What wonderful weather for hiking! However, I must say it is time to SPRAY!
Yesterday, a friend, Barbara Spector and I and, of course, Trixie, hiked at Estell Manor in Atlantic County. We stopped at Wawa for lunch supplies for a picnic at Lake Lenape near Mays Landing. I would love to know more about the abandoned mill there, and even more, to explore it!
Estell Manor was wonderful. We stopped to look at Stephen's Creek from the boardwalk trail which was heavily damaged in the super storm and is in the process of being repaired.
We were very happy to see a big Birthday Party in the large group area in the parking section of the entrance. What a great way for a big family to have a party and a reunion at the same time. The kids were delirious with joy and the parents were grilling and chilling and it made us happy to see them.
Lots of people were on the trails that day, bicycling and hiking. That's always gratifying.
For info on camping at Lake Lenape call 609-625-8219. For general Atlantic County Parks info go to www.aclink.org/PARKS
Today, I'm off to the Trenton State Archives, with Barbara Solem, my other hiking buddy, to do some research on my family history. On my mother's side, there is a long trail back to New Jersey from Philadelphia, where I was born. The names associated with my mother's ancestry are Cheesman, Garwood, and Jaggard - all very interesting and prominent families in the Blackwood, Turnersville, Timber Creek area.
My search started at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library. Of course, it started years ago with my grandmothers, but then I was helped on immeasureably by ancestry.com, and a distant cousin on the Jaggard side who had done a lot of work already, and, next, hands on searches at Camden County Historical Society in Camden and GCHSL. I have graphed out two interesting trees and found lots of information, but I've been stalled for a couple of years at 'lost links' spots on both sides - William C. Garwood on my mother's side. He married Rachel Ann Cheesman and made the Cheesman Garwood link, and the Wrights of Indiana on my father's side. But like the tides, the interest comes and goes. William C. Garwood (the eldest of two of the same name, grandfather and grandson) was a schoolteacher at Turnersville, and a postmaster at Blackwood.
Meanwhile, I hike and the woods restore my spirit! Spots I love at Estell are the Smith/Ireland cemetery (with brand new imposing wrought iron fencing) and the ruins of the Belcoville plant of 1917, and always, the glimmer of Stephen's Creek wherever I see it along the trail.
Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Quilt Show at the Glo. Co. Hist.Soc. Museum
On Friday, April 26, 2013, three other volunteers from the Whitall House and myself took the self-guided walking tour of Historic Woodbury and ended our tour with the second part of the EXCELLENT Quilt exhibit at the Jessup Hunter Lawrence House on Broad St. which is the Gloucester County Historical Society Museum. Before I forget, here is an upcoming event there:
My Garden of Quilts - Botanical Textiles, Quilt program by Karen Dever plus quilt exhibit Thurs. May 16 at 7:00 p.m.
I will certainly be going there for that. One of the things I admire most at any exhibit at the GCHSM is the level of knowledge and expertise of the curator and the volunteers. On Friday, were were triple lucky in having two GCHSM volunteers join us who gave us additional insights into the needlepoint samplers and the world of quilting. Two other guests that day were expert quilters.
My grandmother was a quilter. I have such wonderful memories of her sewing a quilt stretched out across her bed as the seabreeze blew in the window of her upstairs apartment in Ocean City, NJ. I have two of her quilts but one is disintegrating - a Sunbonnet Babies quilt that I have used since early childhood and washed innumerable times, sadly. Also, I have my great-grandmother's sewing maching which is especially poignant to me as both my great-grand and paternal grandmother supported themselves and their families by sewing when they were widowed.
The day was perfect for a walking tour and I found the buildings connected to the Green family medicinal empire especially interesting. There is the Green carriage house, the Green Laboratory and the Green Castle, a former hotel which now sports ominous red signs with white X's on them. What does that mean? No one we spoke with seemed to know what those signs portend.
Anyone who loves history could weep at the continual destruction of our historic landmarks. The fight goes on. Schools want to take wooded reserves and make soccer fields (Saddler's Woods), and a church wants to take The Green Castle and demolish it for new building.
Ah well, it is best to look at the glass half full and enjoy what we have without becoming too distraught about what we are losing (unless we are willing to get involved in the fight - and I'm too old now and tired).
We had lunch at Charlie Brown's, itself a former historic tavern, and I can most heartily recommend the salad bar which is well known in the area for freshness and variety!
If you are interested in the walking tour, you can get the free booklet, with photos of all the houses and descriptions as well as a map, at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library, which is just behind the Museum and has a parking lot. This is the best time of the year for historic town walks because you can also enjoy the gardens!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
ps. Photos were taken and will be added in the new way, as a page added as you scroll down my blog to the bottom.
My Garden of Quilts - Botanical Textiles, Quilt program by Karen Dever plus quilt exhibit Thurs. May 16 at 7:00 p.m.
I will certainly be going there for that. One of the things I admire most at any exhibit at the GCHSM is the level of knowledge and expertise of the curator and the volunteers. On Friday, were were triple lucky in having two GCHSM volunteers join us who gave us additional insights into the needlepoint samplers and the world of quilting. Two other guests that day were expert quilters.
My grandmother was a quilter. I have such wonderful memories of her sewing a quilt stretched out across her bed as the seabreeze blew in the window of her upstairs apartment in Ocean City, NJ. I have two of her quilts but one is disintegrating - a Sunbonnet Babies quilt that I have used since early childhood and washed innumerable times, sadly. Also, I have my great-grandmother's sewing maching which is especially poignant to me as both my great-grand and paternal grandmother supported themselves and their families by sewing when they were widowed.
The day was perfect for a walking tour and I found the buildings connected to the Green family medicinal empire especially interesting. There is the Green carriage house, the Green Laboratory and the Green Castle, a former hotel which now sports ominous red signs with white X's on them. What does that mean? No one we spoke with seemed to know what those signs portend.
Anyone who loves history could weep at the continual destruction of our historic landmarks. The fight goes on. Schools want to take wooded reserves and make soccer fields (Saddler's Woods), and a church wants to take The Green Castle and demolish it for new building.
Ah well, it is best to look at the glass half full and enjoy what we have without becoming too distraught about what we are losing (unless we are willing to get involved in the fight - and I'm too old now and tired).
We had lunch at Charlie Brown's, itself a former historic tavern, and I can most heartily recommend the salad bar which is well known in the area for freshness and variety!
If you are interested in the walking tour, you can get the free booklet, with photos of all the houses and descriptions as well as a map, at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library, which is just behind the Museum and has a parking lot. This is the best time of the year for historic town walks because you can also enjoy the gardens!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
ps. Photos were taken and will be added in the new way, as a page added as you scroll down my blog to the bottom.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Pictures 2013
Well, I think I have found a way to circumvent the problem I had with adding pictures (called "gadgets" on this free blog site) to go with my posts. Something had changed in the formatting function and I could not longer add pictures the way I did with my other posts, so I have opted to add a page with pictures on it. The page is called Photographs 2013, and there is a photo of my sister's shrub arrangement at Michleton Library, for her presentation on Landscape Design, a photo of carnivorous plants at Pakim Pond for Earth Day, and there is a picture of my dog Trixie at Timber Creek park, and finally, a photo of my sister, me and my nephew, the day we began working on my garden.
Scross down to the bottom of my opening page and you'll find the page entitled Photographs 2013, along with a page on the James and Ann Whittall House. You can open Photographs 2013 and see the pictures. I'll add new pages for more photographs as they come up to go with new posts. I wish I could move that whole "gadget" up further on the page, but it is beyond my ability to figure out how to do that. Sorry for the inconvenience and I hope you enjoy the photographs.
Speaking of photographs, for my 'birding friends' I wanted to mention that I saw a wild life photographer at Audubon Lake (in Haddon Heights Park) yesterday taking pictures of black cormorants in a tree airing out their wings. The little parks have many wonders to share.
Scross down to the bottom of my opening page and you'll find the page entitled Photographs 2013, along with a page on the James and Ann Whittall House. You can open Photographs 2013 and see the pictures. I'll add new pages for more photographs as they come up to go with new posts. I wish I could move that whole "gadget" up further on the page, but it is beyond my ability to figure out how to do that. Sorry for the inconvenience and I hope you enjoy the photographs.
Speaking of photographs, for my 'birding friends' I wanted to mention that I saw a wild life photographer at Audubon Lake (in Haddon Heights Park) yesterday taking pictures of black cormorants in a tree airing out their wings. The little parks have many wonders to share.
Happy Earth Day 2013
Today, to celebrate Earth Day, my sister and I worked in my garden. Over the past 25 years, I have planted nearly 250 shrubs and trees, but for the past 5 to 10 years, I did almost no gardening at all, however some of my trees have grown enormous!
My sister, Susan is a Landscape Designer and recently did a wonderful presentation at the Mickleton Library on Kings Hwy., which, by the way, is in the process of being closed by the municipality. My sister had always made good use of the library and was happy to give back by doing the excellent presentation. She will miss the Library when it is gone.
The most interesting part of her presentation, to me, was where she had brought a dozen or so potted shrubs which formed a lovely backdrop. She would pull two forward and we could observe that they looked identical, and even though they were in the same family, one might grow 30 feet tall and the other 3 feet tall, which makes a great deal of difference if you are planting in front of your bay window!
In fact, I had planted a lovely little tree next to my outdoor shed, some years back when I still had Christmas trees with root balls. I couldn't bring myself to kill a live tree for a celebration and then put out its dead, dry remnants on the day after Christmas, so I bought trees with roots and planted them. That caused a problem on exceptionally cold winters when the ground froze, but we just decorated the tree with items for whatever holiday came up until the ground thawed out again. One of those trees was a Norwegian Spruce. It is huge and I can't imagine how tall it will become!
Anyhow, we came close to meeting our goal for the gardening of the day, but not quite. We did the mulching of the beds, but didn't get to plant the rest of the Lily of the Valley pips that I had bought from amazon.com.
It came to me that I wanted them when I smelled their fragrance outside the Gloucester County Historical Society Library every spring. They had quite a nice bed of them in the parking lot. I'm a volunteer there.
Master Gardeners from Whitall House generously gave me pots of them from their own gardens and they are coming up, but I wanted MORE. I'll plant the pips tomorrow.
I hope you were outside on this splendid day which couldn't have been a better day to remind us of how wonderful our planet is.
On June 5th, I'll be taking a trip to Bartram's Gardens and Chanticleer with two friends. I'll let you know how that goes.
I haven't visited that many gardens in the past, (Longwood, from time to time, of course) but I go regularly to visit various trees, such as the Salem Oak. Anyhow I did get to see the Doris Duke Gardens (North Central NJ) before they closed and, as you recall, I visited all the State Parks in SJ last year. Some years back, I had ventured further north some years ago and also visited The Great Swamp. This would be a good time of year to go there, while the waters are flowing and the mosquitoes aren't quite out yet. This is a wonderful time of the year to be in any park!
This week I'll be taking a walking tour of historic Woodbury. More on that after Friday, April 26.
Nothing makes me happier than to be outdoors walking in a park or woods. I especially with my canine pal, Trixie Belden. I hope you got outside today too!
My sister, Susan is a Landscape Designer and recently did a wonderful presentation at the Mickleton Library on Kings Hwy., which, by the way, is in the process of being closed by the municipality. My sister had always made good use of the library and was happy to give back by doing the excellent presentation. She will miss the Library when it is gone.
The most interesting part of her presentation, to me, was where she had brought a dozen or so potted shrubs which formed a lovely backdrop. She would pull two forward and we could observe that they looked identical, and even though they were in the same family, one might grow 30 feet tall and the other 3 feet tall, which makes a great deal of difference if you are planting in front of your bay window!
In fact, I had planted a lovely little tree next to my outdoor shed, some years back when I still had Christmas trees with root balls. I couldn't bring myself to kill a live tree for a celebration and then put out its dead, dry remnants on the day after Christmas, so I bought trees with roots and planted them. That caused a problem on exceptionally cold winters when the ground froze, but we just decorated the tree with items for whatever holiday came up until the ground thawed out again. One of those trees was a Norwegian Spruce. It is huge and I can't imagine how tall it will become!
Anyhow, we came close to meeting our goal for the gardening of the day, but not quite. We did the mulching of the beds, but didn't get to plant the rest of the Lily of the Valley pips that I had bought from amazon.com.
It came to me that I wanted them when I smelled their fragrance outside the Gloucester County Historical Society Library every spring. They had quite a nice bed of them in the parking lot. I'm a volunteer there.
Master Gardeners from Whitall House generously gave me pots of them from their own gardens and they are coming up, but I wanted MORE. I'll plant the pips tomorrow.
I hope you were outside on this splendid day which couldn't have been a better day to remind us of how wonderful our planet is.
On June 5th, I'll be taking a trip to Bartram's Gardens and Chanticleer with two friends. I'll let you know how that goes.
I haven't visited that many gardens in the past, (Longwood, from time to time, of course) but I go regularly to visit various trees, such as the Salem Oak. Anyhow I did get to see the Doris Duke Gardens (North Central NJ) before they closed and, as you recall, I visited all the State Parks in SJ last year. Some years back, I had ventured further north some years ago and also visited The Great Swamp. This would be a good time of year to go there, while the waters are flowing and the mosquitoes aren't quite out yet. This is a wonderful time of the year to be in any park!
This week I'll be taking a walking tour of historic Woodbury. More on that after Friday, April 26.
Nothing makes me happier than to be outdoors walking in a park or woods. I especially with my canine pal, Trixie Belden. I hope you got outside today too!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Second Lecture
The second lecture I attended was about the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall; I'm sorry, I tried to look up the authors of the book, who were presenting the lecture, but didn't have any instant success and I'm under a time constraint here, so I'll simply give you the url to the Gloucester County Historical Society and you can visit there and possibly find the info on the meeting and lecture which was last night, Wednesday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njgchs/Library.html
They were interesting speakers, the two authors. I was interested to find out how many times the rooms of the Independence Hall have been gutted and renovated and to see pictures of how radically didfferent it was through the time periods. Also, there was a clock in the wall made by the Stretch Clock makers who made the clock in the Whitall House.
On the liberty bell the most interesting fact, to me, was that once it went to space and when it came back, the door to its capsule was opened too soon and it sank to the bottom of the ocean, Not to worry, first of all, there were seven replicas of the bell of which this was one, and also, at some later point, the bell was retrieved from the ocean floor.
One of the two authors of the book Independence Hall and the Libery Bell got his start at the Glooucester County Historical Society, where I am a volunteer. I've been working on indexing Ruth Page Rogers diary. She was an Elk Twp. born residendt who became a pioneer Mormon and went to Utah. I'm also working on the Cutrufello family photographs, a new acquisition which I've mentioned before. My sister rescued the passport and photographs from the turn of the century through the 1940's from the sidewalk trash and we were so intrigued that we were happy to find a home for them at GCHSL.
Out of space again and the slide bar can't help me get past Dr. Oz, so I'm signing out. Enjjoy the weather. I'm on my way to Atsion Lake to hike with my best dog friend, Trixie (who picture I would post if I could figure out the new protocol here) and Barbara Soleem. I may have to start a whole new page to put my quickly mounting photos up somewhhere.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njgchs/Library.html
They were interesting speakers, the two authors. I was interested to find out how many times the rooms of the Independence Hall have been gutted and renovated and to see pictures of how radically didfferent it was through the time periods. Also, there was a clock in the wall made by the Stretch Clock makers who made the clock in the Whitall House.
