NJ Weekend Historical Happenings: 11/3/18 - 11/4/18

 New Jersey Weekend Historical Happenings

A Weekly Feature on www.thehistorygirl.com

Want to submit an event? Use our event submission form.

Saturday, November 3 - Harmony Township, Warren County

Fall Open House at the Historic Van Nest-Hoff-Vannatta Farmstead
Children Friendly Event

The Harmony Township Historical Society and the Historic Preservation Commission of Harmony Township invite the public to attend their annual Fall Open House at the historic VanNest-Hoff-Vannatta Farmstead on Saturday, from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. Admission is free. The farmstead is located at 3026 Belvidere Road, Route 519, just north of the Municipal Building in Harmony Township.

Come see the progress being made at the farmstead. The event will include tours of the circa 1750s main house, the restored wagon house, and the one of a kind Dutch style barn, and war reenactors, live demonstrations, and hearth cooking in the summer kitchen. Children's activities include embroidery, candle making, and weaving.

For more information, contact Ruth at historicalcomm@aol.com or visit www.hoffvannattafarm.org.

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NJ Weekend Historical Happenings: 10/27/18 - 10/28/18

 New Jersey Weekend Historical Happenings

A Weekly Feature on www.thehistorygirl.com

Want to submit an event? Use our event submission form.

Friday - Saturday, October 26 - 27 - Farmingdale, Monmouth County
Haunted Hayride at Allaire Village
Children Friendly

Historic Allaire Village, presents Halloween Hayrides on Friday, and Saturday from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm. With a NEW and spook-tacular route along the winding paths of time, nearly 20 different "scenes" greet visitors of all ages. Your ticket includes not only the haunted hayride, but admission to the village grounds and historic buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Visit with our ghosts, ghouls, and monsters. Storytelling at the Chapel; a special night out at the Blacksmith Shop; the Manager's House with fortune-telling for your entertainment; Mr. Allaire's House with a haunted house theme; the Carriage House with legendary spirits; the towering four story shadows of the General Store stocked with seasonal goods; and don't forget treats at the Bakery! In the dark of the night, from woods to historic homes, the Historic Village at Allaire takes on a twist for the Halloween season. With varied activities we welcome children, families, and adults of all ages!

The cost for the hayride is $10 for child under 12 and $15 for adults. Tickets are limited so advance purchase is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Tickets are for sale by calling 732-919-3500 - please have your credit card ready. You can also purchase tickets at www.allairevillage.org.

At the door, ticket sales on the day of are $5 extra (adult/child) and ONLY available if the event is not sold out! This is NEW for 2018 due to the huge popularity of the event.

The Historic Village at Allaire is located in Allaire State Park, 4265 Atlantic Avenue, Farmingdale, NJ. For more information, contact the Allaire Village office during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, at 732-919-3500 or visit www.allairevillage.org.

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NJ Weekend Estate Sales: 10/26/18 - 10/28/18

NEW JERSEY WEEKEND ESTATE SALES

Click on each link for more information on the estate sale!

Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know!

Hosting an estate sale? Send me an e-mail to be featured in our weekly post!

Be the first to know about these sales on Facebook!

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The Questers are Looking for New Members!

The Questers are Looking for New Members!
Preservation - Restoration - Education

Do you have a collection you would like to share with others or hearing about other collectibles and antiques?

U.S. Lifesaving Station sign for the Squan Beach Lifesaving Station in Manasquan that a NJ chapter reproduced from original plans. 

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NJ Weekend Historical Happenings: 10/20/18 - 10/21/18

 New Jersey Weekend Historical Happenings

A Weekly Feature on www.thehistorygirl.com

Want to submit an event? Use our event submission form.

Friday - Saturday, October 19 - 20 - Farmingdale, Monmouth County
Haunted Hayride at Allaire Village
Children Friendly

Historic Allaire Village, presents Halloween Hayrides on Friday, and Saturday from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm. With a NEW and spook-tacular route along the winding paths of time, nearly 20 different "scenes" greet visitors of all ages. Your ticket includes not only the haunted hayride, but admission to the village grounds and historic buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Visit with our ghosts, ghouls, and monsters. Storytelling at the Chapel; a special night out at the Blacksmith Shop; the Manager's House with fortune-telling for your entertainment; Mr. Allaire's House with a haunted house theme; the Carriage House with legendary spirits; the towering four story shadows of the General Store stocked with seasonal goods; and don't forget treats at the Bakery! In the dark of the night, from woods to historic homes, the Historic Village at Allaire takes on a twist for the Halloween season. With varied activities we welcome children, families, and adults of all ages!

The cost for the hayride is $10 for child under 12 and $15 for adults. Tickets are limited so advance purchase is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Tickets are for sale by calling 732-919-3500 - please have your credit card ready. You can also purchase tickets at www.allairevillage.org.

