Flax into Linen demonstration Am. Rev. Round Table Presentation, Barbara Johns

My Singer Sewing Machine

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am working on a machine sewn quilt type project - actually, not a quilt but using quilt type squares which will be sewn together on an edge like pages in a book.

This is an old design of mine from my daughter's toddler years.  Her first books were hand made by me out of cloth to make them safe and pleasurable.  My favorite was a big one I made from a wild variety of fabrics from a second hand store, satin, corduroy, burlap, felt, faux fur, all kinds of textures to delight little fingers.  In the center of each square was a pocket with a little soft toy in it, a bunny, a doll made of muslin, a toy airplane, and so on.

Also, I made books with acetate pockets with pictures in them of city animals, pigeons, police horses, cats in antique store windows on pine street, dogs being walked and so on.  I loved them at least as much as my daughter did.  That was over 30 years ago.  

I brought back the idea to do a project for CELEBRATE 2020, the 100th anniversary of passage of the Suffrage amendment.  I did 20 portrait paintings to go in the pockets in the squares.  

But to get to the subject, my sewing machine.  My machine is a fine instrument, a smooth running, flawless, simple machine almost as old as I am.  It was my mother's and may have been my grandmothers.  Anyhow it is the Singer model 301A built in 1950, patented in 1944 (I was born in 1945) and sold until 1958. 

The sewing machine revolutionized life for American women, and really, women all over the world!  Thanks to Englishmen Elias Howe and Thomas Saint for inventing them in 1790!

I had a picture for you but it had html that messed up my blog page.  Sorry!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann 
wrightj45@yahoo.com

List grows longer and longer-Maggie Kuhn, Gray Panther

Well, I am on phase 5 ofmy 9 part phases for my Art Project for the Eiland Arts Celebrating Women 2020, Juried Art Show.  First I developed my list, then I narrowed it down to fit the design of my project which is loosely based on quilting squares, but instead of being put together to form a blanket, mine are to be fastened together like a book.  I narrowed it down to 20 to match the title of the Art Program, and also to make it manageable within the time frame which was just under a month.  We got the notice in early January and the deadline is Feb.8.

So I bought the materials, did some research, and started making 20 postcard sized painted portraits of my chosen leaders.  I believe I posted the list on here earlier.  But what has happened is that it inspired a kind of conversation with different friends working on different things and I kept on thinking up other leaders who should be remembered.  Since I am nearing the end of my project, I decided to use the blog to remember the women I can't add to the Art Project and today I want to add Maggie Kuhn, who started the Gray Panthers, a somewhat radical group that attacked ageism in the workplace.  Maggie herself was fired from her work at the Presbyterian organization where she spent most of her career when she was only 65!  That was the spark that lit her fire.

Later groups that probably evolved from Maggie Kuhn's group would be AARP, for example, which came out of the Retired people movement.  

Today we remember Maggie Kuhn, who died in Philadelphia in 1995 at age 90.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Cave Art found to be mostly done by women

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on a collaborative art project with two friends for a contest and show at Diland Arts, the Merchantville Train Station converted into a coffee shop and art gallery.  As part of the project, I have done some research on women of the past who accomplished something interesting as for example Clara Barton who not only started the Red Cross but established the first free one room school in Bordertown  New Jersey.  It came as a surprise when I saw a news item on cave art which demonstrated that most of it was done by women.  I am not entirely surprised by that as women have always participated in artisan and artistic endeavors, weaving, pottery, jewelry, and so on. I have added a piece to my art project to let others know about this discovery.  Here is a copy from the Smithsonian web site:

" It has always been assumed that the people behind this mysterious artwork must have been male. But new research suggests that’s not right: when scientists looked closely at a sample of hand stencils, a common motif in cave art, they concluded that about three-quarters were actually drawn by women.

What they looked at, specifically, was the lengths of fingers in drawings from eight caves in France and Spain, National Geographic writes. Biologists established rules of thumb for general differences between men and women’s hand structure about a decade ago.

Women tend to have ring and index fingers of about the same length, whereas men’s ring fingers tend to be longer than their index fingers.

Snow ran the numbers through an algorithm that he had created based on a reference set of hands from people of European descent who lived near his university. Using several measurements—such as the length of the fingers, the length of the hand, the ratio of ring to index finger, and the ratio of index finger to little finger—the algorithm could predict whether a given handprint was male or female. Because there is a lot of overlap between men and women, however, the algorithm wasn’t especially precise: It predicted the sex of Snow’s modern sample with about 60 percent accuracy.

The 32 hand prints he found in the caves, however, were more pronounced in their differences than those of the modern men and women he sampled. Based upon the model and measurements, he found that 75 percent of the hands belonged to women.

Another article:
Archaeologist Dean Snow of Pennsylvania State University studied the handprints found across eight different historic cave sites in France and Spain, the most famous ranging from about 12,000 to 40,000 years old. After paying closer attention to the finger lengths of handprints, he found that contrary to popular belief, most of these markings were created by women.

and final article copied:
Some handprints accompanying the most famous ancient cave paintings of ice age mammals such as horses and mammoths—long attributed to males—may have actually belonged to women. That’s the conclusion of a new study, in which a researcher compared the silhouettes of 32 handprints found next to 12,500- to 40,000-year-old cave paintings in southern France and northern Spain. Many of the prints, possibly one of the first forms of artist’s signature, are small, which has led some scientists to infer that the art was painted by adolescent males. But the new work, reported this month in American Antiquity, concludes that 24 of the hands belonged to females, based on both the length of the hand and fingers as well as the ratios of lengths of the index finger, ring finger, and little finger. Of the eight remaining handprints, only three depict the hands of adult males; the rest are of adolescent males. It’s likely that each of the hands stenciled on the cave walls—such as these in El Castillo cave in Spain—belong to the artist, not a model, the researcher contends. For one thing, the caves are typically small, so two people would probably have had trouble fitting into the small space together. Also, more than three-fourths of the hands depicted are left hands, which is the most likely one to be stenciled by a right-handed artist.