On the liberty bell the most interesting fact, to me, was that once it went to space and when it came back, the door to its capsule was opened too soon and it sank to the bottom of the ocean, Not to worry, first of all, there were seven replicas of the bell of which this was one, and also, at some later point, the bell was retrieved from the ocean floor.
One of the two authors of the book Independence Hall and the Libery Bell got his start at the Glooucester County Historical Society, where I am a volunteer. I've been working on indexing Ruth Page Rogers diary. She was an Elk Twp. born residendt who became a pioneer Mormon and went to Utah. I'm also working on the Cutrufello family photographs, a new acquisition which I've mentioned before. My sister rescued the passport and photographs from the turn of the century through the 1940's from the sidewalk trash and we were so intrigued that we were happy to find a home for them at GCHSL.
Out of space again and the slide bar can't help me get past Dr. Oz, so I'm signing out. Enjjoy the weather. I'm on my way to Atsion Lake to hike with my best dog friend, Trixie (who picture I would post if I could figure out the new protocol here) and Barbara Soleem. I may have to start a whole new page to put my quickly mounting photos up somewhhere.
Two Lectures
Wow the first days of what feels more like summer than spring! Already the forsythia have flung themselves into bloom and the blossoming trees are clothing their recently black, naked, shivering branches in white and pink finery. All of this, of course, puts one in mind of gardens.
Recently on PBS, I saw a NATURE program called What Plants Talk ABout. It was so interesting, I ordered a copy of the dvd. No one really wants to hear the plot of a show repeated verbally so I'll just tell you one interesting detail. Plants send a chemical message into the air, kind of like the old concept of 'miasma,' i think, that notifies a predator that it's prey is on the plant. That way, the insect eating a plant can be removed by its enemy.
That chemical miasma, pictured in the tv program as a pale green fog, fascinated me. I read recently that scientist couldn't figure out how elepants miles away could know what each other were doing. They discovered, eventually that the elephant gave a low vocalizing below our ability to hear, and communicated that way.
The first lecture I attended was on landscaping given at Mickleton Library by my sister, Susan Wright, who is a landscape designer. It was very well done and I learned more than I can say here, especially as Dr. Oz/s ad is covering my writing with a pop-up that I can't remove so I can't see what I'm typing. I may have to go to another entry after this and begin again, so I'll close by saying I'm doing two gardents in one day June 5th on a bus tour with Seniour Citizens United of Camden County, to Bartram's Garden and Chanticleer. I did actually visit Bartram's Garden before on a Friends Meeting tour when i was a member of the Cherry Street Meeting back in the 1980's but it will be delightful to visit again. Signing off for this entry - Happy trails - stay outside! Jo Ann
Recently on PBS, I saw a NATURE program called What Plants Talk ABout. It was so interesting, I ordered a copy of the dvd. No one really wants to hear the plot of a show repeated verbally so I'll just tell you one interesting detail. Plants send a chemical message into the air, kind of like the old concept of 'miasma,' i think, that notifies a predator that it's prey is on the plant. That way, the insect eating a plant can be removed by its enemy.
That chemical miasma, pictured in the tv program as a pale green fog, fascinated me. I read recently that scientist couldn't figure out how elepants miles away could know what each other were doing. They discovered, eventually that the elephant gave a low vocalizing below our ability to hear, and communicated that way.
The first lecture I attended was on landscaping given at Mickleton Library by my sister, Susan Wright, who is a landscape designer. It was very well done and I learned more than I can say here, especially as Dr. Oz/s ad is covering my writing with a pop-up that I can't remove so I can't see what I'm typing. I may have to go to another entry after this and begin again, so I'll close by saying I'm doing two gardents in one day June 5th on a bus tour with Seniour Citizens United of Camden County, to Bartram's Garden and Chanticleer. I did actually visit Bartram's Garden before on a Friends Meeting tour when i was a member of the Cherry Street Meeting back in the 1980's but it will be delightful to visit again. Signing off for this entry - Happy trails - stay outside! Jo Ann
Friday, April 5, 2013
Largest alligator in the US outside of Florida
Well, I just couldn't get it right - was it the largest alligator in the world? The USA? New Jersey - ha ha - I know there are none in NJ, so he'd have to be the largest one north of Florida. Anyhow his name is Mike - it is actually "?___ something Mike" like Monumental Mike or Mammoth Mike, I can't remember. Okay, I looked it up Mighty Mike, it is!
This alligator is BIG - way to big for the little puddle and window where he is forced to live. I'm not a fan of zoos or circuses or aquariums. I hate to see animals trapped and on display, however, I will say that there was a sign that explained that Mike was slated to be destroyed at a boat landing in Florida until the animal control officer contacted some nature officials and he was captured and moved around to be an ambassador for the alligator world.
Is he better off? Who knows, but my pal for the day at the aquarium and I discussed it and I said if I had a choice between being trapped in a small room with books inside a library for the rest of my life or of being shot, I'd take the room and the books. I hope Mike has a meditative mind, which, by his looks, I think he might. The Hippos were cool too.
I missed out on wishing everyone a Happy National Walking Day, two days ago. I walked Audubon Lake, Big Timber Creek park, Newton Creek Park, and Knight's Park, to celebrate. Walking is my favorite thing to do. Hope you were out and about too! Happy Trails! Jo Ann
This alligator is BIG - way to big for the little puddle and window where he is forced to live. I'm not a fan of zoos or circuses or aquariums. I hate to see animals trapped and on display, however, I will say that there was a sign that explained that Mike was slated to be destroyed at a boat landing in Florida until the animal control officer contacted some nature officials and he was captured and moved around to be an ambassador for the alligator world.
Is he better off? Who knows, but my pal for the day at the aquarium and I discussed it and I said if I had a choice between being trapped in a small room with books inside a library for the rest of my life or of being shot, I'd take the room and the books. I hope Mike has a meditative mind, which, by his looks, I think he might. The Hippos were cool too.
I missed out on wishing everyone a Happy National Walking Day, two days ago. I walked Audubon Lake, Big Timber Creek park, Newton Creek Park, and Knight's Park, to celebrate. Walking is my favorite thing to do. Hope you were out and about too! Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Places I should have gone and a place I'm going.
Well, I was punished a couple of times recently for not keeping up with my e-mail. It takes so long that I've been heading out to walk the dog at Timber Creek Park everyday without turning on the computer. So I missed a great genealogy and stories presentation at Salem Genealogical Society and last night I missed a presentation by a friend of mine, Carol Suplee at Medford on the history of Willingboro. I'm really sorry about that. She is in a writing group with tme and I'm sure it was a fascinating presentation.
http://www.medfordhistory.org/loc/loc.html
Today, I'm headed off to the NJ State Aquarium which I haven't visited in nearly a decade, through two renovations, I understand. More on that later.
And on the subject of genealogy, my sister was on her way home from work and passed a family clearing out a house and putting all sorts of interesting things on the curb. She asked if she could look and they said it was all trash and she could help herself. She found a trash bag filled with family photographs from the 1930-s through the 1950's and a passport for the progenitor and first immigrant of the family Donenic Cutrufello. There were photos of the family with their tenement garden in the Bronx, and my favorite, a pair of long white gloves and the work card of Martha Cutrufello who worked as a Cabaret dancer; there were two photos of her in color in beautiful ballgowns.
I felt so sorry for the photos and asked at Gloucester County Historical Society if they knew of a group that would house this material since it documents early Italian immigration into the farmlands of SJ, and they said, generously that they would give it a home! I was so happy that my sister, Susan Wright, saved this irreplaceable and priceless resource for someone who might be interested in the future. How sad when a grandmother dies and no one cares enough about the family history to give it a home.
My sister showed them what was in the trash bag, including Domenic Guiseppi's Cutrufello's passport from 1917, and they said "Trash, we don't want any of it." Maybe a family quarrel was behind it. Who knows. But the photographs are saved and the gloves.
http://sj.sunne.ws/2013/03/26/history-of-willingboro-at-medford-historical-society/
http://www.medfordhistory.org/loc/loc.html
Today, I'm headed off to the NJ State Aquarium which I haven't visited in nearly a decade, through two renovations, I understand. More on that later.
And on the subject of genealogy, my sister was on her way home from work and passed a family clearing out a house and putting all sorts of interesting things on the curb. She asked if she could look and they said it was all trash and she could help herself. She found a trash bag filled with family photographs from the 1930-s through the 1950's and a passport for the progenitor and first immigrant of the family Donenic Cutrufello. There were photos of the family with their tenement garden in the Bronx, and my favorite, a pair of long white gloves and the work card of Martha Cutrufello who worked as a Cabaret dancer; there were two photos of her in color in beautiful ballgowns.
I felt so sorry for the photos and asked at Gloucester County Historical Society if they knew of a group that would house this material since it documents early Italian immigration into the farmlands of SJ, and they said, generously that they would give it a home! I was so happy that my sister, Susan Wright, saved this irreplaceable and priceless resource for someone who might be interested in the future. How sad when a grandmother dies and no one cares enough about the family history to give it a home.
My sister showed them what was in the trash bag, including Domenic Guiseppi's Cutrufello's passport from 1917, and they said "Trash, we don't want any of it." Maybe a family quarrel was behind it. Who knows. But the photographs are saved and the gloves.
http://sj.sunne.ws/2013/03/26/history-of-willingboro-at-medford-historical-society/
Friday, March 29, 2013
BlogTrouble
I'm sorry to my readers. I have great new photos but the new design of the blogspot has me baffled. I can't seem to find a way to add the pictures anymore. I've been struggling with it for a couple of weeks, but haven't resolved the problem yet. I have photos of Duffy's and Timber Creek.
My next post will be on honey! Meanwhile I will continue to try to figure out how to put in a picture with the new format of blogspot - the host.
My next post will be on honey! Meanwhile I will continue to try to figure out how to put in a picture with the new format of blogspot - the host.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
FamilyHistory on the curb & SLims
I've been asking around about Slim's Ranch without too much success lately. I did meet a fellow dog walker who said the original ranch was up on the 1/2 mile jogging track and that there was nothing left but an access road and some telephone poles. I wonder who Slim was and how long they operated that Ranch before it became Timber Creek Park? I'll keep asking around.
A few days ago, as my sister was driving home from work, she saw a couple of women taking furnishings from a house and putting them on the curb. She stopped and asked if they minded if she took some things, which they did not as it was all put out for the trash. She found a treasure trove of family photos and documents which she brought to their attention, but ehey said they didn't want them. It was their grandmother's stuff and they were clearing out her house.
Those photos and documents told such an interesting story about Italian immigration in the early 20th century. There was the family in the old homestead in Italy, the passport of the patriarch, Domenico Cutrufollo, 1917, and World War II papers and letters for Joseph and Vera, the photos showed the family in their tenement garden in the Bronx, from which they finally moved to NJ. There were the grandmothers, the aunts and uncles and a young beautiful pair of sisters, one of whom must have become a ballroom dancer because there was a photo of her in a ball gown and long sleeved gloves, and a box from Bonwits with those very same gloves loving preserved in tissue. Maybe she is the one who became the grandmother.
I'm going to try to find a home for these items. First I'll try through my volunteer work at Glo. Co. Hist. Soc. Library, they may know of a place with a focus on early Italian immigration to NJ, then I'll try a little museum I just read about in the Courier that has opened in Glassboro.
Any ideas? contact me at jwright45@yahoo.com
The grandmother held on to these treasures for a hundred years or more. I hope I can find a safe home for them.
A few days ago, as my sister was driving home from work, she saw a couple of women taking furnishings from a house and putting them on the curb. She stopped and asked if they minded if she took some things, which they did not as it was all put out for the trash. She found a treasure trove of family photos and documents which she brought to their attention, but ehey said they didn't want them. It was their grandmother's stuff and they were clearing out her house.
Those photos and documents told such an interesting story about Italian immigration in the early 20th century. There was the family in the old homestead in Italy, the passport of the patriarch, Domenico Cutrufollo, 1917, and World War II papers and letters for Joseph and Vera, the photos showed the family in their tenement garden in the Bronx, from which they finally moved to NJ. There were the grandmothers, the aunts and uncles and a young beautiful pair of sisters, one of whom must have become a ballroom dancer because there was a photo of her in a ball gown and long sleeved gloves, and a box from Bonwits with those very same gloves loving preserved in tissue. Maybe she is the one who became the grandmother.
I'm going to try to find a home for these items. First I'll try through my volunteer work at Glo. Co. Hist. Soc. Library, they may know of a place with a focus on early Italian immigration to NJ, then I'll try a little museum I just read about in the Courier that has opened in Glassboro.
Any ideas? contact me at jwright45@yahoo.com
The grandmother held on to these treasures for a hundred years or more. I hope I can find a safe home for them.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Mullica Hill, Dufffy's Chocolates & More - Easter
Easter is just around the corner and yesterday I found out my daughter is coming home to visit. She is 29 and a vegan, so I was perplexed about what to put in her Easter Basket. I know she likes vintage and antique things so I went to Mullica Hill to solve my dilemma of what to put in an Easter basket when you can't use chocolate or dairy. The first shop I stopped in had the perfect solution, lovely, shaped, perfumcd soaps, one of which was a large molded white cat "The Sophisticat" which takes the place of the white chocolate bunny of my daughter's childhood. Next, I crossed the street to the Red Mill Antiques and right inside the door I found a charming basket with a large cranberry colored sash on the wooden lid! Next I found an adorable old tin with rabbits on it and some tiny china rabbits to put in it with Easter grass and I was all set.
Mulica Hill will host an Antique Street Fair from 10 - 5 on April 27th with the 28th as a rain date. www.mullicahill.com and 856-881-6800 for questions or to reserve a table.
Still, I have other relatives who do eat chocolate, in particular a nephew, so on the day of the big snow, Monday 3/24/13, I took advantage of the bad weather to go to Duffy's Chocolates in Gloucester City, on Broadway. Generally at Easter there will be a line stretching to the door, but since the weather was so forbidding, I was only the second customer in line. Duffy's has been in business most of the 20th century and now the 21st. It is a tradition for many who live within the area to buy great chocolate there as well as Irish potatoes. It is a family owned business and the chocolates are handmade. It isn't too late - if you need something special for a hostess gift or to put in that Easter basket, head over to Duffy's and enjoy the fragrance as you walk in the door!
A tv note: It is nice when what you read and what you watch on tv get in sync with the holidays. I've enjoyed The Bible on History Channel ( a little hokey but perfect to get in the mind set of the season) and The Vikings, too. Also, there was an excellent documentary on Jamestown which teams up nicely with a wonderful book I'm reading by Bernard Bailyn, The Barbarous Years, which deals with that same period in Colonial American History 1600-1675. I plan to get one or two of his other books and will do a book review column as soon as I finish this one.
Happy Easter and Happy Spring (if it ever arrives).
Mulica Hill will host an Antique Street Fair from 10 - 5 on April 27th with the 28th as a rain date. www.mullicahill.com and 856-881-6800 for questions or to reserve a table.
Still, I have other relatives who do eat chocolate, in particular a nephew, so on the day of the big snow, Monday 3/24/13, I took advantage of the bad weather to go to Duffy's Chocolates in Gloucester City, on Broadway. Generally at Easter there will be a line stretching to the door, but since the weather was so forbidding, I was only the second customer in line. Duffy's has been in business most of the 20th century and now the 21st. It is a tradition for many who live within the area to buy great chocolate there as well as Irish potatoes. It is a family owned business and the chocolates are handmade. It isn't too late - if you need something special for a hostess gift or to put in that Easter basket, head over to Duffy's and enjoy the fragrance as you walk in the door!
