I took time out of my walking project in Manhattan after finishing the Chelsea neighborhoods, walking the 13-mile Broadway walk for the sixth time and preparing to do “The Great Saunter” on my own next week to go ‘down the shore’ as we say in New Jersey (it’s never ‘Down to the Shore”, that takes too long).
I had never been to Somers Point, NJ before. It is a small waterfront community across the bay from Ocean City, NJ, which is a popular resort and recreation town. Somers Point is low key with wonderful restaurants and bars, a popular waterfront and beaches on The Great Egg Harbor Bay and beautiful little turn of the century beach homes and a town steeped in history. I read about three historical spots on Shore Drive in the heart of the Historic District and had wanted to visit them.
Somers Point, NJ by The Great Egg Harbor Bay on Shore Avenue by the Somers Mansion
There was also a traditional ‘Jersey Shore” seafood restaurant named “Smitty’s Clam Bar (The Clam Bar at Smith’s Cove as it is known officially) that I had read about in the magazine “Edible New Jersey” back in 2019 and had wanted to try it. It had been on my “to do/to eat” list for three years but COVID closed the place and it just opened back up a few weeks ago. So there was some things that I wanted to do and see at this quaint Jersey shore town.
I had to plan this visit like I was going abroad as the historical societies were only open a certain hours and were not going to stay open past those times. This on top of the fact that schools were just letting out for the summer and the chance of getting to the shore with no traffic on the Garden State Parkway would be next to impossible after this weekend.
So off we went at 8:00am to get to Somers Point by 10:00am. It really was two hours with traffic (of course) especially when you go past the Newark exits. The airport exits still do create traffic jams all over the highway even if you are in the fast lane.
We managed to get to Somers Point by 10:30am and the traffic out to the town was minimal. Most of the traffic was going over the bridge to Ocean City, NJ with its popular boardwalk. It was nice turning off to the quaint bay side town of Somers Point, NJ. The nice part was all the destinations that we would be going to were within three blocks from one another and the main road back to the Parkway.
Reaching the Marina District at Somers Point
The three historical sites that I wanted to visit were the Somers Point Historical Society, which specializes in the history of the town, the Atlantic County Historical Society, which specializes in the history of the entire County of Atlantic, NJ and the Somers Family Mansion.
For a late lunch, we would be eating at Smitty’s Clam Bar on the bay, which I had read about in an article in “Edible New Jersey” so I was looking forward to dinner there. The restaurant had been there for over fifty years at the shore.
The sunshine in the bay
The three historical sites did not take much time to see even with a guided tour. Each took about an hour and we were able to see all three with plenty of time to tour the historical district of the town and the shore line. The area around the bay was pretty compact.
Arriving on Shore Road in Somers Point on a beautiful sunny day
Somers Point History:
The Somers family has had influence in this area since they settled here in 1695. They had bought land that stretched to Egg Harbor and the original homestead was a log cabin where the Somers Mansion is today. The family had businesses in shipping, farming and transportation. The last of the family members moved out of the house in 1937 and donated the house and land to the town (Somers Point town history)
Our first stop was Somers Point Historical Society at 745 Shore Road (See TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com). This small historical society was founded in 1987 as a result of the “Save Old City Hall” campaign and helped establish the historic district with the State of New Jersey. The building was originally a Baptist Church that was built in 1886 and was the town library before it became the historical society.
The Somers Point Historical Society at 745 Shore Road
The Somers Point Historical Society is a pleasant little museum that features the history of the town. The Society is concentrated in the main room of the old church with displays on all sides.
The Somers Point Historical Society displays are in one large room
There is a display on its nautical past with shipbuilding and fishing industries, the region’s retail past with a trolley system that used to run around the shoreline to Atlantic City, and town historical display of the Somers family, the founding family of the town and relics from the USS Somers, named after Commandant Richard Somers.
The memorial to Commandant Richard Somers and the USS Somers
Items the museum features on Shipbuilding and Fishing
Each display gives a glimpse of the town and how it has changed from primarily a community of nautical businesses to a year-round community of tourism and recreation. Once the Garden State Parkway was constructed, it opened all these small towns by the shore to the entire state and changing the population growth.
The museum even showed the changes in transportation to the community with an old trolley system that used to travel up and down the shore for things like shopping and entertainment. It is amazing that almost fifty years since they got rid of the trolley system, they saw how useful it was and energy efficient.
The ‘Christmas shopping at the shore’ display
When talking with the volunteers at the museum what is nice is that they co-sponsor all sorts of special events like lectures and movie nights with the Ocean City Historical Museum. Their next event is showing the film “High Society” with Grace Kelly, a frequent visitor of Ocean City with her family.
The Somers Point Historical Society is filled with all sorts of artifacts of the town and really brings Somers Point to light. The only problem with the museum is that it is open very limited hours so plan your trip accordingly.
The next site that we drove to be the Atlantic Count Historical Museum at 907 Shore Drive, whose mission is to present the story of the entire county’s history. They have an extensive collection of objects from before the founding of the County (even before the State was founded) until today.
The library at the Society is used by people checking out their family’s genealogy and background with the help of the librarian and the history of the town. They have an extensive collection of records of Somers Point in the library.
The Atlantic County Historical Society at 907 Shore Drive
Most of the exhibitions are in the lower level of the museum where our tour guide, Sid, took us around and showed us the different displays. I have to say that each display is somewhat overloaded with historical objects that needed a clearer definition.
Each one represented a room in a home over a period of time, but the artifacts were from different eras with some from the 1880’s to others being from the 1920’s and 30’s. They were very interesting but just needed less on display.
The Living Room had multiple items as way of entertainment with musical instruments and things like radios and phonographs. The furniture came from both the 1890’s with classic Victorian looks and 1920’s furniture that was in fashion of the day.
The Dining Room was set from the 1920’s but would have been at home in the 1930’s or 50’s as well as formal entertainment was the highest form of flattery and it was the job of the host to show off their best crystal, china and silver to their guests.
For recreation, there were all sorts of board games, puzzles and other amusements that adults and teens would have played over the years. They also had an extensive toy section with dolls, dollhouses, clothing and objects to prepare children for their roles in life.
Children’s playthings changed during the Victorian age to about the 1930’s
The bedroom and manner of dress changed as well, and the Atlantic County Historical Society has an extensive collection of clothing both men’s and women’s that includes coats, hats, gloves and shoes. Even in the bedroom display, you can see how the roles started to change during the Industrial Revolution.
The Bedroom display had all sorts of items needed to make living more comfortable including quilts, chamber pots and basins. There was even a bedwarmer, but these items were no longer part of the household as fireplaces and then steam heat came into the home.
Even the local industries of Shipbuilding and Fishing came into play in the displays both in the lower level and the upper level with the advent of tourism and modern swimming, sunning and dining at the shore.
Shipbuilding and Fishing were big industries in Somers Point
An early rolling chair from the Boardwalk in Atlantic City with amusement advertisements to show the modern-day leisure with the five-day work week.
The upstairs even had a complete office to former Senator Frank “Hap” Farley who helped open up the State of New Jersey to tourism with the opening of the Garden State Parkway.
The recreation of Senator Farley’s office on the third floor of the museum
After our tour, Sid gave us the history of the museum and how they were making changes with the museum displays and the programing they were planning in the future. There is a lot to see and do at the museum but take your time to wonder around the museum on your own.
Our last stop on the tour of historical sites was the Somers Mansion, the home of the Somers family from the 1700’s to the 1930’s.
The family mansion was lived in by five generations of the Somers family and the house had been added onto over the years. The home was built between 1720 and 1726 and was lived until the last family members moved out in 1937. The home was deeded to the Atlantic County Historical Society in 1937 by the last two family members living in the house (Somers Mansion NJ Park.com).
The mansion from the highway
It became a NJ State Park site in 1941 and the home was stripped back down to its original look from the 1700’s (it had a more Victorian look with all the additions over the years). Inside the home, the mansion has been brought back to the late 1700’s to early 1800’s.
The historic plaque
Inside I hate to admit there was not much to look at nor could you take pictures inside the home. There was some period furniture both upstairs and downstairs and there was a china cabinet that held some of the family china that was donated to the house as well. In fact, all that was left from the family that the tour guide told us was the china, a bedwarmer, and a few pieces of furniture.
The mansion overlooking the bay
The “Keeping” or “Everything” room was on the first floor with a giant hearth for cooking and heat and where all the housework would have been done and the back part of the main room was for dining. You have to climb with a rope banister (not the safest thing) to the upstairs where there was a bedroom with a fireplace and a smaller room in the back with a spinning wheel and crib for a baby.
There was not much to see in the house. The tour guide did not seem too interested in telling us the history or any stories of the house, so we made our way outside to see the replanted gardens.
The local Garden Club of Somers Point planted a recreation of the old kitchen garden with fruits and vegetable that would have been used in the colonial kitchen.
The recreated ‘Kitchen Garden’ of the Somers Mansion
The Kitchen Garden was planted for the summer season and all the things that the family would have served on their table for the main meal were planted in the backyard.
I revisited the gardens in the Summer of 2026 and the vegetables were in full bloom when I walked around the property. The house was closed for the day but you could still walk around the grounds.
Somers Mansion Museum
The Somers Mansion Museum
The garden club did a nice job keeping the grounds and the gardens looking nice. The inside of the house needed a lot of work along with a curator to design all the objects inside to look like a period home.
Once upon a time, there was a trolley that ran down the street tying the communities together
After the tour of the three sites, we took a driving tour of the historical part of the town, driving all the side streets between Bay and Shore Roads. Many of these old homes have been renovated and added to so the historical district looks quite modern.
The Bay Front Historic District
The Bay Front Historic District
The Somers Avenue block
The historic beach homes
There were a lot of homes big and small that dotted the streets all in different conditions. You could see that a lot of the homes were built at the turn of the last century.
This district was established in 1989 and is about a mile long stretching from 528 Shore Road to the Somers Mansion. The Atlantic and Suburban Line Trolley once traveled along Shore Road that reached the town of Absecon. The homes and businesses reflect Gothic Revival, Colonial, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Foursquare and bungalow styles (Somers Point Historical Society).
The next stop was the grave site of Robert Somers which was near the elementary school on New York Avenue.
The grave site of the family members is in a tiny park off the downtown
This small cemetery was once part of the extensive Somers family estate and has the graves of the immediate Somers family until the early 1800’s (Somers Point Historical Society).
After touring the historic streets, parks and museums, we wanted to take a break.
The sign is still the same
Having some time before our late lunch at Smitty’s, I got nostalgic, and we stopped at the local Dairy Queen at 501 Shore Road for a snack. I had not been at a Dairy Queen in years, and I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a Banana Split which is my favorite thing at Dairy Queen.
The Dairy Queen Banana Split
Still the best and has not changed since 1972
Yes, the price had gone up over the years and the little yellow plastic container that they used to serve it in is no longer part of it, it still tasted the same as it had in 1972 and that is what I loved about it. My aunt had the Chocolate Chip Mint ice cream and we just sat outside at the tables and talked about the visits.
After our snack, we walked it off with a visit to see the man whose family the town was named after, Robert Somers. This small park is also on Shore Road between the mansion and the grave site.
The statue of Master Commandant Robert Somers in the park
In 2022, the irony was that when we got back in the car and still had what I thought was an hour and a half before dinner, I found out that Smitty’s had been open the whole time. The Internet was wrong about the times, and they opened at 11:30am during the summer months. I thought they opened at 4:30pm. So, I had no appetite for dinner.
The Smith Marina sign throws you
At first, we could not find the place because there is no sign that says “Smitty’s Clam Bar”. It is actually named “The Clam Bar at Smith Marina” at 910 Bay Avenue. “Smitty’s” is a nickname the locals have given it over the years. I had just read and the people at all the historical sites confirmed that they just lost their lease, and the marina has been sold so this will be their last season operating. So, I was glad we visited when we did.
‘Smitty’s Clam Bar” The Clam Bar at Smith Marina at 910 Bay Avenue
“Smitty’s” is one of those classic Jersey shore restaurants that has never changed since its opening except for the prices. You go there for deep-fried everything and I got a kick out of the waitress when my aunt asked her what she recommended and she said, “Oh, the Salmon with the Miso sauce and fresh vegetables is really good.”
The Dining Room on a quiet Friday afternoon
I looked at her like she was nuts. When I said that we came down for the fried fish she gave us more time with the menu.
The lunch specials at “Smitty’s” in the Summer of 2022. There was no Salmon with Miso Sauce here.
I ended up ordering the New England Clam Chowder ($3.95) which was thick and rich and loaded with clams and touched off with cream. The reviewers were right about it, and it lived up to its reputation. What didn’t live up to the restaurant was its prices.
Enjoying the New England Clam Chowder
It was delicious
The entrees were all $3.00-$5.00 more than the menu posted online and that really surprised me. Thank God I brought enough cash because they are still a ‘cash only’ restaurant.
This was the reason why I saw so many people on the outside counter sharing meals. Most of them probably did not have enough cash. In the era of COVID and people not even accepting cash as payment, I could not believe that the restaurant still had this archaic form of payment.
The counter on the outside of the The Clam Bar
The Smith Marina from the side
The Fried Shrimp with French Fries and Cole Slaw at Smitty’s
The Key Lime pie
I returned for lunch in the Summer of 2026, I had the order the chowder again and I had to order the Shrimp Po Boy that had been mentioned online a lot. I finished with another piece of Key Lime Pie, which I had not eaten since my last trip to the restaurant. The food and the service are really good. The service was a lot of local college students working at the restaurant for the summer. They were extremely friendly.
They had a lot of lunch specials that afternoon. What I found strange in my trip to the restaurant in 2026 was how quiet the restaurant was for lunch. I was the only one eating in the dining room while most people ate at the counter outside with the flies and seagulls.
The lunch specials
The catch of the day
The New England Clam Chowder
The chowder
My lunch was delicious. I had the Shrimp Po Boy with local lettuce and tomato and a homemade remoulade sauce on a fresh crusty bread. With a side of soup, it made the perfect meal.
My lunch that afternoon
The shrimp Po Boy
The fried shrimp Po Boy
The key Kim pie
Tasting the delicious Key Lime Pie
The dining room was really quiet that afternoon. Most people were eating outside and enjoying the beautiful weather
When I left after lunch, the dinner crowd started to crowd the bar area outside
After lunch was finished, we walked around the Marina for a bit. It really looked like a place on Martha’s Vineyard or even some of the places I knew on Long Beach Island that I had seen in previous late summer days. I can imagine that it will be going upscale as soon as its sold and the classic look will be gone.
Smith Marina where The Clam Bar is located. How much will this change in the future?
(*Note to all readers: Smitty’s just signed a contract with the marina and will be open in the summer of 2023)
After lunch in 2026, I walked around the restaurant that probably has not changed in fifty years. It is still one of the few handful of restaurants in the state that still is ‘cash only’. There is a history to all of this and you have to walk around the restaurant to understand it.
The historical menu sign
The marina
The slip
The bay bridge in the background of the rescue boat
The historical sign at the beach
We drove down Bay Avenue after lunch and stopped by the small beach where the last of the swimmers were finishing up for the day. I have to say one thing. Somers Point, New Jersey is a really charming town.
The Marina Park
The beach on the bay
As we headed out of town on Shore Avenue passing all the sites we had visited in the morning, I wondered how many people in town appreciate all the little ‘gems’ located right at their doorsteps. For those of you who have not visited, it is a nice day out.
When I revisited the town again in the early October of 2025, the summer had not totally disappeared and it was in the mid 80’s in the afternoon. I explored the town again especially the interesting little park under the highway. What spectacular views of the bay.
The Bridge Park
Somers Point has so much to offer in just a small area and I look forward to my next trip here to experience Smitty’s again (they closed for the season a week after Labor Day). The sunsets are not to be missed.
The Church Landing Farm is open only a limited amount of hours so please plan your trip accordingly. Take time to walk the grounds and admire the views.
The Christmas tree in the kitchen of the Church Landing Farmhouse.
I was lucky in that I had a personal tour with the President of the Historical Society and she took me room by room explaining who designed and decorated the rooms and the detail work that went into them. We went room by room to see all the decorations.
We then entered the room that Santa met all the visitors when they were at the Open House. The area was just off the foyer and was the first room that greeted visitors once they walked through the front door.
I unfortunately reached the Church Landing Farm too late in the day and I just must have missed the staff there. I was knocking on the front door and back door looking for someone to talk to to see if I could still get in to see the house. I could not find anyone considering there were three cars in the parking lot outside mine.
I could see from the outside the period furniture and paintings that were part of the furnishings of the house. I could also see the hallways but still no one in sight.
I was able to tour the grounds though and walk through the small…
I have been to Lucky Larry’s Luncheonette, which is one town over from me, for both breakfast and lunch and I have to say that the food, service and atmosphere are very homey and down to earth. It is a real neighborhood spot, one of those places that the locals hang out to meet one another and catch up on town gossip.
The Lucky Larry’s logo
Blog under the old Lucky Larry’s:
It is more of a deli than a restaurant so there is limited seating but that does not stop the crowd of diners from eating and relaxing there. They will even bring your order to the…
In the Spring of 2022, I had been sent the notice that the County of Morris, New Jersey was having a two-day Open House of many of their historical sites for touring and for special events for a program entitled “The Pathways of History: Museum and Site Tours of Morris County, NJ”.
The “Pathways to History” event takes place every May
The weekend event spread to small museums, historical homes and cemeteries all over the County with walking tours and lectures at various sites. Having never been or even heard of many of these sites, I was interested in visiting as many as I could for my blog, “VisitingaMuseum.com” which is here on WordPress.com as well.
I plotted my two days of the event and tried to organize the trip so that we could see as many sites as we could. The event asked the sites to open one of the two days as most of these sites are small and have a tough time getting volunteers. So, I tried to coordinate the sites I had wanted to visit with visiting other places along the way such as farm stands I wanted to visit and restaurants I wanted to try.
The map of historical sites that I wanted to visit
I recruited my aunt to help me take pictures of the sites and travel with me to get her opinions on each of the sites. She also wanted to get out of the house and travel with me so off we went. We started the day with a good breakfast at the Blue Cafe at 273 Valley Boulevard in Wood Ridge, NJ (See my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaSheStringinNYC@Wordpress.com). I like the hometown atmosphere and service of the restaurant.
The Blue Cafe at 273 Valley Boulevard in Wood Ridge, NJ
Not wanting to snack along the way, both my aunt and I had a large breakfast. She had an Egg White Omelet with bacon and tomatoes with a side of hashbrowns and toast ($8.95). I had the Pancake Platter which came with two pancakes and two scrambled eggs with a side of link sausage ($8.95). I have to say that everything came to the table promptly and was delicious. The portion sizes were very fair, and the service could not have been nicer.
We needed a good breakfast at Blue Cafe for the long journey
My pancakes were perfectly cooked and had that nice, malted taste and the scrambled eggs had a nice taste of clarified butter. The sausage had a nice spicy sage taste to it. My aunt could not finish her eggs and asked me to take some. They were delicious as well. The flavors of the bacon and the tomatoes had a nice complexity to them and the hashbrowns were well seasoned and crisp.
