LEAGUE NEWS The Newsletter of the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey Vol. 30, No. 1 February 2004 Haddon Heights Historical Society to Host March League Meeting The Haddon Heights Historical Society will host the March League meeting at the Haddon Heights First United Methodist Church on Saturday, March 13, 2004. The church is located at the corner of 7th and Garden streets in Haddon Heights. For information before the event, or for a list of hotels, please call 856-546-1967. For information on the day of the event, please call 856-465-7751. DIRECTIONS: From the North and South: Take the NJ Turnpike to Exit 3. From there, take State Highway 168 N, towards Philadelphia, to Kings Hwy (1.35 miles). At the Mobil Station, turn right onto Kings Hwy, Camden County 551 (1.2 miles). Turn right onto 7th Avenue. Proceed 3 blocks to Garden Street. The Church parking lot is on the right. MEETING AGENDA From the East: Take the AC Expressway to the end, which becomes NJ 42 N. Follow NJ 42 N to I-295 N (3.2 miles). Take Exit 29B, 9:30 Registration US 30 W, towards Barrington/Haddon Hts/Collingswood. Then, merge 10:00 Welcome onto US 30 N (White Horse Pike) to Station Avenue. Turn left onto 10:05 League business meeting th th Station Ave. and drive 2 blocks to 7 Avenue. Turn left onto 7 Street. 11:15 The Value of Historic The parking lot is at the end of the block on the right. Preservation to Haddon Heights History Registration form on page 12. 12:15 Lunch 1:30 Tours of homes in Haddon Map on page 11. Heights New Jersey Historic Trust Announces $150,000 Available in New Grants For Historic Preservation The New Jersey Historic Trust has announced that applications and guidelines for the Cultural Trust Capital Preservation Program are now available to qualified history and humanities organizations. This year's grant awards, provided in partnership with the New Jersey Cultural Trust, will range from $5,000 to $15,000 and will be awarded to eligible organizations for capital improvements to historic properties. This year, a total of $150,000 in grants will be awarded. To receive a grant, the proposed work must involve properties that are listed, or are eligible for listing, in the New Jersey or National Register of Historic Places. The current grant round will be devoted to projects that will stabilize historic properties, with preference given to projects of compelling urgency. No matching funds are required. Potential applicants to the Capital Preservation Program are New Jersey-based, nonprofit organizations that (continued on page eight) 1 The Officers and Directors of Trustee, Central— Rhett Pernot the League of Historical William Trent House Museum Societies of New Jersey Trustee, Southern— PRESIDENT’S Jean Lacey President - Robert J. Hunter Ocean County Historical Society CORNER Haddon Heights Historical Society; Dear Members: 856-547-7132 Trustee, Southern— Douglas Winterich I trust you will find this First Vice President— J.B. Vogt Burlington Cty Historical Society newsletter interesting and useful. Fellowship for Metlar House If your organization has is- Trustee-at-Large— sued a recent publication, please Vice-President, Northern— Robert R. Longcore send an announcement to the John E. Chance Sussex County Historical Society League at P.O. Box 909, Madi- Montclair Historical Society son, NJ 07940; please include Trustee-at-Large— details such as the cost and con- Vice-President, Central— Randall Gabrielan tact information. James T. Raleigh Monmouth County Historical Because we publish just three Friends of Monmouth Battlefield Commission times a year, we will not publish Vice-President, Southern— announcements of local pro- Sonia L. Forry grams. We are, however, de- s i g n i n g a w e b s i t e : Historical Preservation Society of MARK YOUR www.lhsnj.org. You may submit Upper Township CALENDAR... local program announcements to Secretary— Kevin M. Hale FOR THE SPRING the site and we will try to post Metuchen-Edison Historical LEAGUE MEETING, them in a timely manner. Future newsletters will carry Society CENTRAL REGION the League meeting registration Treasurer— Dorothy M. Andrew forms, worthwhile grant infor- Gloucester County Historical mation, reports from our preser- Society vation committee, and Jack Chance’s Ideas-4-U column. Membership Chairman—Dorothy Please send suggestions Pietrowski The League's Summer Meeting about the newsletter and website Madison Historical Society will be held in Cranbury on Sat- to me at P.O. Box 240, Haddon urday, June l9, 2004. The meet- Heights, NJ 08035, or to our Historian— Sally Yerkovich ing and programs will be con- [email protected]. New Jersey Historical Society ducted at the First Presbyterian Please send renewal dues to Church Fellowship Hall, fol- our PO Box in Madison. Trustee, Northern— lowed by lunch at the historic Thank you. Dorothy E. Johnson Cranbury Inn. The afternoon will Oakeside-Bloomfield Cultural feature tours of various locations Robert J. Hunter