A tv note: It is nice when what you read and what you watch on tv get in sync with the holidays. I've enjoyed The Bible on History Channel ( a little hokey but perfect to get in the mind set of the season) and The Vikings, too. Also, there was an excellent documentary on Jamestown which teams up nicely with a wonderful book I'm reading by Bernard Bailyn, The Barbarous Years, which deals with that same period in Colonial American History 1600-1675. I plan to get one or two of his other books and will do a book review column as soon as I finish this one.
Happy Easter and Happy Spring (if it ever arrives).
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Cowboy New Jersey, Slim's Ranch Mystery
Well, I thought I had seen the last snow of this winter at Goshen Pond a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday, walking at the Timber Creek Dog Park, the snow fell again, however it only lasted in the air and never covered the ground. So far, I have been unable to find any history on Slim's Ranch, which is what stood on this property before it became Timber Creek Park, though I found a web site with lovely photographs of Timber Creek Park and an interesting detail in regard to the name "Slim" which, according to the web site, the link for which I will add at the end of this paragraph, is the title for a livestock worker on a farm. https://yummygal.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/timber-creek-park/
If, like me, you were a child, a girl child in particular, of the 1950's, you probably remember Sally Star. She passed away in January and her funeral arrangements were held in Berlin, NJ. Sally Starr had been inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame. I saw Sally Star speak at a Paulsdale event a couple of years ago and I can attest that she was still sharp witted and beautiful in her late eighty's, though she seemed tired and she was forced to use a wheelchair to get around. When I was growing up, you didn't see many women in the popular entertainment of the day, plenty of cowboys, but few cowgirls, you'd have thought taming the Wild West was an all male event. There was, of course, Dale Evans, and these feisty women were an inspiration for me as a little girl.
It seems as though New Jersey has a little bit of everything, but the cowboy history is an interesting mystery. I'm afraid I haven't been to Cowtown yet, so I can't speak on that, but I know there were many horse farms and riding was a great recreation through the 1960's, according to my friends, many of whom remember learning how to ride horseback in their teens in that time. I was unable to find any history on Slim's Ranch and if anyone out there knows anything, I'd be interested to hear about it. wrightj45@yahoo.com. Meanwhile, I'll contact some friends and see if I can find out more. See you on the trails! Jo Ann
If, like me, you were a child, a girl child in particular, of the 1950's, you probably remember Sally Star. She passed away in January and her funeral arrangements were held in Berlin, NJ. Sally Starr had been inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame. I saw Sally Star speak at a Paulsdale event a couple of years ago and I can attest that she was still sharp witted and beautiful in her late eighty's, though she seemed tired and she was forced to use a wheelchair to get around. When I was growing up, you didn't see many women in the popular entertainment of the day, plenty of cowboys, but few cowgirls, you'd have thought taming the Wild West was an all male event. There was, of course, Dale Evans, and these feisty women were an inspiration for me as a little girl.
It seems as though New Jersey has a little bit of everything, but the cowboy history is an interesting mystery. I'm afraid I haven't been to Cowtown yet, so I can't speak on that, but I know there were many horse farms and riding was a great recreation through the 1960's, according to my friends, many of whom remember learning how to ride horseback in their teens in that time. I was unable to find any history on Slim's Ranch and if anyone out there knows anything, I'd be interested to hear about it. wrightj45@yahoo.com. Meanwhile, I'll contact some friends and see if I can find out more. See you on the trails! Jo Ann
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Favorite Woods and Trails
By the way, the tally for the favorite woods and trails so far puts Parvin State Park in the lead with Atsion second and my persoal favorite, Pakin Pond, in third with reminders that Whitesbog is a great hiking spot and Batsto. If you wish to add others e-mail me at wrightj45@yahoo.com
The Last Snow of the Year 2013
I hope my historic place readers will forgive me that I've been more in the woods lately than in historic houses, but when you get down to it, there is no more historic site than the forest!
Yesterday, two friends and I celebrated a birthday with two hikes in the woods. First we hiked at Goshen Pond and I took many pictures; unfortunately my digital camera broke last week and I had to use a one-time-use recycleable camera. Yes, they do still exist.
The woods were indescribably beautiful because it was a wet snow and it clung to everything turning nets of briars into lace and outlining every black tree trunk and limb in white. All the paths were snow covered though the roads were a nasty ochre brown mud that splashed up behind your shoes onto your pants' bottoms. Nonetheless, regular woods hikers come prepared: We wear outer pants (in my case and one other friend's - ski pants!) and we bring extra socks and shoes to change into. After an hour in the snowy wonderland, we headed to La Campagnola Restaurant for the birthday lunch, Barbara Solem's birthday.
La Campangola Restaurant & Bar
439 Oakshade Road, Shamong, NJ, 08088
+1 609 268 0600Reservations:
+1 609 268 0600 Telephone:
+1 609 654 4260Catering:
We had a delicious stick-to-your ribs- lunch of pasta and tomato sauce , then, rested and refreshed, we headed back out to hike the orange trail. On the way home, at the end of the day, the rain had already erased the snow from the fields and rooftops. So I am especially happy that I was outside and enjoyed the last snow while it was hear and before it was defeated by the Lamb of Spring. Now, this morning, Saturday, March 9, it feels like spring has arrived, with a bright and powerful sun shining and rising temperatures.
Tomorrow is Lines on the Pines at Frog Rock Country Club. This year, I won't be presenting, I'll just be visiting. Here is a link if you think you might like to drop in and see paintings, beautiful pinelands crafts, hear music, or talk to authors who have written books about the Pines or who maintain internet web sites such as the "ghosttowns" site and PineyPower.
http://www.frogrockgolf.com/
AS for why I won't be presenting this year - I'm focussing more on hiking and my new vegan diet and taking time off from my formerly very busy schedule. It is a more meditative time for me and less active (well more walking less talking). Hope to see you at Lines On the Pines! And if not there, perhaps we'll cross paths on one of the woodland trails. Best part of hiking in winter, aside from the beauty is that there are no ticks or chiggers. Soon, I'll have to buy Frontline for my new dog Trixie and Off for myself. Trixie, by the way, has that magical dog ability to find a trail even in the snow. She was ahead of us the whole way, both going in and coming out and she never missed the turns at forks or intersecting trails. She is a great hiking buddy.
Yesterday, two friends and I celebrated a birthday with two hikes in the woods. First we hiked at Goshen Pond and I took many pictures; unfortunately my digital camera broke last week and I had to use a one-time-use recycleable camera. Yes, they do still exist.
The woods were indescribably beautiful because it was a wet snow and it clung to everything turning nets of briars into lace and outlining every black tree trunk and limb in white. All the paths were snow covered though the roads were a nasty ochre brown mud that splashed up behind your shoes onto your pants' bottoms. Nonetheless, regular woods hikers come prepared: We wear outer pants (in my case and one other friend's - ski pants!) and we bring extra socks and shoes to change into. After an hour in the snowy wonderland, we headed to La Campagnola Restaurant for the birthday lunch, Barbara Solem's birthday.
La Campangola Restaurant & Bar439 Oakshade Road, Shamong, NJ, 08088
+1 609 268 0600Reservations:
+1 609 268 0600 Telephone:
+1 609 654 4260Catering:
We had a delicious stick-to-your ribs- lunch of pasta and tomato sauce , then, rested and refreshed, we headed back out to hike the orange trail. On the way home, at the end of the day, the rain had already erased the snow from the fields and rooftops. So I am especially happy that I was outside and enjoyed the last snow while it was hear and before it was defeated by the Lamb of Spring. Now, this morning, Saturday, March 9, it feels like spring has arrived, with a bright and powerful sun shining and rising temperatures.
Tomorrow is Lines on the Pines at Frog Rock Country Club. This year, I won't be presenting, I'll just be visiting. Here is a link if you think you might like to drop in and see paintings, beautiful pinelands crafts, hear music, or talk to authors who have written books about the Pines or who maintain internet web sites such as the "ghosttowns" site and PineyPower.
http://www.frogrockgolf.com/
AS for why I won't be presenting this year - I'm focussing more on hiking and my new vegan diet and taking time off from my formerly very busy schedule. It is a more meditative time for me and less active (well more walking less talking). Hope to see you at Lines On the Pines! And if not there, perhaps we'll cross paths on one of the woodland trails. Best part of hiking in winter, aside from the beauty is that there are no ticks or chiggers. Soon, I'll have to buy Frontline for my new dog Trixie and Off for myself. Trixie, by the way, has that magical dog ability to find a trail even in the snow. She was ahead of us the whole way, both going in and coming out and she never missed the turns at forks or intersecting trails. She is a great hiking buddy.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Favorite Trails
Yesterday, I was hiking the trail from Pakim Pond to the rangers' station in Brendan Byrne forest, which is roughly 6 miles round trip. It is my favorite trail. I asked my hiking buddy Barbara Spector, which is her favorite trail and she said, as I knew she would, Parvin State Park. I've hiked there with her many times.
We listed all our favorite trails in order of preference and I was wondering what other peoples' favorites are. My e-mail is wrightj45@yahoo.com, if you wish to let me know your favorites. If I hear from you, I'll post them here.
This was my second time on the Cranberry trail this week. The previous hike had been momentous in that my other best hiking buddy, Barbara Solem, had convinced me it was safe to let Trixie, my new dog of one month, off her leash as she is so very well-behaved and responds well to commands to "stay" and "sit" and "come". And indeed she stayed right with us the whole time and was practically dancing in her delight at being free to walk at her own pace and stop and sniff at her leisure.
Barbara Solem's favorite trail is around Atsion Lake. We all love Estelle Manor, where we hiked last week, and of course, Goshen and Batsto. Winter i my favorite time for hiking, too, because there are no chiggers or ticks.
There are interesting monuments in the heart of the woods on various trails, for example, the Carranza Monument, and, on the Cranberry Trail, the David F. Moore monument. I found the following information on David F. Moore.
I want to thank him and any other devoted workers for conservation for preservign these beautiful places for those of us who go there and find peace and balance as well as joy.
from a site called Zoom In - "Dave Moore was executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation from 1969-1999 and is now serving on the organization's Board of Trustees.
He is also currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the Delaware River Mill Society.He has served on numerous other nonprofits throughout his career, including the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust, New Jersey Tidelands Resource Council, New Jersey Natural Areas Council, New Jersey Recycling Forum, Council on New Jersey Affairs, the state's Waterfowl Advisory Committee, Natural Area Council in Washington, D.C. and the Stockton Alliance."
We listed all our favorite trails in order of preference and I was wondering what other peoples' favorites are. My e-mail is wrightj45@yahoo.com, if you wish to let me know your favorites. If I hear from you, I'll post them here.
This was my second time on the Cranberry trail this week. The previous hike had been momentous in that my other best hiking buddy, Barbara Solem, had convinced me it was safe to let Trixie, my new dog of one month, off her leash as she is so very well-behaved and responds well to commands to "stay" and "sit" and "come". And indeed she stayed right with us the whole time and was practically dancing in her delight at being free to walk at her own pace and stop and sniff at her leisure.
Barbara Solem's favorite trail is around Atsion Lake. We all love Estelle Manor, where we hiked last week, and of course, Goshen and Batsto. Winter i my favorite time for hiking, too, because there are no chiggers or ticks.
There are interesting monuments in the heart of the woods on various trails, for example, the Carranza Monument, and, on the Cranberry Trail, the David F. Moore monument. I found the following information on David F. Moore.
I want to thank him and any other devoted workers for conservation for preservign these beautiful places for those of us who go there and find peace and balance as well as joy.
from a site called Zoom In - "Dave Moore was executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation from 1969-1999 and is now serving on the organization's Board of Trustees.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Louisa May Alcott at peachfields
There are a few of my childhood books that had a powerful influence on me and that, when I read them, cast a hypnotic spell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, was certainly one. Another was Outdoor Girls on a Hike, along with the Trixie Belden series of mysteries and, of course, Nancy Drew.
On Sunday, a friend and I went to Peachfields, 180 Burrs Road, Westampton, Nj 08060, to hear a history theater performer portray Louisa May Alcott. This was syncronicity at its best because I had just finished reading Susan Cheever's biography of Alcott.
This day provided a double delight because I am always happy to visit Peachfields, a most beautiful historic house from the early 1700's and I enjoy the living history theater presentations, a number of which I have been lucky enough to have experienced. So far, I have heard, among others, George and Martha Washington, at Monmouth Battlefield, Clara Barton, and Molly Pitcher, and a few others whose names I can't recall at this moment, several of which I heard at the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield, such as Abigail Adams.
It was a bright, sunny, cold day with a coat of snow on the fields around Peachfields. Peachfields is under the guardianship of the Colonial Dames of America in New Jersey. They also preserve and give tours of the oldest schoolhouse in New Jersy built in 1759 which is located at 35 Brainerd St. in Mount Holly, NJ.
On March 3rd there will be a presentation on Walt Whitman at Peachfields from 2 to 4. Harriet Beecher Stow will be featured on April 7th and Mark Twain on May 5th.
Literature was my first love, before I found the magic in History, so putting the two together is a great delight. I'll be attending all three presentations. Make reservations in advance, it gets filled up - call 609-267-6996.
Tomorrow, I'll post a couple of photos.
A note on a different subject. Yesterday I was delighted to sell a painting I have done of Atsion Mansion to Barbara Solem who has been the organizer behind getting the volunteers and putting the time in to give tours of that lovely house for the past year. It will open again in May.
On Sunday, a friend and I went to Peachfields, 180 Burrs Road, Westampton, Nj 08060, to hear a history theater performer portray Louisa May Alcott. This was syncronicity at its best because I had just finished reading Susan Cheever's biography of Alcott.
This day provided a double delight because I am always happy to visit Peachfields, a most beautiful historic house from the early 1700's and I enjoy the living history theater presentations, a number of which I have been lucky enough to have experienced. So far, I have heard, among others, George and Martha Washington, at Monmouth Battlefield, Clara Barton, and Molly Pitcher, and a few others whose names I can't recall at this moment, several of which I heard at the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield, such as Abigail Adams.
It was a bright, sunny, cold day with a coat of snow on the fields around Peachfields. Peachfields is under the guardianship of the Colonial Dames of America in New Jersey. They also preserve and give tours of the oldest schoolhouse in New Jersy built in 1759 which is located at 35 Brainerd St. in Mount Holly, NJ.
On March 3rd there will be a presentation on Walt Whitman at Peachfields from 2 to 4. Harriet Beecher Stow will be featured on April 7th and Mark Twain on May 5th.
Literature was my first love, before I found the magic in History, so putting the two together is a great delight. I'll be attending all three presentations. Make reservations in advance, it gets filled up - call 609-267-6996.
Tomorrow, I'll post a couple of photos.
A note on a different subject. Yesterday I was delighted to sell a painting I have done of Atsion Mansion to Barbara Solem who has been the organizer behind getting the volunteers and putting the time in to give tours of that lovely house for the past year. It will open again in May.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Little hidden gems
From time to time, I like to branch out from historic places into parks and woods and this entry is another about the little hidden parks I find with my walking buddies.