My pancakes and eggs that morning was delicious
With a nice breakfast behind us and a warm sunny day, we both looked forward to visiting the sites without stopping much. We travelled down Route 80 and then down Route 206, which once upon a time was one of the only highways to travel through the State of New Jersey. It took us down to Route 24 through the rolling hills of Chester, NJ and to our first stop, the Obadiah La Tourette Grist & Mill at 12 East Mill Road in Long Valley, NJ.
East Mill Road lead into a quaint little town that looked like something out of the early 1800’s with older clapboard homes and historic churches with old cemeteries surround them in a highly wooded spot. It reminded me of my trips through the Hudson River Valley.
The Obadiah La Tourette Grist & Mill at 12 East Mill Road
The Grist Mill was fascinating. The mill has been a working mill from the early 1800’s until about the late 1930’s, during the Depression when they needed to expand operations. The place had pretty much been abandoned until the 1980’s when it had been falling apart by the side of the road and concerned citizens got together to save it. It is now going through a renovation.
What the mill looked like in 1993
When I toured both the upstairs and the downstairs, upstairs was all the equipment to move the wheat and bundle it for processing and for milling. I even saw amongst the equipment the old portion size bagging attachment where the final packaging took place.
On the lower level of the mill, you could see the stream under the building and the turbine wheels of the old mill still placed in the stream and along the side of the mill. You could view from the deck the workings of the equipment and how the stream powered the mill itself. You could also see the flow of the stream and how it is now affecting the structure of the building.
It is amazing how we survived with just Mother Nature at one time
The staff takes immense pride in the building structure and how the renovation is coming along as well as its unique history. The tour guides could not have been more enthusiastic about explaining to myself, my aunt and the other visitors about the history of the mill, the way they milled the flour and the ongoing structure improvements. It was also so picturesque with the small flowing stream and woods that surrounded it.
We walked along the property back to the car and please to all readers, watch yourself on the road because for some reason everyone was speeding that morning and there is no sidewalk. Remember to walk to the back of the buildings to view the stream, the woods and all the historical homes in this little hamlet.
Our next stop was on the other side of the stream and around the corner from the mill. We visited the Union Schoolhouse & Union Church and Burial Ground at 6 Fairview Avenue in Long Valley, NJ. The Union Schoolhouse has been converted into Washington Township Historical Society building housing its collection. The Union Church burned down years earlier and was left is a stone structure that you can view inside and out. The church is surrounded by the old cemetery where prominent members of the community are buried.
The Washington Township Historical Society at 6 Fairview Avenue
The Union Schoolhouse/Washington Township Historical Society is a well-organized two-story building, that houses a collection of antique objects from the community. There was a set up a school room, selection of quilts, old dishware, antique furniture and on the first floor a complete display of the Welsh Farms Ice Cream Company and Dairy.
The second-floor school room reflects the buildings past as a schoolhouse
The original ice cream factory (no longer exists) used to be right down the road from the old schoolhouse and members of the Welsh family are buried in the cemetery. I thought that was fascinating as I never knew it had been started here.
The local Welsh family started the Welsh Farm Dairy and Ice Cream factory down the road
The Welsh Family cemetery plot
I toured through the old church with another patron and the tour guide while my aunt, who did not want to walk on the uneven ground of the cemetery got her own verbal tour with one of the members of the historical society. We got to walk through the cemetery and see the graves of the prominent families that were once members of the church. We also got to see how the staff used tombstone cleaner to make the tombstones brighter.
The Union Church and Cemetery
What was also impressive about the building was the beautiful flower garden that lined the stone wall between the schoolhouse and the cemetery. One of the local Garden Clubs must have planted and taken care of the gardens because they were so well pruned and planted. It was so colorful with an array of flowers line with blooming tulips along the path.
The old Washington Township Schoolhouse is now the museum
On the way back down Route 24, my aunt and I decided to stop for a snack. We stopped at an old favorite mine that I have been visiting since the early 1970’s, the Hacklebarney Farm Cider Mill at 104 State Park Road which is right outside Hacklebarney State Park, which I had also visited many times as a child for walks and barbecues.
Hacklebarney Farm is always busy especially on the weekends
The Hacklebarney Cider Mill Farm at 104 State Park Road
I love coming to Hacklebarney Farm Cider Mill at all times of the year. It is especially best in the late Spring and in the Fall months when the leaves are changing, and all the Halloween events are happening. The farm had opened their hot dog stand early on customer demand the owner explained to us as well as made sure the bakery was well-stocked for visitors on the tours.
The hot dog stand and the work buildings remind you that this is a working farm and not a tourist trap
The Apple Cider Doughnuts are delicious here
We toured through the bakery, and I ordered a Cider doughnut and a Fruit Dumpling for dessert, and we shared a Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla and two Cokes for our lunch (See my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com). It was so nice to just sit and relax and enjoy the weather.
The wonderful baked goods at the Hacklebarney Farm bakery
The Quesadilla was well made and stuffed with lots of chicken and cheese and the salsa had a nice spicy flavor to it. I love the crispiness of their Cider doughnuts with lots of cinnamon sugar on top of them. The Fruit Dumpling was filled with fresh blueberries and strawberries and had nice buttery sweetness to it. We devoured everything in record time, and I could not believe how hungry we both were that afternoon. Maybe it was all the driving or maybe it was just looking over all the rolling hills and the soft breezes from the field.
Enjoying the farm on a warm day
We got a chance to talk to the owner again when she came over with an old picture of the farmhouse that her great-grandparents had built and the pride that they took in all their baked goods. She told us that everything is made from scratch in their kitchen and all the fruits are hand peeled for their desserts. In the Fall, I have watched them make their apple cider on property and you can watch the steps to make the cider you will buy inside (when it is in season, make the trip out here for it. It is well worth the trip).
The Hacklebarney Farm family farmhouse
The gourmet items in the farm shop are always a treat
After a relaxing afternoon of relaxing, playing with their dogs and walking around the farm, we left for Downtown Chester, which is located right down Route 24 and on the other side of Route 206. We passed the old shell of a building that was once Larison’s Turkey Farm Inn which closed in 2009.
The old Larison’s Turkey Farm building is a reminder of changing times
Closed for 15 years the buildings are beginning to rot and fall down
I had eaten here a few times with my family over the years and you used to be able to get a full turkey dinner for a reasonable price. Forget trying to visit the place at Thanksgiving. The place is now falling apart, and I read online that they want to knock down this historic landmark for a strip mall. It would not be a bad thing as the building looks like it is going to fall down on its own. Notice the roof is rotting.
Our next site on the listing was the Chester Historical Society or otherwise known as the Chester’s Rockefeller Center at 137 Main Street. Main Street Chester was a madhouse on Saturday as there was a food truck festival going on in the park downtown and traffic was all over the place. We must have circled the downtown three times looking for the Historical Society.
The soon to be Chester Historical Society at 137 Main Street
We finally found the empty building that was falling apart right next to the park. All that the historical society was an empty building that had been moved to the park and a kiosk that was closed off by the food truck festival. When we were able to stop and talk to the members who were there, they were closing up shop for the afternoon.
They said they were showing the plans for the renovation of the building and how they wanted to store the collection. That is what amounted to their current historical society. It was a work in progress. The little building was built in 1897 and was ordered from the Sears & Roebuck Company.
The Chester Historical Society is just beginning to be established
We quickly got out of downtown Chester and headed back up Route 206 North and took some back roads to our final destination that afternoon, the Silas Riggs Saltbox House/The Roxbury Township Historical Society at 213 Main Street in Ledgewood, NJ and the King Canal Store and the King Victorian Home at 209 and 211 Main Street right next store to the house. The sites were closing up shop for the afternoon, but they were nice enough to stay open so that we could have a long visit.
I am so happy that we could visit the sites as the people running them were so interesting and they took such good care of the sites. A few of the volunteers said that this always happens that someone comes late, and they were hoping to close on time, but they take such pride in all these sites that they did not mind staying for us.
Our first stop was the King Canal Store. The store had been sealed off after the death of Albert King by his wife, Emma. After his passing, she followed his wishes and closed the store down only opening it during the Great Depression when locals needed supplies.
After Mrs. King’s death in 1975, the store and her home, the King Homestead were bought by the Rotary Club of Roxbury, NJ and they set out to renovate and restore the site. The King Canal Store was left untouched and is a step back in time when the Morris Canal was a major form of transportation in the state. The store had been open since the Civil War and closed on the eve of the Great Depression even though the family had been seeing declining sales since the closing of the canal to traffic.
The King Canal Store is a step back in time when this was the neighborhood gathering place
Next to the King Canal Store at 211 Main Street is the King Homestead built in the Queen Ann style by Albert King for his family. The house was closed by that point, but I was able to walk the grounds and on the porch. It is a spectacular home.
The last place on the tour before we ended the first day of touring sites was the Silas Riggs Saltbox House at 213 Main Street. The home had been Emma Riggs King’s parents and it had been moved to this site when it was threatened with demolition. The home is a perfect example of the “Saltbox” architectural style.
The Silas Riggs Saltbox House/The Roxbury Historical Society at 213 Main Street
I loved touring this smart little house. Talk about well taken care of and well appointed. The home is well decorated with vintage antiques and artifacts and when you walk in the door you have this welcoming feeling. The house is so warm and cosey that volunteers have commented that people feel that they could move in here.
The front room of the Silas Riggs Saltbox House
What I enjoyed about the Silas Riggs Saltbox house is that the home was decorated in period furnishings that all worked to welcome you into the home. It was almost like the people who lived there just left for the afternoon.
What I really liked about the house was the back-room kitchen with the open hearth. Not only was it a perfect place to cook but it must have been the gathering place for the family and also heated the house. One of the volunteers told me that they had a successful “Soup Dinner” fundraiser during the holidays where they made homemade soup from scratch and homemade cornbread as well. It must be nice to eat a hearty meal in this period home during Christmas as the family once did.
The rustic kitchen at the Silas Riggs Saltbox House
After the house closed for the after, all the other sites had closed at 4:00pm as well and we made our way down Route 10 just off the old main street and then back on to Route 46 East to head home. It had been getting warmer all day and we both needed a snack before dinner. It was by coincidence that we just happened to pass the Dover Dairy Maid Ice Cream store at 240 East Route 46 and stopped for a cone.
Never having travelled down this part of Route 46 East before, I had never seen this popular place for ice cream and all of a sudden, I turned the car and needed some ice cream. There are times in life that you take a different bend in the road, and this was one of the more popular ones. Their homemade ice cream was amazing.
The Dover Dairy Maid at 240 East Route 46 is the best
While my aunt tried the Mint Chocolate ice cream, I had a yearning for something more fun and I got a bowl of Cotton Candy ice cream and at $5.45 for two large scoops, it was a reasonable trip. It is nice that a business not only does not gouge a customer but offers that personal service was reflective of when I was a kid in the 1970’s when this business opened. I felt like it was a step back in time when things were simpler. We even at our ice cream out on the benches in the back of the store. Talk about 70’s! Between here and Hacklebarney Farm I felt like a kid again.
In 2024, I indulged in a Butterscotch Sundae at Dover Dairy Maid
There was no traffic on Route 46 East that evening and got home in record time. My aunt and I needed some recovery time, so I dropped her off and met her for dinner later that evening. We finished off the evening at Napoli Pizzeria at 25 Washington Street #2 in Lodi, NJ for dinner. Napoli’s food is consistently excellent, and I love their pizza. The best part is that the parking is always plentiful and never have to travel far to go.
Napoli Pizzeria at 25 Washington Street #2 is wonderful for lunch and dinner (Closed December 2025)
It was a nice evening chatting over a cheese pizza ($10.95) and a glass of wine. We talked about all the sites we had visited and the ones that we could not and made plans to revisit some of the sites in the future. There was a lot more to see and do in Morris County. It was a nice way to end the first day of touring and it had been such a perfect sunny day that it was a pleasure to stop and really enjoy each site.
The historical marker at the Ayres-Knuth Farm at 25 Cooper Street
On the second day of the “Pathways’ tour, my aunt was busy, so I started early with a quick breakfast at home and was on my way back to Morris County for a second day of adventure. My first stop on the tour was the Ayres/Knuth Farm (The Ayres/Knuth Farm Foundation Inc.), a former working farm just off Route 10.
The main farmhouse on the Ayres/Knuth Farm
Not only was the site open for touring but they also had a mini car show with antique cars and fire trucks owned by some of the members. Seeing some of these Model T Ford’s and Steam Engine Fire Trucks in perfect condition shows American quality motorship at its finest.
What interested me about the farm is that it had been a working farm up until the last fifty years and showed the progression that the farm took in its almost 100 years in the county. The farm itself dates back to pre-Revolutionary War days with the farm being purchase in either 1735 or maybe 1759 by Obadiah Lum. The property itself was settled and developed by Daniel Ayres, who was born in New Jersey in 1778 (The Ayres/Knuth Farm Foundation).
The Ayres-Knuth Farm and the outer buildings
105 acres of land was given to him by his father-in-law, David Garrigus upon the marriage of his daughter, Hanna in 1803. His son, William took over the farm in 1856 upon the death of his father in 1856, changing the farm to add husbandry and fruit cultivation. When William retired in 1896, none of his children wanted the farm and it was sold. Changing hands many times, it was bought by Martin and Anna Knuth in 1906. The farm was taken over by two of their children and it remained in the family until the 1990’s upon both of their passings. In 1996, the Township of Denville purchased 52 acres of the original farm and it is now managed by the Ayres/Knuth Foundation Inc. (The Ayres/Knuth Farm Foundation).
On this clear and sunny Sunday morning, it was fun to walk around the former working farm to see how it developed. Both families learned to modernize and add to the operation. I was able to tour the smaller tenet farmhouse (built in 1895), the barn (built in 1895 (and the various outer buildings like the chicken coops (built in 1895), outhouse (built in 1930) and the Smokehouse (built in 1825). The small well was built in 1797 and was the oldest structure left on the property.
What got my attention is that there still are tenant farmers on another tract on the property still working the land and the property is protected by grants from Morris County. So, it still is technically a working farm. A lot of care was taken to preserve the farm as is and the volunteers told me that there were plans to fix up the other buildings. The Tenant House needed a lot of work and was run down but the main Farmhouse had been renovated and was closed that day.
After having a nice conversation with many of the volunteers about the development on the farm, I was off to the next site, The Whippany Railway Museum at 1 Railroad Plaza in Whippany, NJ. I usually don’t get excited by railway museums one looking like another but the care and dedication of the volunteers of this museum is just mesmerizing. They really care about the detail and condition of every railcar and artifact that comes into possession of this museum, and it shows by the way its displayed.
The Museum was so well organized and told the story of the rail systems not just in New Jersey but their development all over the country.
The inside of the museum
Unlike some rail museums that I have been to where they put dishes, lanterns and tickets all the same shelves, the Whippany Railway Museum took a lot of pride in setting up their displays more as a progression to how the railways evolved over time starting with coal, then to steam and then electric.
The Whippany Railway Museum
Not only that it was the way people traveled and how dining and then First Class tried to rival the growing Jet Age travel to keep customers. Each case line told a story. The cases show a progression in communication, ticketing, uniform, dining and equipment used on the trains. Take time to look over the information supplied in the cases as well. They also have a nice gift shop inside the museum.
The history of the Pullman Car
It was the hour-long walking tour that really blew me away. This volunteer named Mike walked around the museum asking people if they would like to take a tour at noon and then for the next hour and a half, we toured all the train cars.
The Whippany Railway Museum grounds
Each of the train cars were at different stages of renovation and some were fully restored. Mike explained to our small tour group that different members of the museum had special skills, and everyone had a hand in restoring the cars. The volunteers all dressed like period conductors and would be stationed at each car to describe the railcar to us.
The Whippany Railway Museum grounds
Where the museum really shines and where I saw the most pride is in the rail cars that have come to the yard over the years and have been carefully restored. The Southern Railway No. 385 built in 1907 for faster freight service, the Texaco Fireless Cooker No. 7240 built in 1937 for industrial switching duty and one of the newest steam locomotives still surviving, the U.S. Army No. 4039 built in 1942 for WWII service are just some of the cars on display (Whippany Railway Museum pamphlet).
The inside of the luxury car
The railcar that most impressed me was the Lackawanna Railroad Subscription Club Car No. 2454 that was once known as the “Millionaires Express” (Whippany Railway Museum). The mahogany paneled car carried businessmen from New York City through towns in the middle of New Jersey.
The inside of the car
What I thought was interesting was the people who rode it (Christie Todd Whitman’s father was a member) and the fact that you had to ‘buy’ the seat, which meant that no one could ever sit in ‘your chair’ if you were not there. This car ran for 72 years finally retiring out in 1984 (probably due to the recession and changing times).
The outside of the Lackawanna luxury car
After the extensive tour was over, I visited the model trains that were riding around the outside of the rail cars and talking with other volunteers on what the future plans of a new railcar that just arrived. I also walked up to their snack shop that is at entrance of the museum site and was bummed when they did not have any of the large pretzels in stock.
The snack shop at the museum
The woman said that they are their most popular item and had not arrived for the tour day. I then moved on to my third site, The Whippany Burying Yard at 325 Route 10 East.
The Whippany Burying Yard historic marker
The Whippany Burying Yard was also having a tour that I just made when I arrived. It was given by a retired college professor who had lived in town all of his life and knew the history of the cemetery quite well. The old cemetery is steeped in history as one of the oldest cemeteries in New Jersey and home to many Revolutionary and Civil War veterans. As we learned on the tour later on, the only people that can be buried there now are former Mayors of the Town of Whippany who have died.
The entrance to the cemetery
Two of the founding families of the town have many family members buried here, the Tuttle’s who still have relatives living in the area and the Kitchel’s. The guide for the afternoon took us on an hour tour of the cemetery, pointing out prominent members of the war years including Timothy Tuttle (died 1754), a founding judge of Morris County, Keturah Tuttle Platt (died 1850), who was a Charter member of the First Presbyterian Church, Captain Timothy Tuttle (II of III-died in 1816), who was a member of George Washington’s First Regiment in the Continental Army, Samuel Tuttle (died in 1762) and Colonel Joseph Tuttle, a blacksmith and Deacon at the Presbyterian Church who served in the French & Indian War.
The entrance to the Whippany Burial Yard
The Kitchel family was prominently represented as well with Abraham Kitchel (died in 1741), who was one of the six original judges of Morris County and his wife Sarah, whose family was claimed to date back to Charlemagne, Emperor of France, Abigal Kitchel (died in 1768), Uzal Kitchel (died in 1813), a Militiaman in the American Revolution and his wife, Anna (died in 1815). Many of these people as well as their ancestors made major contributions to the growth of the surrounding community.
The Tuttle Family burial plot
We were also given a lesson in the construction and care of the old tombstones, some of which were beyond repair. Some of the original grave sites were made from sandstone, marble and granite with granite becoming the popular choice later on. Here and there some of the tombstones were decorated with winged skulls or cherubs. These show morality images of the dead (Whippany Burial Yard pamphlet).