At the door, ticket sales on the day of are $5 extra (adult/child) and ONLY available if the event is not sold out! This is NEW for 2018 due to the huge popularity of the event.

The Historic Village at Allaire is located in Allaire State Park, 4265 Atlantic Avenue, Farmingdale, NJ. For more information, contact the Allaire Village office during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, at 732-919-3500 or visit www.allairevillage.org.

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NJ Weekend Estate Sales: 10/19/18 - 10/21/18

NEW JERSEY WEEKEND ESTATE SALES

Click on each link for more information on the estate sale!

Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know!

Hosting an estate sale? Send me an e-mail to be featured in our weekly post!

Be the first to know about these sales on Facebook!

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The Patriot and the Pine Tree Robber: Captain Huddy and Colonel Tye, 1775-1782

The Patriot and the Pine Tree Robber: Captain Huddy and Colonel Tye, 1775-1782
Written by Robert A. Mayers

Chapter 10 from Revolutionary New Jersey: Forgotten Towns and Crossroads of the American Revolution by Robert A. Mayers


Curiously, two incredible heroes of the American Revolution in New Jersey remain obscure in the history of their home state. Colonel Tye, a feared and respected guerrilla leader, was a slave who escaped and fought for the British. He became one of the most successful and dreaded Loyalist commanders of the Revolution. His adversary, Captain Joshua Huddy, was a devoted Patriot who led raids against the Loyalists and captured and executed their leaders. Both were known for their swashbuckling exploits in what was, in reality, a civil war in the shore area of the state. Tye grew up in bondage. Huddy was from a family of prosperous landowners. Tye was black. Huddy was white. Their paths were destined to cross, and on a fateful day in September 1780 one fatally shot the other.

Captain Joshua Huddy
Joshua Huddy was born November 8, 1735 to a wealthy Quaker family in Salem County. As a young adult he was often in trouble. He was tried and convicted several times for assault and theft and was frequently in debt. He was expelled for “dissolute behavior” from the Society of Friends in 1757 when he was in his early twenties.  His unruly behavior continued into adulthood when he was forced to sell his 300-acre farm to pay his debts, and later served time in debtor’s prison. Huddy proved that he was physically tough at an early age. It is said that he survived a boating accident in Delaware Bay by swimming for three hours.

In 1764, he married Mary Borden and the couple eventually had two daughters, Martha and Elizabeth. After Mary died in the 1770s, Huddy moved to Colts Neck in Monmouth County, where on October 27, 1778, he married his second wife, Catherine Applegate Hart, a widowed owner of a tavern she had inherited from her first husband. Huddy and Catherine soon became estranged. He was then accused by the Monmouth County sheriff of trying to commit fraud by acquiring the tavern, forcing his wife and her children out onto the street, and selling their possessions.¹

Court records show that during these years Huddy was in civil and criminal court many times as both a plaintiff and a defendant. He was arrested for assault in 1778.² He was again accused of livestock theft in 1781.³

When the Revolutionary War broke out Huddy volunteered to become captain of a privateering ship. The mission of the Black Snake was to prey on British merchant ships cruising along the New Jersey coast. By his commission, the Continental Congress authorized Huddy to “set forth in a warlike manner” against the British in “the Armed boat called Black Snake.” The tiny vessel only weighed ten tons, far below the average size for an American privateering ship. It had a single swivel gun and a 14-man crew. The success of the armed boat, the Black Snake, is unknown, but Huddy’s courage in confronting the world’s greatest naval power with a single swivel gun attests to his patriotism—or perhaps to his impulsive nature.

Captain Huddy led from prison to be hanged. From: Our Greater Country; Being a Standard History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent to the Present Time by Henry Davenport Northrop. Published 1901.

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"Revolutionary New Jersey" October 2018 Book Giveaway

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NJ Weekend Historical Happenings: 10/13/18 - 10/14/18

 New Jersey Weekend Historical Happenings

A Weekly Feature on www.thehistorygirl.com

Want to submit an event? Use our event submission form.

Friday - Saturday, October 12 - 13 - Farmingdale, Monmouth County
The Chilling Re-Telling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

Allaire Village is presenting a dramatic rendition of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"written by Washington Irving and performed by Neill Hartley. The performance takes place in the Allaire Village Chapel on Friday and Saturday, at 7:30 pm.

In an exciting performance, Neill Hartley, brings to life the tale of the Headless Horseman, within the candle-lit Allaire Village Chapel. You will be transported back to a time before television, radio, CDs, and electricity. The seating is limited to 100 for each performance, so advanced purchase is recommended. Only ticket-holders will be admitted to the performances. Ticket cost is $20 per person. To purchase tickets or for information, call 732-919-3500 and have your credit card ready. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.allairevillage.org.

