The Time Voyagers

NJ WEEKEND HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS Know about a historical event happening in your area?  Send me an  e-mail  to let us know! Be the first to find out about these events on  Facebook ! Every Friday - Sunday through January 4, 2015   - West Orange, Essex County Holidays at Glenmont Children Friendly

WEEKEND ESTATE SALES Click on each link for more information on the estate sale! Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know! Hosting an estate sale? Send me an  e-mail  to be featured in our weekly post! Be the first to know about these sales on  Facebook !

Building a Model 'Industrial Village' in Smithville Written by NJ Historian During the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, company towns, mill towns, and industrial villages existed throughout New Jersey. Some of the more notable communities include Roebling , Batsto Village , and Allaire Village . One community which is not often on most historian's lists is the Industrial Village of Smithville in present-day Eastampton, Burlington County. Settled in 1776 and reaching its height in the mid-nineteenth century, many buildings and structures associated with this town, known for its high-quality woodworking machinery, the Smithville-Mt. Holly Bicycle Railroad, and the Star high-wheeled bicycle, still exist, in whole, in ruins, some partially restored, and some fully restored, echoing its once-glorious past as an industrial center of Burlington County. The Mansion at Smithville.

12th Annual Colonial Christmas Offers Two Weekends of Holiday Festivities November 29 - 30 and December 4 - 7 Holiday shoppers, history buffs and visitors of all ages can celebrate Christmas past and present, when Bedminster’s historic Jacobus Vanderveer House & Museum opens its wreath-clad Dutch doors for the 12th annual Colonial Christmas show house and tour Saturday and Sunday, November 29-30 and Thursday through Sunday, December 4-7. Hours are from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm daily (see schedule below).  “This year, there will be more merchants than ever before, offering unique and creative items for everyone on your holiday gift list both Saturdays and Sundays,” commented Sean Blinn, president of the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House Board of Trustees.

Every Monday, I highlight a non-profit related to history or the arts, a historical society, preservation group or friends group whose main objective is to promote the historical and artistic history of New Jersey. This week, I am featuring the Smithville Conservancy. The Conservancy was founded in 1997 to support the Burlington County Freeholders in their efforts to preserve and restore the once-thriving Village of Smithville, a nineteenth century company town, and to develop the County Park at Smithville. In addition to its fund-raising activities, the Conservancy works to promote interest in Smithville as an historic, cultural, educational, and recreational center. The Board functions in cooperation with the Burlington County Parks Department, the Burlington County Division of Cultural Affairs and Tourism, and the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Their fundraising activities have included the annual Mt. Holly Grand Prix  bicycle race, the Smithville Mystery Dinn

WEEKEND HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS Know about a historical event happening in your area?  Send me an  e-mail  to let us know! Be the first to find out about these events on  Facebook ! Saturday, November 22 - Pennsauken, Camden County Harvest Celebration at Historic Griffith Morgan House Children Friendly The end of harvest and the approach of winter gives us an opportunity to celebrate the seasonal lives lived by our colonial ancestors and the measures they used to prepare for and thrive through the winter's privations! This celebration ahead of Thanksgiving also gives us all the chance to embrace the coming holiday season! The hearth at Griffith Morgan House will be warm with a cooking fire and the aromas will fill the room and the heart! A demonstration of candlemaking will help prepare for the darker days ahead. The revelry will be aided by a visit from the pirate crew of The Sea Dogs who threaten to plunder the feast but wi

WEEKEND ESTATE SALES Click on each link for more information on the estate sale! Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know! Hosting an estate sale? Send me an  e-mail  to be featured in our weekly post! Be the first to know about these sales on  Facebook !

In Living Color: The History of House Paints in America A November 23 Talk at Durand-Hedden House & Garden Calling all house-proud Maplewood residents! Need some ideas for paint colors? This profusely illustrated talk at 2:00 pm on Sunday, November 23, 2014 by preservation consultant and Columbia University Professor Janet W. Foster provides a fascinating look at the materials and colors of historic American architecture. Ms. Foster has wide experience in analysis and research on paints and other finishes used to protect and decorate the homes of Americans from the Colonial era to the early 20th century. This year she collaborated with the Board of the Durand-Hedden House to develop its current new color scheme. Learn how the paint history on this particular house provides a great starting point for examining the trends that made architecture in the past both beautiful and fashionable.

Are you Audacious? Written by Ellen Gullo Are you audacious? Let’s consider a life or death situation: which side of the American Revolution do you envision yourself on? A patriot – a dastardly rebel, risking your life and the safety of your family on the treasonous idea of self-rule? A loyal subject to the British crown, solemnly devoted to restore peace and order, no matter the price? Or, would you have chosen neutrality, unable or unwilling to pick a side? Don’t answer yet.