The Post Family cemetery plot
We were also walking by the river that the graveyard sits on and were told that current erosion is affecting some of the grave sites. These might have to be moved in the future and the tour guide was not sure if any have been lost over the years. The old Presbyterian Church that sat on the site (built in 1718 and removed in 1755) has since disappeared and there is no trace of it now.
The Whippany Burial Yard has many different types of tombstones
At the end of the tour, the guide explained to us that the old Tuttle House, dating back from the late 18th Century was just left to the town by its last owner to be preserved as a museum for the community. The Tuttle house will need a lot of work in the future.
The Tuttle House at 341 Route 10 will be a future museum for the Historical Society
It was getting late in the day after my last tour, and I figured I had time to see one more site before the day was over. I wished they did not end the day so early at 4:00pm. It does not give people much time to visit all these sites in one day, but the museum tour guides made them so interesting that you did not want to leave so quick.
One last look at the historic cemetery with the Tuttle House in the background
My last stop on the tour day was the Florham Park’ Historic Preservation Commission’s Little Red Schoolhouse and Hancock Cemetery at 203 Ridgedale Avenue. On the map it looked so far away but it was only ten minutes down the road from the cemetery and I got there in plenty of time to spend the last half hour of the day at the museum.
The Little Red Schoolhouse Museum at 203 Ridgedale Avenue
I was the only one there with two members who said that they were surprised on how busy the day was for them. They told me that almost every person who visited said the same things: either they passed the place a million times and never knew it was a museum or they lived here for about twenty years and never knew the town had a museum. I said I was from another area of the state, and this was my first time as well. The little museum is nicely set up.
The inside of the classroom portion of the museum
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. There are old desks and chalkboards and items that date either from the late 1880’s to about the 1930’s.
Not much has changed in the modern classroom over the years
There is early century clothing, farming equipment from the town’s farming past and event Native American objects found in the town and in private collections. Other items included decorative items from the home including dishware, home products and furnishings. Each section of the museum is divided up by lifestyle.
Artifacts from the community of Florham Park, NJ
The docents that day explained that the items were reflect the town’s past and some came from families that have been in town for years. The museum reflects the community spirit of town’s past. It explains that times have progressed but not changed too much over the years. They also told me how hard they work to promote the museum.
The historic organ
I asked where the Hancock Cemetery was, and they told me down the road from the museum, so I left after about a half hour to let them close and looked for the cemetery. I never found it “down the road” so I was not too sure what direction they were talking about. By the time I got back to the museum, it was shut, and all the cars were gone. It was now 4:30pm. I decided to head off to dinner.
I got lost trying to take the back roads from Route 10 to Route 46 (later on when I got home, I found I was in the right direction but did not know it). I passed the Parsippany Historical Museum at the Bowlsby-DeGelleke House at 320 Baldwin Avenue on the way but at 5:00pm I could see one of the costumed docents was desperately trying to close up for the day, so I did not stop.
I finally made it to Downtown Boonton, NJ for dinner. The town was really quiet on an early Sunday evening. I passed the Boonton Historical Society and Museum at 210 Main Street that was closed for the evening. They had a full day of activities that day and must have closed early.
Boonton Historical Society and Museum at 210 Main Street
Inside the Boonton Historical Society in the main gallery
Ever since I got involved in the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association, I have been visiting this interesting little museum. They have the most intriguing walking tours on the history of the town’s development and on the ruins of the local iron works. They also have nice inhouse tours of the museum and very inviting Holiday Open House (pre-COVID).
Dinner that evening was a restaurant I had wanted to try several times but it either was not open or did not look open because there was no one in it. I2I at 408 Main Street just up the hill from the museum.
I had been looking forward to eating here for some time and even though the food and the service were quite good, the owner did something that really irked me, and I will not be returning anytime soon. (Please read my TripAdvisor review above for details on my experience) (The restaurant closed in May 2024 and is being renovated).
After dinner, I walked around Downtown Boonton for a bit, looking over stores that had opened since the pandemic. The downtown is getting more and more hipster businesses and you can tell that an ‘artsy’ crowd is starting to move into the area. All the neighborhoods around the downtown are having a lot of home improvements from new paint jobs and windows to new landscaping meaning the artists from the City are starting to move in.
Downtown Boonton, NJ
Please read my blog on Exploring Downtown Boonton, NJ-Day Two Hundred and Two:
Downtown Boonton, NJ has a lot of interesting stores and restaurants
I drove home later that evening. It had been an interesting two-day exploration to Morris County, NJ and I did not realize the rich history that it had. There are many more places that will be visiting in the future on their list as they open up for the summer months.
In 2024, I was able to visit other sites on the Pathways listing. The original sites I had visited were on the first day of touring so I was able to visit a whole other roster of sites in Morris County on a gloomy rainy afternoon. Since I had a late start and the weather was rainy and gloomy, I only got to visit five sites but there were different from the previous year’s visit. I also visited some museums at other times as well since they are only open at certain times of the month.
I got so lost getting to the Butler Museum that it took over twenty minutes to find. It was different from the Google Maps that I followed. I finally reached the museum which was located on the other side of the Butler downtown in the old town train station.
The Butler Museum 221 Main Street
The Butler Museum is housed in the former New York Susquehanna and Western Railroad station. Constructed in 1888, it was remodeled in the 1890’s and in 1907, when a freight room was added to the northwestern end of the building. A major restoration took place from 2011 to 2015. Purchased by the Borough of Butler for a museum just in time for the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, the museum houses a large collection of artifacts of local and regional significance.
The Butler Fire and Police Department artifacts.
Exhibits highlight the social, educational, fraternal, political, and business life of the community. Unique to the Butler Museum are artifacts pertaining to the Statue of Liberty, statue designer Frederic Bartholdi, and his friend Richard Butler, for whom the town is named. Mr. Butler was an important member of the committee that raised the funds to construct the statue’s pedestal (Pathways to History of Morris County website).
The Statue of Liberty exhibition.
Displays also include products manufactured by the American Hard Rubber Company, the area’s largest employer from the 1880’s to the late 1950’s. Development of items such as Ace Bowling Balls and Ace Combs can be traced from blueprints and salesman samples to the finished products.
The Ace Company exhibit
The resource center presents the opportunity to view past copies of local newspapers, almost a century of Butler High School yearbooks, and a pictorial history of Main Street, Butler.
The Butler Museum main gallery with the Ace Rubber exhibition as well as the Butler Fire and Police departments. The displays represent years of tradition in the town. The displays contain many of the items from former businesses of the town.
The next two historical sites I visited were the Pompton Plains Railroad Station and the Martin Barry House which were located down the road from each other. The Pompton Plains Railroad Station Museum was just off the downtown and is a small compact museum on the history of the rail system in this part of the county.
The Pompton Plains Railroad Station Museum at 33 Evans Place.
I was visiting Morris County for the “Pathways to History” tour, I visited the Pompton Lakes Railroad Museum. This tiny museum served once as the depot for the local railroad but now houses its history. Piled all over the building is the history of the rail service in this area. Small displays are located all around a pot belly stove that serves as the center point of the museum. The memorabilia includes a series of pictures, maps and schedules.
(From the Pathways to History tour pamphlet 2024):
Pompton Plains Station, home to the Pequannock Township Museum, was erected in 1877 by the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railway as a replacement for an earlier structure built when passenger service began in 1872. After closing in 1966, the station remained in private hands until 2006 when it was purchased by Pequannock Township with Morris County and Township Open Space funds, as well as, funds from the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust. It was listed on the NJ and National Registers of Historic Places in 2008 and was restored to its “Turn of the 20th Century” appearance in 2010 (PPHS website).
The Historic Marker at the station.
The building’s simple wood construction is characterized by its late 19th Century American “Stick style” architecture, with its notable exterior embellishments being the distinctive “Dutch cap” trim over each window and door and its decoratively patterned slate roof. The museum supports an extensive collection of photographs and artifacts illustrating the Township’s 300 years of recorded history. Featured is a collection of over two dozen models of historic buildings, as well as, exhibits about Civil War veteran, Medal of Honor recipient, station agent and prior owner of the nearby Martin Berry House, James R. Evans (PPHS website).
The Pompton Plains Railroad Station Museum gallery.
Other exhibits cover the history of the station, and the pioneering 1940’s rocket engine factory Reaction Motors. Plans for 2023 construction, which will include restoration of the decorative 19th century slate roof and chimney, will be on display.
The Conductor’s Office is part of the display at the museum.
The next site I visited was the Martin Barry House, which is located just behind the strip mall on the highway. You need to make the right once you get off the highway on the street behind the mall and make a sharp right at the top of the street to find the house.
The Martin Berry House from the top of the hill at 581 Route 23 South. It is on a road hidden from the highway.
When I went to visit the Martin Berry House for the “Pathways to History” tour, I found it impossible to find. The Google Map has it in the middle of a parking lot in front of the strip mall along the highway and there is no pathway to the home from the parking lot. What you have to do is go the street behind the mall, head up the hill and make a right down a gravel road and there is the house at the end of the street.
There is not much parking here but with an isolated home like this, the Historical Society needs to put some things in place before they start having events here. The Society had bought the house not too long ago and there is still some renovation work that is being done, so the Society is in its first stages of opening the house to the public. It has some nice revolving displays and an interesting Colonial kitchen. The gardens are also beautiful when in bloom. Visiting the house in the future will offer many surprises.
(From the website of the Martin Berry House and the Pequannock Township Historical Society):
The Martin Berry House, or MBH, was built on this spot in about 1720. The original house was smaller than what you see here. This is the the result of the second major enlargement or renovation of the original construction as well as later renovations and remodeling.
The Martin Berry House from the gardens.
The MBH is owned by the Township of Pequannock and operated in partnership with the Pequannock Township Historical Society (PTHS). PTHS was formed in 2015 out of a movement that was original called the Friends of the Martin Berry House that had itself been initiated in 2014 to support the Township in its efforts to acquire the MBH.
The Martin Berry House Furniture display in May 2024.
Since a lot of these sites are far from each other I could only visit four this time. Since the Glenburn Estate was closed that day (with no notice), the last place I visited was the Lincoln Park History Museum at 141 Main Street.
Lincoln Park History Museum at 141 Main Street
The entrance of the Museum off the Main Street.
This colorful and well lit little museum is packed with information on the development of the town. The transformation took place with the form of transportation that changed the area starting with the Morris Canal running through then the railroad system and then the advent of the automobile. This area is still quite sleepy even though its located just an hour outside of New York City.
Lincoln Park History Museum, located at the original 1922 Library building. Lincoln Park, or as once known, Beavertown, is small in geographic nature but has a rich and diverse history. The museum’s goal is to rediscover the town’s past and celebrate / preserve the history, which sadly, at times, is lost and forgotten.
The history of the town’s police and fire departments
Join us and discover our past which includes: dinosaurs, native American artifacts, revolutionary roads /houses, civil war hometown hero, part of the Morris Canal path, part of the Boonton Line Railroad branch, airport, major flood events, some Hollywood film locations and of course our townsfolks who sacrificed in war, volunteers (fire department, police, first aid, pal, scouting etc.), all who made Lincoln Park a wonderful town to grow up in and formed pride and sense of community (Pathways Tour website).
The history of the Morris Canal that ran through the town before the railroads.
The Morris Canal was an important part of the town’s development.
Learn how the town transformed from a small crossroad in the American revolution to a canal stopping point with incline plane, lock and hotel. Learn how it progressed from farming to resort area to commuting town and transform to what it is today. The town keeps growing.
The day the Railroad came to town and it changed everything! On December 14, 1870 the first passenger train stopped at Beavertown. School was closed that day so the students could witness this momentous occasion. The following year Beavertown’s name was changed to Lincoln Park. This event, started a large and long transformation of the town. Prior to this, the town was all farmland and the few businesses in town centered on support of the Morris Canal. Once the railroad came, the transformation started (Pathways Tour website).
On a different day, I came back to Morris County and visited the Chatham Township Historical Society/Red Brick Schoolhouse Museum at 24 Southern Boulevard in Chatham, NJ. I had not been able to get there on the last trip and it is only open one Sunday a month and by appointment only. So I drove out to see it. What a delightful little museum.
The front of the Red Brick Schoolhouse Museum/Chatham Township Historical Society at 24 Southern Boulevard
The historical sign of the Mount Vernon School
The museum sign that welcomes you to the museum
The Mission Statement of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
The Historical Society of the Township of Chatham was established to increase the knowledge, awareness and preservation of the Township of Chatham history.
I visiting the Red Schoolhouse Museum on the first Sunday of the month and found a delightful little museum filled with artifacts that represent life in Chatham during various times in the town’s history. The museum has two floors with displays telling the history of the Township of Chatham from the beginnings with the Lenape Tribe living in the area to modern times.
The Museum gallery
On the first floor there is the special exhibitions that rotate in the museum. Some of the themes of the exhibitions were Children’s Toys and Playthings through the ages, Wedding gowns and formal wear and Revolutionary War items. The museum also has an interesting exhibition on the Lenape Indians who lived in this region before the Dutch arrived.
Wedding Gowns and Formal Wear exhibition on the first floor
Dressmaking and Sewing in the home and in business
Children’s Toys and Playthings through the ages
Children’s dolls and stuffed animals
The Train display of electric antique items
Revolutionary War and Trade items on the top shelf and historical cameras
The second floor has displays that tell different stories. The display cases have Native American artifacts, farming equipment, household items, pictures of the town at different stages of development, the community changes from a farming to business with the advent of the railroad. Here you see the changes in household items as time goes on.
The Lenape Display
Native American stone objects
The Arrowhead collection
Each display tells an interesting story of the Township of Chatham. Looking over how the towns in the area developed I didn’t even know there was a Village of Chatham and a Township of Chatham. I was also impressed with their toy collection which should be a conversation piece to any group of elementary school students. I think this would be interesting to seniors as well on times have changed since they were children. The museum really has something for everyone. All different stories are being told at this museum and the collection continues to grow when residents pasts become part of the museum’s future.
The display on resident Reverend Samuel Tuttle
The Statement of Purpose:
(from the museum website)
The Historical Society of the Township of Chatham, a volunteer, not-for-profit organization founded in 1975, is dedicated to increasing knowledge, awareness and preservation of our town’s unique historical heritage. We maintain the Red Brick Schoolhouse Museum where we coordinate our educational programs, research, and preservation advocacy as well as manage the discovery, collection, and conservation of materials that illustrate the history of the area prior to and after European settlement.
Artifacts from one of the museum’s historic digs
The audience served by the Society’s programs includes members of the Society, residents, students and visitors to the community, scholars, the public in general as well as businesses and governmental agencies in the area.
The display of the history of the Red Brick Schoolhouse
It was a lot of running around on a gloomy rainy day but it was a perfect time to visit all these sites and maybe revisit when they are reopen again. For now, there is more of Morris County that I want to explore when these small sites are open again.
Please look at their link for more details and happy exploring!
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 cannot believe that another Christmas has come and gone and COVID is still raging around. Talk about having to adapt to a new world a lot wiser and more aware. I have just become more careful over the last year and kept my activities to a minimum (yeh right, I still run all over the place for work and keeping people informed about happenings all over the place). I just try to stay safe. I put my walk of the Garment District on hold for the Christmas holidays and all that came with it.
Christmas started right after I came home from Thanksgiving dinner in Lambertville when the next morning, I had to wake up at 6:00am to get ready to go to the Christmas tree lot for the Annual Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association Christmas Tree Drop Off of the trees. We had 390 trees being delivered and it was all hands-on deck.
Setting up the Christmas trees
Who knew that the truck would arrive at 8:00am and we got caught off guard. No one expected it to come until at least 10:30am. So, at 9:00am, over thirty members and their children emptied all 390 Christmas trees off the truck (they shorted us ten trees), got them tagged and ready to sell. We had not even finished tagging the trees and our first tree sold at 10:30am.
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association at Christmas tree set up 2021
I stayed on the site until 4:30pm and we had already sold the first twenty-one trees. I could not believe how fast the trees sold that day. The only reason why I left is that I had to help with the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department on the town’s Annual Holiday Parade. God did it get cold that night.
The night after Thanksgiving, the Hasbrouck Heights Chamber of Commerce holds the Annual Holiday Parade and the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department is always a participant from helping Santa enter town in the Parade to setting up the sound system for the Tree Lighting Ceremony. I swear it got so cold that night by the time the town lit the tree it must have gone down to 35 degrees. Thank God we bundled up!
The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department at the Annual Hasbrouck Heights Holiday Parade
After the tree was lit, I never saw a place empty out so fast. People were so cold! Even with all our layers, we were cold too.
I did an about face and the next morning left for Beach Haven, NJ to attend some of Long Beach Island’s Christmas activities. The day ended up being much nicer and was a bit warmer. It is a two-hour trip to the shore and you would think that a beach community is not the place to spend an early Christmas weekend but you would be amazed at the activities they had planned all over the island that day.
I left the house around 8:30am on what started out as a gloomy morning that turned sunny and clear by the time I reached Long Beach Island. I decided to visit the Barnegat Lighthouse first to see if it was decorated with lights like the lighthouse at Montauk Point. That was always impressive the years I went out to visit my friend, Lillian.
The lighthouse was not decorated for the holidays but was finally open to walk in and climb the stairs. It was over a hundred steps up and back down. What a view all the way up. There were small stops on the way up with views on each level landing. By the time I reached the top of the stairs there were only three of us up there and God was it windy. I only lasted at the top of the lighthouse a few minutes before I almost blew off. What views of the waves coming in!
The Barnegat Lighthouse at the tip of Long Beach Island
Before I made the journey to the southern part of the island on my November trip, I stopped by the “Santa’s Viking Christmas Village” to see the arts and crafts festival at Viking Village at 19th and the Bay Barnegat Light. It was a sunny but cool afternoon but the winds had calmed down and I was able to walk the booths with no problems. I was in search of homemade Santa’s for my mother’s upcoming birthday. I found them in two different booths, one made of a conch shell and another made of wood.
The craft fair was very busy that afternoon.
The local seafood restaurant was open for takeout and you could smell the fried fish in the distance along with the horrible singing by a guitarist who could not carry a note. Thank God he took a break in time for the Barnegat Light Fire Department to bring Mr. and Mrs. Claus to the Village for a visit to the local children.
Santa’s Viking Christmas Village at dusk at closing
Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived right before I left the Village that afternoon.
After touring the Village, I made my way back down Long Beach Boulevard to the LBI Foundation of The Arts & Sciences Holiday Market 2021, which was mostly full of more expensive artwork and home decor products. It was not as festive as the Village Market and all our mask wearing steamed up everyone’s glasses which was a big complaint.
My next stop was the Long Beach Island Historical Society which sponsored an “Elves Workshop” for kids and their parents with all sorts of arts and crafts happening at twelve different tables lining the front room of the museum. There was cookie decorating and Christmas tree creation with beads and cloth and gingerbread house making. To end the evening, they had Smores and Marshmallows roasting over open firepits in the park across the street.
