Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for new jersey
New Jersey’s Mastodon
By Linda Tancs
Located on Rutgers’ historic Old Queens campus is Geology Hall, which is listed on both the state and national registers of historic places. It’s where you’ll find the university’s Geology Museum, collections of which date from 1836 and include minerals, fossils and geologic specimens emphasizing the geology of New Jersey and surrounding states. Arguably its most famous specimen is the fully-articulated mastodon skeleton found in 1869 in Salem County, New Jersey. Admission is free.
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Fairy Tale Forest
By Linda Tancs
Imagine a parkland filled with attractions bringing stories from Grimms’ Fairy Tales to life! That’s exactly what you’ll find at Fairy Tale Forest in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. The story of Fairy Tale Forest began in 1953 when Paul Woehle Sr., a German immigrant, started to build it at the age of 40. He came from a family of 13 children and his mother used to read them the Grimms’ stories every night. What began as a few storybook cottages has evolved into a theme attraction bringing to life over a dozen of the famed fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm.
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The Kissing Bridge
By Linda Tancs
Alluding to its feature as a spot for a romantic stroll, the Kissing Bridge (Ravine Bridge) is a suspension bridge on the Douglass campus of Rutgers University in New Jersey that was engineered by the same firm that built the Brooklyn and George Washington bridges. As its official name suggests, it was designed to span the ravine dividing the original campus from the land given to the college in the 1800s by James Neilson, a prominent benefactor of the college and colonel of the New Jersey State Militia. The bridge is located behind the Mabel Smith Library.
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Seven Mile Beach
By Linda Tancs
Seven Mile Beach is the name of a barrier island on the Jersey Shore in Cape May County, New Jersey, divided between the boroughs of Avalon to the north and Stone Harbor to the south. Avalon has the distinction of being coined New Jersey’s version of the Hamptons (on the eastern end of Long Island in New York), the East Coast version of Beverly Hills. In fact, a newly-built home in Avalon was listed months ago for $25 million! If the real estate is too rich for your appetite, then enjoy the beaches, as visitors have been doing for more than a century.
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New Jersey’s Preeminent Military Museum
By Linda Tancs
The history of New Jersey’s militia and National Guard begins with Dutch, Swedish and British colonization and continues with the War for Independence, the Civil War, two world wars and the present day. It’s chronicled at The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey, which is located both at Sea Girt’s National Guard Training Center and at Lawrenceville Armory. The museum boasts one of the largest collections of New Jersey-related Civil War research material in the country, including copies of diaries, letters, newspaper clippings, memoirs, regimental histories and articles. Among its many prized artifacts is the Intelligent Whale in Sea Girt, a primitive post-Civil War submarine powered by six crewmen. Ideally four sailors would crank the propeller while the other crewmen labored to keep the submarine on course and off the bottom. At least one crew member was tasked with leaving the sub through the wooden door in the submarine’s hull floor and transporting and attaching a mine to the hull of an enemy vessel. Admission is free.
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The Battle of Princeton
By Linda Tancs
The Battle of Princeton was one of the fiercest battles of the American Revolution, when American troops under General George Washington surprised and defeated a force of British Regulars on the morning of January 3, 1777. At Princeton Battlefield State Park, visitors can participate in scheduled tours taking place from May to October. You’ll learn about the Mercer Oak, a tree that once stood in the middle of the battlefield not far from the spot where General Hugh Mercer succumbed to his battle wounds. The tree collapsed from old age in March 2000, but an offspring grown from an acorn now thrives next to the large stump of the original tree. The site also includes Clarke House, the farmer’s homestead that became a field hospital. Located on Mercer Road in Princeton, the park is open daily.
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The Black Doctor of the Pines
By Linda Tancs
Dr. James Still was a renowned herbalist and homeopathic healer often called “The Black Doctor of the Pines.” Born to former slaves, he was mostly self educated and entered into medical practice as a result of an interest in medical botany. One of the wealthiest men in Burlington County, New Jersey, he built an office in Medford as well as a home. The office building remains today and is the centerpiece of the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center. Guided tours are available by appointment. There is also a nature trail on the property that is open from dawn to dusk.
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The Great Wooded Way
By Linda Tancs
New Jersey’s Atlantic City Boardwalk is touted as the world’s first and longest boardwalk (at 5.5 miles). Arguably one of the most famous boardwalks in the world, construction began in the late 1800s when the area became a premier resort destination and served as a prototype for other walkways. Along with its views of the Atlantic Ocean, the boardwalk boasts landmarks like the Steel Pier amusement park, the Boardwalk Hall concert venue and Absecon Lighthouse, the tallest beacon in the state.
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Tea Burners in New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
A precursor to the American Revolution, the Boston Tea Party was a protest that occurred in 1773 when a cadre of colonists threw over 300 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest what they viewed as taxation without representation. A lesser-known event is the protest that took place one year later in Greenwich, New Jersey, when a group of revolutionaries burned a haul of tea headed for Philadelphia. The occasion is marked by the Tea Burners Monument, erected in 1908 on Ye Greate Street.
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A Sporting Attitude in New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
Yogi Berra is an icon in American baseball history. Celebrated as much for his career statistics as for his malapropisms, his dedication to education, sports and community informs the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center. Located on the campus of Montclair State University in New Jersey, the 8,200-square-foot facility features permanent and rotating exhibitions telling the unique story of Yogi and explores history, culture, science and society within the larger context of baseball and sports.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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