Paces to go - Haddon Twp. Branch of Camden County Library.

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. >p/> Haddon Township Branch (adults) Please register

Fighting for Freedom >p/> Explore a fascinating piece of African American history with the Haddonfield Daughters of the American Revolution. This exhibition seeks to embrace the stories of all those who pursued independence by centering on the lives and experiences of Black craftspeople and artisans from the 18th and 19th centuries.

My note: I thought this was particularly interesting in view of two notes:

1.Just watched a documentary on the slow demise of Colonial Williamsburg. This is a historic site that was once the go to vacation place for families in the 1980's and 1990's. My Father and Mother took me and my daughter there during summer vacation on our way to DisneyOrlando, which, by the way is part of the reason Colonial Williamsburg is dying. It has been overshadowed by a culture of amusement parks like Busch Gardens.

Colonial Williamsburg has a fascinating history and if you want a deeper dive into it you can find the documentary on YouTube. It was a salvaged and reconstructed village funded by Rockefeller money in the 1930's. The Bi-Cenntennial really gave it a lift-off.

2.One of the saddest things, to me, about the falling out of favor of Williamsburg as a vacation destination was the firing of the trained artisans who worked in the shops and interacted with the visitors: blacksmiths, seamstresses, wig makers, bakers, hearth cooks, leather workers/harness and saddlemakers, all these people were specially trained and experienced and devoted themselves to the living history of this period in the founding of our nation. What a loss. I am so glad my family and I and my daughter got to visit this marvelous and beautiful place in its prime.

It is ironic in our current period of what I would call national decay, that our 250th anniversary would be celebrated by cage fighting on the White House lawn as an entertainment - what a symbol of the times.

In my yard there is a very tall and beautiful pine tree that my daughter brought home from Colonial Williamsburg campground from our trip that year. It was a tiny siddling that fit into a paper coffee cup and now it is a stately and magnificent pine tree.

If you are reading this blog you are probably interested in history too and I hope you get to visit the lecture in the library and also the new Revolutionary War Museum down on Erie St. in the salvaged Cooper Tavern in Camden via the Camden County Historical Society. Both require a phone call for appointment or registration!

Happy Trails! wrightj45Wyahoo.com (note: the blog comments section may have been somehow rescued from the spam bots - I have had a message recently with no porno spam!)