Don’t forget to take the hour long tour of the grounds of the museum and see all the railroad cars. It is so interesting.
Don’t miss this fascinating tour into New Jersey’s Rail past!
This small local train museum has all sorts of renovated rail cars and their history. There is a small museum and gift shop on the progress on train travel.
The new Alan Wishengrad Pavillion Museum collection
The collection of rail cars and model trains
The former L.S. Young and Sons office
The inside of the office
The inside of the luxury car that once traveled the Morris Line
I have to say that I was very impressed by the Whippany Railway Museum. It was not one of those usual train museums with bric-a-brac and posters and a uniform here and there. The museum building itself is a highly organized history of the rail system not just in New Jersey but all over the country. It showcases how New Jersey played a big role in the growth of the rail system and how transportation has changed over the last 100 years.
The museum displays were highly organized and well documented with all sorts of equipment of how a train functions, lighting equipment for the outdoors, and indoor dining, menus and manners for a…
A Video on the Washington Township Historical Society
I came to the Washington Township Historical Site as part of Morris County’s “Pathways of History” tour and visited the Union Schoolhouse Museum and then the Union Church and Burial Ground that is located right next door on the same property. This sleepy little town was once a bustling manufacturing site with the sawmill and Ghrist around the corner and the Welsh Farms Ice Cream factory up the street from the site.
The Union Schoolhouse Museum at 6 Fairview Avenue
The museum, which was once the town’s schoolhouse, is an engaging site that showcases how the town developed over the last two hundred years. On the…
I visited the Silas Riggs Saltbox House on a visit to the Roxbury Township Historical Society during the Morris County’s “Pathways to History” event. The event gave us a chance to visit many different sites in one day.
The Historical marker in front of the house
The Silas Riggs Saltbox House is part of the King Victorian Home & King Canal Store complex it shares with the Roxbury Historic Trust. The Silas Riggs home is a preserved colonial era, Revolutionary War period residence. It is managed by the Roxbury Township Historical Society as a “Living History Museum”, hosting events that bring a sense of the past to those who step inside (Roxbury Historical Society).
I visited the Obadiah La Tourette Grist & Sawmill during a visit to Long Valley, NJ for Morris County’s “Pathway to History” tour and this was one of the most unusual and interesting sites on the tour. The mill was once one of the most active businesses in the area. The Mill processed and packaged flour for the areas farmers making it one of the most profitable businesses in the region. By the end of WWII, the Mill was itself was becoming antiquated and larger producers could make the product for far less money and the business closed.
I visited the King Canal Store Museum and the King Homestead during the Morris County “Pathways to History” tour in May of 2022. This interesting store was still intact with its merchandise lining the shelves with a pot belly stove in the center of the store which was the center of action when the store was open to the community. All sorts of grocery items and notion items still line the walls.
The inside of the King Canal Store Museum shows the center of the community
The guide explained that upon the death of the owner wanted to store closed and sealed. His daughter only opened it in the 1930’s…
Don’t miss the “Pathways to History” event each May in Morris County, NJ. You can see a lot of the county’s historical sites in a two-day period.
The Florham Park Historical Society’s “Little Red Schoolhouse” Museum is full of artifacts of the town’s rural past. There is even a small classroom set up to show children that times have not changed that much.
The classroom set up is still similar modern classrooms
I visited the “Little Red Schoolhouse” Museum in Florham Park as part of the Morris County’s “Pathways to History” event that is held every May. This interesting little museum showcases the town’s historical collection of items from the 1800’s and 1900’s dealing with all aspects of town life.
In the back there is a small classroom set up keeping with the theme of the building. This lets students who are visiting the building of their counterpart’s early education with desks, ink wells and chalk boards that have not changed that much over the years.
Not much has changed in the modern classroom over the years
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association 2022 “Man of the Year” Annual Dinner March 25th, 2022
Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association honors their “Men of the Year”
On Friday, March 25th, the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association held their annual dinner for their members and their spouses. We chose Roma’s in North Arlington as it held a lot of good memories for the organization. We had held our 2019 dinner here right before everything closed due to the pandemic which had been another memorable night for the organization. Their food and service are excellent and the membership enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
Before dessert was served, President Steve Palladino gave a warm welcome to everyone. We talked about the successes we had in the previous year with our Golf Outing being one of the most prosperous in recent history and one of the best Christmas tree sales for the association. We sold a record number of trees in eleven days that generated a great profit for our scholarship fund.