You may remember an entry about a little park on Clements Bridge Road that was so hard to find, my walking buddy of the day, Barbara Spector, who is also a kind and generous volunteer for animal shelters in this area, drove by the park three times and even stopped for directions before we saw the little parking lot.
Similarly, I got lost at least once before I found this park, which is called Woodbrook Park Trail. Finally, the way I found it was by using my gps with the address of Auletto Caterers, which is directly across the street from Auletto's. I was told about the park by a dog walking buddy, Terry, whom I know from Knight's Park in Collingswood.
Speaking of 'dog buddies' I was so lonesome after my great lab Blizzard passed away this summer, that I with the help of the aforementioned Barbara Spector, I adopted another lab. This one's name is Trixie (after Trixie Bleden - the detective). She is a 3 year old silver lab, which is a mix of Weimaraner and chocolate Lab.
So far, Trixie and I have hiked the CranberryTrail from Pakim Pond to the Ranger Station at Brendan Byrne and back (6 miles round trip) and Parvin State Park Trail, Haddon Heights Park, Newton Creek Park, Cooper River and Kinghts Park where she met all my former dog walking buddies. And This little park, Woodbrook, is about a mile round trip. I can't see what I'm typing here so I apologise for any errors. There is a pop up ad that is covering the bottom of my post and I can seem to move it away, so I guess that signals the end of this post. Happy Trails to you! eventually, we will resume our State Parks hiking.
You may remember an entry about a little park on Clements Bridge Road that was so hard to find, my walking buddy of the day, Barbara Spector, who is also a kind and generous volunteer for animal shelters in this area, drove by the park three times and even stopped for directions before we saw the little parking lot.
Similarly, I got lost at least once before I found this park, which is called Woodbrook Park Trail. Finally, the way I found it was by using my gps with the address of Auletto Caterers, which is directly across the street from Auletto's. I was told about the park by a dog walking buddy, Terry, whom I know from Knight's Park in Collingswood.
Speaking of 'dog buddies' I was so lonesome after my great lab Blizzard passed away this summer, that I with the help of the aforementioned Barbara Spector, I adopted another lab. This one's name is Trixie (after Trixie Bleden - the detective). She is a 3 year old silver lab, which is a mix of Weimaraner and chocolate Lab.
So far, Trixie and I have hiked the CranberryTrail from Pakim Pond to the Ranger Station at Brendan Byrne and back (6 miles round trip) and Parvin State Park Trail, Haddon Heights Park, Newton Creek Park, Cooper River and Kinghts Park where she met all my former dog walking buddies. And This little park, Woodbrook, is about a mile round trip. I can't see what I'm typing here so I apologise for any errors. There is a pop up ad that is covering the bottom of my post and I can seem to move it away, so I guess that signals the end of this post. Happy Trails to you! eventually, we will resume our State Parks hiking.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Iron
This is my postscript to the Hopewell entry. The connection for me between Hopewell Furnace in Pa. and Batsto and Atsion, is, aside from the fact that Hopewell is so well preserved and shows a complete picture of the iron process, that iron in the pines was eclipsed by Pennsylvania when coal took the place of wood and charcoal. Also, iron ore was more readily mined in Pa. than the bogs could produce it. However, ironically, Hopewell was put out of business at the time that coal became king for making fire and heat, because Hopewell was built to be close to woods for colliers making charcoal and it was not close enough to railroads and coal mines. It was a precarious business running a furnace or a forge.
Hope you can get a chance to visit us at Atsion when the season opens again, or at Batsto, or that you can get to visit both of these and Hopewell too!
Atsion, like many other hitoric sites is closed for the season. Whitall House opens again April 3rd and Atsion, I believe, opens in May. Check back again and I'll post the dates when I know them for certain.
Tomorrow, me and my new dog, Trixie, a silver chocolate Lab and an enthusiastic hiker, will be taking the cranberry trail from Pakim Pond to the Ranger Station and back with Barb Solem and her hiking buddy, Oscar. It's about 6 miles doing the round trip, then we will hike around the pond, too, one of my favorite places in the pines. I used to love it when I could rent a cabin in the winter - especially in the snow. I don't think you can rent them in winter anymore. Not sure...
Hope to see you on the trail! Winer is my favorite time to hike the woods - no chiggers!
Hope you can get a chance to visit us at Atsion when the season opens again, or at Batsto, or that you can get to visit both of these and Hopewell too!
Atsion, like many other hitoric sites is closed for the season. Whitall House opens again April 3rd and Atsion, I believe, opens in May. Check back again and I'll post the dates when I know them for certain.
Tomorrow, me and my new dog, Trixie, a silver chocolate Lab and an enthusiastic hiker, will be taking the cranberry trail from Pakim Pond to the Ranger Station and back with Barb Solem and her hiking buddy, Oscar. It's about 6 miles doing the round trip, then we will hike around the pond, too, one of my favorite places in the pines. I used to love it when I could rent a cabin in the winter - especially in the snow. I don't think you can rent them in winter anymore. Not sure...
Hope to see you on the trail! Winer is my favorite time to hike the woods - no chiggers!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The sword in the Stone
Hopewell Furnace Trip
Having been an off and on again poet all my life, it seemed to me that the myth of the sword in the stone from the tales of the Knights of the Round Table was actually a metaphor for the closely guarded secret of extracting iron from rock. Druids were both close with their secrets and often practised the art of blacksmithing. When the quality of the metal in you sword was the difference between life and death, freedom and slavery, this was a very important secret.
Coming up to the 20th century, I've always had an interest in iron as my father was an Ironworker. Both of my brothers followed him into that trade. Of course, today, that means creating sky scrapers from steel and reinforced concrete and has nothing to do with smelting or forging or smithing, nonetheless, iron has always held an allure to me.
Despite the fact that I have read Martha Furnace Diary and other books, I have to confess that the process of smelting iron in the Colonial period remained hazy in my comprehension until I visited Hopewell Furnace recently.
I was visiting this National Historic Site with friends and fellow volunteers from Batsto Village and Atsion Mansion. Barbara Solem, organiziner of the volunteers of Atsion Mansion, arranged this enriching field trip for us and she drove. It was about an hour and a half drive to 2 Mark Bird Lane in Elverson, Pa.
We had a truly generous and fascinating tour guide who, because we were also volunteers, gave us some behind the scenes glipses as well as a fully informative and interesting .tour. This site is miraculously intact, thanks both to the Civilian Conservation Corps and the the Pa. and Fed. governments which recognized its significance and saved it from decay and development into something else.
The furnace and the waterwheel are amazingly intact and between the guide, the film in the fisitors' center, and the buildings, I finally realized the process
from forest and mine to stove and kettle. This blog is too short a place to give you the full story, far too much for a conversation without boring the listener to death, so I'll simply say that we toured an area that dexribed how colliers transformed trees into charcoal, the charcoal storage barn, the bridge to the furnace where the lime, and iron are dumped into the stack in layers and then
the chardoal is set ablaze, the water wheel pumpling the air bellows to increase the heat. Finally at the foot of the furnace was the are where the molten iron ran out into channels to form pig iron, or into huge containers for dipping the molten iron out for molding.
Finally, I understood molding and the molders art thanks to the excellent film in the visotr's center, and voila' we get a stove or a fireplace back (after many steps in between, of course!)
Friends have arrived for a walk and I must stop for now. More later!
Having been an off and on again poet all my life, it seemed to me that the myth of the sword in the stone from the tales of the Knights of the Round Table was actually a metaphor for the closely guarded secret of extracting iron from rock. Druids were both close with their secrets and often practised the art of blacksmithing. When the quality of the metal in you sword was the difference between life and death, freedom and slavery, this was a very important secret.
Coming up to the 20th century, I've always had an interest in iron as my father was an Ironworker. Both of my brothers followed him into that trade. Of course, today, that means creating sky scrapers from steel and reinforced concrete and has nothing to do with smelting or forging or smithing, nonetheless, iron has always held an allure to me.
Despite the fact that I have read Martha Furnace Diary and other books, I have to confess that the process of smelting iron in the Colonial period remained hazy in my comprehension until I visited Hopewell Furnace recently.
I was visiting this National Historic Site with friends and fellow volunteers from Batsto Village and Atsion Mansion. Barbara Solem, organiziner of the volunteers of Atsion Mansion, arranged this enriching field trip for us and she drove. It was about an hour and a half drive to 2 Mark Bird Lane in Elverson, Pa.
We had a truly generous and fascinating tour guide who, because we were also volunteers, gave us some behind the scenes glipses as well as a fully informative and interesting .tour. This site is miraculously intact, thanks both to the Civilian Conservation Corps and the the Pa. and Fed. governments which recognized its significance and saved it from decay and development into something else.
The furnace and the waterwheel are amazingly intact and between the guide, the film in the fisitors' center, and the buildings, I finally realized the process
from forest and mine to stove and kettle. This blog is too short a place to give you the full story, far too much for a conversation without boring the listener to death, so I'll simply say that we toured an area that dexribed how colliers transformed trees into charcoal, the charcoal storage barn, the bridge to the furnace where the lime, and iron are dumped into the stack in layers and then
the chardoal is set ablaze, the water wheel pumpling the air bellows to increase the heat. Finally at the foot of the furnace was the are where the molten iron ran out into channels to form pig iron, or into huge containers for dipping the molten iron out for molding.
Finally, I understood molding and the molders art thanks to the excellent film in the visotr's center, and voila' we get a stove or a fireplace back (after many steps in between, of course!)
Friends have arrived for a walk and I must stop for now. More later!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Behnd the Scenes - Volunteer Work
I work as a volunteer for a half dozen historic places and the volunteer work can take many varied forms. This past Wednesday, January 9th, for example, I met with six volunteers and the Bayshore Discovery Museum Director, Rachel, for a special winter project. Items that have been donated to the Museum but which are not currently on display are housed in the old Haleyville School, on shelves in the downstairs. The upstairs floor is used as crew quarters for those who work on the A. J. Meerwald Schooner.
Our job was to work in teams of two, and identify, number, describe and measure, items on the shelves to eventually go onto a computer database.
This was a fascinating job. Each team took a different set of shelves to work on.
Perhaps I mentioned that to my surprise, some months ago, I discovered that a new volunteer at Bivalve, Paul Hettinger, whose family were engine manufacturers in the Port Norris area, was also, by coincidence, an old schoolmate of mine. I discovered this when I received an e-mail from my high school reunion committee looking for 'lost' classmates - those for whom no one had any address, phone number or recent contact. Paul's name was on the list, so at our next Bayshore Discovery Project Museum Club meeting I asked if he had graduated from Merchantiville High School in 1963, and he had!
Paul and I worked as a team which was fortunate because my knowledge of boat parts is limited, and Paul had spend his life on or near boats, so he was able to tell me "hinged round cast iron mast bracket with two eyes and shackles" and I could then write it on the paper form of the database and issue a sticker with a number to be attached to the item.
There were those less than exciting items, but there were also such intriguing things as a walrus skull, Native American stone point collections, and boat models!
And it was a treat for me to be working in the old two story Haleyville School as I am a big fan of the little old school house and have enjoyed the Burlington County one-room school house tour on several occasions. Needless to say, South Jersey has many and beautiful little old schoolhouses such as the stone school outside of Greenwich - but that is for another blog entry.
The next day, Thursday, January 10th, I went back to work at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library on my current project for them which is indexing the diary of Ruth Page Rogers. This diary is compelling reading.
Ruth was born in 1820 in Elk Township and the fact that she kept a diary at all is astonishing as it wasn't common for everyone to even be literate, let alone, decide to keep a diary! It is a good thing that she did, however, because her life was both adventurous and unusual.
Ruth first left home to work in a Manayunk textile mill. Imagine the trip she must have taken in 1840 to get there - stage coach, schooner and stage coach again, then no doubt a long walk. She and her mother travelled and worked together. During the year they spent there, the mother discovered herself to be pregnant and Ruth eventually had to support and care for her mother as well as herself.
Having returned home with the family patriarch who eventually went to Manayunk to retrieve his wife and eldest daughter, the family went to hear a couple of visiting Mormon missionaries speak. They were so moved by Samuel Rogers, one of the missionaries, that they saved up, left home and journeyed first to the mid-west, and finally to Utah to join up with the Mormon community there.
In my next blog, I'll let you know what happened when they got there. My job is to list the names and places and their page numbers in Ruth's diary for future researchers.
Finally, the most unusual job of all my volunteer duties this year was to dress as a late 1800's servant and walk up the stairs at Atsion Mansion for a podcast filming. Also, I worked in the kitchen moving apples from one wooden bowl to another. My parts are to be made to look ghostly, using the tools of the filmmaker. When the podcast is finished and posted, I'll be certain to let you know.
The Atsion Mansion volunteers in company with some Batsto volunteers will be going to Hopewell Furnace at the end of the week. I'll tell you all about it in my next blog.
Our job was to work in teams of two, and identify, number, describe and measure, items on the shelves to eventually go onto a computer database.
This was a fascinating job. Each team took a different set of shelves to work on.
Perhaps I mentioned that to my surprise, some months ago, I discovered that a new volunteer at Bivalve, Paul Hettinger, whose family were engine manufacturers in the Port Norris area, was also, by coincidence, an old schoolmate of mine. I discovered this when I received an e-mail from my high school reunion committee looking for 'lost' classmates - those for whom no one had any address, phone number or recent contact. Paul's name was on the list, so at our next Bayshore Discovery Project Museum Club meeting I asked if he had graduated from Merchantiville High School in 1963, and he had!
Paul and I worked as a team which was fortunate because my knowledge of boat parts is limited, and Paul had spend his life on or near boats, so he was able to tell me "hinged round cast iron mast bracket with two eyes and shackles" and I could then write it on the paper form of the database and issue a sticker with a number to be attached to the item.
There were those less than exciting items, but there were also such intriguing things as a walrus skull, Native American stone point collections, and boat models!
And it was a treat for me to be working in the old two story Haleyville School as I am a big fan of the little old school house and have enjoyed the Burlington County one-room school house tour on several occasions. Needless to say, South Jersey has many and beautiful little old schoolhouses such as the stone school outside of Greenwich - but that is for another blog entry.
The next day, Thursday, January 10th, I went back to work at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library on my current project for them which is indexing the diary of Ruth Page Rogers. This diary is compelling reading.
Ruth was born in 1820 in Elk Township and the fact that she kept a diary at all is astonishing as it wasn't common for everyone to even be literate, let alone, decide to keep a diary! It is a good thing that she did, however, because her life was both adventurous and unusual.
Ruth first left home to work in a Manayunk textile mill. Imagine the trip she must have taken in 1840 to get there - stage coach, schooner and stage coach again, then no doubt a long walk. She and her mother travelled and worked together. During the year they spent there, the mother discovered herself to be pregnant and Ruth eventually had to support and care for her mother as well as herself.
Having returned home with the family patriarch who eventually went to Manayunk to retrieve his wife and eldest daughter, the family went to hear a couple of visiting Mormon missionaries speak. They were so moved by Samuel Rogers, one of the missionaries, that they saved up, left home and journeyed first to the mid-west, and finally to Utah to join up with the Mormon community there.
In my next blog, I'll let you know what happened when they got there. My job is to list the names and places and their page numbers in Ruth's diary for future researchers.
Finally, the most unusual job of all my volunteer duties this year was to dress as a late 1800's servant and walk up the stairs at Atsion Mansion for a podcast filming. Also, I worked in the kitchen moving apples from one wooden bowl to another. My parts are to be made to look ghostly, using the tools of the filmmaker. When the podcast is finished and posted, I'll be certain to let you know.