New Vietnam War Exhibit Now Open Aboard The Battleship New Jersey The USS New Jersey’s third commissioning service in 1968 and 1969 during the Vietnam War is distinct because she was the only active battleship in the world at that time. A new exhibit, titled "A Dreadnaught in Vietnam," highlights the exploits of the USS New Jersey during her Vietnam service. Come explore the battleship’s historic role in Vietnam, including several objects from the personal collection of Admiral J. Edward Snyder, Jr., the battleship’s commanding officer during her Vietnam deployment. Many of these objects have never been on public display.

WEEKEND HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS Know about a historical event happening in your area?  Send me an  e-mail  to let us know! Be the first to find out about these events on  Facebook ! Saturday, November 15 - Franklin Township, Somerset County How Did the Discovery of Oil in the Mideast Affect World War I? On Saturday, insight into this little-discussed subject will be given at 2:00 pm at the Van Wickle House in Somerset.  Local historian and Rutgers lecturer Bruce Tucker will present a lecture on the discovery of oil in the Middle East in the early 1900s and its impact upon military technology and strategy of World War I (1914-1918). Mr. Tucker will discuss the historical background of crude oil, including its discovery in the United States, Russia, and the Middle East and how oil helped determine how the war would be fought, where it would be fought, its outcome, and its effect upon the victors and losers at the Palace of Vers

WEEKEND ESTATE SALES Click on each link for more information on the estate sale! Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know! Hosting an estate sale? Send me an  e-mail  to be featured in our weekly post! Be the first to know about these sales on  Facebook !

The Keyport Historical Society: Preserving Keyport's Rich History Written by the Keyport Historical Society The Keyport Historical Society is an organization made up of Keyport residents and non residents working together to preserve Keyport's history. The Society currently meets at the historic Keyport Senior Center located on Second Street on the first and third Monday of each month. The first Monday is usually a historic presentation and the third is a board meeting. Photo Credit: KHS Their two biggest fundraisers are an annual Tea and Fashion Show held at the Keyport Yacht Club in October and a Candlelight House Tour in December. Keyport Historical Society members are very active throughout the year volunteering their time at various town functions.  About Keyport The area now known as Keyport started as an 800 acre plantation settled by the Kearney family in 1714. It was called Key Grove Farms and farming, timber, shipping and oystering were the main

Every Monday, I highlight a non-profit related to history or the arts, a historical society, preservation group or friends group whose main objective is to promote the historical and artistic history of New Jersey. This week, I am featuring the Keyport Historical Society. The Society was founded in 1972 after local concerned citizens salvaged some items from the historic Kearney Mansion before it was demolished. The salvaged artifacts created a need for a location where they could be kept and displayed along with other Keyport memorabilia. In 1976, the Society opened a museum in a building that was originally owned by the Keansburg Steamboat Company. The museum was lost in October 2012 to Hurricane Sandy. Floodwaters surged into the building, knocking down walls and damaging hundreds of artifacts. Despite their loss, recovered artifacts have been moved and are now awaiting a new permanent location. The Society continues to be active and hosts an annual yard sale, arts and crafts

WEEKEND HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS Know about a historical event happening in your area?  Send me an  e-mail  to let us know! Be the first to find out about these events on  Facebook ! Friday - Sunday, November 7 - 9 - Harding Township, Morris County 31st Annual Antiques Show and Sale The Harding Township Historical Society is sponsoring its 31st annual Antiques Show and Sale at the Tuni-Elicks House, 16 Village Road, in New Vernon, NJ on Friday evening, Saturday from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, and Sunday 11:00 am - 4:00 pm. The Friday evening opening is a preview party and sale with historic wines and hors d'oeuvres open to the membership of the Harding Township Historical Society and to the general public from 6:00 - 9:00 pm at a suggested donation of $35. The show in the historic house expands into two large heated tents containing 30 quality dealers from three surrounding states and eight counties and  is focused on American

WEEKEND ESTATE SALES Click on each link for more information on the estate sale! Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know! Hosting an estate sale? Send me an  e-mail  to be featured in our weekly post! Be the first to know about these sales on  Facebook !

A Walk on the Wild Side: Turtle Back Zoo Written by Connie McNamara I have hated zoos for years. The thought of exotic and wild animals taken out of their natural environs and self-constructed habitats and placed in cages always made me sad. I was taken to zoos as a youngster and as an adult visited some of the better known menageries around. No matter: I still felt for the confined animals.

It’s Lake Hopatcong on the Big Screen! Saturday, November 8, 2014 On Saturday evening, November 8th, see Lake Hopatcong come alive on the big screen! During its heyday as a major northeast resort, many newsreel crews visited Lake Hopatcong, capturing events from those years on film. Retrieved by the Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum from film vaults around the globe, this newsreel footage of Lake Hopatcong will be shown as it originally appeared at movie theatres from the 1910s to the 1940s. See celebrities, beauty pageants, winter carnivals, boat races, and more filmed at New Jersey’s largest lake.