Well, it would have been boffo box office, but this was another example of your HSR dues dollars at work in partnership with Riverton Free Library in making available to the public a presentation free of charge.
“…29, 30, 31, 32… a great turnout,” observes RFL Director Michael Robinson.
Actress Maggie Worsdale played to a capacity crowd in the RFL’s meeting room Tuesday night.
She entertained in character for a full hour, delivering her fact-filled monologue with no notes.
It was, as it was heard characterized, more like a one-woman play than a typical historical interpreter’s presentation.
Maggie Worsdale channeling Martha Washington with flair
She absolutely did delight, teach, and inspire the SRO crowd with her recounting of episodes in not only Martha Washington’s life, but also for many other of America’s 44 First Ladies.
One could certainly fill up an hour reporting on the lives of First Ladies, but this remarkable performance was full of little known, often touching, anecdotes which were obviously the result of exhaustive research and preparation.
No video clip or excerpts of Ms. Worsdale’s one-act follow so that there are no “spoilers” should you have a chance to enjoy this compelling material performed live.
Consider this short review a 5-star endorsement of Maggie Worsdale’s production of Martha Washington. Book her without reservation. But you might want a bigger room.
For one night only, Tuesday, November 17, international performing and recording artist, cabaret and jazz singer, actress, and producer Maggie Worsdale brings her one-woman show to Riverton Free Library as she becomes Martha Dandridge Custis Washington.
Be there before 7pm, and we will have on display the mugs mentioned in the post of Nov. 9.
When I found out that the RFL was having its usual Sunday afternoon used book sale in the basement I decided to set up a card table just inside our new space and offer those mugs for sale.
I had about 28 mugs, mostly all different prototype designs I was trying out featuring vintage images from our extensive archive. You can make out a Riverside, a Moorestown, and a Palmyra mug amongst the Riverton cups.
I sold ten and got an order for 14. The result was encouraging enough that I will go back next Sunday and try again.
I can’t say who came or what they bought.
Let’s just say Santa has sworn me to secrecy.
I ordered another bunch more today, but delivery is not expected until the end of November.
The Veterans Day Observance at the recently restored Riverton War Memorial will include placing the name Richard W. Baskin USMC, Vietnam, on the Honor Roll displayed there.
Also am passing along word that on Veterans Day, this Wednesday, Nov. 11, Riverton School continues its tradition of recognizing veterans with a coffee reception 8:30-9:30am, followed by a ceremony in the gym, although I cannot confirm finding any mention of it on the RPS website.
Members of RiversideVFW Post 3020 shall act as standard bearers at the Riverton War Memorial between 10:30 and 11:00 am, as they have so often done. Riverton will be one of several stops that day to other memorials along these riverfront towns in which they perform their duties.
You don’t have to have a computer to join in OPERATION APPRECIATION 2015 – just thank a veteran for their service, or demonstrate it in a bigger way. We certainly owe so much to veterans, past and present.
The eligibility explanation and simple application procedure for those wishing to have a veteran’s name included on the Memorial are on the Borough website, http://www.riverton-nj.com/
With more names having been added by the Riverton Military & Veterans Affairs Committee since 2011, and the replacement of new plaques for the first ones, the HSR is to be entrusted with the safekeeping of the original plaques.
Please know that the Historical Society desires to add service photos of Riverton veterans to our own online Riverton Veterans Album. Have a look – you might see someone you know. – JMc
Guess you heard that the planned Candlelight House Tour had to be cancelled for this year.
So the pressure is off for us to coincide the début opening of our space in the basement of the Riverton Free Library with that popular RFL fundraiser.
We had hoped to make available our new keepsake mugs during the House Tour. Each ceramic mug holds 11 oz., is dishwasher safe, and displays a wrap-around image from our archives.
So now our Plan B is to get down to the next used book sale on Sunday, 1-3 pm to see if anyone wants to buy a mug for $15. Add $3 for color or black mugs.
Either that, or our own modest fundraiser starts out 2016 in the red.