I personally, as an artist, find it so moving that these women artists left their handprints, their signature on their creations for us in the future to know they were there.   The article on the National Geographic web site was equally interesting, just google Cave Art by Women and both sites pop up!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Harriet Tubman at Croft Farm tomorrow, Sat. 1/18/20

If, like me, you are finding ways to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of American Women winning the Right to Vote, Amendment 19 in 1920, you might be interested in attending  presentation on Harriet Tubman which will be held at Croft Farm tomorrow, Saturday at 2:00.  Croft Farm is at Borton's Mill Road in Cherry Hill and you may want to google that for more information.

If you haven't seen the movie, Harriet, I strongly recommend it.  You don't have to be a History Buff to appreciate courage, resilience and fine film making.  

Of course, we may all be disappointed in our plans if the big snow comes tomorrow but I will wait and see.  The tv newscasters become so hysterical that I don't even watch the weather forecast, and generally just go by my cell phone or my laptop but many people have told me today that a big snow is coming tomorrow around noon.  I don't drive in the snow any more because I don't have to, and even if I am careful and don't skid, some fool driving to quickly can skid or slide into me, so I don't risk it.

If you do have to drive tomorrow - Be safe!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

ps.  I just finished a small postcard sized portrait of Harriet Tubman based on a well known colorized photo of her.  It is for my Pocketbook Art Project for the CELEBRATE BRAVE 100 held in many galleries and venues across the country, but my work will be an entry at Eiland Arts, the Merchantville Train Station, Centre Street, Merchantville, NJ  turned into an Arts Center and Gallery.

Upcoming opportunities to show Art Work and Celebrat 100th Anniversary of Suffrage!

BRAVE 100
A collaboration of artists and galleries to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in America is beginning!  You will have to work fast unless you already have work appropriate to the theme.  Deadline is February 8th.  Look up website:  Eiland Arts Group Show 2020 and download the application and the information.  

I had decided I would temporarily stop painting for a few months so I could get back to my book, my second memoir but this call for work intervened and I HAVE to participate in a project so close to my heart as Women's History and the Suffrage Movement.

My project is based upon several ideas.  One idea, the foundation of the project, is a fabric book I made for my daughter when she was little  I made a bunch of quilt squares from a variety of fabrics cut from clothes from a 2nd hand store - tweeds, satins, corduroy - all fabric with interesting textures.  The center square was a pocket and I put little toys in the pocket  I fastened the squares together at the side like pages in a book and put a fabric handle on it so she could carry it around like a shoulder bag.

That idea THE POCKETBOOK, is my base.  I have chosen 20 women who are not only brave and have made great accomplishments but who have some place in my persona affection.  Also, my Grandmother Mabel was a quilter and quilts have been important in women's culture, as have pocketbooks so these ideas fit together nicely.  In the front of each center pocket will be a painting of each of the 20 women, by me.  Inside the pocket, behind the painting, will be some objects collected by a dear old friend of mine, Chris.  Also inside the pocket will be a printed text card with bio info on the woman portrayed, by a dear old teacher friend Kathleen.  

My goal is to do 2 paintings per day, so far so good - I have 6 paintings done, all materials purchased and my plan and schedule done.  Today a meeting with Kathleen to go over plans and schedule and she has a device for cutting fabric accurately, so we plan to cut the squares.

I will post on the progress of the project.  Some of the names I have chosen are:  Clara Barton (educator and Red Cross founder), Elizabeth White (agriculture-cultivator of the blueberry & NJ), Harriet Tubman, Billy Jean King (for athletics and for the Battle of the Sexes match with Bobby Riggs), Joni Mitchell (music), Hillary Clinton (presidential candidate).  I tried to cover many fields, Rachel Carson (environmentalist, scientist), Sally Ride (astronaut and physicist) and many periods from Revolutionary era - Ona Judge (who escaped from enslavement with George and Martha Washington and despite their attempts to apprehend her she remained free) to 21st Century with Hillary Clinton's run for president.  It was hard to narrow it down to 20 and I could have easily done 100 or 200, but I don't have time with less than three weeks to finish.

Happy trails whether in the woods in the towns, through time or in your mind!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Oh yes, you need to download an application and get further information from Eiland Arts web site look for Eiland Arts Group Show 2020 and you should be able to find it.  Eiland Arts is the gallery and art center located in the old Merchantville train station.

Looking for something fun and different for your Valentine?

Looking for something new and different to show your Valentine how much you care?  This is a great idea! - 

 Enjoy dinner with your valentine (or best pal) in the Colonial ambiance of the Whitall House in Red Bank Battlefield Park! Two seatings are at 5 pm and 6:30 pm. Reservations are required and the deadline for reservations is Feb. 7th. This dinner sells out quickly so don't wait to reserve! Three entrée choices are available. Cost is $22 per person. Seating is family style. For a complete brochure with reservation info, click the link in this email, call the Office of Land Preservation, Certified Gardeners, at 856-307-6456, or email eschreiter@co.gloucester.nj.us

Click here to view the brochure with menu and reservation form

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am returning as a volunteer docent at the James and Ann Whitall House this spring.  I had to leave because my knees and back wouldn't work with the conditions at the time, but now there are chairs for the docents, and you don't need to wear the heavy costumes, so I can manage it.  

I love the beautiful and house the the magnificent setting along the Delaware River.  If you have never visited the park, you should go there!  I went there almost every night a few years back for what I called "The Sunset Show" the sun setting over the Delaware River is stunning and many people go there to witness it.  It puts everything in perspective to witness this age old natural event.  You can have a short walk or a long walk, or no walk.  You can sit on a bench, or sip a coffee in your car and simply look out over the river.  

It is a beautiful and relaxing place to go and so close to everything - Gloucester County, or Camden County!