The Executive Board presented our awards for “Volunteer of the Year” award for the member whose contributions over the last year made the association flourish. The Executive Board chose Mark Stefanelli, whose fundraising for our Annual Golf Outing made it the success it was this year. He really reached out to the community for sponsorship that raised a lot of money for the event and helped raise some of the biggest donations to make the Golf Outing the huge success that it was last year.
Executive Board Members Lou Verdi, Ken Wheeler, Winner Mark Stefanelli, Steve Palladino, Dennis Colton and Justin Watrel
Our “Man of the Year”, a man that honors the Hasbrouck Heights community with their dedication to the town, was resident and volunteer Tony Bonelli. Mr. Bonelli was an athlete at Hasbrouck Heights High School who not only led the school to many winning seasons but played multiple sports while attending.
Executive Board members Lou Verdi, Ken Wheeler, Steve Paladino, winner Tony Bonelli, Dennis Colton and Justin Watrel
He has for the last forty years helped in the Recreation Department, coaching teams, assisting in the grounds upkeep and when he got older contributed by assisting other coaches and lending his support to many of our town’s youth teams.
“Man of the Year” winner Tony Bonelli with his family at the HHMA Dinner
Both men have contributed a lot not just to making us a better organization but making Hasbrouck Heights the community that it is today.
Thank you to all the members who contribute so much over the previous years.
Members of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association having dinner
I have been coming to the Turtle Back Zoo since I was in elementary school when we used to come here on field trips. I remember as a child having lunch on the lawn with my class and feeding the animals. That was back in the 1970’s with the old zoo set up. I had read that the zoo was falling apart by 1995 and they were ready to close it down. Like anything else, these zoos and parks need an update every few years to keep them relevant.
In 2000, as master plan was started in what direction the zoo wanted to go and in the next twenty years, I have seen the results of that hard work. You have many nicer displays, some still being too…
I know that this is not the traditional American holiday but somehow, I really enjoy Groundhog’s Day. It is a lot of fun to visit the zoos and if you ever can go out to Punxsutawney, PA to see the original festival try to do it. I went to Punxsutawney in 2016 and it really is an experience. It is one of those things you should do once in your life. I have been wanting to go back ever since but one thing after another has kept me from going. From the weather to my work schedule, it is tough to take the eight-and-a-half-hour hike down Route 80 but one day I will do it again.
COVID cancelled everything last year but since this is an outdoor event, it was nice to be celebrating the day being able to breathe again. I also wanted to do something different this year after going to the Staten Island Zoo for two years (2019 and 2020-see my write up on this blog). I had read about other Groundhog’s Day festivals and in 2019 I had heard about ‘Essex Ed’ at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, NJ.
The entrance of Turtle Back Zoo at 560 Northfield Avenue
The festival at the zoo had been cancelled last year because of the pandemic and when I looked at their website this year and nothing was mentioned. When I called, the woman on the phone said there would be a ceremony at the zoo at 10:00am so I prepared to go to the zoo the next day.
In 2022, I had planned for what I thought would be an hour trip with traffic going through Newark, NJ and then the turn to Route 280 West. I walked out the door at 8:15am and ended up at the zoo at 9:00am. There was just a bit of traffic when I got into Downtown Newark and it was smooth driving when I got to Exit 10 and then no traffic into West Orange, NJ. This is where Turtle Back Zoo is located.
What surprised me when I got to the zoo was there was no one waiting to get in, no massive number of cars in the parking lot and when I got to the gate at 9:15am, there was no one there. One of the park employees said that they would be opening the gate at 9:45am and then they would start the program at 10:00am.
The entrance of the South Mountain Reservation Park
Since I had almost 45 minutes before the gates would even open, I decided to take a walk around the reservoir that is part of the South Mountain Reservation Park. It was about a mile around the frozen watershed, and I walked about half before I headed back to buy my ticket. What a cool crisp morning. The sun started to peek out as I walked back to the zoo and the woods looked so beautiful with the snow on the ground and trees.
The park in the early afternoon at the bridge
The early morning at the park was rather gloomy
I got into the zoo at 9:45am and headed to the antitheater and there was a small handful of people. It ended up the only people at the ceremony were the volunteer docents, the staff of the zoo, the local politicians and the press. There were maybe six of us who had come for the event. I remembered that there was nothing on the zoo’s website two days before so how would the public know this would be taking place?