The Atsion Mansion volunteers in company with some Batsto volunteers will be going to Hopewell Furnace at the end of the week. I'll tell you all about it in my next blog.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
More Christmas Time Fun!
Need a gift idea? On Saturday morning, December 15, at 9:00 a.m. three friends and I went to Palmyra Cove Nature Park for a bird-watching course with a Cove ranger. She took us on a three hour hike around several kinds of habitats where we were able to see a dozen kinds of birds. We saw three kinds of ducks, Cardinals and Carolina Wrens, even a Hummingbird who lost her way somehow and ended up alone at the nature center for the winter. We saw a Coopers Hawk and several wild turkeys. It was great fun and a pleasure to hike the park again. I've been there a few times each year in different seasons. This was my favorite hike because I have never been seriously bird-watching before.
The gift idea is, of course, binoculars. I didn't have any, so I bought a pair of Bushnells for about $50 which were perfectly serviceable for a novice, entry level bird watcher. My companions had everything from $300 binoculars to $25 ones. The Park would have provided spares should any of us not have had them, but everyone on this hike (a couple of dozen people were in the group) including my friends, were more experienced bird-watchers than I and all had their own.
I would do it again and I understand there is a full day course in February.
I'd like to see an owl sometime.
My favorite totally unexpected sighting in the past were:
A dead tree filled with big black buzzards in Swedesboro one fall, a tree full of white egrets off of Newton Creek on a kayaking trip one summer evening, and a tree full of red birds I thought were cardinals but I've been told since that cardinals don't flock, so now I don't know what they were! It wa February when I saw them.
Oh, I almost forgot, I saw migrating Purple Martins on the Maurice River last year on a boat trip. It was Captain Dave's trip from Millville, $10.00 on seniors' day (Thursday?) and we saw half a dozen eagles and several once rare
ospreys.
Call1-856-293-0556 to make an appointment for a boat trip. The schedule begins again in May 2013. You could give the binoculars for a gift with info for a promised trip in May!
By the way, we all went to Riverton to a corner cafe called Zena's Patisserie for a delicious lunch and I highly recommend this little place for a good meal in a quaint and interesting town.
Enjoy!
The gift idea is, of course, binoculars. I didn't have any, so I bought a pair of Bushnells for about $50 which were perfectly serviceable for a novice, entry level bird watcher. My companions had everything from $300 binoculars to $25 ones. The Park would have provided spares should any of us not have had them, but everyone on this hike (a couple of dozen people were in the group) including my friends, were more experienced bird-watchers than I and all had their own.
I would do it again and I understand there is a full day course in February.
I'd like to see an owl sometime.
My favorite totally unexpected sighting in the past were:
A dead tree filled with big black buzzards in Swedesboro one fall, a tree full of white egrets off of Newton Creek on a kayaking trip one summer evening, and a tree full of red birds I thought were cardinals but I've been told since that cardinals don't flock, so now I don't know what they were! It wa February when I saw them.
Oh, I almost forgot, I saw migrating Purple Martins on the Maurice River last year on a boat trip. It was Captain Dave's trip from Millville, $10.00 on seniors' day (Thursday?) and we saw half a dozen eagles and several once rare
ospreys.
Call1-856-293-0556 to make an appointment for a boat trip. The schedule begins again in May 2013. You could give the binoculars for a gift with info for a promised trip in May!
By the way, we all went to Riverton to a corner cafe called Zena's Patisserie for a delicious lunch and I highly recommend this little place for a good meal in a quaint and interesting town.
Enjoy!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Christmas Shopping HistoricPlaces Style
Forget Walmart and Black Friday, I like to do my Christmas Shopping out in the country. My sister said the best Christmas present I ever gave her was a series of things I picked out at Buzby's General Store in Chatsworth, so I went there last week with my friend Barbara Spector, about whom I have something to say closer to the end. I bought three boxes of notecards, very pretty, and a wooden sign, featuring cardinals, a symbol my sister and I enjoy at Christmas. Then, we took the opportunity to hike at one of my favorite places, Pakim Pond in Lebanon State Forest. What a beautiful day!
Byzby's is up for sale and when it is sold, I will surely miss the fun conversations with Marilyn Schmidt, who has kept the store so lovelingly these years. She was honored recently at Lines On the Pines and she deserved it for her dedication to the history and culture of the Pinebarrens. Buzby's is on the National Register of Historic Places.
On the way home, along route 70, we had the inspiration to stop and see what they had to offer at the Amish market that has opened up there. A woman in a produce building promised Barbara that the basket of apples she bought would truly be crisp. Barbara has been on the hunt for some nice crisp apples for some weeks and has found only somewhat old and mushy ones. I haven't talked to her since she has eaten them but I'll let you know. The name of the apples was New Jersey Crisp! Inside the building, there was a cafe' and we have promised ourselves to have lunch there the next time we are hiking in Lebanon. They also sold cheeses and meats and other craft items. You can know the places by the wooden gazebos and other yard structures on the front property, but ehy have much more to sell than out buildings.
We stopped in another great old New Jersey roadside farm market and I fell in love with a Christmas decoration, a ball of holly and pine greens and ribbons, but it was priced a little high for my wishes. Not that it wasn't worth it, just that at this season, I have so many gifts to buy, I can't afford to spend a lot more on decorations. They wanted $35. Speaking with my sister on the phone afterward, I was told that they sell them at Platt's Farm Market on Cohawkin Road for $25. She said it is a very labor intensive decoration which she has made before when she worked at Platt's. Today, I'm going there and making a return trip to Haynicz,s Orchardview Farm Market as well, which is in Monroeville on the corner of Buck and Elk Roads. They have a delicious peach cider I'm giving as visit gifts to friends over the holidays. I call it a taste of summer in the winter.
The bottles of peach cider are $6 each, very reasonable. I bought some in the summer but then they had many kinds of berry ciders, blackberry, raspberry, and I wish I had known they would be sold out, I'd have bought a half dozen bottles then. Now they have only peach left, but it is delicious.
A note about my friend, Barbara, she has just been victorious in saving the lives of migrating geese in her housing development in Franklinville. You may wonder how that could be since the geese are a federally protected species but it turns out that little municipalities can get permits to kill them that buypass the lasw to protect them. She campaigned tirelessly for other solutions to the problem. We both feel that if you don't want to be around trees and animals stay in the city. It is sad when people come to the country and then cut down the trees so they don't have to blow the leaves, or demand that th native wildlife be exterminated. As Joni Mitchell once sang, "They pave paradise and put up a parking lot."
Anyhow, hope you find some ideas for Christmas Shopping in New Jersey's countryside and also some decorating ideas from this blog entry. Happy Holidays! Also, for entertainment, may I repeat that there are literally dozens of candlelight tours available in our lovely country towns and historic houses. Maybe I'll see you at one. I'm going to Greenwich and Woodstown and don't miss the Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield Dec. 8 and Indian King Tavern on Friday nights. Check them out on the internet for more info.
Byzby's is up for sale and when it is sold, I will surely miss the fun conversations with Marilyn Schmidt, who has kept the store so lovelingly these years. She was honored recently at Lines On the Pines and she deserved it for her dedication to the history and culture of the Pinebarrens. Buzby's is on the National Register of Historic Places.
On the way home, along route 70, we had the inspiration to stop and see what they had to offer at the Amish market that has opened up there. A woman in a produce building promised Barbara that the basket of apples she bought would truly be crisp. Barbara has been on the hunt for some nice crisp apples for some weeks and has found only somewhat old and mushy ones. I haven't talked to her since she has eaten them but I'll let you know. The name of the apples was New Jersey Crisp! Inside the building, there was a cafe' and we have promised ourselves to have lunch there the next time we are hiking in Lebanon. They also sold cheeses and meats and other craft items. You can know the places by the wooden gazebos and other yard structures on the front property, but ehy have much more to sell than out buildings.
We stopped in another great old New Jersey roadside farm market and I fell in love with a Christmas decoration, a ball of holly and pine greens and ribbons, but it was priced a little high for my wishes. Not that it wasn't worth it, just that at this season, I have so many gifts to buy, I can't afford to spend a lot more on decorations. They wanted $35. Speaking with my sister on the phone afterward, I was told that they sell them at Platt's Farm Market on Cohawkin Road for $25. She said it is a very labor intensive decoration which she has made before when she worked at Platt's. Today, I'm going there and making a return trip to Haynicz,s Orchardview Farm Market as well, which is in Monroeville on the corner of Buck and Elk Roads. They have a delicious peach cider I'm giving as visit gifts to friends over the holidays. I call it a taste of summer in the winter.
The bottles of peach cider are $6 each, very reasonable. I bought some in the summer but then they had many kinds of berry ciders, blackberry, raspberry, and I wish I had known they would be sold out, I'd have bought a half dozen bottles then. Now they have only peach left, but it is delicious.
A note about my friend, Barbara, she has just been victorious in saving the lives of migrating geese in her housing development in Franklinville. You may wonder how that could be since the geese are a federally protected species but it turns out that little municipalities can get permits to kill them that buypass the lasw to protect them. She campaigned tirelessly for other solutions to the problem. We both feel that if you don't want to be around trees and animals stay in the city. It is sad when people come to the country and then cut down the trees so they don't have to blow the leaves, or demand that th native wildlife be exterminated. As Joni Mitchell once sang, "They pave paradise and put up a parking lot."
Anyhow, hope you find some ideas for Christmas Shopping in New Jersey's countryside and also some decorating ideas from this blog entry. Happy Holidays! Also, for entertainment, may I repeat that there are literally dozens of candlelight tours available in our lovely country towns and historic houses. Maybe I'll see you at one. I'm going to Greenwich and Woodstown and don't miss the Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield Dec. 8 and Indian King Tavern on Friday nights. Check them out on the internet for more info.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving, One- Room Schools, candlelight tours 2012
This year, Barbara Solem (author of Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places of the NJ Pinebrrens) and I went on the 'drive yourself' Burlington County On-e Room Schools Tour. It was her birthday gift to me, but as we are both retired from education, it was interesting to both of us.
I had taken this tour previous years when they offered the bus and an on-the-bus tour guide which was very nice but much more expensive. That rip cost $40 per person with a delicious boxed lunch. This tour was $6 per person (varying by age and so on) and you brought or bought your own lunch. We took advantage of the location of Clara Barton's school in Bordentown to have lunch in that town and visit the excellent book store.
These little schools touch my heart and I think of my career ancestors, including Clara Barton, who dedicated their lives to developing a literate society in America. Did we always succeed with every child, of course not, but every teacher I ever knew gave his or her best to the effort. I'm thankful for all the ones who gave me tools to become a lifelong learner.
There are many upcoming events:
Candlelight tours abound - Woodstown on the 7th, Whitall House on the 7th and 8th, Indian King Tavern on succeeding Fridays. And I'm grateful for the kind ladies who put together the luncheons for volunteers this time of year, I'll be enjoying one at Gloucester County Historical Society Library and a Christmas party at Bivalve. It gives all of us volunteers a chance to talk to each other and learn about other projects going on at our sites.
I had taken this tour previous years when they offered the bus and an on-the-bus tour guide which was very nice but much more expensive. That rip cost $40 per person with a delicious boxed lunch. This tour was $6 per person (varying by age and so on) and you brought or bought your own lunch. We took advantage of the location of Clara Barton's school in Bordentown to have lunch in that town and visit the excellent book store.
These little schools touch my heart and I think of my career ancestors, including Clara Barton, who dedicated their lives to developing a literate society in America. Did we always succeed with every child, of course not, but every teacher I ever knew gave his or her best to the effort. I'm thankful for all the ones who gave me tools to become a lifelong learner.
There are many upcoming events:
Candlelight tours abound - Woodstown on the 7th, Whitall House on the 7th and 8th, Indian King Tavern on succeeding Fridays. And I'm grateful for the kind ladies who put together the luncheons for volunteers this time of year, I'll be enjoying one at Gloucester County Historical Society Library and a Christmas party at Bivalve. It gives all of us volunteers a chance to talk to each other and learn about other projects going on at our sites.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Washington's Headquarters, Morristown National Historical Park
The winter of 1979 to 1980 was the coldest in recorded history in New Jersey. That winter, 10,000 soldiers, poorly clothed and starving, cut down thousands of trees in Jockey Hollow to build log cabins to survive that brutal winter of deep snow and severe cold.
In the first week of October, a group of volunteer docents from the Whitall House, National Park, NJ drove the two plus hours up to visit Washington's Headquarters in the Ford Mansion and to see the Wick House and Jockey Hollow where the soldiers struggled to survive while General Washington strove to work out his military strategy and to feed and clothe his dwindling army. I thought the folded portable camp cot was interesting. I'd never seen one before although I have seen them unfolded and set up at various re-enactments.
You have to wonder, if you were a man in that army at that time, would you have stayed, or would you have headed back home to check on your wife and children, the family farm, and to get something to eat and simply get warm again. What a moral struggle for those men. Twelve men shared each of the one thousand cabins built on the land adjoining the Wick Farm.
General Washington was invited by the widow Ford to share her mansion. She and her children occupied a few rooms while the General and his entourage of officers and servants occupied the rest of the house. There would have been over 80 people sharing the house and even though it is a very large place, it must have been crowded and noisy. The Wick House, a charming New England style farm house was shared by the Wick family with General St. Clair.
The army spent two winters in the Morristown area, 1777 and 1779-80. New Jersey has a treasure trove of sites where the hundreds of battles, skirmishes, and other crucial events of the Revolution took place.
The Ford mansion had been closed for repairs but is now open for visitors and I hope you will find a day to visit this important place in our nation's history.
We had a wonderful time there and October is a perfect season for visiting our parks. We ate lunch in nearby Morristown at a quaint Irish Pub where I enjoyed a delicious butternut squash soup and cranberry bread.
In the first week of October, a group of volunteer docents from the Whitall House, National Park, NJ drove the two plus hours up to visit Washington's Headquarters in the Ford Mansion and to see the Wick House and Jockey Hollow where the soldiers struggled to survive while General Washington strove to work out his military strategy and to feed and clothe his dwindling army. I thought the folded portable camp cot was interesting. I'd never seen one before although I have seen them unfolded and set up at various re-enactments.
You have to wonder, if you were a man in that army at that time, would you have stayed, or would you have headed back home to check on your wife and children, the family farm, and to get something to eat and simply get warm again. What a moral struggle for those men. Twelve men shared each of the one thousand cabins built on the land adjoining the Wick Farm.
General Washington was invited by the widow Ford to share her mansion. She and her children occupied a few rooms while the General and his entourage of officers and servants occupied the rest of the house. There would have been over 80 people sharing the house and even though it is a very large place, it must have been crowded and noisy. The Wick House, a charming New England style farm house was shared by the Wick family with General St. Clair.
The army spent two winters in the Morristown area, 1777 and 1779-80. New Jersey has a treasure trove of sites where the hundreds of battles, skirmishes, and other crucial events of the Revolution took place.
The Ford mansion had been closed for repairs but is now open for visitors and I hope you will find a day to visit this important place in our nation's history.
We had a wonderful time there and October is a perfect season for visiting our parks. We ate lunch in nearby Morristown at a quaint Irish Pub where I enjoyed a delicious butternut squash soup and cranberry bread.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Happy Halloween!