The Elves Workshop at the Long Beach Island Historical Society
The museum knows how to welcome in the holiday season.
The Christmas display at the front of the Long Beach Island Historical Society
The parents and children participating in arts and crafts and a visit from Santa
After my visit to the Historical Society, I went down the road and revisited the NJ Maritime Museum 528 Dock Road right by the water. I had read so much at the shark attacks in New Jersey back in 1916 and wanted to see the exhibition again. I also wanted to see the exhibition on shipwrecks again so I spent the rest of the afternoon at the museum and then walking down to the harbor to watch the sun set. The sun sets on that island are amazing.
For dinner that night, I went back to the Chicken or the Egg at 207 North Bay Avenue in the Beach Haven downtown. The food and the selection here is just excellent and the perfect place for comfort foods on a cool night. My waiter could not have been nicer and recommended the White Clam Chowder, which was so thick and rich and you could taste the cream and fresh clams in every bite. God the seafood was so sweet.
The Chicken or the Egg at 207 North Bay Avenue in Beach Haven, NJ
For dinner, I started with the New England Clam Chowder and did it hit the spot. Loaded with clams and potatoes in a rich cream soup. It warmed me up inside. I ordered the Chicken Pot Pie for the entree, which was delicious as well. Chunks of chicken and fresh vegetables in a flaky crust and a rich gravy. On a cool night by the shore, there is nothing like it to warm you up. Talk about making the perfect choices for dinner.
When I returned for my Christmas visit, I ended the evening having dinner here. I swear on a cool night, it was the perfect place for a meal. I had their New England Clam Chowder with its thick roux and heavy cream base and it was loaded with clams.
It warmed me up immediately. For dinner, my waiter suggested the ultimate comfort food in cold weather, the Chicken Pot Pie that was just amazing.
The Soup is amazing
The Chicken Pot Pie is really filling
Loaded with chunks of chicken and a creamy base topped with a flaky crust, each bite warmed me up after the cool walks by the bay and down the main street of town. You could really taste the roasted chicken in the gravy and its rich flavors. The service here is always friendly and very welcoming.
I love the food here. You can always find something delicious and creative on the menu and they are very reasonable. It is one of my favorite places to eat when I come to Beach Haven.
In the Summer of 2024, the Woo Hoo discontinued hamburgers on the menu and now just have ice cream and their hand cut French Fries. So I just come now for the homemade ice cream and it is the best!
The Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Strawberry Cheesecake sundae at the Woo Hoo
I had the most amazing Strawberry Cheesecake which was rich and creamy and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which was loaded with the cereal. On a recent trip, the hot food had closed for the season but the ice cream was still going. It was worth the trip to Beach Haven just for that.
I relaxed for a bit and watched the horse drawn carriage rides that Kaplan’s Pharmacy sponsored that day. The lines were really long and I will have to wait for another time.
Kapler’s Pharmacy had refreshments and Horse Drawn carriage rides that afternoon.
After dinner on my visit in November of 2021 at the Chicken or the Egg, I finished dessert at The Woo Hoo and walked up through the downtown to see the last of the people roasting marshmallows in the park and walked to Kapler’s Pharmacy at 1 South Bay Street. The drug store was sponsoring horse drawn carriage rides around the neighborhood.
The rides were completely full that afternoon and evening as the weather was really nice that day.
I thought what a nice way to end the evening with a twilight view of the sun setting and watching the Christmas lights going on at houses around the neighborhood. The Jersey Shore at Christmas can really surprise you.
Kapler’s Pharmacy event at 1 South Bay Avenue in 2021
I thought it was a nice group of visits to get my mind off what is going on in the world. What’s better than the Jersey Shore in warm weather? Visiting at all times of the year in warm weather and then returning for the Christmas holiday events. Who says the Shore closes at Labor Day?
Later that day I found out that Michigan State beat Penn State 30-27. What a way to end the day on my November trip!
The highlights of the game
After a short trip down to my mom’s for her birthday and two Private Member Nights in New York City at The Met and the Museum of the City of New York (see blog below):
Day Two Hundred and Eight: Private Members Nights in NYC:
it was back to Rhinebeck, NY for the Sinterklaas Parade and Celebration on Saturday, December 4th. I swear I was running from one place to another the whole week but was looking forward to the parade that had been cancelled last year because of COVID.
I travelled back up to Rhinebeck again for the festivities and got there by 10:00am in time to help unload the truck at the Starr Library. That brought back a lot of memories from parades past and it was so nice to walk around the cool air of Upstate New York. What started off as a very gloomy morning cleared up and it ended up being a clear, sunny and mild day in Rhinebeck.
We unpacked the familiar floats and puppets from years past and put together the bees, owls, geese, knights and dragons, horses that would lead Sinterklaas down his route and Children’s puppets that had children hoping for better times ahead. I always enjoy the comradery of the morning of putting the puppets together for the parade. Our theme this year was “Miss Mouse and Mr. Toad get married” so our events were based on the two characters getting hitched.
(I wanted to thank volunteer Jonathan Green for these pictures)
Me (in the jacket and khakis at the set up for the ‘Sinterklaas Parade’ in Rhinebeck, NY
Setting up the puppets for the parade is interesting
All the latest puppets ready to enter the parade
Mr. Toad preparing for his marriage to Miss Mouse
Miss Mouse preparing for her marriage to Mr. Toad in the Sinterklaas Parade
The Dragon is preparing for his duel with the knights of the parade
The puppets were set up in record time and we were finished by 11:45am
After we were done with the puppets, I drove down to Downtown Rhinebeck and parked a few blocks away and walked over to Main Street and joined in the opening festivities at the Beekman Arms. The restaurant was already packed with customers when I got there and the banquet room was full of visitors at the Opening Ceremony.
I had already checked in to my hotel, so I did not have to come back to the hotel until later that evening. This time I stayed at the Marriott Poughkeepsie which was much closer to Rhinebeck than staying at the one in Fishkill. I have to say that both hotels were wonderful when I was visiting the area.
The Marriott Poughkeepsie at 2641 South Road/Route 9
The Opening Ceremony at the Beekman Arms is always a lot of fun. All the costumed characters are introduced like the Pocket Lady, Mother Holly (who is always feeling jolly), the Queen Bee and the Snow King and Queen. They also introduced the Mayor of Rhinebeck and his wife, who portrayed Mr. Toad and Miss Mouse and reconfirmed their wedding vows in real life in front of the whole crowd. I thought that was very touching and I told her this later when I ran into her at another event.
The Opening Ceremony at Sinterklaas.
After the marriage ceremony and the traditional Polar Bear Dance, Jonathan Kruk, a well-known storyteller, told the story of Sinterklaas. Mr. Kruk is a wonderful speaker and knows how to tell a story. He always captivates a crowd. Even though I have heard the same stories for years, I still enjoy listening to him speak.
No one is better at storytelling then Jonathan Kruk at Sinterklaas
Because I said that I would help with the checking in with the volunteers for the parade, I had to be back to the library by 4:00pm so that only gave me about a little over two and a half hours this time to enjoy the festivities.
What was nice was the policy blocked off the Downtown area so that everyone could walk in the streets and watch the performers do their thing. There were bands on stilts performing rag time music and holiday classics, the Polar Bear danced around and greeted visits with a quick spin on the street and I visited the Toad Stool where Mr. Toad and Miss Mouse greeted each visitor with a bundle of ribbons so that you could give them to strangers for good luck. I had never heard of that tradition before but it was interesting to walk through a giant toadstool.
I also walked around the businesses that were open and admired the store window displays. It was as if each store was trying to outdo the other for creativity and beauty of the Christmas season. My favorite was Samuel’s Sweet Shop at 42 East Market Street in Downtown Rhinebeck.
I watched the Grumpuses, Sinterklaas’s helpers do their traditional dance, singing groups entertain the outdoor crowds (Keeping COVID safe) and performers with sticks doing their routine. What I liked about Sinterklaas this year is that there were a lot of outdoor venues, so people were not cooped up inside wearing masks.
By 3:00pm I was starved and knowing that I would not be able to eat until way after the parade was over, I stopped at Pete’s Famous at 34 East Market Street. I love dining here and like their generous portions and the friendly service. I had my favorite Turkey Club sandwich with French Fries which is always good.
They roast their own fresh turkey every day for their sandwiches.
The day started to fall into dusk and the whole town was being lit up. This is when Rhinebeck shows its true beauty as a Christmas village. All the trees in the Downtown are lit with white lights and adorned with paintings of the Sinterklaas Festival and ribbons. Also, all the stores light their windows and it makes the whole town look like a Currier & Ives woodprint.
Downtown Rhinebeck at dusk
Downtown Rhinebeck at night when its magic comes to life
I got back to the library at 4:00pm and assisted the staff in getting everyone ready for the parade, explaining how to work the puppets and hold them and making sure that everyone knew to listen to the marshals who were running the parade when it started.
It had been two years since we had a parade but it felt like time had not even passed by. I love to watch the parade come to life. As everyone lines up, the lights go on at each puppet and the bands get into high gear. Then there is the excitement of walking down the hill into Downtown Rhinebeck to the adoring crowds of the parade.
The crowds have tripled in the decade that I have been volunteering for the parade. The first time that I volunteered it was in 2010 with my father on my first trip up to Rhinebeck since being at the Culinary Institute and then I started volunteering again in 2014 when I started working on the Halloween Parade in the City. Just like that parade, excitement builds as the parade starts.
Walking down that hill is an amazing thing as people get so excited to see the floats and hear the music especially at this time with COVID raging on. Things seemed more festive as this is an outdoor event and it was two weeks before the omicron outbreak raged the country. It was a night of revelry and welcoming in the holiday season.
Sinterklaas is a magically evening in Downtown Rhinebeck
Opening Ceremonies at The Beekman Arms
Because the positions in the parade and the puppets were all filling myself and the other person, I worked with on checking people in took the “Follow the Banner in the Parade” banner down the hill to get everyone to the staging area for the conclusion of the parade. We were right behind the drumline of women who concluded the parade and whipped spectators into a dancing frenzy. I watched as people literally danced in the streets happy to be outside enjoying this evening. It was so nice to see families have such a good time.
This wonderful view of the parade that was posted online of ‘Sinterklaas 2021’
The parade ended in the community parking lot with all the characters are introduced and the well wishes to Sinterklaas and his entourage. There was music and the fire eaters showing their talents off to the large crowd who were looking towards a much happier holiday season. It was just nice to see everyone having a festive evening.
After the ceremony was over, I just walked around Downtown Rhinebeck, admiring the beautifully decorated windows and admiring the white lights adorning the trees. I love this downtown at Christmas.
The Downtown Rhinebeck Christmas Tree near the Community parking lot.
I stopped at Village Pizza for dinner and it was nice to just warm up. God is their pizza delicious.
Village Pizza in Downtown Rhinebeck, NY is always busy all day on Sinterklaas.
The Cheese pizza here is excellent! I love their red sauce. The food here is always so well spiced and everything I have eaten here is delicious.
After dinner, it was another quiet walk around downtown Rhinebeck to admire the lights and the window displays. I love walking around this town.
Downtown Rhinebeck before dusk
Downtown Rhinebeck’s merchants go all out for the holidays
The next morning, I was off early to join some of the other members of the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association for a modified Christmas hello to all our retired firefighters living in the NJ State Firemen’s Association.
Since our party was cancelled for the residents due to COVID, we gave our gift to the residents the week before (we got each resident a long-sleeved shirt that was monogramed with their name on it which I heard they all loved) and we also had a special Jersey Mike’s lunch for the residents the month before to ring in the holiday season.
Because of COVID regulations, we could only have a few members come but myself and the President of the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association talked with our fellow firefighters during ‘Holiday Bingo’ or walked around to greet them and wish them a ‘Merry Christmas’.
Santa greeting guests at the NJ Firemen’s Home in Boonton, NJ in 2019 in better times
It was just for a short time that we were allowed to stay but the members of the home appreciated it. We wanted to let our fellow firefighters know that we did not forget them during the holidays.
Members of the NJ State Firemen’s Home enjoying the Jersey Mike’s dinner we sponsored
Classes took up most of next week for me as we prepared for my Introduction to Business class to make their big presentation to me for their final grade. So, I was running around most of the week working with both my online class and my live class as we were getting ready for final exams.
On Thursday, December 9th, I took a break from all of my grading and went to see the production of “A Christmas Pudding” at Bergen Community College where I work. The students were putting on a Christmas retrospect of songs and readings which was a very nice performance.
The Theater students sang many traditional and contemporary songs from the American songbook with one student singing a very emotional version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from the movie “Meet Me in St. Louis”. Considering everything that was going on with COVID, I thought it was very touching. The students did a good job with the production and it really put me into the Christmas spirit.
The Play “A Christmas Pudding” at Ciccone Theater at Bergen Community College on December 9th
Another thing that put me into the Christmas spirit was all the new songs coming out this year. Did we need some Christmas cheer this year! I wanted to share two of my favorites that came to me via YouTube.
These two songs appeared on the Internet when I was writing this blog and I thought they were very symbolic of what is going on right now during the holidays as we try to resume to a new normal. I wanted to share them with all of you.
John Legend’s new Christmas song: “You Deserve it All”
Nora Jones new Christmas song: “Christmas Calling”
Kohmi Hirose did this great version of “Sleigh Ride” in English
On December 10th, my students presented their Class Group Project entitled “I’ve got a Golden Ticket to Bergen Community College-Homecoming 2022” and the students did a terrific job with the project.
The students logo to “I’ve got a Golden Ticket to Bergen Community College-Homecoming 2022”.
Here is the presentation with all the commercials:
Day Two Hundred and Nine on my “MywalkinManhattan.com” blog:
This “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory themed project was inspired by the 50th Anniversary of the film. I had the students watch the film for inspiration and ideas, then put the framework for the project together and they took it from there.
There is a message from me their CEO as well:
A welcome from CEO/Co-Founder of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
I could not have been prouder of my students both in my live class and in my online class who created the individual Class Project, “Market Street Candy & Confections”, reopening a 100-year-old candy store with a modern twist.
Here is the project with all the graphics that the students created:
Day Two Hundred and Ten on “MywalkinManhattan.com”:
With the major class projects over with, I prepared the students final exams and emailed off my online students their exam first. While they came in, I was able to grade along the way. Taking a break from that over the weekend, I visited Hope, NJ for a Lantern Walking Tour of the town and then a Candlelight Church Service at the Methodist church.
The Hope Annual Moravian Christmas Tour and Church service in Hope, NJ
I discovered this tour when I was traveling out to the Delaware Water Gap when I was updating my blog on “Visiting Budd Lake” and I stopped in Hope before heading to Blairstown, where I had wanted to visit the Blairstown Museum at the end of the day (it had closed by then). I saw this flyer when one of the shopkeepers in town handed it to me and I thought it would be an interesting event. What an eye opener!
I never heard of the history of the Moravian religion before and how they founded the town. We toured all the former factories and homes that had been built around the turn of the last century and then heard actors talk about that time during Christmas. Life just seemed slower then.
This is also where the opening scenes of the cult film “Friday the 13th” were shot. The initial scene where Annie arrives in Crystal Lake for her journey to the camp. I included the clip from the opening scene and the what the current locations look like now.
“Friday the 13th” from 1980 filmed in Hope, NJ
The famous opening scene from the film “Friday the 13th”
The inside of the Hope Junction Antiques with one of kind artwork and antiques.
This unique store carries an array of local and regional artists work, the owner’s personal art pieces and a selection of decorative items and antique pieces. It had an interesting selection of holiday items when I visited the town both on my journey through Budd Lake and Route 46 and when I took the walking tour on December 11th. The store was open still right before the tour.
Burgdorff Realty at 2 Walnut Street where Annie enters the truck
The cemetery is the ‘crossroads’ but is actually right down the block from the antique store and the realty company. This is now part of the St. John’s Methodist Church. This is where the Candlelight Services were held.
But I was not there for a movie tour but a cheerful Christmas tour of Moravian history. I met my tour group at the Hope Community Center which was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Before the tour started, the Hope Historical Society who was running the tour was selling food and Christmas items as a fundraiser. We started the Lantern Tour from this location.
The Hope Community Center at 5 Walnut Street decorated for Christmas
The Festival of Trees inside the Community Center
The Festival of Trees
When we finished visiting some of the old factories, we visited ‘Trout Alley’, where people used to travel to get around the toll booth when they arrived in Hope. The path is now used to get to the antique store at the end of the path.
The Hope Historical Society was the sponsor of this program and was open the evening of the tour. We got to walk inside and look at old pictures of the town, old maps and artifacts that have been donated over the years by local residents that are part of the history of the town. The small one room building also houses vintage furniture and household and dress items. Please look at my blog at VisitingaMuseum.com above.
Looking down the street from Downtown Hope, NJ to the Inn at Millrace Pond where the Festival of Trees was located.
The house on High Street where we heard about Moravian Christmas traditions
Costumed characters sat on the porch that evening and reminisced about life at the turn of the last century as they prepared for the Christmas holidays. They talked about the hours needed to prepare the decorations and food for the legions of relatives and friends that would be visiting.
It was more spectacular at dusk when it was lit for Christmas
The First Hope Bank and Moravian homes that are now private residences
The bank was called the Gemeinhaus, which was the church/community center of the village. It was built in 1781. The house next door which is part of the bank is the Caleb Swayze House that was built in 1832.
Moravian Residences by the bank
The Caleb Swayze is the house towards the right and it was built in 1832. It is now part of the bank.
The homes and the current bank at dusk lit for Christmas
The Toy Chest Toy Store at 335 High Street a former Moravian home
I have been to the Toy Chest Toy Store many times on my journey to Hope, NJ and it has the most amazing selection of toys, games and collectibles in the area.
Moravian home where the Manger program was performed and after it was over, we visited many local homes of prominent residents from the area. To end the tour, we visited the back of someone’s garage where there was a live nativity scene performed that evening with actors reading from the Bible.
The live Nativity performance
This interesting little barn/garage is across from the church and I thought looked quite festive
St. John’s Methodist Church at 354 High Street and the former Moravian Church where the Candlelight services were held. The service is posted on their Facebook page below.
I attended the Candlelight Christmas services at St. John’s Methodist Church which had once served as the Moravian Church and the service was followed as it would have been at the turn of the last century.
The inside of the church during the holidays
The Christmas tree at the church
The visiting priest had once been head of the church here and gave a very inspirational talk on the holidays that was followed by the lights being dimmed and caroling by candlelight which gave the whole church an interesting glow (you can see the whole service on the church’s Facebook page attached).
The start of the Candlelight ceremony at the church
The downtown lit up for the holidays
Afterwards I took one last walk around Hope to admire all the lights and decorations. After a quick slice of pizza at Hope Pizzeria at 435 Hope Blairstown Road, I was on my way home through the darkness. It really does get dark on these back roads until you hit Route 80. The little pizzeria is tucked into a small strip mall on the side of the road and has great pizza. It really was a festive and interesting evening.