Unlike the pageantry of Punxsutawney with bands and comedians and even the children’s choir like at the Staten Island Zoo, the whole ceremony took ten minutes. The county parks commission said a few words, then the County Executive said a few words and then the zoo events commissioner spoke.
The ceremony was held inside in 2023 because it was so cold
Then they introduced “Edwina from Essex”, who had replaced “Essex Ed” this year upon his retirement. I was not sure if the other groundhog was just too old or something else, but the new groundhog came out and was so cute and innocent. She just walked around the small platform and then looked at all of us. The parks commission read a poem from the groundhog. Then it was announced that she predicted an early spring! Everyone applauded and then that was it. Everyone dispersed.
Edwina of Essex at the Turtle Back Zoo made her appearance today
Video of Edwina surf
I was a little surprised that there was not more to the ceremony but later I talked with one of the staff members of the zoo and she told me that there are never that many people who come to this ceremony. I told her that more people would come if they made a bigger deal out of it. There was nothing on the website or on the events calendar leading the to the event and that I had to call in. She just smiled.
In 2023, I called in advance as the website said it was now 8:00am. I confirmed that time with the zoo and arrived before 8:00am. I was able to enter the press area which was inside as the press conference was inside as well (it was really cold that morning). The ceremony again took about fifteen minutes and the handler, the Zoo Director and the Country Freeholder and Executive all said a few words as Edwina munched on a sweet potato, not really paying much attention to us as the sweet potato. Again it was a cute ceremony and when the zoo opened, I was able to tour it again and take better pictures.
Edwina with her trainer on the morning of the ceremony
I had not been to the zoo in about five years, and I just walked around for the next hour watching the animals. I started at the Reptile House and looked at all the lizards and snakes since they were in season right now. The staff was available to us if there were any questions. It was nicely set up and I have to say that those snakes and lizards really do look you over.
The Turtle Back Zoo is a nice walk in the winter
I made my way past the closed carousel and the restaurant, The Savanna Cafe and looked over the bison display. That was very interesting as it was feeding time for them, so they paid no attention to us. I then went to the flamingo pond and what elegant birds. They were talking to one another like we were not there watching them. They just walked around and talked amongst themselves.
The pink flamingos stood guard that afternoon
The wolves were not out, and the poor cougars looked so cold and bored. They just walked around in the snow. In the Petting Zoo, I watched the chickens and the goats.
The chickens were smart and stayed inside on this cold day
I have never had animals look me over the way the rams did. They just stared at me like I was an alien from Outer Space.
The animals just stared at me like I was a foreign being
The otters and seals were outside and were going through their feeding when I walked by, and they seemed very active. They just watched us as they were eating and then swam in the pools but again, I could see how cold they were outside, and they made their way into their burros.
The pelicans in the Penguin House swam around
I walked to the Penguin House and that was a lot of fun. They were also going through their feeding and when they were done, they just dove around the small group of us and looking us over with curiosity. They also looked bored and were so happy to have someone to interact with that afternoon. They just swam right up to me and stared at me through the water. I felt like they were trying to tell me something with the way they were splashing around.
The penguins were doing their own thing that day
My last stop in the zoo was the Sea Turtle Recovery building. It was so nice to see the outreach that the zoo makes to help these animals get better before they are released back into the wild. We have been affecting their habitat so much with over-fishing that they are getting tangled in nets and hit by boats.
The whole tour of the zoo took about an hour and it was a nice walk. The sun had come out by this point and the skies started to clear. After I finished at the zoo, I decided to take a full walk around the reservoir and took a left and walked all around it. What a nice day for a stroll.
This poor cow just looked at me and begged me for help
I started getting hungry and did not know what was around the zoo. I had not noticed the pizzeria or the McDonalds across the street from the zoo when I entered.
The front of McDonald’s across the street from the zoo
In 2023, I was starved after the ceremony and I headed over to McDonalds (which I had remembered from the year before) and had a second breakfast. I love that Sausage Mcmuffin with Egg!
I’m sorry but breakfast at McDonalds is wonderful!
