trail beside the lake, which did, in fact turn out to be Grenloch Lake, and we found an upper trail on the way back that skirted a residential neighborhood and a playground. I would guess the trail was about half a mile, and so, a mile round trip. There was a road from the neighborhood, going to another parking area with a nice little bridge, but we were not able to find out the name of the road.
I plan to do a little more history on Grenloch and return to the lake and the trail. Not many more chances to hike the woods before tick season! My brother's dog was just sick with Lymes Disease, a frightening hindrance to hiking in the woods. March is the hatching season, so we keep to paved trails that time of year and spray like mad.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
For many years my general practitioner family physician, Dr. Vitola, had his office in a little office-park across the street from the lake and I always wondered what lake it was.
As you know, all the lakes in South Jersey are man-made to serve the mills that once proliferated along all the creeks and rivers. My own family history is involved with the mills. Peter T. Cheeseman put up the local teacher, Mr. William Collins Garwood, in his home, as was the custom in the early 1800's. William fell in love with Rachel, Major Cheeseman's daughter, and they married. William was not only the teacher at the Turnersville One-Room School, he was also postmaster for a time.
Rachel died young, after giving birth to a son and a daughter. Anyhow, her father's mills are the theme here, and I don't want to let the family history take me off in a different tributary. Peter T. Cheeseman had two sawmills and a grist mill on the Timber Creek. I have found a photo of one of the mills and a location for another - the Lebanon Branch but haven't found the Lebanon Branch itself. So I am always on the lookout for lakes in the area of Timber Creek.
Since it is winter, I noticed a trail beside the parking lot at the lake along the Black Horse Pike. So today, with my intrepid explorer hiking pal, we returned to follow the trail. We found a nice trail beside the lake, which did, in fact turn out to be Grenloch Lake, and we found an upper trail on the way back that skirted a residential neighborhood and a playground. I would guess the trail was about half a mile, and so, a mile round trip. There was a road from the neighborhood, going to another parking area with a nice little bridge, but we were not able to find out the name of the road.
I plan to do a little more history on Grenloch and return to the lake and the trail. Not many more chances to hike the woods before tick season! My brother's dog was just sick with Lymes Disease, a frightening hindrance to hiking in the woods. March is the hatching season, so we keep to paved trails that time of year and spray like mad.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Monday, February 6, 2017
Postcard Love
Today, Monday, February 6, 2017, I received a package in the mail which is always an experience of high expectation: "What did I order and when?" This package contained a vintage postcard of the Pyramid of the Sun, outside Mexico City. I ordered it because I had just finished reading Lost City of the Monkey God, and I wanted to see the pyramids again that I saw for the first time in 1964. I was 19 and it was my first trip alone as a young adult. Well, that is to say, without parents, because I went with a friend from work, a girl my age.
Needless to say our parents were terrified, but we were daring and felt ourselves to be completely competent to undertake such a journey. The adventures of that trip will have to wait for another occasion because this entry is about postcards.
A taxi driver outside our hotel in Mexico City, insisted that we should pay him to take us to the pyramids. We didn't know if we were being kidnapped or abducted, but we paid our $10 (amazing isn't it - 1964 price!) and had the archaeological experience of a lifetime. I sent postcards home, of course.
Probably, because I am the age that tends to repeat stories, I have told you how I got started collecting postcards. My Uncle Yock, Joseph Frederick Young, worked part-time for the post office at Ocean City as a mail sorter. He was a droll and mischievous Uncle, a reader of Argosy magazines. Often when he was at work, he came upon postcards with postage but no address, a frequent occurrence at resort areas where people begin their cards, put them aside and let the ones with no addresses, accidentally get mailed with the correctly addressed ones. He would put my mother's or father's or my name and our address on Warnock Street in Philadelphia, on the cards and we got these wonderful messages from strangers. So much fun!
From that time forward, I have been a postcard sender, buyer and collector. I have had special interests off and on, over the years, beginning with vintage seashore cards. My oldest is 1911, with a penny stamp and a message to a Mr. Eck, from his friend vacationing in Ocean City, reminding him to "set a date to get together to study the Constitution." I am imagining that G.B, the sender, may have been an immigrant working on his citizenship, as were the grandparents of Joseph Frederick Young, at one time. I have photos, dated 1884, of Catherine Sandman and William Adam Young, Uncle Yock's parents, whose own parents had come here from Germany in 1820. I have a photocopy of the original Jung's citizenship paper.