Hope Pizza and Catering at 435 Hope Blairstown Road
For my Christmas present to myself every year, I go to Carnegie Hall for the NY Pops Christmas Concert but it ended up being on the night of my final exam and there was no way to cancel it, so I had to miss it again this year (COVID cancelled it last year).
When I visited the City the Sunday before for the “Shark” exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History, I walked back to Port Authority through Lincoln Center and I wanted to see what was going on this Holiday season and I saw that Kristin Chenoweth was performing a one woman show to promote her new Christmas album that Monday night. I was on the Internet that night to see if there were tickets left for the show.
The “Shark” exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History at Central Park West at 79th Street
The next night I had tickets in hand and off I went to Lincoln Center which I had not been to in two years since I had seen “Whipped Cream” in December of 2019 for the holidays. It was so nice be dressed up and going to the Met again. The theater was packed with people with the same idea. The City was ablaze with Christmas colors and lights.
Lincoln Center in all its glory at Lincoln Center Plaza
What a concert! Talk about being in sync with the holidays and just what the doctor ordered after a long semester. I needed a good concert and this really put me into the holiday spirit. Ms. Chenoweth was really in great spirits that night and brought the house down with these two songs from her album plus playing from Broadway shows and the Great American Songbook. It was a great Christmas concert and I left humming down Eighth Avenue.
This song opened the show at the Metropolitan Opera House on December 13th, 2021
I was starved when I left for the theater since I was in a rush to get into the City that afternoon with enough time to make the concert and still grade quizzes that were coming in from my online class at the Cornell Club.
I had a sudden craving for Linguini in White Clam Sauce so off I went to Amore Pizza Cafe at 370 West 58th Street which I had visited over the summer. I ordered their Linguini in White Clam sauce which ended up being a piping hot almost pound of pasta with a quarter pound of clams on top ($10.95) with a Coke. Talk about excellent and the perfect dinner on a cool night. The sauce was so flavorful and the clams were so sweet and fresh. I ate contently and the manager was so happy when I told her the food was excellent. Talk about an end to a wonderful evening.
The Linguini with White Clam Sauce was just superb that night at Amore Pizza Cafe
For the rest of the week, I had visited the Met and the Museum of the City of New York for private events and while seeing the new “Shark” exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History, I went to see the “Origami Tree”, that has been a staple of the museum for years. All of these events really put me in the Christmas spirit and put the ghosts of last Christmas behind me. It was not too last.
The Origami Tree at the American Museum of Natural History
The sign for the tree
The beautiful hand done work on the tree during the holiday season
The Gift Shop was also decorated to the hilt to entice shoppers
I wanted to visit the Hudson River Valley again before the holiday season was over and I saw on the Dutchess County Tourism site that Mount Gulian, a mansion near Beacon, NY was being decorated for the holidays and December 15th was the first day it would be open for touring.
I grabbed my aunt and we decided to spend the day visiting decorated homes and towns for the Christmas season. Our first stop was Beacon, NY to visit some of the stores on my website, LittleShoponMainStreet@wordpress.com, Colorant and Flora a Good Time both located in the downtown area and then off to Mount Gulian, a decorated mansion up Route 9.
Downtown Beacon, NY at Christmas
Mount Gulian was the home of the Verplanck’s for generations, the original house burned to the ground in 1938 and this house is a replica of the original sitting on the original home’s foundation. The house is decorated in many of the Verplanck’s family heirlooms donated by branches of the family over the years.
The main rooms on the first floor of the home including the former living room, dining room, sitting room and library were all decorated for the Victorian Christmas holidays. The hallways and doorways were also adorned with garland and bows and lights giving a festive and warm appearance to the house.
The tour took about an hour (see my blog on VisitingaMuseum.com) and the history of the house was discussed at various times and how family members called it home. Our tour guide also gave us interesting facts on the family and their connection with the house today. It is so nice to hear that various members of the Verplanck’s family still take an interest in the home.
Mount Gulian’s Dining Room decorated for Christmas Dinner
The sitting room at Mount Gulian
The Library decorated for the holidays
After the tour was over, the tour guide invited us to enjoy refreshments of hot cider and home baked goodies. Since there were only three of us on our tour, it gave us a chance to discuss the history of the families in the Hudson River Valley, the status of these famous homes and the future of historic sites of the region. It was really an engaging and interesting afternoon and the tour guide could not have been nicer. The whole event really represented what the Christmas experience is in the Hudson River Valley.
Between the Sinterklaas Parade in the beginning of the month, visiting the decorated homes of the region and walking the festive downtowns of the area giving them a “Currier & Ives” look about them. Dutchess, Ulster, Greene and Columbia counties really know how to convey the holiday spirit.
Downtown Rhinebeck, NY at Christmas
Our next stop was visiting Rhinebeck, NY which we arrived before dusk. The town was just lighting the trees and all the storefront windows were beautifully decorated for the holidays as they were on the night of the Sinterklaas Parade. The only town I know that can compete with Rhinebeck for the title of ‘Christmas Village’ is Cape May, NJ.
Rhinebeck has a magical look at nightfall
Samuel’s Sweet Shop at 42 East Market Street gets into that spirit every year
I love the way they merchandise the store for the holidays and their prices are very fair on their candies and desserts. You have to try their doughnuts.
The delicious candies and baked goods at Samuel’s Sweet Shop
Our next stop after leaving Rhinebeck was downtown Red Hook, NY which to me represents the best in small towns in the Hudson River Valley with excellent reasonable restaurants, creative store owners and a blend of old and new in architecture. Plus, everyone is so friendly when you shop and dine there.
Downtown Red Hook, NY at Christmas
I have written about my many trips to Red Hook in my blog “MywalkinManhattan.com” and discussed visiting the downtown and its proprietors.
The Red Hook town Christmas tree is such a great addition to the downtown and it more amazing at night as is the rest of the town when it is lit. When it gets dark in town, Red Hook gets that classic Americana feel to it.
Downtown Red Hook’s Christmas Tree
Downtown Red Hook, NY at dusk is so beautiful
After the walk around Red Hook (most of the stores closed early that night), my aunt and I crossed the Kingston Bridge and visited the ‘Stockade District”, the historical and shopping district of Downtown Kingston, to see how the town prepared itself for the holidays. It really was beautiful even with the light rain.
Downtown Kingston, NY at Christmas
The businesses had garland and beautiful white lights adorning them and the windows were very festive as in the other towns. Large snowflakes decorated the main streets which were lit brilliantly.
Downtown Kingston, NY Christmas tree
The Kingston, NY Christmas tree is right in the middle of the downtown shopping district and gives off such a holiday vibe. It is also so beautifully decorated. It really brightens up this stretch of the street.
Our last stop that evening was visiting Woodstock, NY, where I had spent three wonderful Christmases and is a place that I highly recommend spending the holidays. The Christmas Parade every year is so festive and well organized. The town is also so nicely decorated for Christmas and the square always has the most unconventional Christmas tree. They are usually oddly shaped and decorated and that’s their charm.
By the time we got to town that evening, all the stores were closed for the night and we dined for our early Christmas dinner at Shindig at 1 Tinker Street.
The love the Christmas tree in Downtown Woodstock, NY. It always looks so unusual.
Downtown Woodstock, NY square and Christmas tree
My visits to Woodstock, NY during Christmas meant a lot to me and I always loved going to the town’s Christmas Parade on Christmas Eve night. Santa always makes such interesting entrances.
Shindig has the best hamburgers and some of the most delicious mac & cheese. Talk about great comfort food on a cool misty night in the Catskills. We were the last customers to dine there that night, so they did not rush us as they were cleaning up for the night. Don’t miss their Cowboy burger. I highly recommend it.
Shindig at 1 Tinker Street in Woodstock, NY (Closed June 2022)
We had such a wonderful time visiting all the towns with their Christmas decorations and beautiful window displays. The Hudson River Valley is a wonderful place to get into the Christmas spirit. Who knew with all this Christmas cheer that all hell would break loose two days later.
Thank God I did all these events when I did because by Friday, December 17th, the night of my final exam, there was panic all over the country with the spread of a new variant of COVID, Omicron. All of a sudden, this new variant from South Africa started to move like wildfire all over the country and New York City was inundated by it.
I had to stay home all weekend and grade final exams because grades had to be posted by Tuesday. All I heard on the Internet and on TV was the rapid spread and the almost panic mode that everyone went into. I hauled up in the house and concentrated on school and getting the students emailed with their grades so that they could relax and enjoy their Christmas break.
I posted all my grades by Monday night and had to drop off all the paperwork on Tuesday at the college. I was just glad that they had not cancelled classes on Friday night when I was giving my exam. That would have been too much on me scrambling to get the exams done. Since I was the only one teaching on a Friday night, I was hoping they just forgot about me and the class would just happen which it did. Thank God!
Tuesday afternoon, we had a sparsely attended Faculty Party which I thought was very nice considering what was going on all over the country. We kept our masks on while we were walking around the room and enjoyed a lot of finger foods made by our Culinary Department and soft drinks. It was nice to just talk to people through our masks and catch up with people I had not seen all semester.
On the Sunday, December 19th, the Sunday before Christmas, the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department held its Annual “Santa Around Town”, one of the highlights of the holiday season for both the town and the department. Last year because of COVID rules, we could only drive down each street slowly waving at residents.
This year we were able to go back to making stops and greeting each resident and taking pictures with children and their families. Even a family dog decked out in its Christmas jacket joined in the fun. It was nice to see people outside and engaging with their neighbors.
The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department’s ‘Annual Santa Around Town’
The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department’s “Santa Around Town” 2021
By Monday, December 20th, it seemed that the whole country was going crazy with the new COVID variant. Flights were being cancelled, people were putting get togethers on hold and families were abandoning their plans for the holidays. Our family seemed fine until one by one, things kept happening the whole week and everything was derailed by Christmas Eve.
First my brother’s flight was cancelled and he could not get another flight until late Christmas Day so he nixed coming to Delaware for Christmas. Then a family member got sick so my mother cancelled all Christmas plans including our family dinner. She did not want anyone at the house who was not vaccinated. This derailed the plans even more as family members and friends were not vaccinated so no one was going to visit her house that day.
So when my mother called me to tell me that everything was being cancelled, I immediately looked into going back to Woodstock, NY where I had spent many happy Christmases. These plans were abandoned when my other brother’s flight was fine and he was coming for Christmas and he did not want to spend it alone in Rehoboth Beach.
So, I changed my plans again and booked a room at the Chalfonte Hotel’s Southern Quarters and Thank God was able to book the last room at the resort. The main hotel was closed for the season but the Southern Quarters is the small B & B concept they have next door, which serves guests all throughout the winter months (the main hotel will not reopen until May).
This was the weird part about the eve before Christmas Eve, it snowed overnight which it was not in the forecast and it looked like we would have a white Christmas. Since it was supposed to rain all day on Christmas, I looked at the weather and thought ‘great having to walk around with wet weather on Christmas’ but like the rest of the holiday season, Christmas Day brought its own surprises. After paying my respects at the cemeteries, it was off to Cape May to start the holidays.
My Christmas Eve was spent as it had three years earlier, going to dinner at the Boiler Room at The Congress Hotel for dinner. I love their coal-burning oven pizzas and their fresh salads. The dinner was really amazing and the restaurant was pretty busy all things considered. I guess some people were not going to be spooked by everything going on around us, myself included. I figured I was fully vaccinated and if I wore my mask every place, I needed to I would be fine.
The Boiler Room Pizzeria at The Congress Hotel in Cape May, NJ at 200 Congress Place
I had the most wonderful dinner. I started with a Mixed Green salad with Balsamic dressing and chopped strawberries which had the most complex flavor with the sweetness of the strawberries playing off the Balsamic vinegar. The greens were so fresh that they crunched when I bit into them.
The Mixed Greens were so fresh and crisp
For the entree, I had the Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza with fresh mozzarella. Talk about a crisp pizza and the sauce could not have been more delicious with the fresh tomatoes and olive oil.
The Prosciutto Arugula Pizza at the Boiler Room
(sorry the pictures have such a strange light but that is the dining room)
After dinner was over, I walked all over The Congress Hotel which is always so beautifully decorated for the Christmas holidays. The halls are lined with white lights and garlands and a fire roaring in the fireplace in the main hall. Outside on the lawn, there a colorfully decorated tree and decorated tables with pool heaters for people to sit under.
Congress Hall Hotel Lobby decorated for Christmas
Seeing the casual and engaging conversations the other guests were having you would have never known that there was a major outbreak going on. Most people walking around the hotel were not even wearing masks.
After walking through the grounds and through all the gift shops to see what was for sale (their gift shops are really nice and they have an interesting bakery), I walked the Washington Mall which serves as the Cape May downtown. All the stores were closed by this point but I got to admire all the beautiful window displays and the white lights adorning the trees. The only town that can rival Cape May at Christmas is Rhinebeck, NY. Both have that Christmas feel to them.
The Gazebo in Downtown Cape May
After my walk around Downtown Cape May, I went to 9:00pm Christmas Eve mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Downtown Cape May at 525 Washington Street. I needed some spiritual guidance at this time of the year as well as the rest of the congregation did as well. What really surprise me again was that 95% of the parishioners did not wear masks. I guess people in Cape May thought they were away from the danger (I wore mine through the whole service, hey you never know).
Our Lady Star of the Sea Church at 525 Washington Street in Cape May, NJ
The Altar at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church decorated for the holidays
It was a beautiful service with the choir singing and a very inspirational Christmas talk from the priest. The service could not have been more perfect and the church was so beautifully decorated with Christmas trees with white lights and poinsettias all over the place. Very secular but still in the spirit of the holidays.
Christmas services at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church
The next morning, I had to be on the Cape May ferry at 10:15am and there was literally nothing open for breakfast without going to one of the hotels and there was no time for that. There was no food service at the ferry and the woman at the ferry was unsure if food was going to be available on the boat (it was we both found out later), so I left the ferry and had to go to the local WaWa around the corner at 3719 Bayshore Road.
If there was ever a meeting place on Christmas Day that everyone congregated at it was the local Wawa. The place was mobbed with people socializing with one another and wishing everyone else a Merry Christmas. You would have thought I was at City Hall or a Town Square. Everyone knew everyone else in the store and they were all ordering their breakfasts, getting coffee or their takeout orders or filling up on gas for a trip somewhere. I felt like I was in Mayberry.
Wawa really does have a good breakfast! The only problem was I had to eat it on my car hood in the parking lot. There is no place to eat inside.
The breakfast sandwiches at Wawa are really good!
The surprising part was I ordered a Bacon, Egg and Cheese omelet on a fresh hoagie and it was really good! I was amazed. The Strawberry Banana Smoothie that I ordered with it was also terrific. I was blown away on my Christmas breakfast which I ate on the back of my car since there was no place to sit down.
The Strawberry Banana Smoothie is worth the price and is so refreshing even on a very cold morning
After breakfast, I noticed the gloomy morning was starting to clear up and by the time the ferry left Cape May for Lewes, DE, it was becoming sunny and bright. When we got to Lewis by noon, it was sunny, clear and going up into the 60’s. It ended up being 65 degrees and sunny the whole day. God answered my prayers for a warm Christmas!
By the time I got off the ferry at noon in Lewes, De, it was a bright sunny and warm day. This is when the forecasters predicted rain all day. The entire afternoon was in the high 60’s, sunny and clear. It was the perfect day to be at the shore.
After dropping some presents off at my mom’s and wishing her a Merry Christmas, my brother, niece, my brother’s girlfriend and I went to Dos Locos in Downtown Rehoboth Beach for Christmas lunch. Unusual choice but it was the only place open. I had the most delicious Shrimp Quesadilla for lunch and that was more than enough after the big breakfast I had two hours earlier.
Before we left the restaurant, we took a memorable group shot in front of their Christmas tree. As we were leaving, I was amazed by how many people had the same idea we had and the restaurant really started to fill up.
My family at Dos Locos for our Christmas Dinner
To work off lunch (and my earlier breakfast), we walked all over the boardwalk that afternoon. Being such a nice day, again everyone had the same idea and we were wishing other families a “Merry Christmas” as they walked on the beach and walked their dogs around the downtown area. It was also ideal to go window shopping. By 3:30pm, it had reached almost 67 degrees and we walked along the beach and watched as one brave soul took a Christmas swim in the ocean. I know it was warm but it was not that warm outside.
My family by Santa’s House on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk
We took a lot of family shots around the Rehoboth beach Christmas Tree and at Santa’s House. He had left for the North Pole, so he was not around at this point. Still, everyone on the boardwalk was taking pictures by the tree.
My brother and I by the Christmas tree in Downtown Rehoboth
My brother and I in the bandstand in Downtown Rehoboth Beach
Me at the holiday displays in the Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach
The Manger at the bandstand in Rehoboth Beach with Santa’s House in the background
It started to get dark by 5:45pm at that point (the days are starting to get longer) and we headed back to my brother’s hotel as they prepared for dinner and I had to head back to the ferry to go back to Cape May.
I was surprised on how well Christmas had turned out. For a day that started off as the original ‘Clusterfuck’, it is amazing how plans change and the day can still turn out to be pretty good. I got on the 7:45pm ferry back to Cape May and we were in by 9:00pm. Again, not much was open on Christmas Day for dinner and I refused to have dinner at WaWa.
When I got back into town, the only two restaurants were the Chinese restaurant in the mall but they were closing for the night. So, I went to the Ugly Mug at 426 Washington Street in the Washington Mall for a snack. It was the only place open besides going back to Congress Hall.
Talk about crowded for a Christmas night! All the locals either had tired from their families, tourists need to get out of their hotels or people had just gotten off their shifts from work, people lined the bar having a good time eating, drinking and laughing. The Christmas games were going on and the bar was in full swing.
The inside of the Ugly Mug
With only five minutes left to order, the manager of the restaurant who was eating right next to me was eating a cheesesteak and highly recommended it. So, it was a cheesesteak and a Coke for me on Christmas night. It was nice to sit back and talk with the other patrons and bartenders in a relaxed environment.
The Cheesesteaks at The Ugly Mug are fantastic. Just like Philly!
The cheesesteak was so good
I spent the rest of Christmas night walking along the shore, listening to the waves hoping to get a glimpse of Santa on his way back to the North Pole. For the craziest Christmas Day with twists and turns, it ended up being a really great day. Not at all what we had planned but sometimes things work out for a reason. I ended up getting the best night’s sleep.
The day after Christmas my plans changed when a friend of mine who came into town changed the plans again and I decided to go to the theater at the Cape May Stage at 405 Layfette Street. I saw the final show of the season “Adopt a Sailor: The Holiday Edition”, which was performed by the Theater Director and his wife who are professional actors.
The Cape May Stage: Adopt a Sailor: The Holiday Edition
It was a clever story about a Manhattan couple that ‘adopt’ a sailor from the deep south for Christmas Eve. I thought it was a bit predictable with the stereotype of the uptight Upper West Side couple and the ‘naive’ sailor from the South but it ended up being a very bittersweet story about the couple looking within on their own relationship with this sailor shipping out on Christmas to a dangerous part of the world. It made them think about how small their own problems were and what Christmas was all about.