My review of McDonalds at 573 Northfield Avenue in West Orange, NJ:
With the restaurant being closed in the zoo, in 2022 though, I stopped at McLoone’s Boathouse at 9 Cherry Lane on the other side of the reservoir from the zoo. It looked closed to me from the walk, but I heard music and decided to investigate. What a nice lunch in both 2022 and 2023!
McLoone’s Boathouse is right on the reservoir of path located in the park and the bar area has the nicest views of the park. The inside of the restaurant was rustic with a main dining room with a roaring fire going in the fireplace. The large bar area had high-tops where you had views of the reservoir.
My server, Nikki, could not have been nicer. We had such a wonderful conversation, and she was so on top of things. She made some good recommendations for lunch, and I had a Grilled Cheddar Cheese with Short Ribs and a Coke.
McLoone’s sandwich menu
McLoone’s makes a Coke look fancy
The sandwich really hit the spot on a cool afternoon. You could taste the red wine that the short ribs had marinated in. It accented the sharp cheese so well and the crisp buttery bread. The side salad was a nice substitute for French fries (I ordered the same lunch both years).
The Grilled Cheese with Short Ribs at McLoone’s Boathouse is excellent!
While I was eating it was a pleasure to watch the people walk by having a nice stroll in the park. I can tell between COVID and the snow, people needed to get out of the house. Smiling faces were the thing that I saw as people passed by.
The view of the park with McLoone’s in the background
After I finished lunch, it was home for me. Even though it was a smaller ceremony, it was nice to see the groundhog again. Maybe ‘Edwina from Essex’ will be right, and it will be an early spring. The next six weeks will tell.
Happy Groundhog’s Day!
The ceremony at the Turtle Back Zoo with the handlers
Edwina doing her thing at the Groundhog’s Day ceremony
Edwina getting a treat from her handler
Edwina eating away
Edwina enjoying a snack
In 2026:
I returned to the Turtle Back Zoo in 2026 and was greeted by the snow piled high in the parking lot from the recent storm from the week before. It was 21 degrees when I got there so the ceremony would be held inside again. There was not much traffic on the road so I got to the zoo by 9:00am and had an hour before the ceremony. So I walked across the street and went to McDonald’s as I had in the past for a second breakfast.
The McDonald’s at 573 Northfield Avenue
The newly renovated McDonald’s dining room
It has become kind of a tradition to have breakfast at McDonald’s before seeing the groundhog both here, in Staten Island and in Punxsutawny, PA when I am out there for that ceremony. There is nothing better than the Sausage McMuffin with Egg before bracing for the cold weather.
The Sausage McMuffin Value Meal on Groundhog’s Day in 2026
They make the best breakfast sandwiches
The hashbrowns really warm you up
After a good breakfast and a little rest, it was off to see the groundhog. Unlike Punxsutawney and Staten Island, the ceremony in West Orange has been held inside the Education Center over the past few years because of the cold.
The ceremony inside the Education Center
Out of the three ceremonies I have attended in the past, this has got to be the quickest. The whole ceremony still is only about twenty minutes without much pomp. I am always surprised by this. I have to admit there was a bigger crowd this year than the last two times I visited in the past.
The start of the ceremony
The Zoo Director talked first about the history of the program at the Turtle Back Zoo and welcoming Lady Edwina to the program:
Video One the opening ceremony
Then the Zoo Director lead opening remarks that she received from Edwina about the state of Winter. There will be six more weeks of winter coming. It has been so cold that her predict carries some weight. Then Edwina made her appearance to join us in the celebration. The whole ceremony took about fifteen minutes.
The Directors opening talk
After the ceremony was over, the County Director gave a talk on the Parks system and it history. He also talked about the growth of the zoo and items current status. It seems the zoos visitation has grown over the last several years.
The County Executive gave his talk
Then the ceremony was over and Edwina just roamed around her pen eating small snacks and charming everyone who caught her attention. She ran and frolicked around and had a good time.
Then Lady Edwina arrived out of her burrow
Being fed by her trainer
Sniffing her snack
Edwina roaming around her pen
Edwina enjoying attention
Wondering around her lair, she roamed around and ran from person to person getting their attention. I just think she enjoyed being out of her pen.
Enjoying a snack
Enjoying corn at the end of the ceremony
She looked so cute eating her piece of corn and looking back at us
Edwina heading home after the ceremony probably to have a nap
At the end of the ceremony, it was time to go home. Every time they tried to get Edwina back in her traveling cage, she just ran around more enjoying all the attention. By the time I left, they still could not catch her. She must have liked all the attention on her special day.