I have never had the opportunity to enjoy the dinners at the  Whitall house as that is a relatively new offer, but if I can find a friend who is free and interested, I may give it a try.  At my age there are a number of friends who are widowed and in our modern world it is not uncommon for our children to live far away, so it is nice to find alternative ways to spend some holidays such as Valentine's Day.  I had a friend for some years with whom I spent Thanksgiving going to the local historic Inns such as the Telford Inn and Centerton Inn, it was so much fun!  We didn't go this year and I wanted to try the Barnsboro.  My favorite was the Sugar Hill, but it was a long drive - on the way to the seashore, Mays Landing.

Well, again and for he last time the greeting Happy New Year!  Maybe a resolution to consider is to make visiting our local historical sites a new hobby and habit!

Happy Trails!

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Railroading in the US and Canada

On Monday, January 27, 2020 at 7:30, Mr. Steve Barry, editor of
RAIL FAN MAGAZINE, will give a presentation on railroading across the United States and Canada as well as on what is involved in putting out a monthly magazine for railroad fans.  

The presentation will be held at Haddon Heights Municipal Hall
623 Station Ave., Haddon Heights, NJ (free parking is available)

The National Railway Historical Society can be reached via
P. O. Box 647
Palmyra, NJ 08065

Happy New Year everyone!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Furniture and Van Scivers

When I bought my house, 35 years ago, as I was an older young adult, 40, to be exact, I had some ideas about furnishing.  I had lived in many apartments by that time, both in New Jersey and in Philadelphia, and I moved into my little bungalow with the intention of staying.  I used to quip "The next box out of this house will have me in it.  

At the time, i didn't have a car but kind friends would drive me to various 2nd hand furniture stores (before they were called 'vintage') and in particular, we went to Wacker's Trading Post in Glassboro on Delsea Drive, and to Bill's Second Hand Furniture in Mount Holly.  Later I will check and see if Bill's is still there, but I am sure Wacker's still exists.

My little bungalow was built in the 1940's and, particularly after a renovation, was devoid of closets.  It had one closet in the bedroom which became a staircase to the attic when the attic became a bedroom.  Then there was only one closet, a small hall closet for coats.  So it was imperative that I find furniture that could be used as closet space and cabinet space.  

At Bill's I found a handsome chiffarobe with a chest of drawers on one side.  It was a very dark wood, stained perhaps mahogany.  It spoke to me of detectives and hotel rooms and traveling men and rooming houses.  It had real personality and it was only $50!  

Then at a 2nd hand store on Broadway in Gloucester City (now defunct) I bought a beautiful complete bedroom set of Vintage 1930's WATERFALL Art Deco bedroom furniture:  a bureau, a chiffarobe, a bed-table, and much later, not part of the set, a cedar chest, same style.  The bedroom set was $600 total including delivery!  What a bargain!  And so BEAUTIFUL.  The bureau and chiffarobe had a mosaic of veneers arranged in a parquetry pattern.  The mirrors were framed by a golden glass etched with vines and flowers.  This was HEAVY furniture, substantial and with longevity.  All the history this furniture had seen.

Over the holiday, I saw a documentary about how every half hour a toddler is killed by Ikea furniture, the drawer open on the chest of drawers makes it unstable and liable to topple over onto little ones and kill them.  Get the old furniture, leave the Ikea in the warehouse.  Also Ikea has been illegally logging protected forests in Europe.  Another reason to buy vintage!

Wikipedia:

Distinguishing features

The style was distinguished by numerous features. It was named "Waterfall" due to its distinctive rounded drops at the edges of all horizontal surfaces, intended to mimic a flowing waterfall. Pieces in this style were usually finished with a blond veneer, though a small percentage were finished in a darker walnut finish. Drawer faces on more expensive Waterfall furniture often featured unusual designs such as decorative crossbanding and bookmatched panels. Handles were typically of orange Bakelite and brass, and some vanities had illuminated spheres or frosted panels. Pieces in this style were sometimes paired with oversized round mirrors with etched trim. The furniture was made with plywood, which would be molded during manufacturing.Higher-quality pieces would feature the Waterfall curve in molded plywood where the plywood softened edges of side corners. Mass-produced Waterfall furniture often simply featured a quarter-round edge.

Waterfall furniture contrasted from boxy walnut or mahogany pieces of the 1920s due to Waterfall's curved lines and its use of imported woods, including blond-colored Carpathian elm and golden padouk.

History

The Waterfall style became popular in America after creating a stir at the Paris Colonial Exposition in 1931. A company in Grand Rapids, Michigan was among the first to produce furniture in the style in the United States; their efforts were successful enough to inspire other furniture factories to produce Waterfall furniture, much of which was mass-produced and of poor quality.

__________________________________________________ Next, I bought a dining room set, but I can no longer remember where it came from, maybe the same Gloucester store.  It wasn't in good shape, but it was the perfect scale for my tiny kitchen and the table had an extension in it.  Very soon after I bought the set, also for $50, the chairs began to fall apart, no matter how many times I wood glued the supports.  It was a problem with the wood, it became dry, unstable and broke easily.  However, my parents were moving and in the attic of their historic house, were three ladder back chairs that needed a home - PERFECT! Though not the right period, the wood color matched and I have always loved ladder back chairs.  These were not in great shape either - except it was only the seats, not the legs, so I simply used the little electric saw my father had given me and made wooden panels to put on the seats, covered with cloth and seat cushions.  

The dining room set was signed on the bottom, 1947 Van Scovers, and I could clearly remember seeing that furniture store on the waterfront in Camden, when we went to church on Front Street in Philadelphia when I was a child.  Since I had been born in 1945, it seemed fated.  Wikipedia has a nice essay on the history of VanScivers.  Don't you miss those old landmarks?  At least I have the dining room set made there, and made American!

Well, Happy New Year Everyone!!!  Happy Trails To You!
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Baba Ram Dass died on December 22, 2019

Baba Ram Dass's book BE HERE NOW, had and still has a powerful influence on my daily life.  I have bought that book more times than any other book in my lifetime.  I bought it two or three times in the 70's and at least four times since 2000.  Sometimes I bought it because I couldn't find it, but mostly I bought it to give to my friends because it was so helpful to me.  The title says it all.
Baba Ram Dass not only gives you permission to be in the present moment, he gives you and injunction to.