After the show was over, I decided to spend my last night in Cape May watching the sunset at Sunset Beach in West Cape May at 502 Sunset Boulevard. If you ever want to see the most spectacular sunset in the world and I have literally seen them all over the world, this is the most fantastic location to see the sunset over the Delaware Bay.
I stayed until after 5:00pm to watch the sun dip below the bay in most spectacular fashion. It really does amaze the way it slowly disappears into the bay and then the whole sky is a brilliant variety of colors. People were literally applauding the sun setting. I left Cape May for home after this.
You have to see the sun set at Sunset Beach at least once
While I was at Sunset Beach, I took a series of videos when the sun was setting to share with all the readers. You really must visit Sunset Beach to experience the beauty and the gracefulness of Mother Nature at her best. Until then, I hope everyone enjoys these videos of the setting of the sun in Delaware Bay.
The pictures and videos of the setting of the sun at Sunset Beach:
In the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I spent the night in the City before the Ball dropped museum hopping between the Met and the MoMA trying to see the current exhibitions before they closed and taking the long ride up to Inwood to see the Cloisters decorated for Christmas and the current exhibition “Spain: 1000-1200” and taking a second look at the Christmas decorations all over the City.
I wanted to explore the neighborhood for changes since COVID and my last trip to the area since the summer, so I walked from The Cloisters to West 155th stopping for lunch and visiting stores and bakeries that I had written about in the past.
I stopped for lunch at the New Golden Star Chinese Restaurant at 4247 Broadway, a restaurant that I had passed many times on my walks down Broadway and had wanted to try. The food is excellent and the service could not have been nicer. I had a Chicken with Broccoli ($11.95) with Hot & Sour Soup and an eggroll.
New Golden Star Chinese Restaurant at 4247 Broadway
The Chicken with Broccoli was delicious and the sauce with a combination of Hunan and Soy really made the dish. The Hot & Sour Soup was one of the best I have had recently. The chili peppers added some kick to the soup and it was loaded with vegetables and sliced pork. The service could not have been nicer.
The Chicken with Broccoli was excellent
After lunch, I continued my walk down Broadway. I had originally planned had planned to go the Met on Fifth Avenue but it was too late for that and then I decided to walk down Broadway but by the time I got to West 155th Street near the cemetery I was pooped. I needed something sweet, so I stopped at one of my favorite bakeries uptown Five Star Estrella Bakery at 3861 Broadway for a snack.
I had the most amazing Vanilla and Strawberry Iced Doughnut ($2.00) and between the sweet thick icing on top and the rich dough, every bite was heaven. I was reenergized but my feet were beginning to kill me. I stopped at Ilka Tanya Payan Park and sat down to finish my doughnut and relax.
I just admired the Christmas tree in the park for a bit before taking the subway back to midtown. I never knew that the park was named after the actress and activist, Ilka Tanya Payan. I thought it was nice of community to set such a beautiful tree up for the holidays and it was nicely decorated. I was finished for the day.
Ilka Tanya Payan Park at Edward Morgan Place & Broadway
New Year’s Eve this year was a quiet evening at home watching the ball drop on TV. There was no way I was going back to the City with those crowds in that cold. Thank God that 2021 is now over and hopefully better days ahead!
This was not the Christmas I planned but things took so many twists and turns that I just went with the flow. This is why I am fully vaccinated. Life needs to go on as normal in these unnormal times.
My three favorite Christmas songs: These are the songs that I wait to hear on the radio.
The Ronette’s: Sleigh Ride:
Ray Parker Jr.: Christmas Time is Here
The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping
I also thought these Christmas songs in Chinese were interesting when I found them on YouTube:
I find it intriguing how other countries see Christmas and interpret it.
Franconi’s Pizzeria is at the corner of Oak Avenue and the Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ.
Sometimes there are just establishments that don’t fit into the traditional mold of this blog but when I find one that stands out it really makes it special. There is something about the boardwalk businesses at the Jersey shore that just different.
Maybe it is just the sites and smells or just the combination with the sea air and the beautiful weather with the aroma of good food. This is how Franconi’s Pizzeria & Ristorante on the corner of Oak Avenue & the Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ makes your mouth water.
The inside of Franconi’s at the beach early in the morning
The one thing I have to say about the staff at Franconi’s is that they are ambitious. They are always handing out menus and are outside on the Boardwalk encouraging you to come in and try their food. There are also large sandwich boards outside the restaurant with prices and menu items to lure you in.
Inside Franconi’s at the beach early in the morning before the other diners arrived that morning
The one thing I have to say about the staff at Franconi’s is that they are ambitious. They are always handing out menus and are outside on the Boardwalk encouraging you to come in and try their food. There are also large sandwich boards outside the restaurant with prices and menu items to lure you in.
The inside of Franconi’s Pizzeria in the summer of 2025
This is how I tried it the first time in 2019. I was looking for a place for breakfast and they had a wonderful “Firemen’s Special” that was some breakfast. The breakfast platter consisted of three scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and potatoes. It was some breakfast to finish. It was big enough for two people and everything was delicious. The eggs had been cooked in clarified butter and you could taste the flavor in the eggs.
Later that afternoon, I went for a couple of slices of pizza for the “Firemen’s Lunch Special” . The pizza is good here but I found other places on the Wildwood Boardwalk that I liked better. Still the pizza is pretty good at Franconi’s.
When I returned to Wildwood two years later (the Firemen’s Convention had been cancelled in 2020) for the Convention 2021, I started visit with dinner at Franconi’s with one of their cheese steak platters with fries and pickles.
Their cheesesteaks are excellent. Since the Wildwoods cater to a largely to a Philadelphia crowd, the cheesesteaks around here had better be up to “Philly standards”. Unusually cheesesteaks in New Jersey don’t come anywhere near going to the Reading Market in downtown Philly but Franconi’s does a great job.
The steaks were those thin little steaks that I love so much not sliced steak for a steak sandwich which so many places pass off as cheesesteak. They grill them to a caramelized perfection and then topped it all with Cheese Wiz which I am convinced is the best cheese for it. It was served on a large chewy hoagie roll that was grilled slightly with clarified butter. Each bite was heaven and you could taste the complexity of flavors.
I was looking forward to breakfast the next morning after we voting for the NJ Firemen’s Association election. I made a b-line down the boardwalk to Franconi’s for breakfast again and I ordered the #8 Breakfast special . That was a nice feast that included two pieces of French Toast, two scrambled eggs, two slices of bacon and two pieces of sausage with a side of perfectly cooked home fries. It was so big that it took up two plates.
The breakfast specials at Franconi’s are always a feast.
The French Toast was cooked on the grill with a combination of a custard cinnamon mixture with clarified butter that made the dish crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The meats were cooked crisp on the grill and the potatoes were cooked with clarified butter that were nicely spiced. The breakfast filled me up for both breakfast and lunch.
In 2022, I attended the NJ State Firemen’s Convention again and had dinner at Franconi’s, which is now becoming a tradition. I stopped in for dinner on Saturday night and walked the boardwalk. After a long stretch, it was time for a late lunch/early dinner, and I needed something to tide me over until my dinner reservation at 8:00pm. I decided to have a Meatball Hoagie Parmesan ($9.95) for a six-inch sandwich.
It was wonderful. Their red sauce has so much flavor to it and is so well spiced. The meatballs are freshly made and have the taste of beef, pork and garlic and are perfectly cooked. It was such a nice combination of flavors. The bread was fresh and chewy as I would expect a Jersey sub to be at the shore.
I returned for the Convention in 2023 and ate both my breakfasts at Franconi’s and the food is consistent and wonderful everytime I eat there. The first morning I had the the Firemen’s Special which is two pancakes, two scrambled eggs, home fries and sausage. It was some breakfast.
The pancakes were light and fluffy and had that nice malt taste.
The second morning I ordered the #8 again with two pieces of French Toast, two scrambled eggs, two pieces of bacon and two sausage. This is enough food for two people but I always manage this breakfast on my own. It is so good!
I came back in 2024 for Convention and basically ran to Franconi’s for breakfast again. I was looking forward to another feast at breakfast and was not disappointed. The first morning the breakfast at the hotel was not enough and I had to have another breakfast because of a long day of traveling ahead of me. So I had a Bacon and Cheese Omelet with a side of home fries. God that hit the spot.
The Omelet must have had three eggs in it and was perfectly cooked
The second morning, I was in a rush to vote and sign in and then get to my next destination. So I checked out of the hotel early and I headed to the Boardwalk for my next delicious breakfast. I wanted to try something new on the menu, so I had the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Breakfast sandwich and on the side, a Belgian Waffle. Both were wonderful and served as my breakfast and lunch as it was going to be another long day.
When I returned again in 2025, I have to admit that the prices have gone up by two or three dollars for both the entrees and sandwiches but every place on the Wildwood Boardwalk has done the same. Still for the portion size and the quality of the food it is well worth it.
I decided on a Chicken Parmesan sandwich (don’t call it a hero in South Jersey)
The sandwich was filled with freshly fried breaded chicken cutlets and topped with a delicious red sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese. The sandwich was served with pickles, which no Italian would ever do. Still it worked and the sandwich was delicious.
I enjoyed my lunch so much that I came back for lunch the next morning. I was so tired of the scrambled eggs and pancakes choices I decided to try something different and ordered some Biscuits and Sausage Gravy and a Grilled Buttered Sticky Bun. I thought this would be different.
It was so decadent and sweet and it is a real winner. It is also not on the menu so you have to ask for it. What an amazing breakfast it was!
When I returned for the next convention, I stopped in for lunch after the first set of meetings. I did not want to have a huge lunch because I had plans for dinner. So I thought I will just order sausage calzone. Big mistake, the thing was huge!
When the waitress brought it out, I thought she brought me the big one
I wondered how I would finish this thing
This calzone was the size of a small pizza
It was delicious and what a lunch
The lunch was so good that I stopped in for Breakfast the next morning. I had one of the Firemen’s Special breakfast’s that had three eggs, your choice of bacon or sausage, hashbrowns and two blueberry pancakes (I paid three dollars for these but well worth it).
The Scrambled eggs were excellent and everything on the plate was perfectly cooked and spiced
I don’t what it is about Franconi’s that makes it so special to eat here. Maybe it is the location on the boardwalk so close to the beach and the sea air or the sounds of the ocean and the boardwalk or just people enjoying themselves.
It is also the excellent food, friendly service and maybe that “Jersey Shore” attitude during the warmer months that creates a memory. Along with Ravioli House in Wildwood, NJ, these are my two ‘go to’ places when I visit Wildwood, NJ and I highly recommend them. Friendly service, generous portions, fair prices and excellent food.
This is what the Jersey shore such a great experience.
Sometimes there are just establishments that don’t fit into the traditional mold of this blog but when I find one that stands out it really makes it special. There is something about the boardwalk businesses at the Jersey shore that just different. Maybe it is just the sites and smells or just the combination with the sea air and the beautiful weather with the aroma of good food. This is how Franconi’s Pizzeria & Ristorante on the corner of Oak Avenue & the Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ makes your mouth water.
Franconi’s Pizzeria & Ristorante at Oak Avenue and the Boardwalk
The one thing I have to say about the staff at Franconi’s is…
Exploring Boonton, NJ is an ongoing Downtown project that I enjoy. As current President of the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association, I go out to the home at least six times a year for meetings. Before I head to the home, I always like to stop in the Downtown and explore all the new businesses, restaurants and shops and see the changes going on. The first wave of art galleries that I had visited in 2017 has given way to a collection of unique boutiques and spas, new art galleries and a collection of interesting street art. Like most of the downtowns featured on this blog, Boonton just seems to be growing and changing all the time.
Working with the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association at the NJ State Firemen’s Home in Boonton, NJ:
In August of 2021, it had been a tough summer. I pulled a muscle and it has been hard to do long walks around Manhattan so I kept it to short walks around my neighborhood. As I have improved, I have been able to get more done and have started to drive again. I was able to make the trip to Boonton, NJ for the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association Barbecue.
The members of the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association at their June 2024 barbecue.
So off I went adjusting the car seat higher with a pillow and an ice pack. It was a short trip with no traffic and the pain has now subsided with more walking. When I arrived at the home for the barbecue, I had to walk around the property to loosen up a bit. When I came back in 2023, 2024 and 2025 for our two barbecues, I felt so much better and was ready to go.
Still it was a marvelous day and the most beautiful weather sunny and clear and 72 degrees. The residents loved being outside to enjoy the fresh air, music and food and the members liked that we still could socially distance and converse with the residents outside as long as there were not too many gathering (we want to keep our retired firefighting brothers safe too). Please check out my blog on the August BCFHA Barbecue:
Me finally sitting down to lunch after serving everyone else
The Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association August Barbecue at the NJ Firemen’s Home August 15th, 2021:
After the barbecues were over, I decided to head back to Downtown Boonton to explore the downtown on a weekend and get some stretching for my legs and back in before the long ride home. Downtown Boonton, which has been discovered by the artists and hipsters is going through a major change as we speak. There is so much to see and do.
Since then, I have visited the downtown and watched it grow from a rather sleepy downtown to a destination with galleries, coffee shops, music venues, upscale stores and eclectic restaurants.
The barbecue feast was amazing at the June 2024 Barbecue
The members of the Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association at the 2025 Picnic with member George Steiger on his 102nd birthday
Our blog on the 2025 barbecues:
It started off as a gloomy and misty day for the Bergen County Fireman’s Association June Barbecue. The weather forecast for the week was for rain but we lucked out with conditions. There was a light rain with breaks between so that residents could come outside and enjoy lunch under the tents.
The grounds of the NJ State Firemen’s Home during the late Spring
With all the rain we had been having the grounds of the home looked so beautiful and lush. The flowers were all in full bloom and the gardens looked amazing.
The gardens and fountains the day of the barbecue. I thought the fire hydrant fountain was pretty good.
Under the direction of Chef Prince of the NJ State Firemen’s Home and our member, NJ Firemen’s Association President Bob Ordway, they cooked up a feast for the residents, their guests and members and families.
NJ State Firemen’s Association President and Bergen County Firemen’s Home Association member Bob Ordway manning the grill.
Chef Prince of the NJ State Firemen’s Home cooking up a storm.
The wonderful lunch that everyone enjoyed
Our entertainment that afternoon was singer Kelly Carpenter, who had entertained at many of our functions in the past. She sang popular show tunes, rock hits and country tunes.
Touring Downtown Boonton, NJ after events and on my own time:
Downtown Boonton, New Jersey is showing a new rebirth from the local shops of the past to new restaurants, galleries and shops popping up all over the downtown. Known for the local ironworks that once made this a company town, somehow this small hamlet was discovered by artists and galleries have been popping up on the main street.
Downtown Boonton in Fall 2022
Downtown Boonton in the Summer of 2025
What I like about Boonton’s downtown is the diversity of old and new mixed together and that the main street is a sloped and curving so that you can see the remains of the iron works and the park below. The views of the mountains and trees lined valley’s are spectacular in the summer with swaths of green trees all over.
The entrance to the main part of Downtown Boonton and the historical district of downtown
Plank Road in Downtown Boonton leads to the historic district of the old Morris Canal and ironworks
I discovered Downtown Boonton by accident when I decided to drive around when I had time to spare before an event in 2021. I had read something about the Boonton Historical Society in a magazine (See my review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com). So I visited the Historical Society after our April meeting in 2019 and attending their Open House for Christmas. That was a nice event with docent tours, light refreshments and musical performances. Since then I have been back a few more times to explore the shopping district.
I have started many trips at the Boonton Historical Society located at 210 Main Street. This interesting little museum is a treasure trove of local history with displays on the history of the local Iron Works, the Trolley Car industry and its role in the development of transportation in the area and displays on the history of the local police, fire and local schools. There are also some interesting pictures of the changes in the downtown area. They also run great walking tours.
Boonton Historical Society at 210 Main Street at the Christmas Open House in 2022
The Boonton Historical Society is the old Taylor House
I have visited the museum during both the 2019 and 2022 Christmas Open House which was an interesting afternoon of Docent tours of the museum’s Trolley and Railroad exhibition memorabilia and then a wonderful concert from a local musician with refreshments following. COVID had stopped this for two years and people were glad that it came back
Santa arrived at the Boonton Historical Society
One of the Board members performed at the Christmas Open House in 2022
In the Summer of 2021, I took a walking tour of the old Iron Works factory with a local historian. We toured all the spots in Grace Lord Park that had been built up to support the factory along with ruins of the old structures of the complex. It was sad that these will be knocked down for a new condo complex (see my review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com).
The inside of the Boonton Historical Society “Say Yes to the Dress” exhibition
The inside of the Boonton Historical Society “Small Business” exhibition
The historical section of the museum
Walking the Downtown in all seasons:
On my last three trips exploring the downtown, I have been admiring the statues of dogs and cats that line the street and flank all the buildings. The Boonton Arts Creative Placemaking Initiative organization in partnership with Boonton Main Street Inc. has been showcasing artists who have created these works.
Dog sculpture in Downtown Boonton, NJ
The Boonton Post Office is flanked by dog statues
The Dog Days of Summer & Some Cool Cats’ is a public art exhibition showcasing artist’s customer designs on life sized statues displayed on the main street. Artists are sponsored by the public.
“Dog Days of Summer & some Cool Cats” exhibition downtown
The Dog Days of Summer sculptures in 2025:
The sculptures in 2025
The sculptures in 2025
The sculptures in 2025
Once the artist received a sponsor, they get the opportunity to bring their design to life. For the duration of the summer, the sculptures will be available for adoption on the Boonton Arts Etsy page. The project has now raised $70,000 for local animal shelters and over $6,000 for local schools (Boonton Arts).
“Dog Days of Summer & Some Cool Cats” outside one of the coffee shops downtown
Across the street from the Historical Society at 309 Main Street is Eric’s Jamaican Cuisine which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It specializes in roasts, stews, fish dishes and the patties look amazing. The smells of food cooking and spices from the background grill will make your mouth water.
I stopped in on a recent visit and had a Beef and Cheese Jamaican patty ($2.50) and it was delicious. The crust was so light and flaky and had a nice portion of filling inside. The Chicken and Jerk Chicken patties were sold out so I tried one of the Fried Dumplings ($1.00). It was a round deep fried crisp dough that was perfect with a little jam.
The service could not have been nicer and the woman working the counter went over the menu with me. I love the smell of the spices when you enter the restaurant.
The downtown shopping district has an eclectic mix of the restaurants and shops. One of the first places I ate lunch at when I was touring the downtown on my first trip was Pasquale’s Pizza at 307 Main Street #1. I stopped in for a slice of pizza and a Coke and the pizza here is really good. The slice was full of flavor with a nice gooey consistency.
The cheese pizza here is excellent!
The service was very pleasant and on a cool Sunday afternoon was one of the few places that was open. The service is very friendly.