I could have posted a cemetery picture for Halloween, but how often do you come across an old fashioned coffin? I saw this one at Greenwich at the Artisan's Faire. It was a delight to see such beautiful hand-made bowls and pottery and crafts, but my favorite things to visit are always the Red Barn tool museum (home of the coffin you see to the left) and the Swedish granary. The Swedish Granary is an original log building from the earliest years of the settlement of Southern NJ. Log structures speak to me. I've visted many of the ones you can still find in South Jersey, but sadly, this weekend I missed my chance to visit the Swedish Farmstead in Bridgeton. I was otherwise engaged and I'm not even sure if they held their fund-raiser on Oct. 6. I would have loved to have gone there if I could however.
October is one of those months when so many things happen that they have to overlap. Cranberry festivals, harvest festivals, Colonial fairs, and my own personal favorite is our James and Ann Whitall House, Re-enactment of the Battle of Red Bank Oct. 21st, National Park, NJ. Hope you can come and join us.
On Monday, I did a short volunteer afternoon offering some members of the Daughters of the American Revolution a tour of the oyster sheds and the wharves of the Bayshore Discovery Project. the Museum Director, Rachel D. is improvising to offer people the best tour possible under the circumstances which are that our musseum is temporarily closed for wood treatment. Nonetheless, this is such a rich site that there is always plenty to see. Our gallery is open and the oral history section. I'll be there again this Friday for 2nd Friday which begins around 5:00. But even before that, I'll be there Wednesday for our Museum Club. We discuss history books we've read and we are given tours and take field trips. Our recent tour included an introduction to the Wetlands Tour given by Emily Foote, and a recent field trip included the Rutgers' University Marine Biology Lab. Being a volunteer can give you back as much or even more than you give to the project.
This week, the volunteers of Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ. will visit Morristown, the winter headquarters of Washington and the Continental Army for three winters. I'll have plenty to tell you about after that trip, I'm sure!
October is one of those months when so many things happen that they have to overlap. Cranberry festivals, harvest festivals, Colonial fairs, and my own personal favorite is our James and Ann Whitall House, Re-enactment of the Battle of Red Bank Oct. 21st, National Park, NJ. Hope you can come and join us.
On Monday, I did a short volunteer afternoon offering some members of the Daughters of the American Revolution a tour of the oyster sheds and the wharves of the Bayshore Discovery Project. the Museum Director, Rachel D. is improvising to offer people the best tour possible under the circumstances which are that our musseum is temporarily closed for wood treatment. Nonetheless, this is such a rich site that there is always plenty to see. Our gallery is open and the oral history section. I'll be there again this Friday for 2nd Friday which begins around 5:00. But even before that, I'll be there Wednesday for our Museum Club. We discuss history books we've read and we are given tours and take field trips. Our recent tour included an introduction to the Wetlands Tour given by Emily Foote, and a recent field trip included the Rutgers' University Marine Biology Lab. Being a volunteer can give you back as much or even more than you give to the project.
This week, the volunteers of Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ. will visit Morristown, the winter headquarters of Washington and the Continental Army for three winters. I'll have plenty to tell you about after that trip, I'm sure!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Energy
Even though my painting class (at Perkins Art Center, Moorestown) has nothing (as yet) to do with SJ History, one of the members had done a splendid painting of Kirby's Mill and mills and windmills have always held a fascination for me.
Today, reading the latest issue of Discover Magazine, an ariicle on energy sources, it occured to me that our gyms are great generators of wasted energy.
If we could collect the energy in everyone pedaling stationary bikes, and running on the treadmill all day (like the old horses who powered the ferries across the river or even some mills) maybe they could generate enough energy to run the entire gym! Any ideas? Jo Ann
ps. My daughter's fundraiser was successful. Soon, I'll update with a more complete blog on upcoming events and a few of the places I've visted lately including a one room school. Next week, the volunteers' History Readers' Club of Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, will journey to Morristown to the winter encampment site of the Continental Army. Also, next week, is 2nd Friday at Bivalve, the Bayshore Discovery Project. If you've never gone it is a really fun event - it begins about 5:00 p.m. and there is a lecture, music, an art exhibit and the cafe' is open for those who enjoy clams and oysters (other things are available.
Other events are posted at the ghosttowns site. I subscribe to their digest and recommend them to anyone interested in Pinelands history. It is a great resource!
ghosttownsofsouthernnj@yahoogroups.com
The most recent post mentioned the Batsto fest on the 21st which is also the date of the Battle of Red Bank Re-enactment at Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ - our biggest event of the year. Hope to see you there!
Today, reading the latest issue of Discover Magazine, an ariicle on energy sources, it occured to me that our gyms are great generators of wasted energy.
If we could collect the energy in everyone pedaling stationary bikes, and running on the treadmill all day (like the old horses who powered the ferries across the river or even some mills) maybe they could generate enough energy to run the entire gym! Any ideas? Jo Ann
ps. My daughter's fundraiser was successful. Soon, I'll update with a more complete blog on upcoming events and a few of the places I've visted lately including a one room school. Next week, the volunteers' History Readers' Club of Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, will journey to Morristown to the winter encampment site of the Continental Army. Also, next week, is 2nd Friday at Bivalve, the Bayshore Discovery Project. If you've never gone it is a really fun event - it begins about 5:00 p.m. and there is a lecture, music, an art exhibit and the cafe' is open for those who enjoy clams and oysters (other things are available.
Other events are posted at the ghosttowns site. I subscribe to their digest and recommend them to anyone interested in Pinelands history. It is a great resource!
ghosttownsofsouthernnj@yahoogroups.com
The most recent post mentioned the Batsto fest on the 21st which is also the date of the Battle of Red Bank Re-enactment at Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ - our biggest event of the year. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The past lives in the present - Sounds!
Hello fellow history buffs; usually I talk about places in this blog, but today, I'd like to talk about sounds and technology of the past. I've often mentioned events where such well-known musical groups as the Piney Hollow Drifters can be heard playing interesting music from the past, and also Albert Hall, one of my favorite places to hear music from the recent past (old rock and roll) as well as the distant past, as in the band that plays Civil War music, but in this blog, I'd want to talk about a project my daughter, Lavinia Jones Wright, has been working on for over a year with a friend and film-maker Alex Steyermark.
I'm a believer that sometimes old technology makes more sense and offers more freedom than newer replacement technology. I have an ipod that I never fill with new music because I can't remember how it works and there are too many steps. That wasn't the case with cassette players - easy to figure out and easy to use, lots of people made a swapped mix tapes, but so many old tehcnologies now defunct due to not being able to get new supplies.
The Presto, is an example of an old technology providing an immediate product from an immediate experience. Lavinia and Alex record directly from a performance onto an acetate record - no over-dubs or extraneous manipulation, just pure simple live music to record.
The Presto is an 80 year old device that was used by famous music collector and tireless saviour of our musical cultural history, Alan Lomax. He could go straight into the fields, the chapels, the halls and record direct from the event to the acetate record back in the 1930's.
Today, Lavinia and Alex use the Presto to record contemporary musicians with deep roots in our musical past and while they record, (lavinia takes care of the Presto) they film (Alex does the camera work).
Next they will take their footage and turn it into a documentary film.
To read more about this project check out this link to a column at the Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-09-26/music/the-new-art-of-old-timey-field-recording/
And if you want to help them make the movie, go to their home page.
www.the78project.com
They are using a grass-roots fund raising process called 'kickstarter' rather than relying on big money backers. so go to the kickstarter link on the right hand side of their home-page and you can help make this movie. I did it a few days ago and it is simple, especially if you have an Amazon account. Thanks! Jo Ann
I'm a believer that sometimes old technology makes more sense and offers more freedom than newer replacement technology. I have an ipod that I never fill with new music because I can't remember how it works and there are too many steps. That wasn't the case with cassette players - easy to figure out and easy to use, lots of people made a swapped mix tapes, but so many old tehcnologies now defunct due to not being able to get new supplies.
The Presto, is an example of an old technology providing an immediate product from an immediate experience. Lavinia and Alex record directly from a performance onto an acetate record - no over-dubs or extraneous manipulation, just pure simple live music to record.
The Presto is an 80 year old device that was used by famous music collector and tireless saviour of our musical cultural history, Alan Lomax. He could go straight into the fields, the chapels, the halls and record direct from the event to the acetate record back in the 1930's.
Today, Lavinia and Alex use the Presto to record contemporary musicians with deep roots in our musical past and while they record, (lavinia takes care of the Presto) they film (Alex does the camera work).
Next they will take their footage and turn it into a documentary film.
To read more about this project check out this link to a column at the Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-09-26/music/the-new-art-of-old-timey-field-recording/
And if you want to help them make the movie, go to their home page.
www.the78project.com
They are using a grass-roots fund raising process called 'kickstarter' rather than relying on big money backers. so go to the kickstarter link on the right hand side of their home-page and you can help make this movie. I did it a few days ago and it is simple, especially if you have an Amazon account. Thanks! Jo Ann
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Sunday, 9/16/12 at Red Bank Battlefield
If you are looking for something to do on Sunday afternoon, stop by and visit us at Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield for Heritage Day - genealogy is special theme for the day. We will have people who belong to the DAR, the SAR, and if those acronyms aren't familiar to you, they are the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution, both of which require serious family history research to gain membership.
We will also have Bonny Beth Elwell, President of the Salem Co. Genealogical Society and we will be giving tours of the house as usual. Plus don't forget it is a lovely place to walk along the Delaware River and enjoy the breeze and maybe have a picnic. Hope to see you there!
We will also have Bonny Beth Elwell, President of the Salem Co. Genealogical Society and we will be giving tours of the house as usual. Plus don't forget it is a lovely place to walk along the Delaware River and enjoy the breeze and maybe have a picnic. Hope to see you there!
Laurel Hill Cemetery
If you are wondering why I'm posting about a Philadelphia cemetery, it is because a figure of some note in Revolutionary War history in New Jersey is buried here:
Yesterday, Friday, September 14th, A group of Whitall Volunteers that included master gardeners, docents, and administrative staff, visited Laurel Hill Cemetery Schuylkill River
We visited our special interest, General Mercer, for whom the fort at Red Bank Battlefield was named, and we visited General Meade of Civil War fame. General Meade, a humble man, had a humble grave stone to match.
One of my favorites was the story of a woman who was married to a chemist, then widowed with small children to support. She taught herself chemistry by immersing herself in the bottles and books of her husband’s lab, and developed a set of flares bought by the navy. Through various financial manipulations, it ended that Martha Costen got nothing for her invention until she sued the US Navy. She was then awarded a settlement fee, which I sincerely hope allowed her to live her old age in some comfort.
It was a beautiful day, warm but breezy and my favorite view was from a bluff above the Schuylkill where I saw single scullers gliding down the river, reminding me of Thomas Eakins unforgettable painting of Max Schmidt, the single sculler. He has another painting of shad fishermen on the shore at Gloucester City.
Also down below the bluff overlooking the river, is the grave of Harry Kalas, the famous athletics announcer beloved by many. His grave sports a marble microphone and stadium chairs, so you can sit and visit.
Not far from Laurel Hill is a nice place to eat called The Epicure Cafe' and I would recommend it for lunch after your hike around the cemetery.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Mystery Object Identified
The mystery object has been identified by three respondents: John Westerdale figured it out by identifying its component parts. John is a distant cousin of mine whom I met via internet genealogy. The second correct guess came from Leigh Ingersol who is docent at the Prehistory Museum in Greenwich, NJ, one of my favorite places to visit. He is very well informed on local history. The third good guess came from Dana Jorgensen via Ghosttowns of Southern New Jersey digest, a favorite internet site of mine also. Barry Caselli has been keeping this fascinating digest going for some years. I would strongly recommend that anyone interested in the piney woods sign up with this site and engage in the ongoing discussions on interesting places, people and mysteries of the NJ Pinebarrens.
The mystery object is a spike cutting machine used by the Cumberland Nail and Iron company in Bridgeton and the machine was placed and maintained in honor of the workers in that industry. I always think of the workers when I visit any of the old mills, the oyster sheds, the marinas and the farms of South Jersey. Iron is especially interesting to me, the daughter of an ironworker.
It was especially interesting to visit the blacksmith shop at Allaire, and the carpentry shop. When I look at the Meerwald and the skeleton of the old Cashier, down at Bivalve, the Bayshore Discovery Project site, I can't help but think of the human hands and the tools that fashioned the wood and put it together in such marvelous ways. Even the oyster baskets and Noah Newcomb, who went into the woods, cut the saplings prepared the strips of wood for weaving and supplied the hundreds of baskets used for that work - everything made by hand, everything personal and local.
One of my favorite things to do in life is to wander around the back roads and stumble on interesting places and things and then figure out what happened there. I would strongly recommend anyone who is interested to visit Bridgeton's local park, and, in on October 7th, the festival held at the New Sweden Farmstead. There is a web site for info on this place:
http://www.newswedenfarmstead.org/nsf/Welcome.html
and for more info on the spike splitter:
Hope you had a safe, peaceful, restful Labor Day - a good day to think of all the workers who have made everything we use.
The mystery object is a spike cutting machine used by the Cumberland Nail and Iron company in Bridgeton and the machine was placed and maintained in honor of the workers in that industry. I always think of the workers when I visit any of the old mills, the oyster sheds, the marinas and the farms of South Jersey. Iron is especially interesting to me, the daughter of an ironworker.
It was especially interesting to visit the blacksmith shop at Allaire, and the carpentry shop. When I look at the Meerwald and the skeleton of the old Cashier, down at Bivalve, the Bayshore Discovery Project site, I can't help but think of the human hands and the tools that fashioned the wood and put it together in such marvelous ways. Even the oyster baskets and Noah Newcomb, who went into the woods, cut the saplings prepared the strips of wood for weaving and supplied the hundreds of baskets used for that work - everything made by hand, everything personal and local.
One of my favorite things to do in life is to wander around the back roads and stumble on interesting places and things and then figure out what happened there. I would strongly recommend anyone who is interested to visit Bridgeton's local park, and, in on October 7th, the festival held at the New Sweden Farmstead. There is a web site for info on this place:
http://www.newswedenfarmstead.org/nsf/Welcome.html
and for more info on the spike splitter:
http://www.dalesmiscellany.com/product/cumberland-nail-iron-works-spike-machine-bridgeton-n-j-post-card
Monday, September 3, 2012
Mystery Object
Half a dozen people have made good guesses on the mystery object but only one person has come close. I sent clues to several people:
1. railroading history
2. mill history
3. local inventors
And I've posted a photo of the machine in operation in the late 1800's on the left.
I did some research on my own. It turns out to be relatively hard to find this object on the internet even if you know thepurpose, inventor, location and history of it. I found four good web resources. Next week I'll post the answer and the resource links. Good guessing! Happy Labor Day! This is my Labor Day celebration post, Jo Ann - you can reach me at wrightj45@yahoo.com
1. railroading history
2. mill history
3. local inventors
And I've posted a photo of the machine in operation in the late 1800's on the left.
I did some research on my own. It turns out to be relatively hard to find this object on the internet even if you know thepurpose, inventor, location and history of it. I found four good web resources. Next week I'll post the answer and the resource links. Good guessing! Happy Labor Day! This is my Labor Day celebration post, Jo Ann - you can reach me at wrightj45@yahoo.com
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Can you guess what this is?