My Protestant conscience taught me throughout my life to be my brother's keeper, to feel responsible for all the harm and misery in the world.  It weighed me down.  From my earliest days, I have been painfully aware of the suffering of other beings both near and far.  I can remember so many instances of real trauma and long lasting mental misery caused by things that were hardly noticed by others.  "How could they not care?" I wondered.

For two small examples:  One Easter my family was all dressed and ready to go to our local and family church, Gloria Dei, 'Old Swedes' Church, on Front Street in Philadelphia.  Outside on the street, ready to get into the car, I saw a cat in the gutter and picked it up.  "Put down that filthy thing?" MY mother cried out in horror.  "It's dead!"  

In explanation, my father said, "They climb onto the wheels to be near the warmth of the engine, then they fall asleep and the car cools down and they freeze."

It may have been my first experience of death.  And, I must add, my closest soul mates at that time (and possibly to this day) were cats and dogs, particularly cats with whom I have always had a deep and special bond.  That this memory remains after seven decades, speaks to the power of the moment.

The second incident was much later, when I was in my teens. I had just read the story of Pompei and the imagery was vivid and fresh in my mind.  I came out the front door of our house in the suburbs and my mother was pouring a pot of boiling water over the ants, a colony that had developed between white concrete sidewalk blocks.    I was horrified, connecting the ants, washed away by the boiling water with the people carried off by the pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius.  I could almost hear them screaming.  

To me these creatures are as real as people and incidents of their powerless suffering and death haunt me.  They rise up in my mind and I suffer - sorrow, heartache, and it drags me down into worldwide despair for everything, children separated from parents at the border to Mexico, animals in labs, homeless cats in winter, creatures poisoned by pollution, whales caught in nets, and on and on.  I could be weighed down to depression and death by it all.

BUT Baba Ram Dass, supported, in my case, by many many other texts on Zen Buddhism, gives me permission to be here, in my present moment, right now, and gets me released from the jail of images from the Holocaust, and mail solicitation for animal rescue groups.  I am not there, I am not able to intervene, I am here and this is now, not the past, not the future.  It is such a remarkable relief for someone with an overburdened sense of responsibility and  empathy.  

It doesn't release me from a responsibility for right action, it simply relieves me from fruitless suffering over what I cannot affect, the past, or things beyond my realm.  

I have read many other Buddhist philosophers such as Jack Kornfeld, and Pema Chodrin ( second only to Baba Ram Dass in influence in my life) and subscribed over the years to Shambala Press, but Baba Ram Dass was the first to show me the way.
It is true that he was also supported by my experiments with LSD, and his guidance no doubt, directed the effect of the LSD.

I am glad Baba Ram Dass had the chance to live such a good long life, to age 88, and I am eternally grateful to him for helping me to live a better life.  May he rest in peace.

Another thought about THE BRITISH ARE COMING, Rich Atkinson

Sometimes a book is such as pervasive experience that long after you have finished it, it is still happening in your life. 

This morning I was reading a book review of Frank Dikotter's new book: HOW TO BE A DICTATOR - THE CULT OF PERSONALITY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.  Those of us who lived through a good part of the twentieth century had the opportunity to observe several world infamous dictator's most notably Adolf Hitler, his sidekick Benito Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito, and our own pre-Revolution King George of Britain.  

One of the remarkable aspects to the personality of our George Washington, as portrayed in THE BRITISH ARE COMING, was his ability and tendency to share decision making and power.  He could have been king but he deferred to a democracy.  In most if not all of the decisions he made during the war, he gathered his generals and not only asked their opinions, but listened to them and adjusted his own ideas to fit any superior idea that came of the discourse.  

The first line in the review of the Dikotter book is:  "Dictatorship, has in one sense been the default condition of humanity."  He goes on to describe it in view of hereditary monarchy, chiefdom, patriarch, and all the many forms it has taken.  In view of this observation, which I think any knowledge of history would have to reveal, it is remarkable, almost miraculous, that George Washington did not give in to the personal ambition that brought him to the head of the army and could have made him the king of the new republic of America.  

I am not going to order this book because I am knee deep in books I have ordered this month and I have to read some of them before I order any more, but I may keep this essay.  If you want to read it, it is page 84 in The New Yorker, December 23, 2019.  There may be a copy at the local library or on-line.  Actually, I my bring it to the Whitall History Club in January as a conversation piece!  If you want to borrow my copy, you could meet me there.  James and Ann Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ.  We meet at 11:00 on January 10, a Friday.  I can't tell you what a treat it is to be able to talk history with other interested people.  Few of my friendship group share this interest and the ones who do, are specific to other historical subject areas such as the Pinelands.

Happy Trails and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Reading and Writing and the Revolution

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will be returning to volunteer at the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ this spring after a few years hiatus.

One of the innovations initiated during my first run as a volunteer there, was the History Reading Club which meets once a month on a Friday.  Among other things, we read Job Whitall's diary in that club.  Mostly, in the old days, we each read on our own and reported back to the group any books we found useful and informative.  As time went by, during my time off, the format changed to where the club members read the same book and then discuss it.  

Their latest book is From Slaves to Soldiers, by Geakes.  I just bought it from amazon.  A book I will be bringing with me to share and discuss (if that is permitted) is The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson, volume 1 in a proposed 3 volume set.  It was marvelously written and very detailed.  I think one of the things that struck me was the immense, almost unfathomable amount of livestock and provisions needed to supply the armies both British and American.  In the book Atkins wrote of such numbers as 65,000 head of cattle gathered at an Irish port of departure.  literally hundreds of thousands of animals, pigs, cattle and horses were slaughtered annually, amounting, if anyone did the calculations, to the millions, over the course of the war.  The search for provisions literally dictated the course of the war as much as any other strategy or battle.