Also, in my one year travels around Europe in 1969, I sent many postcards to my parents and my grandmother, Mabel Young Wright, in Ocean City, Uncle Yock's sister, and they saved them and gave them back to me tied with a ribbon.
Last year I began a postcard project using old family photos from holidays and special occasions to send out as greeting cards.
A bit of information if you have postcards to sell: The person from whom I purchased my Mexican pyramid postcard from buys "Collections and Accumulations Large and Small" among a variety of other paper items. His name is Eric Larson, and you can reach him at eric@cardcow.com.
I used to collect postage stamps and beads (sold in a yard sale to a child the year I moved from Philly to NJ) and I still collect books but I don't have any other collections any more.
Something I do not collect but have admired in collection is passports - so intriguing, the stories they have to tell about history.
And speaking of small and beautiful landscapes, once in New York, many years ago, I saw a gallery show of postcard sized original paintings, sent during the Victorian period by travelers making the grand tour of Europe. Some were sent by the artists who made them, others were purchased or commissioned by travelers to send home. They were exquisite treasures. And again, when I was in college studying printmaking, other artist friends and I would make and send original art postcards to one another. What a treat. Back in that time, I was actually in an art show at the Muse Gallery of "Femailable Art."
I have no art friends left in my communication circle, but I wish I did so we could send one another such gifts. The mail will always have delight and adventure attached to it to me.
Needless to say our parents were terrified, but we were daring and felt ourselves to be completely competent to undertake such a journey. The adventures of that trip will have to wait for another occasion because this entry is about postcards.
A taxi driver outside our hotel in Mexico City, insisted that we should pay him to take us to the pyramids. We didn't know if we were being kidnapped or abducted, but we paid our $10 (amazing isn't it - 1964 price!) and had the archaeological experience of a lifetime. I sent postcards home, of course.
Probably, because I am the age that tends to repeat stories, I have told you how I got started collecting postcards. My Uncle Yock, Joseph Frederick Young, worked part-time for the post office at Ocean City as a mail sorter. He was a droll and mischievous Uncle, a reader of Argosy magazines. Often when he was at work, he came upon postcards with postage but no address, a frequent occurrence at resort areas where people begin their cards, put them aside and let the ones with no addresses, accidentally get mailed with the correctly addressed ones. He would put my mother's or father's or my name and our address on Warnock Street in Philadelphia, on the cards and we got these wonderful messages from strangers. So much fun!
From that time forward, I have been a postcard sender, buyer and collector. I have had special interests off and on, over the years, beginning with vintage seashore cards. My oldest is 1911, with a penny stamp and a message to a Mr. Eck, from his friend vacationing in Ocean City, reminding him to "set a date to get together to study the Constitution." I am imagining that G.B, the sender, may have been an immigrant working on his citizenship, as were the grandparents of Joseph Frederick Young, at one time. I have photos, dated 1884, of Catherine Sandman and William Adam Young, Uncle Yock's parents, whose own parents had come here from Germany in 1820. I have a photocopy of the original Jung's citizenship paper.
Also, in my one year travels around Europe in 1969, I sent many postcards to my parents and my grandmother, Mabel Young Wright, in Ocean City, Uncle Yock's sister, and they saved them and gave them back to me tied with a ribbon.
Last year I began a postcard project using old family photos from holidays and special occasions to send out as greeting cards.
A bit of information if you have postcards to sell: The person from whom I purchased my Mexican pyramid postcard from buys "Collections and Accumulations Large and Small" among a variety of other paper items. His name is Eric Larson, and you can reach him at eric@cardcow.com.
I used to collect postage stamps and beads (sold in a yard sale to a child the year I moved from Philly to NJ) and I still collect books but I don't have any other collections any more.
Something I do not collect but have admired in collection is passports - so intriguing, the stories they have to tell about history.
And speaking of small and beautiful landscapes, once in New York, many years ago, I saw a gallery show of postcard sized original paintings, sent during the Victorian period by travelers making the grand tour of Europe. Some were sent by the artists who made them, others were purchased or commissioned by travelers to send home. They were exquisite treasures. And again, when I was in college studying printmaking, other artist friends and I would make and send original art postcards to one another. What a treat. Back in that time, I was actually in an art show at the Muse Gallery of "Femailable Art."
I have no art friends left in my communication circle, but I wish I did so we could send one another such gifts. The mail will always have delight and adventure attached to it to me.
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