The Historic Village at Allaire is located in Allaire State Park, 4265 Atlantic Avenue, Farmingdale, NJ. For more information, contact the Allaire Village office during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, at 732-919-3500 or visit www.allairevillage.org.

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Friday - Saturday, October 12 - 13 - Princeton, Mercer County

Slave Dwelling Project Community Day
Children Friendly Event and Site

In Conjunction with Historical Society of Princeton, Princeton Public Library, Arts Council of Princeton, and Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society, Morven Museum and Garden is honored to host a Slave Dwelling Project program on Friday and Saturday; bringing Mr. Joe McGill’s program to New Jersey for the first time. Mr. McGill’s Slave Dwelling Project brings historians, and the public together to educate, collaborate and organize resources to illuminate and often, save, important African American history related to slave ancestry.

Shirley Satterfield will kick off the weekend’s activities with a walking tour of Princeton’s Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood on Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm ($8.00 per person, limited to 20 people. All funds for this tour will go to Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society.) The tour is approximately two hours long and requires participants to be able to comfortably walk or stand for the duration of the tour. Register for the tour HERE!

At 6:00 pm, members of the public, of all ages, are invited to gather for supper and conversation with Mr. McGill. He will lead a participatory program reflecting on the need to preserve memories which live in the homes of enslaved ancestors and the ways in which Morven is affecting this through its reinstalled galleries.

For those who wish to continue the conversation, participants will adjourn to a circle around a fire pit in what was the working gardens of Morven. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets if you plan to stay.

A select number of guests will sleep over in the Mansion on Friday evening with Mr. McGill. Sleeping spaces are extremely limited with participants bringing their own sleeping bags and resting on the floor in the West Wing – near where we believe Morven’s slaves would have lived and worked. To be included in the lottery for Friday night's sleepover, email Morven's Curator of Education and Public Programs at dlampertrudman@morven.org and include a line or two describing why you are interested in the sleepover.

The public is invited to join us on Saturday morning at 10:00 am for a light breakfast. Reflections of the night will be shared by those who slept over and questions fielded by Mr. McGill.

Saturday hosts a number of meaningful and interactive events stemming from our examination of Morven’s slave narrative and expands into everyone’s historic narrative from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm including:

* A variety of musical performances by ethnomusicologist and fiddle/banjo scholar Jake Blount
* Presentation of the Stockton Papers and other rarely viewed Stockton materials by Izzy Kasdin, Executive Director of Historical Society of Princeton
* Princeton Public Library’s providing genealogy and ancestry research materials for use by the public
* A liberty-themed interactive chalkboard art wall
* Children’s hands-on take home paper quilt project led by Dressler Smith of Arts Council of Princeton

Pre-registration, is not required, however it is recommended. Walk ups will be admitted as space allows. To register, click here or contact the Curator of Education and Public Programming, Debra Lampert-Rudman, at 609-924-8144 x.106. Morven Museum and Gardens is located at 55 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ. For more information, call 609-924-8144 or visit www.morven.org.

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Saturday, October 13 - Morristown, Morris County
Creating Color - Natural Dyeing Demonstration
Children Friendly Event & Site

How did the colonists create color from plants for their clothing and household fabrics? Stop by the Wick House at Jockey Hollow to see a demonstration of natural dyeing using plant materials. Throughout the day (11:00 am - 3:00 pm), we will be preparing the dyebaths using various natural materials and dyeing handspun wool yarn. Come and see what colors can be made!

Jockey Hollow at Morristown National Historical Park is located at 580 Tempe Wick Road, Morristown NJ (address is approximate). This is a FREE event. For more information, call 973-543-4030 or visit www.nps.gov/morr.

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NJ Weekend Estate Sales: 10/12/18 - 10/14/18

NEW JERSEY WEEKEND ESTATE SALES

Click on each link for more information on the estate sale!

Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know!

Hosting an estate sale? Send me an e-mail to be featured in our weekly post!

Be the first to know about these sales on Facebook!

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Jacobus Vanderveer House Receives State, County Grants For Barn Project

Jacobus Vanderveer House Receives State, County Grants For Barn Project

The Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House have received two key grants, which will further propel the nonprofit organization’s plan to reassemble a Voorhees Dutch Barn – a rare and important example of early Dutch agricultural architecture – for its adaptive reuse on the site of the 1772 Jacobus Vanderveer House in River Road Park, Bedminster.

The New Jersey Historic Trust, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, has awarded the Friends a $50,000 Historic Site Management Grant for Planning Documents that will assist with Design Development and Construction documents for the barn project. On Tuesday, October 9, the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders awarded the Friends a $173,790 Somerset County Historic Preservation Grant for the project.

Somerset County Freeholder Director Patrick Scaglione (foreground) presents a $173,790 Somerset County Historic Preservation Grant to Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House Trustees (left to right) Douglas Stevinson, Bedminster Township Committee member and Township liaison to the Friends; Robin Ray, Assistant Treasurer, of Bedminster; and Craig Sutherland, President, of Basking Ridge.  Courtesy Debbie Weisman on behalf of The Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House.