Here is a puzzle for you: I would be very surprised if anyone could figure out what the object in the photo to the left is. I can give you one clue. I was getting off the beaten path on Blue Moon Friday and ended up finding a very nice park in Bridgeton. I saw this object and tried to figure out what it was before I discovered the identification plaque. My guess was that it was some kind of device for raising and lowering or moving a bridge (this being Bridgeton and all.) I was wrong. You can respond via e-mail if you like
wrightj45@yahoo.com. Some people have found making comments on blogspot confusing.
While in Bridgeton, I also 'discovered' the "Old Swedish Farmstead" which was closed. Later research revealed that it IS closed but will re-open for a day on October 7th for a fund-raising and festival.
There were many other interesting things in the park, including a "Dame School" and as you who have visited my blog know, I am particularly partial to one-room schools. That brings me to another fortunate discovery much earlier on the same Blue Moon Friday. I was at Shellpile taking a photo of another school, the South Port Norris one-room school when an very nice gentleman offered to open the door and allow me to see the inside. (see the photo to the right) I've been to that school many times over the years but never had I been inside. It is in wonderful condition, beautiful floors, good chalkboards, and a fine collection of vintage shucked oyster cans on shelves above the chalkboards. The back wall was all windows facing out onto the Maurice River. What a lucky day for me and what a wonderful school room for the children and teachers who once spent their days in it.
Last note for this blog entry. Today, two of my friends and I visited Allaire State Park. They were having a wine and jazz festival, but as many of you may know, I don't drink, nonetheless, I wouldn't miss a chance to visit Allaire. I enjoyed the blacksmith's shop, the carpenter's shop, where he gave us a short talk on wagon wheels and showed us an old wheel 'jack' and a perennial favorite of mine, the general store. There were hundreds of people there - what a turn out! It was a delightful day, cool and overcast (no blazing sun or debilitating heat) and we all seemed to be enjoying our visit to this beautiful park and restored company town.
wrightj45@yahoo.com. Some people have found making comments on blogspot confusing.
While in Bridgeton, I also 'discovered' the "Old Swedish Farmstead" which was closed. Later research revealed that it IS closed but will re-open for a day on October 7th for a fund-raising and festival.
There were many other interesting things in the park, including a "Dame School" and as you who have visited my blog know, I am particularly partial to one-room schools. That brings me to another fortunate discovery much earlier on the same Blue Moon Friday. I was at Shellpile taking a photo of another school, the South Port Norris one-room school when an very nice gentleman offered to open the door and allow me to see the inside. (see the photo to the right) I've been to that school many times over the years but never had I been inside. It is in wonderful condition, beautiful floors, good chalkboards, and a fine collection of vintage shucked oyster cans on shelves above the chalkboards. The back wall was all windows facing out onto the Maurice River. What a lucky day for me and what a wonderful school room for the children and teachers who once spent their days in it.
Last note for this blog entry. Today, two of my friends and I visited Allaire State Park. They were having a wine and jazz festival, but as many of you may know, I don't drink, nonetheless, I wouldn't miss a chance to visit Allaire. I enjoyed the blacksmith's shop, the carpenter's shop, where he gave us a short talk on wagon wheels and showed us an old wheel 'jack' and a perennial favorite of mine, the general store. There were hundreds of people there - what a turn out! It was a delightful day, cool and overcast (no blazing sun or debilitating heat) and we all seemed to be enjoying our visit to this beautiful park and restored company town.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Don't Miss It! Upcoming Events.......
I have been waiting for years for this lecture "Quaker History in New Jersey" including Gloucester, Burlington & Salem Counties will be presented at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library on 17 Hunter Street in Woodbury on September 22, Saturday, at 9:00 a.m. You must call to reserve a spot as space is limited - 856-845-4771.
I have already reserved my spot and paid my $10 member fee to attend. As a docent at the Whitall House and a devoted seeker after South Jersey History, this is a wonderful opportunity because as we all know, from Fenwick to Whitall and Wharton and many influential families in between, the Quakers were an early and powerful force in New Jersey history. Many of you have probably read Jerseyman's blog on the Quaker Meeting Houses that grace the main streets of so many of our historic towns from Burlington to Greenwich. Find out more about these founding settlers. Christopher Densmore, curator of the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore, Pa. will give the talk.
If you missed Part 1 of the Quilt show at the Jesssup-Lawrence House in Woodbury, there is still time to take it in before Part 2 begins in late September. The show was marvelous, filled with local color and history. To add to your knowledge and enjoyment there will be a talk "Run Faredy Run" Quilt Squares with a story at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 13, 2012. Kathleen Lindsey, Historian and Author, will give the talk which will include a tour of the Museum Quilt Exhibit following the presentation. You can be sure I'll be there! Hope you will too!
In my next blog, I will pose a mystery "What is this object?" Today was a day of many discoveries and soon, I will add some interesting photographs from this marvelous day in South Jersey. I was grateful and delighted to meet a kind man at Shellpile who opened the door to the South Port Norris One- Room School in Shellpile. I have visited this building and taken many photos but never got lucky enough to be invited inside before. Folks down there on the bayside are very friendly and generous with their time. Coming soon - mystery object Shellpile one-room school and a photo of a "Dame" School, one of the two one-room schools I visited today! Tune in again in a couple of days. Also, I'll add info on a Swedish Settlers Homestead I found today too!
I have already reserved my spot and paid my $10 member fee to attend. As a docent at the Whitall House and a devoted seeker after South Jersey History, this is a wonderful opportunity because as we all know, from Fenwick to Whitall and Wharton and many influential families in between, the Quakers were an early and powerful force in New Jersey history. Many of you have probably read Jerseyman's blog on the Quaker Meeting Houses that grace the main streets of so many of our historic towns from Burlington to Greenwich. Find out more about these founding settlers. Christopher Densmore, curator of the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore, Pa. will give the talk.
If you missed Part 1 of the Quilt show at the Jesssup-Lawrence House in Woodbury, there is still time to take it in before Part 2 begins in late September. The show was marvelous, filled with local color and history. To add to your knowledge and enjoyment there will be a talk "Run Faredy Run" Quilt Squares with a story at the Gloucester County Historical Society Library at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 13, 2012. Kathleen Lindsey, Historian and Author, will give the talk which will include a tour of the Museum Quilt Exhibit following the presentation. You can be sure I'll be there! Hope you will too!
In my next blog, I will pose a mystery "What is this object?" Today was a day of many discoveries and soon, I will add some interesting photographs from this marvelous day in South Jersey. I was grateful and delighted to meet a kind man at Shellpile who opened the door to the South Port Norris One- Room School in Shellpile. I have visited this building and taken many photos but never got lucky enough to be invited inside before. Folks down there on the bayside are very friendly and generous with their time. Coming soon - mystery object Shellpile one-room school and a photo of a "Dame" School, one of the two one-room schools I visited today! Tune in again in a couple of days. Also, I'll add info on a Swedish Settlers Homestead I found today too!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
SAVED-Murphy's Book Loft in Mullica Hill
One of my best finds at Murphy's Book Loft , in Mullica Hill, NJ, was an original copy of Bert Nixdorf's book on bicycle trails in NJ. At the time, I was very interested in the history of the Outdoor Club of South Jersey and Bert Nixdorf was a founder of that group which has made it possible for many thousands to enjoy the New Jersey pinelands over the years. Bert has passed away in the last year or so. There was a memorial on the Outdoor Club's home-page.
As my interests evolved, I was able to purchase excellent books on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and one of my all-time favorite magazines, South Jersey Magazine, which stopped being printed in the early 1980's. Anyone interested in South Jersey history would find back copies of that magazine an invaluable resource. Also, I've taken many friends there to buy novels and other kinds of books, prints, old copies of magazines (such as the month of a birthday) and sheet music - they have EVERYTHING!
So it was with a heavy heart that I heard, some months back, that the owner was closing down and retiring to West Virginia, . She said they would be gone by June. In early June, I stopped by twice, once with a brother looking for novels and again with another friend and we found out that a miracle had ocurred and the owner's grandson was going to take over and update the business.
In the South Jersey section of the Inquirer, Tues. Aug. 2, there is an article about the changes that will take place at Murphy's Book Loft. It will also house antique shops. The article mentioned "streetscape improvements" in Mullica Hill and how the by-pass has fixed some traffic problems in the town.
I love that main street, especially around the holidays. It is a Christmas treat that boosts your holiday spirit, and I've found many inexpensive, charming, and unique gifts there over the years.
I hope to see you there having lunch or tea or shopping for books or antiques one day - Fall is especially charming in Mullica Hill.
As my interests evolved, I was able to purchase excellent books on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and one of my all-time favorite magazines, South Jersey Magazine, which stopped being printed in the early 1980's. Anyone interested in South Jersey history would find back copies of that magazine an invaluable resource. Also, I've taken many friends there to buy novels and other kinds of books, prints, old copies of magazines (such as the month of a birthday) and sheet music - they have EVERYTHING!
So it was with a heavy heart that I heard, some months back, that the owner was closing down and retiring to West Virginia, . She said they would be gone by June. In early June, I stopped by twice, once with a brother looking for novels and again with another friend and we found out that a miracle had ocurred and the owner's grandson was going to take over and update the business.
In the South Jersey section of the Inquirer, Tues. Aug. 2, there is an article about the changes that will take place at Murphy's Book Loft. It will also house antique shops. The article mentioned "streetscape improvements" in Mullica Hill and how the by-pass has fixed some traffic problems in the town.
I love that main street, especially around the holidays. It is a Christmas treat that boosts your holiday spirit, and I've found many inexpensive, charming, and unique gifts there over the years.
I hope to see you there having lunch or tea or shopping for books or antiques one day - Fall is especially charming in Mullica Hill.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Compton House, Mauricetown Historical Society
August 6, 2012 Monday
Yesterday, Sunday the 5th, Barb Solem (docent at Atsion and author of Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places in the NJ Pinebarrens) and I visited Mauricetown to take a tour of one of the lovely Victorian houses there. As I understand it, the businessmen in the oyster industry lived in Port Norris, the ship captains lived in Mauricetown, and the builders lived in Dividing Creek, Leesburg and other towns on the Maurice River.
I have been to Mauricetown to look around before. There is a very nice little park on the river with a historic marker and picnic tables if you want to stop at the WAWA (on New Stage Road just after 55 turns into 347 and before you drive over the Mauricetown bypass), you can buy sandwiches and have a nice picnic. Then you can walk around the 6 or 8 small streets lined with venerable old trees and simply beautiful Victorian homes, many of which have historic markers giving the names of the captains who lived in them and the dates. The Compton House is the home of the Mauricetown Hsitorical Society, a warm and welcoming group of people who gave us a fascinating tour of their house and the stack house out back as well.
The Compton House is open the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. I especially enjoyed the marine paintings and wish to take up making paintings of ships myself some time soon. The furnishings are lovely and you get a real feel for the house as it must have been. Many rooms have interesting displays featuring photos of residents such as in the school room.
As we left, we were warmly encouraged to "Come back and see us again." And I assured the volunteer docents that I would most certainly be doing that.
History people, in my experience, are generous, knowledgeable, hospitable and kind.
Yesterday, Sunday the 5th, Barb Solem (docent at Atsion and author of Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places in the NJ Pinebarrens) and I visited Mauricetown to take a tour of one of the lovely Victorian houses there. As I understand it, the businessmen in the oyster industry lived in Port Norris, the ship captains lived in Mauricetown, and the builders lived in Dividing Creek, Leesburg and other towns on the Maurice River.
I have been to Mauricetown to look around before. There is a very nice little park on the river with a historic marker and picnic tables if you want to stop at the WAWA (on New Stage Road just after 55 turns into 347 and before you drive over the Mauricetown bypass), you can buy sandwiches and have a nice picnic. Then you can walk around the 6 or 8 small streets lined with venerable old trees and simply beautiful Victorian homes, many of which have historic markers giving the names of the captains who lived in them and the dates. The Compton House is the home of the Mauricetown Hsitorical Society, a warm and welcoming group of people who gave us a fascinating tour of their house and the stack house out back as well.
The Compton House is open the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. I especially enjoyed the marine paintings and wish to take up making paintings of ships myself some time soon. The furnishings are lovely and you get a real feel for the house as it must have been. Many rooms have interesting displays featuring photos of residents such as in the school room.
As we left, we were warmly encouraged to "Come back and see us again." And I assured the volunteer docents that I would most certainly be doing that.
History people, in my experience, are generous, knowledgeable, hospitable and kind.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sittin' On the Dock of The Bay
You may find the seashore crowded and the highways daunting, but I can vouch for the Bay with one caution (at the end). I've been spending a lot of time this summer cruising on the rivers and enjoying road-trips to some of the little town names I come across in my readings about NJ history.
For example in studying for my volunteer work at Bivalve, Bayshore Discovery Project, I get the impression that the shuckers lived in Shellpile, captains of boats lived in Mauricetown, business owners in Port Norris and ship builders and carpenters as well as waatermen in small towns adjacent to these such as Dividing Creek.
I have always wanted to visit Dividing Creek since I met the name in read the old South Jersey Magazine with a running series of diary entries from said hamlet.
I've driven to Port Norris a couple of dozen or more times over the years, but had never gotten to Mauricetown (pronounced Morristown by the locals, but I have to pronounce it Maurice like the French so my friends don't get it confused with Moorestown).
On the 100 degree Saturday just passed, a friend, my trusty dog Blizzard and I set off to find these towns. The air-conditioning in my car works very well, so we were comfortable and carried bottles of water for us and the dog, and picnic lunch and Jersey peaches.
First, we found Mauricetown and it is lovely. the Victorian gingerbread houses and the quiet shady streets bring back an atmosphere of a time long-gone. The houses are beautifully maintained and many have the names of the captains who once lived in them.
Dividing Creek, a more modest architectural relic of the past, has two enticing cemeteries, but it was too hot! I wanted to look for the names I found in the books I've been reading by Margaret Louise Mints (Men The Sea and Industry, Lighthouse to Leeward, and Dallas Ferry), but that exploration will have to wait for fall.
Finally we ended up in Fortescue passing through several other hamlets with familiar names in between. In Fortescue, we went to the Bay where many men were fishing, and decided to let the dog stretch his legs on the beach, but we were quickly driven back to the car, not by heat, but by voracious giant green flies who could strike and bite faster than you could swat. Four of them traveled with us for a few miles, but though I am a vegetarian, I have no problem with killing flies or mosquitoes and we killed one and got the others out the window, but not before we each got bitten one more time. Those fishermen must have been slathered with repellent.
The drive back was delightful, as it always is coming home from the Bay through farm country and the small towns such as Gouldtown and Fairton.
Today, I am off to Greenwich to visit the Prehistory Museum again and to have lunch at the Marina. I would have visited the Native American artifacts collection at the Bridgeton Library which I am told is wonderful, but they aren't open till the last Sunday of the month.
Remembering Dad. Two of the things my father loved when he was younger and lived in New Jersey and Pa. were Sunday family drives to all sorts of places, especially in the summer to Pa. caverns (cool) and his fishing trips with his fellow ironworkers. They met down at Fortescue and went out on chartered boats. He loved those trips and being at Fortescue this Saturday was almost like a brief visit with him. It is a cliche of those of us who are my age and have lost their parents that we wish we'd been less self-centered and asked more about their lives and interests. I wish I could ask my Dad about his fishing trips at Fortescue, how he found out about it and who he went with and what he liked best (and if he ever ran into those giant green flies).