The other book I am going to bring to talk about is 266 Days, the account of the days the British occupied Philadelphia, told in the words of the inhabitants through diaries, letters, and newspaper accounts.  I am always interested in the on the scene, ordinary people, of any historical event, so this book was very interesting to me.  

It is December, and the ten crucial days of the Revolution in New Jersey would have played out during this month up in Trenton and Princeton.  When I walk the dog in the cold and feel the sting of the cold on my face, (as I am lucky enough to have a hooded puffy coat, a pair of quilted boots, heavy fleece lined mittens, and a neck scarf) I often reflect on the suffering of the stoic and stalwart soldiers who endured the biting sharp fanged cold of winter with none of these luxuries, all to bring us the independent constitutional republic in which we live today.

The history of our nation is a subject you can study for your entire life and there are an infinite number of routes of interest to follow in this study!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Happy Trails whether in the woods or in your mind!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

First Day Hike at Batsto - Start the New Year Right!

First Day Hike at Batsto Village

Wednesday, January 1, 2020 at 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Batsto Village is one of many locations in the New Jersey State Park Service hosting a First Day Hike on New Year’s Day as part of America’s State Parks First Day Hikes program. Led by a knowledgeable and entertaining guide, this urban hike will bring you to key Revolutionary sites in the community where New Jersey began!

Start your new year with a family history walk through Batsto Village.

Hike Info

Easy ~ 1.5 miles

Families welcome (Village tracks may not be comfortable for strollers). Service animals only.

Meeting Location: Batsto Visitor Center, Wharton State Forest

31 Batsto Rd, Hammonton, NJ 08037

Registration & Cancellation

Pre-registration is REQUIRED. To register and/or for more information: alicia.bjornson@dep.nj.gov or call (609)561-0024. Include your name, number of people in your party, a cell phone number and email address. Cancelled if icy conditions. To check, call (856)275-6975.

These free First Day Hikes offer a great incentive to get outside, exercise, experience history, enjoy nature, and celebrate the New Year with friends and family in one of your state parks. Wear sturdy footgear and bring water and snacks. Check the weather before you leave the house and wear weather-appropriate clothing. Layers are best for exercising in colder temperatures.

Love Those Trains!! House Tours - a review!

Bordentown Holiday Train Show

December 13 - 15 | 4 PM - 8 PM
Old City Hall, Downtown Bordentown

The Old City Hall Restoration Committee presents the Holiday Train Display! Visit every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from Thanksgiving weekend through December to see this exciting show! There will be various photos, calendars, and memorabilia along with over 200 train pieces displayed for everyone's enjoyment. Admission is free. 

I have been to the train show many times and ALWAYS loved it because I love those trains!  Waiting for the year I can put mine up again - may take awhile, my cats are young!

House Tours at Christmas
I have gone on several over the years, Woodstown, and Haddonfield most recently.  Did not like the Haddonfield one very much - not interested in trees done by hired designers or all white houses, or places where you have to put plastic bags on your shoes as though visiting a crime scene.  Woods town was homier, but I still felt like an intruder, so maybe house tours just aren't for me.  Anyhow Collingswood is having a trolley tour which sounds like fun and here is Mt. Holly:

Mount Holly Holiday House Tour

Saturday, December 14 | 3 PM - 8 PM
Main Street, Mount Holly

Get into the Christmas spirit with the Mount Holly Holiday House Tour! The house tour is a fun and festive way to celebrate the holiday season. This year the tour will feature ten historic homes decorated in various styles of Christmas, plus some extra cheer from the The Woolman Memorial and Shinn Log Cabin! Proceeds benefit Main Street Mount Holly. 

(You know I love a log cabin as much as a model train platform, so I may try this one!

Merry Christmas!

Jo Ann

stocking stuffers

A friend and I had the pleasure of attending the CandleLight tour of the James and Ann Whitall House on Sunday.  They had a whole new approach this year and all new volunteers from the time when I was a docent there, so it was all new to me!

They also had a Christmas Shop in a tent outside with many charming and ALL handmade items.  I bought a little quilted tree with button ornaments to send my daughter and some handmade chocolates.  

If you are looking for something special you may find it here:

Holiday Market 2019

VISIT THE ANNUAL EILANDARTS HOLIDAY MARKET 2019. 
 

Friday December 13th, 5-9pm
and
Saturday December 14th, 10-5pm, 2019

Eiland Arts is in the old Merchantville Train Depot right off Center Street in Merchantville, NJ

Presentation on "Yahoos and Musrats: South Jersey and the Civil War"

Greetings--

The Genealogical Society of Salem County will host a program entitled “Yahoos and Muskrats: South Jersey and the Civil War” presented by The Delaware River Blues on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 7:00 pm at Friends Village in Woodstown, NJ. This program will be held in the residential dining room instead of the usual auditorium.
Reenactors from the Delaware River Blues will present the many contributions and experiences of the local population to the preservation of the Union in 1861-1865. Regiments covered will include the 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th NJ regiments. For more information, please visit www.delawareriverblues.org
This program is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.gsscnj.org, email genealogicalsocietysalemcounty@gmail.com, or call 609-670-0407.

Coal in your stocking

Coal, strangely enough, has returned as a subject in my life at the same time as it has returned as a subject in the political world.

Some of my earliest memories of coal are the coal delivery truck coming to our brick row house in South Philadelphia.  I would rush down to the basement to watch the chute come in the coal delivery window into or coal bin, which was actually a small closet like room, dark and dirty with old coal dust.  The coal came rattling down the chute in a torrent of black glittering gems.  I suppose my father shoveled the coal into our heater, but that part I don't remember at all.

The coal going into a furnace that I remember was at my grandmother's house in Ocean City.  She had a small black, pot bellied stove in her kitchen, and she would allow me to go to the coal bin and bring up a scuttle full of coal and then she would open the door to the blazing belly and I could use the little shovel to throw the coal in.