I recently dined at Pasquale’s Pizza for lunch and decided I did not want any pizza even though it looked really good and was in the mood for a deli sandwich. I ordered a half of an Italian hero and was floored when the sandwich came out. It was a half a sandwich that most people would have considered a whole. It was so huge that I had to take half of it home and it made two other meals. It was delicious.
The ‘half’ Italian hero sandwich at Pasquale’s Pizza
It was delicious and everything was so fresh on the sandwich. This is a great place for lunch.
Walking up the hill from the train tracks, you will look up at the winding main street at an interesting mix of historical buildings that are in the process of renovation or have been brought back to their original beauty.
Street art tucked here and there
For lunch one afternoon, I ate at Wah Yan Kitchen at 601 Main Street. This little hole in the wall take out restaurant services delicious Cantonese food at very reasonable prices for lunch. The afternoon I was there I had a Shrimp Lo Mein with a side of Pork Fried Rice and an egg roll.
The one thing that differed Wah Yan Kitchen from many of the take out places I have eaten at is the entree was very large and the dish did not skip on the ingredients. There was lots of chopped roast pork in both the fried rice and in the egg roll. Everything was wonderful that I have ordered here in the past. The family who runs the restaurant could not have been nicer to me.
On my recent trip to the restaurant I had the sudden craving for Sweet and Sour Pork and had that for lunch which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The Sweet and Sour Pork combination lunch
The Sweet and Sour Pork was wonderful
The restaurant’s lunch specials are really good and I enjoy coming here when I am in town. Their prices and portion sizes are very fair and the food is really good.
I like their painting against their wall. It is very clever!
I made two trips to Egg’s City for breakfast ordering the same meal and the food and service are consistently excellent.
Egg City at 605 Main Street and Wah Yah Kitchen at 601 Main Street
The fresh chips and homemade hot sauce to start your meal. They are good!
On a recent trip to Boonton, I stopped at Egg City at 605 Main Street for a late breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny day and I sat by the widows watching the world go by. I ordered the Eggs with Chorizo which came with a side of potatoes and wheat toast. The scrambled eggs came in a hard scramble with plenty of spicy Chorizo sausage chopped inside the eggs. Adding some of the hot sauce provided on the table, it added an extra zing to the dish.
My breakfast on both trips to Egg’s City. The food is wonderful
The Scrambled eggs with Chorizo Sausage makes a nice combination
Boonton at one time must have been a very cultural center for the arts in the region having a theater, opera house and a well established library all located within the downtown area. With the Morris Canal cutting through the town and the Ironworks at the bottom of the hill, the traffic in the downtown at the turn of the last century was extremely busy being a place of trade and shipping.
The Darress Theater at 615 Main Street has been closed during the COVID pandemic but was still open in late 2019 when it was showing some classic films. It was closed when I visited the town over the last year and a half though.
The theater was opened in 1919 as a vaudeville house with many famous names on the circuit visiting the town like Burns & Allen and Abbott & Costello. After WWII, the theater became a movie house showing first run movies until the local malls took that business away in the 1980’s. Before it closed due to COVID, it had been showing classic films and live shows (NJ Daily Record).
As you make your way up the hill, you will pass the picturesque Boonton Library at 621 Main Street. The library opened in this building in 1894 in a small section of the structure. The property was bought from the Iron Company in 1849 by Eliza Scott and was used for stores. Then the building was bought by local resident James Holmes in 1856 and in 1870 and was converted into the family homes. Upon his death in 1893, he willed the building and a sum of money so that the building could be used as a town library (Best Public Libraries/History of Boonton Library).
The Boonton Public Library at 621 Main Street (next to the Darress Theater)
The impressive old building holds a periodical area, a Children’s and Teen Library and a sitting area for patrons. You can still see from of the impressive details of the old building when walking around the library.
The library does a nice job decorating for the holidays. Halloween seems to be a favorite.
The library Halloween weekend in 2025
The pumpkins and ghosts
The ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night
This little creature protected the front of the library
Another wonderful restaurant that I tried one afternoon after a long walking tour of Grace Lord Park was Roma Pizzeria & Restaurant at 709 Main Street. They have the most delicious cheese pizza and their garlic knots are really good. The pizza has the most amazing sauce that tastes of fresh tomatoes, garlic, a bit of hot pepper and olive oil. It really gave each bit a rich flavor. The family that runs the pizzeria is really nice too and I was able to eat at one of the outdoor tables and admire the view of the area.
Right down the road is the old Engine/Hose Company One firehouse at 713 Main Street. This original firehouse of the Boonton Fire Department was built in the 1890’s. It was renovated in 2012 and was formerly Maxfield’s Restaurant. The building is currently empty but you can still admire the stonework of the old building and the details that showed its once fire fighting past (LoopNet.com).
The old Engine/Hose Company One at 713 Main Street
Next to the firehouse is another reminder of Boonton’s cultural past is the Boonton Opera House at 715 Main Street. This architectural gem was built in 1850 as Independence Hall which was used for various functions. Then in 1890, the owner added a third floor and christened it “Mrs. Green’s Opera House”. The building was fully renovated in 2016 by business owners in the area and now houses offices and retail space (Daily Record). Check out the buildings details on the other side of the street.
The Boonton Opera House at 715 Main Street (next to the firehouse)
After my walking tour of the Iron Works Company with the Historical Society and a nice lunch at Roma Pizzeria & Restaurant, I sampled Scoop House at 813 Main Street. Scoop House is an old fashioned ice cream parlor with homemade ice cream and unusual flavors. The menu includes all sorts of sundaes, shakes, ice cream sandwiches and waffle & ice cream combos.
I had an unusual flavor called “Cookie Monster”, which was a purple ice cream with cookie dough batter in it and crushed chocolate chip cookies. Talk about different and delicious! The prices are also very fair at a time when other ice cream shops are charging premium prices.
The Scoop House in 2025 changed owners and names and is now known as Meli’s Sweet Shop.
Meli’s Sweet Shop at 813 Main Street
The inside of the shop and the delicious ice creams
The inside of the shop
The artwork inside
I loved the dog outside the shop
What I loved about Meli’s Sweet Shop is that they kept everything that was best about Scoops and added onto it.
Then I had to walk it all off and decided to explore the park.
I passed other businesses that were closed on most weekends and made my way to Grace Lord Park which is located at the top part of Downtown Boonton. From the sidewalks you can see the river path through the park and as you get closer to the bend, the waterfall near the bridge. This relaxing little park was once part of the Iron Works Company and where we started our walking tour of the area with the Boonton Historical Society.
Grace Lord Park in Boonton, NJ and the great playground they have in the park.
The front part of the park as you enter from the downtown is lined with paths, a children’s playground, a wooded area, historical signs of the site, the gazebo where concerts take place and our meeting ground for the tours and the falls.
The Falls of Grace Lord Park in Boonton, NJ
The waterfall in the Spring of 2024
On a perfect sunny day, a group of us joined the Historical Society of Boonton, NJ on a tour of the former Iron Works Company and of a section of the Morris Canal that ran through the town during the turn of the last century.
The street art on the walls of the park is interesting
On my more recent trips to the park, I just enjoy walking around the Falls area and taking a short hike down the paths into the woods and admire the river. On a nice day, there are plenty of families running around the park.
The Gazebo at Grace Lord Park
The lake and fountain in the park in the Fall
The park in the summer of 2025
The playground in 2025
The car in the playground
Whether it is Spring, Summer, Winter or Fall, Grace Lord Park is really beautiful at any season. I just love walking down the paths along the river and then watching the waterfall by the paths.
The beauty of the park in the Summer
The pathway to the ironworks in the Summer 2025
The pond in the Spring of 2026
The pond in the Spring of 2026
The waterfall
The video of the waterfall
It’s really beautiful in this park in the summer
In the summer months, there are all sorts of concerts in the park and on the weekends there is the Farmer’s Market.
The Farmer’s Market in Boonton has a nice selection of vendors.
I visited the Farmers Market on the Saturday on Labor Day weekend but the town cancelled the market at the last minute. Still there were a few vendors that had set up and I was able to sample their wares. The Schieferstein Farm from Clark, NJ had all of their fruits and vegetable lined up in bins and they had the most flavorful white peaches for a dollar. It was juicy and sweet and there is nothing like a Jersey Peach when it is in season.
Don’t miss the Schieferstein Farm stand for the sweetest Jersey Peaches
The selection of farm produce at the Farmer’s Market
The wares at the Farmers Market change with every season
I returned the next week and there were many more vendors selling all sorts of wares at the Farmers Market. I visited Gizmo’s Pet Products for gourmet pet treats, Race Farms out of Blairstown, NJ for another sweet juicy yellow Jersey Peach ($1.00) and Urban Gypsy Arts by artist Vicki Stafford who sells handmade knit and crocheted hats and scarves, handmade earrings and pins.
A Crocheted Voodoo doll by artist Vicki Stafford, the perfect gift for Halloween
Along the way there were other vendors selling Empanadas, Italian dinners, gourmet cheese, homemade pickles and freshly baked breads and pastries. There really is something for everyone at this Farmer’s Market. There was guitar band performing that morning for the patrons with original songs and a small play area with a Cornhole set up for the kids. The Boonton Farmers Market is a nice way to spend an early Saturday morning.
I visited the Boonton Farmers Market in August of 2026 on a beautiful sunny morning before a function at the NJ State Firemen’s Home. This is the time of year when the produce is at its peak for the Summer and the variety was immense. They also had a very interesting band playing that morning.
The Boonton Farmers Market
The Farmers Market on a sunny Sunday morning
The wonderful selection of booths
The delicious produce at the peak of the season from local farms
Jersey Corn in abundance
Fresh Polish foods at the Zabka Polish Deli booth
The entertainment that morning
On my way back up the hill through the downtown area, there are several bakery and gift shops you have to explore and have a quick dessert before you leave town.
Heavenly Temptations at 712 Main Street is a perfect place to duck into when it rains as it did on two afternoons when visiting Boonton. It has a extensive bakery section with cupcakes, muffins, scones, cookies and croissants. The shop also has an extensive collection of gift baskets, books, local art products and other assorted gifts. It is also a big meeting place for locals (Heavenly Temptations website).
There are several places to get desserts in the downtown area. Another is Creations by Sabrina that adds a touch of elegance to their dessert selections.
Creations by Sabrina is located at 706 Main Street
Creations by Sabrina is like walking into a bakery that treats their bakes goods like displayed jewels in a the case with beautiful and elegant looking cupcakes and cookies for sale. Each cupcake has its own unique look and flavor.
The business has now changed its name and direction of the business to Bagels and Crumbs
Bagels and Crumbs
Another establishment to enjoy pastries with a Spanish flair is Pergamino’s Bakery & Café at 720 Main Street.
As of 2024, Pergamino’s closed and this new Columbian Bakery, Tentaciones Bakery, opened in its place. The pastries are still very similar.
I had ducked into Pergaminos during a rainy afternoon when they were closing down for the afternoon and the people working there no only let me walk through while they were cleaning up but I could buy what I liked and they would not rush me out.
What attracted me to Pergamino’s was the Columbian pastries and hot foods that the bakery restaurant carried. On my first trip, I tried a Guava Plate, which was a flaky pastry split into two and filled with cream cheese and guava jelly. It was flaky and sweet but I was not crazy about the cream cheese in the dessert.
I was also able to try their Beef and Cheese Empanadas, which I ended up taking home with me. They warmed up in the oven perfectly and I liked the spiciness of the beef which was accented by the home made hot sauce they gave me.
On the second trip, I tried one of their Apple Turnovers, which from what the staff said were really popular and I could see why. Surrounded by a sugary puff pastry, these sweet apples are rolled in cinnamon sugar and butter and baked until a golden brown.
When you reach the middle of the downtown area, you can see the remnants of the old Morris Canal that used to run through town.
Where the old canal was located
When I was taking my tour of the Boonton Iron Works, this section of the canal was filled in years ago but at the turn of the last century, the canal was busy taking iron and other raw materials from the area to market. This is what made Boonton Boonton.
The sign for the Morris Canal
This section of the canal was called Morris Canal Inclined Plane 7 East for the machine that allowed the boats to navigate the canal to overcome changes in the elevation (Boonton Historical Marker).
Morris Canal Inclined Plane 7 East that parallels the downtown
As I made my way down the hill, back to the car, I passed the popular Don’s Sandwich Shop and music store. I stopped in one morning after visiting the Farmer’s Market and had a Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich on a soft chewy roll. It was the perfect breakfast on a cool morning.
They made the sandwich with provolone cheese instead of the the traditional American cheese and with a little mayo added the perfect zing to the sandwich. The couple that runs the shop could not have been nicer to me.
The Bacon, Egg and Cheese on a roll is really good here
There is even a music shop within the store, Drummer’s Corner, which is located in the corner of the sandwich shop.
Adding to the many historical sites in Downtown Boonton is the Boonton Civil War monument located in the middle of the shopping district.
The beautiful historic buildings by the Civil War Memorial
This interesting piece of town history was erected in 1876 and was “In grateful remembrance of their fellow citizens who volunteered in defense of The Union of the War of 1861-1865 Honor to the Brave 1876” (Monument). This touching monument is a tribute for those who were lost in the Battle of the States.
As I walked back to my car, I took time to glance at the scenic views from the main street of the foliage and mountains that make the backdrop of the downtown area. I can see why the artists are starting to move into town and the amount of art galleries that are starting to open (most were closed on the weekends on my last two visits).
Downtown Boonton, NJ in Fall 2022
The edge of Downtown Boonton to the north during the Fall 2022
Take time to walk east of the downtown to visit the historic homes of former factory workers of the Iron Works which are now being snatched up and renovated. When I drove through the downtown one last time and made my way up the hill, I drove past Grace Lord Park.
Up the hill through the Essex Street neighborhood above downtown were blocks of old Victorian homes and mansions line the streets overlooking the park.
The Hill section of Downtown Boonton in the Fall
The Hill section of Downtown Boonton in the Fall
The Hill section of Downtown Boonton in the Fall
The Hill section of Downtown Boonton
The Hill section is also beautiful in the summer when everything is in bloom
The Victorian homes in the summer months
The Hill section in the Summer
The Hill section in the summer
There is so much to see and visit when walking Downtown Boonton and with the influx of new residents and the energy of the present ones, it is making Boonton, NJ a vibrant and interesting town to visit.
On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, I stayed to watch the Boonton Fire Department Labor Day Parade and that was a lot of fun. The Department marched in the parade and fire departments from all over the County joined in with their fire apparatus. It was a beautiful day for the parade.
The Boonton Fire Department had their classic apparatus in the parade
I also visited right before Halloween in 2022 and there was a lot going on in the downtown area. There was a festival going on in the park during the weekend and the park was decorated with all sorts of ghouls and goblins.
The “Trick or Treat Trail” event in Grace Lord Park
The Goblins in the park
the Goblins in the park
The Ghouls of the park
The beauty of Grace Lord Park in the Fall
The beauty of Grace Lord Park in the Fall
Halloween decorations in 2023 that were all over the downtown for the holidays:
Space Alien
Characters by the library.
More characters by the library.
Odd little creature in the downtown.
“Deadhead” in Downtown Boonton, NJ.
In honor of “Friday the 13th”
Mr. Pumpkin Head in Downtown Boonton
Guarding the library steps during a recent Mariachi concert at the library.
I also visited again in 2025, right before Halloween and the town was decorated for the start of the holiday celebration.
The horrible ghoul in the center of downtown
The town was not decked out for the Halloween and Fall holidays. It was not just the Halloween holidays but the beauty of the change of seasons and the Fall foliage.
The Hill section of Boonton
The Hill section of the town in October
The beauty of the Victorian homes
Each street was so beautiful
The homes were the colors of gold, red and copper
The businesses did a nice job with the scarecrows this year. The ghosts and ghouls dotted the downtown.
The Annabelle doll
The ghouls are out
The cat in the hat
Pumpkin head
Mars Attacts outside a restaurant
This strange Teddy was outside the library
Boonton does a wonderful job of decorating during both the Halloween and Christmas holidays. The downtown is decorated with all sorts of interesting and creative artwork and beautiful lights. I recently walked around the Downtown at the start of the holiday season and it was really festive.
During Christmas time, Downtown Boonton is also beautifully decorated.
The Municipal Building decked out for Christmas
There is something for everyone in Downtown Boonton, NJ. Santaland in Grace Lord Park seems to be very popular.
The entrance to Santaland
The reindeer decorations in Santaland
The set up for Santaland
The Christmas decorations in Santaland
The entrance to Santaland and to visit Santa
Leaving a message with Santa
Leaving Santaland after a walk through
I walked around Downtown Boonton during the very start of the holiday season and admired the decorations.
Downtown Boonton is becoming quite the arts community
The wreaths were adorning all the lampposts and buildings
The beautiful wreaths that adorn the lampposts
I never noticed this sign in the post office parking lot
When I doubled back to leave that afternoon, I noticed the lights coming on in the gazebo. It was quite the sight at dusk.
Grace Lord Park at dusk
The beauty of the gazebo at the holidays
Grace Lord Park as well as the rest of Downtown is brilliant at the holidays. Don’t miss the beauty of Downtown Boonton at any season.
The town has attracted a sizable LGBT community of artists, residents and business owners who show their pride in the downtown
There’s always something happening and changing in Boonton, NJ!
Well, Christmas is finally officially over for me. It was one for the books. The holiday season just came and went without much fanfare or activities. Nothing like last year which was a lot of running around visiting decorated homes or running to the next cocktail party or dinner. Those things just did not exist this year. This season was all about the outside walking tours and small get togethers.
The whole holiday season became a blur and I started to attend a lot of outdoor activities that became available. Anything to get out of the house and see people or go do something out of the ordinary. I really had to search things out.
They started closest to home. I was trying to split my time between places that were just a drive away, going back and forth to the Hudson River Valley, which gave me a change of scenery and walking the neighborhoods of Manhattan, which gave me a sense of purpose as I felt I was supporting the City by being a cheerleader for all it had to offer even in the era of COVID.
My holiday journey started with the delivery of 375 Christmas trees for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association. It was a big undertaking for a major charity that supports graduating high school seniors with scholarship money for college. I sometimes wonder if these students know what we go through to get the funds.
The trees were really nice this year
I have never seen so many Christmas Trees fly off a lot so fast. The membership of the Men’s Association got there at 9:00am and the truck arrived at 10:15am. We sold our first tree at 11:30am as we were tagging them. I stayed the entire day from 9:00am to 10:00pm when we closed the lot down for the evening. In the three shifts that I was there with the other guys, we sold 45 trees which we have never done our first day of sales.
The Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association at set-up 2020
We were completely sold out by December 11th which I have never seen before. It seemed in the era of COVID everyone reverted back to the 1970’s and wanted a fresh Christmas tree for their home. I thought this was wonderful and people could not have been more supportive to our organization.
Please read my blog on “Christmas tree sales in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ”:
Please watch the commercial I did in 2015 to sell our trees
The first week of December means “Open Houses” at some of our merchants in Downtown Hasbrouck Heights. I look forward to seeing all the Christmas merchandise being offered, all the bouquets created for the event and the beautiful Christmas windows that our florists in town have done.