Center in Cranbury. Please join us for President this historic visit to Cranbury. Trustee, Northern— Betty Hardy Fall meeting: Montclair Madison Historical Society October 23rd Trustee, Central— William Fidurski Clark Historical Society 2 IDEAS-4-U Bus trip to Eckley Miners’ Vil- Exploring Wells and Privies of lage, Weatherly, PA. Everyday 1760 Philadelphia. Joe Butewicz Are you in charge of arranging life of the miner and his family in of South River, avid bottle collec- programs for your society? Are an anthracite mining community. tor, shares his many excavations you running out of ideas? Ferromonte Historical Society of and discoveries. Pilesgrove- Mutual assistance is the main Mine Hill. Woodstown Historical Society purpose for which the League was formed, and program planning is Discovering Our Past, Creating Tour of New York City’s Historic perhaps the area in which we may Our Future. Inspection of recent Synagogues. (Jewish Historical be of greatest assistance to each excavations of Revolutionary War Society of Central New Jersey. other. So watch this space as Jack artifacts; lecture on life in Colo- 732-249-4894. Chance offers program ideas from nial times. Gloucester County your sister organizations. Cultural & Heritage Commission. Where Have All the Farmers Listed here are some recent Gone? Documentary film presents programs offered by our member The Evolution of Home Con- the words of a few of the remaining organizations. Perhaps they will veniences and Technology. Pres- Hunterdon County farmers. suggest ideas for your society’s entation by social historian and Hunterdon County Historical officers and program chairmen. author Merritt Ierley. Montclair Society For further information, please Historical Society and Victorian contact the sponsoring organiza- Society/Northern New Jersey. The Civilian Conservation Corps tion (in italics). Your membership (CC) at High Point State Park. list has the contact information. Exploring Chinese Culture. Sto- Lecture by Peter Osborne, author of ries, songs, holiday celebrations. two books on the subject. Walpack Camden County Cultural & Heri- Historical Society The Man Who Flew the Enola tage Commission. Gay. Panel discussion, including Indians and Europeans in Colo- the pilot of the plane that carried The Study of Ghosts Through nial New Jersey: Cultures in the first atomic bomb. Naval Air Scientific Research. Presentation Competition. Lecture by Lorraine Station Wildwood Museum. by Michael Dreiser, of the New Williams, NJ State Museum, about Jersey Ghost Research Program. settlers of the New Sweden colony. The History in Our Back Yard. Pilesgrove-Woodstown Historical Pennsville Township Historical So- An exhibit of artifacts found dur- Society. ciety ing an archeological dig that was required prior to major construc- The Delaware & Raritan Canal. John A. Roebling’s Rebirth in tion at a site in Elizabeth. Eliza- Illustrated talk on the history of New Jersey. Illustrated talk by beth Public Library. this waterway, one of the most Donald Sayenga on Roebling’s de- successful towpath canals in the cision to begin a new life as a wire The Oldest Houses in Cape May country, now preserved as a state rope manufacturer and bridge County. Illustrated lecture by a park. Heritage Trail Association. builder in Trenton, New Jersey. historic preservation consultant. His factory produced the cable for Cumberland County Historical Stompin’ at the Shore. Travel- the inclined planes of the Morris Society. ing exhibit from Atlantic City Canal and for the aqueducts of the Historical Society that tells the Delaware & Hudson Canal. Canal Lest We Forget exhibit. A talk story of African-American enter- Society of New Jersey. about a personal collection of tainers who came to Atlantic City slavery artifacts. Peter Mott and the Wildwoods from the turn House Underground Railroad of the century to the 1950s. 800- Museum. 275-4278. 3 Historic Resources and head electric lines, double stack- maintain a sustained 70 mph on Rail Freight in 21st ing of containers on flatbeds their way to Scranton and Buf- would be more readily accom- falo. Rail connections west of Century New Jersey plished. Scranton also reach out to Taylor, Coincidentally, the City of Pennsylvania, near a Municipal by William T. Fidurski New York is evaluating a number Solid Waste landfill along the of plans that would involve pack- Ransom and Taylor border. Our dedicated local guardians ing New York City's municipal Much of the potential threat to of historic resources that abut and solid waste into containers that historic resources stems from the include New Jersey's century-old could move by rail or water out of archaic design of the state's rail system may want to keep a Staten Island. Although the freight rail system and its origins cautious eye on the sudden resur- Chemical Coast Line and the Le- in the essentially agrarian society gence of interest in rail transpor- high Valley Railroad are key to of the nineteenth century.