Also from my Philadelphia childhood, I remember the coal cars rattling down the railroad tracks on the waterfront where we went to church at Gloria Dei Old Swedes church.  I also remember the lowing of the cattle penned there I suppose for the slaughter house. So sad and mournful.  And I remember the hobos with their barrels full of fire, warming their hands.  Such sad sights for a young child, but that was city life in the first half of the twentieth century.

My father told me when he was growing up, near to the place where we lived in my childhood, he went to the railroad with his mother and brothers to pick up the coal that fell off the coal cars, to bring it home to heat their house.  After his father died, suddenly, on a return from a Merchant Marine voyage, my father and his widowed mother and his brothers were exceedingly poor.  It was the depression.  

What brought the idea of coal back into my current thinking, was reading a book 266 Days, an account of the 266 days of the British occupation of Philadelphia, city of my birth.  The narrative is built on the diaries, contemporaneous newspaper accounts, and the letters from military men on both sides of the conflict.  The women's diaries talk a lot about marauders pulling down their fences and outbuildings to get the wood for fires for heat.  So, naturally, I was thinking of the times when people heated with wood instead of coal.

Wood fireplace fires are not effective which is why Benjamin Franklin, our historic genius, invented the Franklin stove.  A wood burning fireplace makes a LOT of heat close to the blaze, and leaves the air, a few feet away frigid.  I know this from my visits and volunteer work in historic houses and from the accounts in diaries that I have read.  

The greatest waste and destruction of the woods and forests of my current home, New Jersey, was to serve the iron smelting businesses and for charcoal making.  Vast swaths of our natural forests were destroyed as they are now being destroyed in the Amazon, which is heartbreaking to me.

Back to coal:  my next 'personal' experience with coal was when my parents retired to West Virginia.  Their next door neighbor, Mr. Rose, came often to visit and play cards.  He had a raspy voice and chronic cough because he suffered from 'black lung' disease which would kill him not long after my parents moved there.

Last night, I was watching THE CROWN, on Netflix, the series about the modern monarchy, Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret, in particular, and there was a brief and at the moment inexplicable scene switch to a rural school with a black mountain behind it.  Immediately I knew it was going to go back to the tragic coal mine disaster of Aberfan, Wales.  Although I didn't remember the details, I remembered the mine disaster and how the whole village had lost family members.  If you aren't familiar with the story, the disaster occurred in 1966, when a black mountain of coal waste became engorged from extraordinary rain fall.  The bloated mountain of soggy dust dislodged and became a thunderous avalanche that buried half the village and the entire school.  Only 22 of the 144 school children survived, one because her teacher threw her body over two of the closest children protecting them from suffocation.  

The scene in the show of the minors digging with their bare hands to free the children from their black ocean made me cry.  Every single family lost people, and half of the children of the village died.  

My first house had petroleum heat, a big tank in the yard and an ancient heater that stood by me for 30 winters and which had served since two years before I was born.  It was original to the house, built in 1947.  The liquid petrol would come in through a pipe, be spewed into the cabinet, set alight by a spark, and the heat generated would be air pumped through the registers, leaving a pale aura of black greasy dust around the registers.  

Eventually, about 3 years ago, I converted to gas, using a home equity loan.  It turned out to be a pretty expensive proposition once all the hidden costs were factored in:  the building permits, the substitution of a larger more expensive heater after the estimate had been found inadequate.  The total was a bit over 10,000, but the heater installation team assured me that I would get the cost back in a few years.  They were right.  Oil heat cost me $250 a month once the prices rose.  In the early days, $600 a year would keep the tank full and the heater going, but just half a dozen years later it rose to $1200 a year, and soon after, $100 a month, then $200 a month and up to $250 the last decade.  Also, my old tank had begun to leak through a rusted seam in the bottom and had to be removed and replaced.  Fortunately the tank removal guys dug up the dirt, replaced it with sand surrounded by stone, and the new tank held good until the gas heater replaced it all.

Recently in my town and surrounding areas, rooftops became covered with solar panels.  It was gratifying to see this transformation, though it could't work for me because of my trees.  The sun rarely to never sees my roof.

It is easy to take for granted the modern luxuries we enjoy, indoor plumbing (I have used an outhouse - again, in West Virginia, and they are horrible from the stench to the bees and spiders) electricity, heat, clean indoor water (I have also used a water pump, and have even fetched water from a mountain spring in a large 5 gallon plastic container - yes, always in West Virginia).  It is nice to turn on a faucet and have water, hot or cold!  Every day I appreciate the luxuries of my American bungalow in the 21st Century!  Often, I ponder on the marvels of living so long and seeing so many transitions in ordinary life.  I have lived from the end of the second World War, 1945, to 2019, soon to be 2020, from coal furnace to cable tv, from horse drawn huckster wagons down the alley to space travel.  AS the Grateful Dead have said, "What a Long Strange Trip it's Been!

The stockings are hung on the bannister to the attic at my house (no chimney) and when Christmas morning comes, there won't be any coal in them.  I wouldn't even know where to find coal these days!  Maybe in West Virginia.

Mount Royal, New Jersey

Today, my brother came up from West Virginia to have Thanksgiving dinner with his two sisters.  My sister, Susan, who has lived in Mickleton for many years and now lives on the Platt's farm property, will cook the dinner.  Joe and Sue went to the Mount Royal Inn for lunch today.  My sister called to ask me to join them.  My brother said, "Jo Ann will never come here, it's a bar!"  My sister replied, "She'll come because it was built in 1762."  She was right.

I have passed this old Inn so many times and read the date on the corner of the roof and wondered about it.  Sadly, no one, not even google seems to know much about it, but I am going to try my History of Gloucester County book next.
Turns out one of the reasons I had so much trouble finding information was that the name it was historical known for was Rising Sun Tavern, NOT Mount Royal Inn:

Rising Sun Tavern (Mount Royal Inn) 

North West corner of intersection of Rt. 551, and Mantua-Paulsboro Road, Mount Royal 

This 18th century brick tavern has been known by many names through its long history. It has been called the Heart and Hand Tavern, the Sickler House, and the Blue Anchor Hotel. In 1869 it served briefly as a headquarters for the army.