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Exploring Ellis Island's Unrestored Hospital Complex

Exploring Ellis Island's Unrestored Hospital Complex

Ellis Island in New York and New Jersey was in operation from 1892 until 1954. In those sixty-two years, over 12 million immigrants were processed and entered the United State of America through its doors. Today, Ellis Island has a land area of 27.5 acres, but originally the island was a mere 2.74 acres. Over time, through landfill, the island expanded as its needs grew. The south side of the island, the hospital complex, has been abandoned since 1954. Through the efforts of Save Ellis Island, the non-profit partner of the National Park Service, hard hat tours of these severely deteriorated hospital wings are available and stabilization of these buildings have been underway for a number of years as funding permits.

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Organization Highlight: Save Ellis Island

From time to time, I highlight a non-profit related to history or the arts, a historical society, preservation group or friends group whose main objective is to promote the historical and artistic history of New Jersey and beyond.

This week, I am featuring Save Ellis Island, Inc.. Save Ellis Island, Inc., the National Park Service private sector non-profit, which was formed to raise the funds for the restoration and beneficial re-use of the twenty-nine historic unrestored Ellis Island buildings. In 2014, Save Ellis Island opened select areas of the unrestored Ellis Island Hospital Complex to the public for the first time in over 50 years for hard hat tours. Over the past few years, these tours have become extremely popular and help visitors to Ellis Island understand the more complete story of Ellis Island and the immigration process.

Thanks to the efforts of Save Ellis Island, they have restored the marine corridors connecting the north side of the island to the south side, the Ferry Building and the Hospital Laundry Building, and continues to work towards the goal of preserving all of the historic Ellis Island buildings. Their next restoration project is the 1937 outdoor recreation pavilion. The shelter was a gathering place for patients to enjoy social activities and fresh air during their stay in the hospital.

Save Ellis Island also strives to tell the stories of and open a dialogue about those who passed through Ellis Island and may have stayed at the hospital complex.

Save Ellis Island relies on donations and members to continue its mission. For more information on hard hat tours, events, and other programs hosted by Save Ellis Island or to volunteer, please e-mail info@saveellisisland.org, call 973-383-1080, or visit www.saveellisisland.org.

If you are a member of a non-profit organization or know of one that you would like to see featured on this site, please let us know in the comments or send an e-mail to kelly@thehistorygirl.com.

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NJ Weekend Historical Happenings: 10/6/18 - 10/7/18

 New Jersey Weekend Historical Happenings

A Weekly Feature on www.thehistorygirl.com

Want to submit an event? Use our event submission form.

Friday - Saturday, October 5 - 6 - Farmingdale, Monmouth County
The Chilling Re-Telling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

Allaire Village is presenting a dramatic rendition of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"written by Washington Irving and performed by Neill Hartley. The performance takes place in the Allaire Village Chapel on Friday and Saturday, at 7:30 pm.

In an exciting performance, Neill Hartley, brings to life the tale of the Headless Horseman, within the candle-lit Allaire Village Chapel. You will be transported back to a time before television, radio, CDs, and electricity. The seating is limited to 100 for each performance, so advanced purchase is recommended. Only ticket-holders will be admitted to the performances. Ticket cost is $20 per person. To purchase tickets or for information, call 732-919-3500 and have your credit card ready. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.allairevillage.org.

The Historic Village at Allaire is located in Allaire State Park, 4265 Atlantic Avenue, Farmingdale, NJ. For more information, contact the Allaire Village office during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, at 732-919-3500 or visit www.allairevillage.org.

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Saturday, October 6 - Princeton, Mercer County

Stony Brook Walking Tour

Before there was a "Princeton," six Quaker families established a community on the fertile ground along Stony Brook. This two-hour hike explores the lives of the early settlers and the community they established, while following a portion of the trail George Washington took from Trenton to the Princeton Battlefield. Stops include the Stony Brook Meeting House and Burial Ground, walking a portion of the "hidden" back road into Princeton, and a view of the Battlefield.

Admission: $5 per person and includes farmhouse museum admission. Tours begin at the Updike Farmstead farmhouse, 354 Quaker Road, Princeton, NJ at 1:00 pm and ends at 3:00 pm. Space is limited. For more information and to reserve tickets, call 609-921-6748 or visit www.princetonhistory.org.

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NJ Weekend Estate Sales: 10/5/18 - 10/7/18

NEW JERSEY WEEKEND ESTATE SALES

Click on each link for more information on the estate sale!

Find something neat at an estate sale? Let us know!

Hosting an estate sale? Send me an e-mail to be featured in our weekly post!

Be the first to know about these sales on Facebook!

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