My other Groundhog’s Day blogs from previous years and places:
Day Thirty-Seven: Happy Groundhog’s Day from Punxsutawney, PA
The students of my Business 101 class keep dazzling me.
The Creation of the Case Study Project “I’ve got a Golden Ticket to Bergen Community College-Homecoming 2022”:
I have been teaching “Introduction to Business 101” at Bergen Community College for several years now and in the era of COVID, it has been especially difficult. With businesses shutting down never to reopen getting students to understand that business must go on and pivot is a difficult thing to do. You have to learn to adapt and survive or else everything fails.
In my live classes, I open my consulting company, “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, for business and the whole class bands together and we have one big project. In the era of COVID and online learning, I was lucky that I was able to teach one of the live classes on the Bergen Community College, Paramus Campus. It was such a pleasure welcoming students back to campus with live lectures and conversing with them.
What I discovered later on is that we were the only class on campus that night and it was pretty gloomy walking the halls all by myself late on a Friday evening. The upside of all of this is that we had the whole campus to stretch out in and later in the class I changed rooms to a more formal lecture room for the presentation. I thought this was more COVID safe for the students.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. corporate logo of the six trees
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division. Each business does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO & Consultant Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
My welcome to Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. from the CEO of the company:
While my other class worked on their case study project, “Market Street Candy & Confections”, a 100-year-old candy store concept, “I’ve got a Golden Ticket to Bergen Community College-Homecoming 2022”, a project promoting Bergen Community College to the Alumni got off to the ground running.
In a class that has to stay socially distanced and met only once a week it got difficult.
Our Logo from the novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by author Ronald Dahl.
“I’ve got a Golden Ticket to Bergen Community College”
Every semester it is the same thing with the students. Some take the project seriously and some think it is a chore and go back to looking at their cellphones the whole semester. As usual, those are the students whose work shows it and gets the lower grades.
When I put my executive team together this semester, I found a nice combination of students who really worked well together. How I choose my executives is the same way any CEO would, I get a copy of their resume which serves as my first paper for the class. I work with the students to be sure that their resume is ready for future job interviews and internships or transfers to another four-year school. This is where I can see where the students experience lies and what skills they can perform.
The second paper I have the students write is “What would I do Better?”, a two-page paper on a situation on a job or extra-curricular activity that went terribly wrong and how they might have fixed it. The paper always shows me how the student would handle adversity under pressure. It also shows me the student’s character. This is how I pick my executives plus I use my gut instinct on how they act in class. Almost 95% of the time, I am correct.
The students I chose for my Executive Team were all Bi or Tri-Lingual, all were pretty ambitious and I thought had a sense of creativity. One of my Executives went AWOL after the second class and one of his Team Members took over the VP roll. I could not have asked for a more prepared student of the role of Vice-President. This is when students can surprise you with their flexibility and creativity under pressure.
So, every week we had Board Meetings to check progress and see how each Team was performing and getting their work done. I always have my procrastinators but for the most part everything was handled on time and towards the last two weeks I saw the students ban together to get the work done. Still, I had a few students either go AWOL or just drop the class and that was it so there was some rearranging to do along the way. This is what happens in a real corporation, so it was just like real life.
The night of the presentation, it was nice to see the students all dressed up. All the women looked so professional in suits, skirts, slacks and dresses while most of the men were in either suit and tie or jacket and tie. I few I will have to teach how to iron a shirt or tie a tie correctly.
I could not have been prouder of my student executives on their presentation. They put together a wonderful presentation in promoting Bergen Community College to Alumni and students, promoting our Athletic program with student athletic and parent events with Alumni attendance and meals that would bring Alumni together in the “Bulldog” tradition. All throughout the presentation we kept the “Willy Wonka” theme in all of our events.
What really impressed me was the touching dedication to the late Gene Wilder, the star of the original 1971 film from the Executives to both him and his widow, Susan Wilder. I think that showed the heart of the project of how much this film means to people.
Congratulations everyone on this excellent project and Happy New Year!
*Please watch and read the different parts of the project to see its progress.
The Project:
“I’ve got a Golden Ticket to Bergen Community College-Homecoming 2022”
mywalkinmanhattan 