 Meanwhile though every lead that my google search offered turned out to be a dud, I found a few other things of great interest to me.  I am going back to one site for information on the home of the parents of Ann Cooper Whitall, which I never saw and didn't know was still standing.  Here is the link where I found a great deal of information on historic sites in that area. 

The Cooper-Griscom House
Griscom Lane in Greenfields Village, West Deptford Township 

This famous landmark was built in the 1740's by Ann Clark Cooper, the mother of Ann Cooper Whitall. The original stone was later covered with brick, and still later with stucco. One of the most famous holly trees in America once stood on the front lawn; this 300-year-old tree was almost destroyed by lightning several years ago. In the 1860's the house and plantation were bought by the Griscom family, who lived there for eight generations. 

My sister used to live right up the street, Kings Highway, from the Bodo Otto House, and here is some information on that site:
This house was the home of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., who served as a surgeon and militia colonel in Colonel Read's Battalion in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1748 in Germany. His family immigrated to Philadelphia in the 1750s. 

Otto's father, Bodo Otto, Sr., who was also a doctor, served as a senior surgeon in the Revolutionary War. In 1777, Bodo Otto, Sr. ran a hospital in the Old Barracks in Trenton. In 1778, the elder Bodo was placed in charge of the hospital at Yellow Springs, where many of the sick soldiers from the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania encampment were treated. Bodo Jr. went to work at the hospital as well, and continued to work there until 1781. In 1778, while Otto Bodo, Jr. was at Yellow Springs, this house was burned and damaged by Loyalists, and subsequently rebuilt.

Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., died on January 20, 1782, and is buried several miles from here in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in Swedesboro. [1]

Nicholas Collin, the Reverend at Trinity Church in Swedesboro, preached Otto's funeral sermon. Otto had been a friend of Collin, and he had once posted bail for Collin when he had been arrested by the militia for suspicion of being pro-British. In Collin's journal, he wrote of the type of person Otto was, including the remarkable fact that Otto helped get a pardon for one of the men who had burnt his house. Collin wrote:  [2]

"[I] preached a funeral sermon for the Med. Doctor Bodo Otto in his house, a short mile from Raccoon [now Swedesboro], and buried him at the church... He was in all respects an honorable man, and he had so far as he was able to, prevented much evil during the war. Among praiseworthy actions he obtained pardon for one of the refugees, who had burnt down his house and who for this and other [crimes] would otherwise have been hung... A great crowd of people of all sects was gathered, for he was generally respected. His old father stood trembling at his beloved son's grave, weeping bitterly."

I may have mentioned in earlier posts that I have been reading THE BRITISH ARE COMING by Rick Atkinson.  It is a huge and marvelous book and so imspiring that I have decided to become a volunteer at Red Bank Battlefield again after taking a few years off.  I no longer have my costume but I understand that now volunteers are only required to wear a state parks shirt, no costumes needed which is good because I sold all my pieces when I stopped volunteering.
On January 3rd, Whitall House volunteers will be having a History Club meeting and I will attend, then in spring when they open the house to visitors again, I will return as a docent  And all of this is because I was so inspired by the Atkinson book!  It re-awakend my interest in the war that gave birth to our nation!  

If you too are interested in the Revolution, then you probably know about CROSSROADS OF THE REVOLUTION.  They are having an event in December you may find interesting:

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 7:15 pm
Burlington County Lyceum of History and Natural Sciences
307 High St., Mt. Holly, NJ
**Please Note: $5 admission for nonmembers** Provisioning the Continental Army, by Dr. Elliott

Rancocas Christmas this weekend 11/23 & 24, 2019

I won't be able to enjoy this as I have other plans for both weekend days, however, I hope it helps you and helps with your Christmas Shopping.  I do a lot of my Christmas Shopping at Rancocas because it is perfect for the little special things, hand-made fragrant soaps for stocking stuffers, mittens made from re-purposed sweaters, doll clothes for American Girl Dolls - these are a few of the things I have found there for Christmas past.  ENJOY!

Hi Friends! 
The Rancocas Woods Craft Show is here again,,,Saturday, Nov 23rd 
10-4pm. Come stroll the woods and find Handmade Christmas gifts, delicious food and even entertainment!! 
Stop in the Craft Co-Op where you'll find over 60 vendors with their beautiful handmade wares! We'll also be serving some yummy refreshments!! Raindate: Sunday Nov 24th. ⛄🎄All of this is located on Creek Road🎁

Fun Christmas Ideas

It is so hard these days when everyone has everything they need, to figure out what is the best or most novel  gift to give a friend for Christmas.  

Here are two novel ideas:  Eiland Arts, Merchantville's old railroad station converted into a gallery and music venue coffee shop is holding an artists and artisans Christmas Market December 13 and 14, so you can pick up something special for your loved one or friend, and see some lovely and unique items too!

OR

JolaBokaFlod

Imagine this: It's Christmas Eve and after receiving a brand-new book from your family, you wrap yourself up in a blanket in front of the fire with a mug of hot cocoa and spend the rest of the evening reading.

That's exactly how Icelandic people celebrate Christmas each year. This tradition is known as Jolabokaflod, which translates roughly to "Christmas book flood" in English.

Jolabokaflod started during World War II, when paper was one of the few things not rationed in Iceland. Because of this, Icelanders gave books as gifts while other commodities were in short supply, turning them into a country of bookaholics to this day, according to jolabokaflod.org. In fact, a 2013 study conducted at Bifröst University found that 50 percent of Icelanders read more than eight books a year and 93 percent read at least one.

