I live in Northern New Jersey, in a town called West Milford. There’s lots of “weird New Jersey” lore around our town, most of it originates short drive from our home, with stories of ghosts, ice-men, devil worship, and other strange sightings.
It was popular “scarey” fun for my children when they were teens to go out after dark and drive Clinton Road, and see if there was really anything to be scared about…they never saw much of anything, but did spend a good bit of time scaring each other. Below is one video that I found that will take you on a trip that we’ve driven many times. If you turn off the sound, you’ll feel like your driving down a beautiful country road surrounded by woodlands in the fall with rivers and streams and a lake or two along the way. But if you turn ON the sound, you’ll hear all the things that have made this road worthy of being included in the “Weird New Jersey” book.
What do I think of it all? My husband and I think this is one of many beautiful roads in our local area, we’ve driven it many times, and often get out and enjoy spots along the way…but drive it at night, there’s no street lights, and it is DARK.
Enjoy this video visit from youtube of a bit of my home town. Sound on, you’ll hear all the “scarey” stories, sound off, it’s like a pretty country drive…you choose!
Women’s History Month is slipping away, and I don’t want it to finish without giving some attention to another New Jersey woman who made history. Anne Morrow was born in 1906 in Englewood, NJ. Her parents achievements would fill a blog post nicely, but keeping focus on Anne, she was to meet Charles Lindbergh, already an accomplished pilot, when her father invited him to visit in Mexico (her father had been the US Ambassador to Mexico, and eventually a Senator in NJ).
Charles loved Anne’s quiet and thoughtful personality, and would marry her at her parents home in Englewood, NJ, which is actually less than an hours drive from where I live now. Charles’ love and encouragement built Anne’s confidence in herself. Charles taught her to fly, through him, she discovered abilities within herself she never knew she had. It is a rare person who has not heard of Anne and Charles Lindbergh. Ann would go on to be the first woman to receive a glider’s pilot license, and her husband the first to fly from NY to Paris (before they met). They went on to fly together, Anne as Charles’ co-pilot, recording flight routes and playing a great role in the history of flight as they traveled all over the world.
Their first child, Charles Lindbergh III was kidnapped from their then Hopewell, NJ home, and murdered, leading to the famous Lindbergh Trial that lead to so much media coverage that the couple had to leave the country for Europe. There are writings about how the Lindbergh’s were drawn in a bit by the thinking of Nazi Germany at the time, something that Anne would regret in later times.
For Anne, writing was an even greater passion than flying, and her husband, Charles, wrote as well, after the war in order to regain respect of the people who turned against him because of his thinking during the war.
Anne died in 2001 at the age of 94, 27 years after her husband’s death in 1974.
When my husband and I first met, it was at a church get together…something my girlfriend talked me into going to that I wasn’t really interested in. Oh, I loved God and going to church, just wasn’t into going that night. At this get-together, I sat down at a picnic table with a big burly guy and we talked quite a bit, and in our conversation, found out we worked about a block away from each other. I was a legal secretary, and the Bergen County Court House is in Hackensack (pictured), so that was the place to be.
My future husband was working only a block away for a company that installed traffic systems all over the US, but it took a while for him to get up the nerve to ask me out…our first “date” was lunch at a local diner, which lead to many other dates, and 7 months later, marriage. For the first year of our marriage we traveled to work together, and met for lunch every day. We did that until he took me away from NJ for a 7 month business trip to Colorado, his childhood home, where I finally got to know his family….and where our son, who is now 26, was conceived…and the rest, as they say, is history.
I guess our anniversary coming up in a few weeks has me a bit sentimental.
Well, to say Dave Thomas brought Chili to New Jersey may be a bit of a stretch, but there is a connection between Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, and New Jersey. He was born here, in Atlantic City, and as for the Chili, thanks to Wendy’s, my Colorado born husband can still get a good bowl of Chili. In fact, it took meeting him to get me into Wendy’s for the first time during our travels, and it’s taken some time, but I’ve developed a taste for Wendy’s delicious chili myself.
Dave Thomas was born here in NJ, and adopted, then lost his Mom at the age of 5. My hubby and I watched a great biography about Dave Thomas…some highlights…he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and later, at the age of 45 he got his GED and publicly encouraged young people not to make the same mistake has he had. He met Colonel Sanders if Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame who was a great inspiration to him. He worked for KFC for a time, helping to re-vitalize a few of their fast food restaurants, and became a millionnaire in his mid-30’s through some brilliant financial decisions. There is much to his wonderful biography, but the part we appreciate the most are those great square Wendy’s hamburgers, the excellent Chili, and for me, it was a great day when Wendy’s started having those delicious salads…Taco being my favorite.
As I was typing the post yesterday about Clara Barton, and how she started the first public school in the US right here in New Jersey, then went on to start and oversee The Red Cross, it didn’t occur to me that this month is considered American Red Cross month. We do have much to thank the Red Cross for, if you haven’t visited their website to see all that they have accomplished, you may want to do so today.
If you listen to the news, you know that it seems like disasters are happening more, and whenever they happen, the Red Cross is there.
As we honor Women’s History Month, I thought a post or two honoring New Jersey women who have made it into the history books for their influence in American history would be appropriate.
All of you, boomers and non-boomers alike will remember reading about Clara Barton. I have to admit I wasn’t much for history class, no matter what grade I was in, the teachers made it so boring to listen too, but it fascinates me today, I guess I’m making up for lost time.
Clara Barton is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross, but she began her working career in education. In 1852 she opened the first public school in Bordentown, NJ (pictured), a school that grew from humble beginnings to 600+ students. Sadly, she left the school when they would not allow her the position of head of the school because she was a woman. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it, when you consider that she opened the school. But history shows us that she had a greater destiny.
Her real fame was realized as a nurse during the Civil War. It was then that she founded the Red Cross. She oversaw the leadership of the Red Cross for over 20 years.
Looking back at her life, I can see that it is a good example of how, when God ends something that we think is important to us in our life, perhaps it’s because He has something greater in store for us.
Women’s History Month is slipping away, and I don’t want it to finish without giving some attention to another New Jersey woman who made history. Anne Morrow was born in 1906 in Englewood, NJ. Her parents achievements would fill a blog post nicely, but keeping focus on Anne, she was to meet Charles Lindbergh, already an accomplished pilot, when her father invited him to visit in Mexico (her father had been the US Ambassador to Mexico, and eventually a Senator in NJ).