For example in studying for my volunteer work at Bivalve, Bayshore Discovery Project, I get the impression that the shuckers lived in Shellpile, captains of boats lived in Mauricetown, business owners in Port Norris and ship builders and carpenters as well as waatermen in small towns adjacent to these such as Dividing Creek.
I have always wanted to visit Dividing Creek since I met the name in read the old South Jersey Magazine with a running series of diary entries from said hamlet.
I've driven to Port Norris a couple of dozen or more times over the years, but had never gotten to Mauricetown (pronounced Morristown by the locals, but I have to pronounce it Maurice like the French so my friends don't get it confused with Moorestown).
On the 100 degree Saturday just passed, a friend, my trusty dog Blizzard and I set off to find these towns. The air-conditioning in my car works very well, so we were comfortable and carried bottles of water for us and the dog, and picnic lunch and Jersey peaches.
First, we found Mauricetown and it is lovely. the Victorian gingerbread houses and the quiet shady streets bring back an atmosphere of a time long-gone. The houses are beautifully maintained and many have the names of the captains who once lived in them.
Dividing Creek, a more modest architectural relic of the past, has two enticing cemeteries, but it was too hot! I wanted to look for the names I found in the books I've been reading by Margaret Louise Mints (Men The Sea and Industry, Lighthouse to Leeward, and Dallas Ferry), but that exploration will have to wait for fall.
Finally we ended up in Fortescue passing through several other hamlets with familiar names in between. In Fortescue, we went to the Bay where many men were fishing, and decided to let the dog stretch his legs on the beach, but we were quickly driven back to the car, not by heat, but by voracious giant green flies who could strike and bite faster than you could swat. Four of them traveled with us for a few miles, but though I am a vegetarian, I have no problem with killing flies or mosquitoes and we killed one and got the others out the window, but not before we each got bitten one more time. Those fishermen must have been slathered with repellent.
The drive back was delightful, as it always is coming home from the Bay through farm country and the small towns such as Gouldtown and Fairton.
Today, I am off to Greenwich to visit the Prehistory Museum again and to have lunch at the Marina. I would have visited the Native American artifacts collection at the Bridgeton Library which I am told is wonderful, but they aren't open till the last Sunday of the month.
Remembering Dad. Two of the things my father loved when he was younger and lived in New Jersey and Pa. were Sunday family drives to all sorts of places, especially in the summer to Pa. caverns (cool) and his fishing trips with his fellow ironworkers. They met down at Fortescue and went out on chartered boats. He loved those trips and being at Fortescue this Saturday was almost like a brief visit with him. It is a cliche of those of us who are my age and have lost their parents that we wish we'd been less self-centered and asked more about their lives and interests. I wish I could ask my Dad about his fishing trips at Fortescue, how he found out about it and who he went with and what he liked best (and if he ever ran into those giant green flies).
Saturday, June 16, 2012
APerfectDay
On Friday, a friend and I took a delightful boat ride on the Maurice River down to the Mauricetown Bridge from the Millville Port at Ware Street.
We saw ospreys and eagles both nesting and perching and enjoyed the lovely view of the river banks including the Millville Bluffs. We passed the historic Burcham Farm house also and the long dyke that preserves the farm land from the reach of the river.
There were about two dozen people on the boat and all were equally awed by the view of our national symbol, the eagle. The captain provided several photo albums of historic Millville along with his interesting commentary.
Because it was "Seniors Friday" the boat ride only cost $10. It departed at 1:00 p.m. and returned at 3:00 p.m. Call ahead to reserve your seat (856) 327-1530, Captain Dave Scherer.
The perfect day was made even more wonderful by a delicious lunch at Wilflower Earthly Vegan FAre at 501N. High Street in the Arts District. We had grilled vegetable wraps, black bean soup with carrots in it, and for dessert, blueberry cheesecake.
Tomorrow, for Father's Day, I'll be joining my cousin Patty in Cape May to tour the World War II Watch Tower now a memorial to veterans of that war. We think it is a fit way to spend Father's Day as my father, her uncle, was a Navy man and veteran of the war. He served in troop transports in both the North Atlantic and the South Pacific. The last book he was reading before he died a year ago was The Battle for Tassaferongo; he had been there. I'll let you know about the Watch Tower after I visit.
We saw ospreys and eagles both nesting and perching and enjoyed the lovely view of the river banks including the Millville Bluffs. We passed the historic Burcham Farm house also and the long dyke that preserves the farm land from the reach of the river.
There were about two dozen people on the boat and all were equally awed by the view of our national symbol, the eagle. The captain provided several photo albums of historic Millville along with his interesting commentary.
Because it was "Seniors Friday" the boat ride only cost $10. It departed at 1:00 p.m. and returned at 3:00 p.m. Call ahead to reserve your seat (856) 327-1530, Captain Dave Scherer.
The perfect day was made even more wonderful by a delicious lunch at Wilflower Earthly Vegan FAre at 501N. High Street in the Arts District. We had grilled vegetable wraps, black bean soup with carrots in it, and for dessert, blueberry cheesecake.
Tomorrow, for Father's Day, I'll be joining my cousin Patty in Cape May to tour the World War II Watch Tower now a memorial to veterans of that war. We think it is a fit way to spend Father's Day as my father, her uncle, was a Navy man and veteran of the war. He served in troop transports in both the North Atlantic and the South Pacific. The last book he was reading before he died a year ago was The Battle for Tassaferongo; he had been there. I'll let you know about the Watch Tower after I visit.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
"We Shall Fight on the Beaches"
Since the commemoration a couple of weeks ago of D-Day, June 6, 1944, I have been watching a series of documentaries on the 2nd World War featured on Verizon On Demand - History Channel, Smithsonian and Military Channel. A 4 part series on Smithsonian, called Apocalypse, is excellent with never before seen color film footage. This Sunday, I'll be going to the World War 2 Look-out tower at Cape May with my cousin Patty who made a donation towards its restoration in honor of my father who served in the US Navy in both the North Atlantic and the South Pacific. I will write again after I have visited the memorial.
This is NJersey's last restorable Look-ut tower from the war period according to the web site.
http://www.capemaymac.org/content/subpage_main.aspx?id=2030
In the maintime, I'll be taking a boat ride on the Maurice River out of Millville and I'll let you know about that as well.
Tomorrow is the first meeting of teh Museum Club of the Bayshore Discovery Project.
More on all of these events afterwards. Enjoy exploring our wonderul state in this cool and refreshing weather. See you on the trail or on the water! Jo Ann
This is NJersey's last restorable Look-ut tower from the war period according to the web site.
http://www.capemaymac.org/content/subpage_main.aspx?id=2030
In the maintime, I'll be taking a boat ride on the Maurice River out of Millville and I'll let you know about that as well.
Tomorrow is the first meeting of teh Museum Club of the Bayshore Discovery Project.
More on all of these events afterwards. Enjoy exploring our wonderul state in this cool and refreshing weather. See you on the trail or on the water! Jo Ann
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Excellent link
A good buddy of mine from the parks, a walking and dog pal named Terry recommended this web site and I just visited it. It is excellent! Try it out -
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/
Let me know what you think! Jo Ann
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/
Let me know what you think! Jo Ann
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Where's the river?
On June 5, which is now, in my schedule, State Parks Tuesday, Barb Spector, my dedicated State Parks Program buddy and Blizzard my white Lab, set off for Jackson New Jersey for the Forest Resource Education Center in Jackson, NJ. We have finished all the State Parks in South Jersey and are now exploring those in Central Jersey. This turned out to be one of the simpler parks to find and we were greeted by a beautiful education center and a friendly State Park guide who gave us a brief overview of the trails and the center.
Inside the circular main room there is a tree, decorated with preserved animals such as squirrels, owls, and at the ground level, a fox, and other small ground mammals. It is an impressive sight, even to someone like me who finds taxidermied animals sad. The living ones are so magical, when dead and stuffed, they just seem like dead furniture
After a look around, we headed out to the trails. One in particular interested me an "overlook" that promised a view of Tom's River. We hiked the white trail, the blue trail and any other trail that looked trod upon. We found lovely vistas, seating areas for comtemplation of the forest beauty, and a cheery little stream, but had to return to the education center to inquire where we were going wrong in finding the overlook over the Tom's River. Kindly, our guide explained that the small stream was the Tom's River at this location near where it starts. What a surprise to a Delaware, Maurice and Mullica River habitue like myself. That was the most notable thing at this park to me other than the above listed attractions. We also stopped by an irrigation pond and passed through the tree planting area.
Note: If you go, pass the tree planting "office" area, and continue up the dirt road to find the education center. It is my habit to call to make sure dogs are welcome before I go to a State Park, so far they have always been welcomed, and I generally ask (after several unexpected detours at other parks) if there is anything I should know about locating the visitor's center. The same kind guide told me to follow the road past the office and over the bridge to the education center. There isn't a sign. I would strongly recommend this visit to anyone who likes the woods and I would suggest you bring a picnic lunch.
Happy Trails!
Inside the circular main room there is a tree, decorated with preserved animals such as squirrels, owls, and at the ground level, a fox, and other small ground mammals. It is an impressive sight, even to someone like me who finds taxidermied animals sad. The living ones are so magical, when dead and stuffed, they just seem like dead furniture
After a look around, we headed out to the trails. One in particular interested me an "overlook" that promised a view of Tom's River. We hiked the white trail, the blue trail and any other trail that looked trod upon. We found lovely vistas, seating areas for comtemplation of the forest beauty, and a cheery little stream, but had to return to the education center to inquire where we were going wrong in finding the overlook over the Tom's River. Kindly, our guide explained that the small stream was the Tom's River at this location near where it starts. What a surprise to a Delaware, Maurice and Mullica River habitue like myself. That was the most notable thing at this park to me other than the above listed attractions. We also stopped by an irrigation pond and passed through the tree planting area.
Note: If you go, pass the tree planting "office" area, and continue up the dirt road to find the education center. It is my habit to call to make sure dogs are welcome before I go to a State Park, so far they have always been welcomed, and I generally ask (after several unexpected detours at other parks) if there is anything I should know about locating the visitor's center. The same kind guide told me to follow the road past the office and over the bridge to the education center. There isn't a sign. I would strongly recommend this visit to anyone who likes the woods and I would suggest you bring a picnic lunch.
Happy Trails!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Go To It!
GO TO-June 2nd - Bay Day at Bivalve. Set your gps for Port Norris and head on down to Bivalve for the annual festival of Bay Day! I'll be working at the museum from 1-3 but it will be open for many other hours, of course, and lots of other activities and pleasures to enjoy.
On Memorial Day, two friends and I took the sail on the A. J. Meerwald out to the Bay and up the river. It was breezy and delightful. Next planned excursion will be to the East Point Lighthouse. I feel a lighthouses of the NJ seacoast series coming up!
GO TO-Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen's Museum My latest ramblings around the historic places of South Jersey have taken me to the Tuckerton Seaport where my friends and I had a copious and delicious lunch at SoJo and enjoyed the surf board show at the museum. We climbed the lighthouse and looked out over the expanse of more than 2 dozen buildings devoted to describing seaport life. We visited the decoy carver, too, and several other buildings. I plan to go back because there is so much to see there, one trip is never enough. This is my third trip.
GO TO-June 18 - 19th Annual Baymen's Seafood and Music Festival 11 - to 5:00 p.m. the title says it all. Listed as one of "Top 10 NJ Outdoor Festivals" by Nj Countryside Magazine. Presented by Jersey Shore Folklife Center. It is held at the Tuckerton Seaport of course!
GO TO-Gloucester County Historical Society Museum 58 North Broad Street, Woodbury, NJ 08096
856-848-8531 - STITCHED THROUGH TIME: A LEGACY OF QUILTS - Part 1
30 plus quilts are featured. Mon, Wed. Fri. 1 to 4, $5 Adult, also last Sunday of the month from 2-5.
On Memorial Day, two friends and I took the sail on the A. J. Meerwald out to the Bay and up the river. It was breezy and delightful. Next planned excursion will be to the East Point Lighthouse. I feel a lighthouses of the NJ seacoast series coming up!
GO TO-Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen's Museum My latest ramblings around the historic places of South Jersey have taken me to the Tuckerton Seaport where my friends and I had a copious and delicious lunch at SoJo and enjoyed the surf board show at the museum. We climbed the lighthouse and looked out over the expanse of more than 2 dozen buildings devoted to describing seaport life. We visited the decoy carver, too, and several other buildings. I plan to go back because there is so much to see there, one trip is never enough. This is my third trip.
GO TO-June 18 - 19th Annual Baymen's Seafood and Music Festival 11 - to 5:00 p.m. the title says it all. Listed as one of "Top 10 NJ Outdoor Festivals" by Nj Countryside Magazine. Presented by Jersey Shore Folklife Center. It is held at the Tuckerton Seaport of course!
GO TO-Gloucester County Historical Society Museum 58 North Broad Street, Woodbury, NJ 08096
856-848-8531 - STITCHED THROUGH TIME: A LEGACY OF QUILTS - Part 1
30 plus quilts are featured. Mon, Wed. Fri. 1 to 4, $5 Adult, also last Sunday of the month from 2-5.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Historic Batsto Village - News Release
Historic Batsto Village
31 Batsto Road
Hammonton, NJ 08037
For Immediate Release Contact: Wes Hughes Phone: 856-236-0113
Email: whughes76@verizon.net
I’ll Second That!
Hammonton, N.J. – (May 29, 2012) – The Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc. ( BCCI ) announces its Second Saturday program beginning Saturday June 9, 2012 and continuing July 14th and August 11th.
In an effort to bring more life to the site of the once thriving bog iron and glass industries, BCCI and its volunteer organization will fund and facilitate a variety of activities at historic Batsto Village beginning at 10AM and continuing through 4PM on the second Saturdays of the summer.
Highlighting the day’s activities will be demonstrations by the Wheaton Arts Glassblowers. A traveling glass blowing unit will be operated by Wheaton personnel throughout the day. A glimpse into the world of glassmaking; an integral part of Batsto in its later years, will provide visitors a unique look into an important aspect of South Jersey history.
In addition to the traveling glass unit, Revolutionary War re-enactors will provide guided walking tours of the village beginning at 10AM.
The Batsto mansion; home of the Richards family for 92 years and later owned by Philadelphia Quaker industrialist Joseph Wharton, will be open for tours throughout the day for a small charge. The “Big House on the Hill” is a remarkable structure with its beginnings in 1784.
- more -
I’ll Second That Page 2
The Batsto Post Office; the oldest operational post office in New Jersey and the third oldest in the United States, will be in operation and waiting to apply a cancellation mark to your mail. Batsto is one of only three places in the United States without a zip code.
A blacksmith will be on hand to demonstrate the art of shaping iron into useful items and quilters will also be hard at work in the village.
The working saw mill be powered and making lumber cuts just as it did for many years at the site.
Summer parking of $5.00 / car is in effect at the village Labor Day at Batsto Village.
Batsto Village is located in the Pinelands of Burlington County, South Jersey approximately seven miles east of Hammonton on Route 542 and 15 miles west of Exit 50 of the Garden State Parkway.
About Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc.
The Batsto Citizens Committee was founded in 1956 to aid the State of New Jersey in the development of Batsto Village as an historic site. Its purpose was to advise, assist and promote the restoration and interpretation of the historic and natural aspects of Batsto Village. In 1997, the committee reorganized and became incorporated as the Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc. (BCCI), and continues to follow the above objectives. For more information about BCCI visit http://www.batstovillage.org/
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