You can buy or make a book for a loved one.  Okay, unless you are an artist with some hand-made book experience behind you, you are probably going to buy a book.  A friend and I were in A. C. Moore the other day and he bought his niece an artists sketchbook and an art set.  What a great idea!  A. C. Moore, located in Deptford as well as on Cuthbert Boulevard in Collingswood, just opposite Newton Creek Park, has writing journals as well as sketch diaries, but the sketch books are such a fun idea.  There are all kinds of art supplies and craft supplies there to get for gifts too!  As a child, I was delighted when my mother bought me paint by number sets and art supplies.  I can't tell you how proud and delighted I was the year she bought me an easel and a paint box with paints plus a How To Draw workbook.  So I suggest you think outside the toy box and go for arts and crafts, for grown-ups too!

Forgotten History - the Oneida and the American Revolution

This year, as with other years before, I choose to remember and honor the original people of America, the Native Americans who through coerced and broken treaties, broken promises, and violence were deprived of their lands and the history of their part in the creation of the American Republic.

Tonight I am watching a documentary, Oneida:  And the American Revolution, free with amazon prime.  As a member of another group of people whose history has been willfully left out in the telling of the American story in the past, I empathize with my neighbors and I honor their memory in my own personal way.

The Oneida fought alongside George Washington in defending the frontier and in defiance of the rest of the federation of tribes who fought with the British.  

I have read a great many books of history about Native Americans and some contemporary novels by Native Americans, but I have had very little experience with Native Americans and the Revolution.  I will let you know what I learn from this documentary film.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Watching on rv, Reading magazines, books, newspaper

My Sunday morning ritual for some time now, has been to make a pot of coffee and red the Sunday New York Times.  I can't tell you what a luxury and a treat it is for me!  The original reason I subscribed to delivery of the Sun.NYT was for the book review.  I couldn't possibly read all the books I would like to read and the bk rev gives me summaries that keep me up to date and also show me how to think about books.  One of the two features that tickle me about the bk rev are the questions for guests on page 6 and the graphic review on the end page.  The graphic reviews are often hilarious and ALWAYS creative and thought provoking.  Two of my favorites were drawings of the animals reviewing books and drawings of favorite protagonists.  It got me to thinking of my all-time favorite main characters such as Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre, Hans Brinker of the Silver Skates, the girls in the Oudoor Girls on a Hike and later, Billy Pilgrim from Slaughterhouse Five, and the fireman Montage in Fahrenheit 451, just to name the ones who popped into mind right off.

I like the questions in the guest reviewers page:
1.What books are on your nightstand?
2.What was the last Great book you read?
3.Are there any classic novels you read for the first time?
4.Describe your ideal reading experience (when,where,what,how).
5.What's your favorite book no one has heard of?
6.Which writers working today do you admire most?
7.What genre do you enjoy reading most?
8.What 'classic' did you think was overrated?
9.What 3 writers would you invite to a dinner party (living or dead).
And I would like to add a question:
10.What writer or book do you think was underrated?

The article I liked most this Sunday was a review of the work of two British painters: Celia Paul and Cecily Brown, neither of whom I had ever heard of before.  I looked up their work on my computer and took great interest in their lives and careers and their paintings.

There are generally four or five articles in the paper that catch my attention, sometimes more.  The Sun.NYT is so good there are often articles in sections that I would NEVER read, articles in the Sports section or the Real Estate sections.  Often the articles I read there populate my conversation for the next few weeks or even years such as an article I read on how to get rid of your antiques so you can sell your place.  It fit in with a series of review of books on "Swedish Death Cleaning" and Marie Kondo's Tidying Up, that really got on my nerves. and in sports, I was interested in reading about the Williams sisters always, and also about how football is facing up to the reveation of the consequences of  traumatic concussion.

On Television this week, I watched, spellbound, a newly released series on Netflix WORLD WAR II GREATEST EVENTS, in film footage from all over the world newly restored and colorized.  It covered all the classic battles such as DDay, the Battle of Britain, The Ardenne Forest, Stalingrad, Midway and many more.  An interesting fact of which I was not aware was that the result of a plea from Stalin for citizens to enlist was that ONE MILLION WOMEN enlisted as combat soldiers and that they specialized as snipers due to "dexterity, precision, and patience."  They were a big factor in the street fighting at Stalingrad.  I knew from the many movies I had seen on Stalingrad that women fought, but didn't know the number or about the snipers.

The other show I watched right after WWII was THE DEVIL NEXT DOOR about the arrest and trial of John Demjanjuk, the retired autoworker in the Midwest who was accused of being Ivan the Terrible, a sadistic gas chamber guard at Treblinka.  A very interesting character in the series was the Israeli lawyer who defended him on trial in Israel.  The lawyer took so much heat from his community over this as Demjanjuk was already convicted in everyone's minds and the most hated man in the country.  No one wanted to see him defended, they wanted to string him up and kill him with their own bare hands!  The lawyer was such a complex mix of ego, contrariness, courage and legal devotion, that he was a literary character all on his own.

By the way, I was never fully convinced that Demjanjuk was Ivan.  I couldn't imagine that a man could be a sadistic psychopath for a year or two then be a normal good citizen and family man for 44 years, but my brother, who had been a marine in Vietnam said he could easily understand how a man can be bent by war and return to normal when returned to normal living.  He had a good point.  

Well, I am on my second cup of coffee and my second day with the paper, I save the Book Review for another day, so goodbye, it is time to get back to my reading!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann 
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Interested in learning more about immigrants in South Jersey?

South Jersey Immigration Forum:  Supporting Integration of refugees & Other Immigrants

Wednesday, Nov 20 2019 from 7 pm to 9 pm

Medford Meeting House, 14 Union St. Medford 08055

Facebook:  South Jersey Immigration Forum

blog:  SouthJerseyImmigrationForum.Blogspot.com

CoHosts - NOW, Medford Quaker Friends Meeting, Medford Volunteer Ctr.

Registration requested - call 609-969-2480

Topics:

=Which immigrant groups make their homes in NJ?

=What challenges do these groups face?

=Can volunteers work within existing programs to help?

=Are forum participants interested in developing new         programs to help?

Presentations, discussions, time to visit information tables

free and open to the public

Dory Dickson 609-969-2480