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
The Secret Garden at 377
By Linda Tancs
Atop the Harrison Park Towers parking garage in East Orange, New Jersey, the concrete is green. There’s a secret garden there, an unexpected oasis in the form of a one-acre Italianate garden planted some 60 years ago by the late William T. Gotelli, allegedly a builder of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. This stunning private garden, dubbed The Secret Garden at 377, is open to the public by appointment and during designated Open Days.
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The Age of Homespun
By Linda Tancs
At Historic Cold Spring Village in Cape May, New Jersey, visitors get a first-hand feel for the age of homespun (1789-1840). Open seasonally (from June to September), the art of homesteading is on display throughout its 30 acres of lanes, gardens and farms. In addition to the working, organic farm, exhibits include early print presses and print production, woodworking, pottery, wool-spinning and bookbinding. The Village is located on Route 9, three miles north of Cape May City.
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Double Trouble in New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
In Ocean County, N.J., you’ll find Double Trouble. No, not the nefarious kind. It’s a state park located on the eastern edge of the Pine Barrens –and with a name like that, you’d be correct in assuming that it isn’t exactly teeming with visitors. All the better for you, though. Enjoy the peace and serenity of fabulous walking trails dotted with cranberry bogs. Embracing a historic village that typifies centuries-old company towns reliant on local industry, the woodland is emblematic of cranberry culture. The Double Trouble Company had one of the largest cranberry operations in the state there (hence, the name). The Double Trouble Historic District was placed on the State Register of Historic Places in 1977 and on the National Register in 1978.
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A Star in the East
By Linda Tancs
There’s a star in the East–no, not the biblical kind: the Hollywood kind. A 26-foot-tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe is a featured attraction at New Jersey’s Grounds for Sculpture. Created by renowned sculptor and philanthropist Seward Johnson, the piece returns “home” from Palm Springs as part of the Hamilton museum’s retrospective on Johnson’s career. Taking place through September, the months-long festivities will include hands-on art-making workshops, tours of the park and artwork, screenings of archival footage, and an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with Johnson.
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New Jersey’s Largest Rose Garden
By Linda Tancs
This time of year, New Jersey’s Rudolf van der Goot Rose Garden is at its peak. The state’s largest public rose garden is awash in color and aroma–hardly surprising, with 325 varieties abounding. A popular locale for wedding photography, the one-acre site is located in Colonial Park in Somerset. Don’t expect to find too many wilts; only roses that thrive in central New Jersey are kept in the garden. Let’s give that a green thumbs-up!
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Not Your Usual Science Museum
By Linda Tancs
At the historical Camp Evans military base in Wall, New Jersey, you’ll find the nation’s only fallout shelter theatre at InfoAge, a museum featuring the best of wartime technology. There’s a fascinating display of intelligence systems, jamming equipment and rooms devoted to the development of radar. This vital complex is where top-secret innovation took place to protect the United States against German and Japanese forces. Not just for techies, the grounds also include a shipwreck museum, a World War II miniatures room with toy soldiers, a collection of helmets, rifles and early jeeps and an airborne motor scooter. The museum is open on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
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Big Trees Abound in New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
The New Jersey Forest Service has been keeping a record of the largest trees in the state since the 1950s. Consider the silver maple off Route 179 in Ringoes, measuring 27 feet in circumference. That tree also happens to be 208 years old. And there’s the 175-year-old slippery elm (named for its sticky inner bark) in Wantage and the largest red oak (the State Tree) in Wyckoff. These and other trees are part of the Champion Big Tree Register. In 1884, New Jersey celebrated its first official Arbor Day celebration. Tomorrow is National Arbor Day, a special day for tree planting celebrated nationwide. Plant a tree. Who knows, it just might grow up to be a champ.
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All in the Family
By Linda Tancs
In Little Silver, New Jersey there’s an old house that predates the founding of the United States. Known as the Parker Homestead, the unassuming white Colonial with green shutters dates to 1725 or so. Descended from the earliest English settlers in New Jersey, the Parker family retained ownership of the home for over 300 years. This National Historic Site also boasts a horse barn, livestock barn and wagon barn. Together with the house, all four structures sit on land acquired by Joseph and Peter Parker under a land grant in 1665.
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The Crossroads of War
By Linda Tancs
What is now known as the State of New Jersey began on March 12, 1664 when Charles II of England granted land on the east coast of North America to his brother James, Duke of York (later, King James II). On the occasion of New Jersey’s 350th birthday today, it seems fitting to highlight its major role in the Revolutionary War. Although many no doubt recall the battles of Princeton, Trenton and Monmouth from their grade school history books, the fight for independence actually spans 2155 square miles across 14 counties–the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area. This area includes, of course, Morristown’s Ford Mansion and Jockey Hollow, the nation’s first historical national park, commemorating the sites of General George Washington and the Continental Army’s winter encampment of December 1779 to June 1780. During six years of conflict, George Washington and the Continental Army spent more days in New Jersey than any other state.
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The Birthplace of Filmmaking
By Linda Tancs
Hooray for…Fort Lee? That’s right, the northern New Jersey borough’s filmmaking past gives Hollywood a run for its money. In the early 1900s, the former Rambo Saloon, a Civil War-era house on First Street, was used as a dressing room and as a front for the Westerns being filmed in the area. Recently saved from demolition, the house will be converted into affordable housing units.
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