Bill O’Shea’s Florist at 231 Boulevard in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ always has a nice gathering the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year was like no other but it did not keep a nice crowd of residents from coming out and looking over ideas for floral displays, house decorating ideas and listening to festive holiday music all while nibbling on prepackaged treats and bottled drinks.
Bill O’Shea’s has some of the nicest displays at the holidays
In a normal year, it would be hot chocolate and coffee with freshly baked goods but COVID has changed the way these businesses are run. Everything had to be prepackaged and most people at it outside as juggling and shopping with a mask on was tough.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, the same weekend we set up the Christmas Tree lot for the Men’s Association, Heights Flower Shoppe at 209 Boulevard in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ had their Open House and that was equally as nice.
Heights Flower Shoppe is housed in a turn of the last century home that dates back to the original founding of our downtown and has a very classic boutique look to it. The store was stocked with all sorts of Christmas decorations, homemade candies, decorative household gifts and beautiful floral displays as well as outside had decorated wreathes and grave blankets.
The homemade candies and Christmas decorations adorn the store
Like Bill O’Shea’s, there was all sorts of packaged holiday treats to enjoy including Italian sodas, small bags of homemade Christmas cookies and candies. Last year they had a nice assortment of cookies and small sandwiches with coffee, tea and punch so there are always holiday treats to nibble on too here as well.
All of Downtown Hasbrouck Heights was beautifully decorated for the holidays with wreaths on all our lamp posts, Christmas lights on the trees, merchants display windows decorated to the hilt and Christmas music playing.
Downtown Hasbrouck Heights, NJ is always so nicely decorated for the holidays
This year because of COVID, the Annual Holiday Parade and Christmas Tree Lighting were cancelled in town but they did have a small get together at the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights to light the town Christmas tree. It was lit from Thanksgiving until the Epiphany on January 6th. It is always a beautiful site when entering town from the west side of town.
The Christmas Tree on the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
Even the little Neil Parrot playhouse, a local landmark in Hasbrouck Heights, was decorated for the holidays and was lite up at night as well.
The Neil Parrot Playhouse on the Circle in Hasbrouck Heights awaiting Santa
There were several nights of my aunt and I exploring the town and driving block by block to see all the decorated homes. Hasbrouck Heights and the surrounding towns of Lodi and Wood Ridge always do a wonderful job decorating for the holidays but with everyone being home and COVID hitting the area hard, people wanted to really decorate and make this year even more festive. Between the merchants and home owners, they made this time of year in Hasbrouck Heights very festive.
Please read my blog on Visiting Downtown Hasbrouck Heights, NJ:
I did not just celebrate Christmas in Hasbrouck Heights. I ventured into other parts of New Jersey, to New York City and my usual haunts in the Hudson River Valley but like New Jersey, New York State was on a lock down as well and all the decorated mansions and holiday gatherings were all cancelled as well. So everyone did their best to celebrate outdoors and have all sorts of tours and small get togethers. You had to move fast when reserving these events as they did fill up because everyone wanted to get out of the house and see things.
The Sinterklaas Parade that I have participated and volunteered at for so many years was cancelled because of COVID but like the Halloween Parade, the committee put together a video of the parade to share with the world. Still it did not compare to the excitement of walking down the hill with stars and music lighting up Downtown Rhinebeck, NY.
The noble Frog was to be our mascot for this year’s Sinterklaas Parade
It was not the same as the year before where the crowds kept getting larger and larger every year. The whole town came to life with activities, songs, lights and laughter but was silent that weekend except for people having dinner in town. I was able to sneak up during the week. The entire town was decorated with white lights and beautifully decorated store windows. Rhinebeck is one of those towns in the Hudson River Valley that looks straight out of a Currier & Ives woodcut.
Downtown Rhinebeck, NY at Christmas
Since all the Christmas parties and get togethers were cancelled, it gave me more time to look into other outdoor events. I went to a special “Historical walking tour at the Holidays” at the Bergen County Historical Society in River Edge, NJ. The tour was lead by Historical singer and lecturer, Linda Russell, who explained the traditions of the Dutch Christmas all while singing Colonial Christmas songs in between the talks at each historical house on the property.
Actors dressed in costumes (and masks of course-COVID is still going on) danced in the Steuben House ballroom as colonialists celebrating the holiday, Dutch housewives putting their children to bed while awaiting Sinterklaas. There was a Dutch wooden shoe with carrots for his horse outside the door and mistletoe on the ceiling.
Linda Russell performing and lecturing at the Bergen County Historical Society
There was a discussion on the Pagan traditions of bringing ‘greens’ from outside inside to have a bit of ‘live nature’ into the home. So mistletoe, pine and holly adorned homes during the winter months as these things were green and brought a bit of life into the dead of winter.
The last part of the lecture was done in front of the Campbell-Christie House with a visit from Sinterklaas himself. We had a short talk about who Sinterklaas was and his part in the holiday season. Then all the members of the tour enjoyed refreshments and got a goody bag when we left with holiday sweets. The lecture and songs were a nice way to enjoy the beginning of the holiday season.
My favorite song by Linda Russell “I saw Three Ships”
As I was finishing up the semester at the College, I was getting holiday preparations done at the house, having small gatherings of family and friends and trying to be COVID safe. I was also running in and out of the City finishing my blog on Kips Bay before the holidays started getting busier. I learned a lot of New York’s Colonial past from walking around this area of the City.
My blogs on the Walking the neighborhood of Kips Bay:
The next weekend I made my last trip of the season to Long Beach Island to visit Beach Haven and the tour the rest of the island one last time before winter set in. It had really closed down since Halloween. I expected it to be much busier with more people moving down there on a permanent basis. Driving up to the lighthouse, I saw more dark homes then lite ones.
I wanted to take one more tour of Long Beach Island to see how they celebrate Christmas at the shore. They do things very quietly in Beach Haven. I went to the Surflight Theater to see the only play I had seen since I attended Carnegie Hall last Christmas to see the play “We need a little Christmas” which I had seen advertised at the theater over the summer.
“We need a Little Christmas” at the Surflight Theater in Beach Haven, NJ
After the theater, it was surprisingly warm that afternoon hovering around 58 degrees so I walked to the beach one block away and walked on the Jersey shore for my only time that year and for the first time on Beach Haven beach since 1975. It has been a long journey since that time.
The Beach Haven beach was beautiful that afternoon
The town’s Christmas trees were across the street from the theater on the square just off the downtown. Even they had a subdued Christmas at the shore and the whole event welcoming in the season was done virtually.
Christmas in Beach Haven, NJ adapted like the rest of the world
My holiday dinner was spent at the Chicken or the Egg that evening and it was really good. The menu is so extensive and innovative. It was hard to make choices.
The Chicken Wacker Sandwich at the Chicken & Egg
Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream sandwich at Chicken or the Egg
Their fried chicken sandwiches are really good and their Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream sandwich should not be missed.
The Chicken or the Egg at 207 North Bay Avenue in Beach Haven
I was able to tour the whole island that afternoon before it got dark and even at twilight here and there were signs of Christmas in small trees lit in the shopping areas and decorated homes. It is an interesting place at the holidays with the waves crashing in the background.
My blog on “Exploring Downtown Beach Haven and Long Beach Island, NJ”:
The next week was finals week at the College and I had to give my final exam. The students also finished work on their case study, “Bud N’ Mud”, a simulated flower/coffee shop I had the students develop. It was interesting to see how a group of student entrepreneurs would create a store with their own ideas on how to grow the business. This project ended the Fall semester.
One of my favorite logo’s from the “Bud N’ Mud” project
With the Christmas trees selling out by December 11th, we held our annual Christmas party at the Christmas tree stand site for the Men’s Association. It was a cool not cold night and we all huddled around the fire taking alternate turns hitting the makeshift buffet table and enjoying good conversation. It was a great way to end the year successfully and there will lots of scholarships being given out at the end of the school year.
The last big event before Christmas came was the Sunday before Christmas with the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department holding our Annual “Santa Around Town”. Because COVID was growing, the event was revamped from previous years and instead of stopping at sites all over town, we drove down each street in town slowly, having Santa wave and greet people who were on their lawns, driveways and porches. The residents of Hasbrouck Heights seemed touched by it and I could tell from the safety of the fire truck that the kids got a kick out of seeing Santa. People really needed the pick me up in holiday spirit at the time.
The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department at “Santa Around Town” 2020
On the Tuesday before Christmas after I finished work with my other job I needed a break and wanted to go on a road trip to the Hudson River Valley again. I was nostalgic for Christmas’s past and decided to visit some of the towns Upstate.
I explored Downtown Woodstock first seeing their very unusual Christmas tree in the square. I have to say one thing about Woodstock, they do pick out the most interesting tree to sit in the square. It always looks more surreal than traditional. Their annual “Santa Parade” was cancelled this year as well and they did a drive by with Santa at the Woodstock Fire Department who runs the parade.
Downtown Kingston, NY was next on the list. Talk about a town in transition. In the almost three years since I have been visiting Kingston, I have never seen a downtown change so rapidly. The businesses there have gone from all this ‘hippie granola’ businesses to all these antique furniture stores and art galleries and some really expensive restaurants. One of the locals told me the new residents are “Brooklynizing” Kingston.
The Christmas tree in Downtown Kingston
Still the downtown was nicely lit for the holidays and their Christmas Tree while small is nicely lit for the holidays on the edge of the downtown “Stockade” district. The Dutch Reformed Church on the other end of downtown was nicely lit with wreaths on the doors.
I crossed the river and drove to Red Hook, NY which I love. Their downtown looks like an old fashioned shopping district straight out of another Currier & Ives print. All the little stores were decorated with garland and white lights and the merchants decorated their windows to the hilt.
My last stop on my search for the perfect picturesque Hudson Valley River town was returning to Rhinebeck, NY for the day. Rhinebeck was quiet on this Tuesday evening as most of the restaurants were closed and the shops had closed for the evening. Still it was nice to walk around and admire the while lights on the trees and admire the display windows.
The Christmas lights and windows of Downtown Rhinebeck, NY
Even the way I celebrate Christmas changed this year. Instead of spending time with my family, I spent three days in Manhattan with my best friend, Maricel, at a hotel in Times Square. Neither of us had the time to travel and we both had to work in the City, her at her hotel and me working on my blogs so both of us needed the rest.
AC Hotel New York Times Square at 260 West 40th Street
We stayed at the AC Hotel New York Times Square at 260 West 40th Street. What the room lacked in size, it made up in the view and in the location. We were one block from Port Authority, two blocks from Times Square and within walking distance from all the Christmas attractions from Saks Fifth Avenue’s Christmas windows and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
While Maricel worked on Christmas Eve, I walked around the City. I saw the tree at Rockefeller Center which was loaded with people not keeping socially distanced. I admired the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue which had a New York City theme with Christmas scenes from around the City “This is how we Celebrate”.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s Christmas Themed window “Over the East River and Through the Neighborhoods to Grandfather’s House We Go”
Rockefeller Center’s Christmas Tree was even more special this year
I thought the windows at Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf-Goodman really lacked in creativity. Bloomingdale’s was having a bad year and Bergdorf’s had just gotten sold again (forth time since I worked there in 2004) so I did not expect much. With Lord & Taylor declaring bankruptcy earlier in the year and closing the main store on Fifth Avenue and B. Altman’s long gone and Macy’s going mechanical for the last few years, the excitement of seeing the windows has been less than enthusiastic.
Still it was nice to walk around Midtown after leaving the Rockefeller Center area and just walking around Third, Park and Madison Avenues. By 7:00pm, everything had shut down for the night and the streets were really quiet. What was eerie was when walking down Park Avenue and looking up and seeing so many dark buildings. The area looked abandoned with so many apartment lights out. I wondered where everyone went?
When Maricel got off work, I brought in dinner 9th Avenue Deli at 769 Ninth Avenue. I brought in a juicy cheeseburger and chicken fingers which we shared and then dug into. The perfect comfort food on a cool night. Christmas Eve was a mild 59 degrees and it was nice to walk around.
We just hung out the whole night and watched movies in the hotel room. I went to bed early and sunk into the wonderful Marriott hotel bed. Marriott had the best hotel beds and every time I stay at one of their hotels, I slept like a log.
Christmas Day we just relaxed in the room and I called many members of my family to wish them a Merry Christmas. While Maricel went to work, I decided to start touring neighborhoods like Kips Bay, Rose Hill and NoMAD in preparation in my walks there. It started out being a cold, cloudy day and there was barely anyone on the street. I saw a few people walking their dogs and that was about it until about 3:00pm. It them cleared up and was a mild 55 degrees until it got dark and then cooled down.
What really shocked me about Times Square was how dirty it was on the streets. They had not picked up the garbage on Christmas Eve day and did not pick it up until after Christmas Day so between the theaters being boarded up and the ply boards filled with graffiti, hotels closed and restaurants shut, the whole Theater district looked like NYC circa 1975. It was creepy how the pandemic was affecting the business of this neighborhood.
Neighborhoods like Kips Bay, Murray Hill, Rose Hill, NoMAD and the Flatiron District were really quiet that morning and early afternoon. All the restaurants and stores were dark, three hotels had closed in the district and I saw just a few people milling around. Things changed as I got closer to Macy’s Herald Square.
When walking around Koreatown, which runs between Sixth and Fifth Avenues between 35th to 32nd Streets, the side streets were teeming with Korean couples and groups of family members dining in the outdoor restaurants and cafes. This neighborhood was really jumping and full of life.
As the day wore on by 5:00pm, the rest of the City came back to life and more restaurants and stores opened up. Christmas morning and afternoon were now over and I could tell that people wanted to get out of the house (probably to get away from the family celebrations).
Golden City Chinese Restaurant at 423 Ninth Avenue (Closed January 2025)
When Maricel returned, I ordered in dinner from Golden City Chinese Restaurant at 423 Ninth Avenue, one of the few neighborhood restaurants open and we our dinner in the room. The food was okay. It was nice to just eat in the room and relax.
Christmas dinner was Lemon Chicken and Fried Rice from Golden City Chinese Restaurant
We checked out at noon on the 26th and she left for work that afternoon, I headed into Brooklyn to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Museum. Both were really quiet that day. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden was mostly dormant for the winter and most of the garden was closed off because of COVID. The “Studio 54” exhibition had long closed at the Brooklyn Museum so I just wondered the halls and looked at some of the changes in the permanent exhibitions that they had. I left the City for home early that evening.
The last week of the holiday, I entertained family at a Lasagna and Champagne dinner I had a the house. Since I was not able to spend time at home during the holidays, my aunts came over to my house and we had a three course meal with champagne and wine. We spent the whole night laughing and enjoying the evening.
New Year’s Eve was a quiet evening at home alone talking with other friends who were staying home alone as well. Times Square was empty that evening with the exception of the 350 first responders who were invited to the ball drop. When I watched it on TV it was eerie to see it so quiet. There was no one for blocks except police guarding Times Square.
I headed back up to the Hudson River Valley again on New Year’s Day to go on two walking tours in Staatsburgh, NY at the Mills Mansion. It was the Annual “First of the Year” walking tours and it was a cool, crisp morning for a walking tour of the property. There were two tours that morning, one was on “Winter Activities in Victorian Times” with us learning about all the winter activities that the residents here enjoyed like skating , sledding, ice boating and horse drawn sleigh rides.
The other tour later that afternoon was on “Ice Harvesting in the Hudson River Valley” , where we learned about how the ice harvesting of the Hudson River was a big business before the advent of refrigeration. Large slabs of ice were cut from the river, floated down stream and then packed in straw awaiting sale over the metropolitan area for peoples ice boxes throughout the year. It just gave me anther excuse to visit the region I love so much.
My blog on the Mills Mansion on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Another local event that was COVID safe was a driving tour through the “Holiday Lightshow” at Demarest Farms in Hillsdale, NJ. This was the first time that the farm opened the apple and peach orchard across the street from the farm stand. I saw this display the last week it was open and even after the holidays, it was a special treat as we awaited the Epiphany.
Driving through the display only took about forty minutes but was a delight in the senses and sounds. I played the classical music station as I drove through and admired all the colorful lights on the now dormant trees while Santa’s and Snowmen winked and waved and toy soldiers lit the way through the dark field. Even the Demarest homestead was ablaze with lights.
Demarest Farms at 244 Werimus Drive in Hillsdale, NJ
The holiday event I visited was the Bronx Zoo for their “Holiday Lights” event at the zoo. It was the last night of the event and I arranged for the tickets that afternoon. The zoo gave me a 30% discount to go that evening and I was on the subway ride up to the Bronx.
The Bronx Zoo Light Show
I was really impressed by the display. The entire park was decorated with white lights, with different sections of the park decorated with different themes such as jungle animals, aquatic mammals and all sorts of assorted elephants, seals, penguins, lions, tigers and bears (oh my haha). There were costumed characters to take pictures with and they even had the Bug Carousel open that evening. I got a kick out of riding this since I had not done this since I was a little kid.
The Bronx Zoo musical Christmas Tree in the old part of the zoo
The Magical Christmas tree musical show
In the older section of the park, they had birds on stilts and a musical Christmas trees that had an interesting soundtrack of contemporary Christmas songs. Even though Christmas had been over now for almost two weeks, it me back into the Christmas spirit.
The birds on silts or puppets as they might be called
So there was the Christmas holidays in the era of COVID. Lots of outdoor activities in hot and cold weather. Many walking tours and more subdued events. Gone were the cocktail parties and big formal dinners and in their place were many more smaller outdoor events and communicating with nature.
Colorful flowers at the Bronx Zoo “Holidays Lights” show
Maybe we all needed to take a break from the more formal traditions and go back to the basics of family and friends. I think this was a reflective year and realizing what is important. It had not changed that much for me. I just adjusted to the times, wore a mask and got going. Staying safe and keeping others safe is what is all about.
Hours: Open Thursday-Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm (the last tour is at 4:00pm)/Open Monday Holidays from April 19th to October 28th. The mansion then closes to prepare for the holiday season. Closed on Thanksgiving and Easter. There are special programs from January to April so please see the website.
Admission: $8.00 for adults/$6.00 for groups and Seniors/Children under 12 are free. Special events have separate fees and can run from $8.00 to $10.00 and above.
My time on the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department participating in the Annual “Santa Around Town” event.
Brothers Bernie Valente and Justin Watrel decorate the fire truck for the Annual Santa Around Town.
The last Sunday before Christmas is the afternoon and early evening that Santa makes his annual visit to the community of Hasbrouck Heights with the Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department.
Every year, our company gets to the firehouse early, has breakfast together and then washes and decorates our truck in preparation for the trip around Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. It is a very popular event that brings generations of families out to meet and take pictures with Santa. This much anticipated event is our gift to the Hasbrouck Heights community for their support of their fire department.
Captain Tim Moots, Lieutenant Bernie Valente, Chief Angelo Roccamo and Company Secretary and fire fighter Justin Watrel with Santa at Santa Around Town
Merry Christmas from the Brothers of Engine One HHFD