John. Hope you had a great summer. ! Attaching a photo for your blog of a MILLSIDE FARMS half pint bottle I dug in my back yard in 2002 when I first moved here. Please let your readers know that BACK IN TIME , will return to THE POSITIVE PRESS in October after a brief summer sabbatical!
The Millside Farms bottle is featured in the article which discusses historical artifacts found in your backyard and underfoot ! The half pint “cream top ” bottle is date / patented March 3, 1925! Probably not the healthiest of beverages chosen on a summer day to cool off I would think !
Look for the October issue of THE POSITIVE PRESS around October 8th in your mailboxes, at local stores and on line ! Will
Umm… I think autumn has arrived, Will. At least the leaves in Riverton think it has.
Enjoy another delightful and entertaining program of “historical gossip” from America’s colonial period as Dorothy Stanaitis, the popular presenter of 2013’s Scandal, Rumors, & Dirty Rotten Lies, returns in period costume with its sequel, Love & Lies tonight at 7pm at Riverton Free Library.
We can expect her to name names and continue her scandalous reporting on the love lives of the Colonial era’s rich and famous. Light refreshments served. – JMc
These remarkable photos from Nancy and Bill Steel’s family album offer a rare glimpse into early 20th century Riverton.
Do you recognize this Riverton landmark in its earlier days?
Built in 1909 as the clubhouse for an organization celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2015, it has a much different look here than in a later postcard view.
In an August 3rd post called Hot enough for ya? candid shots of the Fitler family of 109 Bank Avenue cavorting in a homemade swimming drew possibly the most traffic ever to this website and rekindled memories of those who later learned to swim in Bay Ruff’s pool. These scans came from that same album.
RYC biplane – no caption
This photo had no caption or date, but you can see the Yacht Club in the background. Somewhere I have the name of a pilot who flew passengers around Riverton for a fee. But who is the woman?
We are often asked here what we have on file about the history of a house. Except for a few founders’ homes, we have precious little, I am afraid.
However, the 1999 Riverton National Register Historic District Inventory has short summary descriptions for over 500 structures. Mrs. Patricia Solin, a frequent contributor to the Gaslight News, reports that she will have some helps to publish here later this fall for those wishing to research the history of their home.
212 Thomas 1905212 Thomas 1905
A new homeowner once told me how much they appreciated receiving from their seller a box of documents and old photos about the history of their just purchased house.
These photos taken in 1905 would be invaluable to a person trying to recreate original architectural details.
Note the oil lamp on the post that predates the Welsbach gaslamps. Do you have any photos of your home back in the day you could send in?
In a year in which we have a woman candidate running for president, an intriguing sequence of photos about suffragists marching to gain the right to vote prompted me google some of the names I read in the captions.
Col. Ida Kraft speaking at Bridgeboro
I learned Col. Ida Kraft (also spelled Craft) and her army of Pilgrims were actually a real thing and a very big deal. But are the pictures in this album because a family member was involved in the march?
The captions do not say and the Steels do not know.
I couldn’t wait for cold weather to share this next one. I have heard of people walking on the river ice way back when, but a wind powered iceboat must be something to see.
Delving into the Steel family album reminds us that there are still some surprises to be found in Riverton history, but sometimes they present more questions than answers.
H. McIlvain Biddle’s iceboat
If you have any more surprises to throw into the mix, or can help connect the dots to some of these random bits, please join the conversation here at rivertonhistory.com.
Won’t you support the Historical Society of Riverton’s efforts to preserve and promote the history of this “unique” town in the only way that matters with your membership?
The Society gets an earlier than usual start on the season this time with its first event on September 10. Read more about it and other calendar events in our SUMMER EXTRA Gaslight News, a two-page late August summary of upcoming events and recap of summer web posts. – JMc
Boardwalk and Beach, looking North from 8th St., Ocean City, NJ
A lot of people find their way here to look at old postcard images.
This scan of a 103 year old postcard is not the oldest one we display, but it may be one of the most rare.
This highly collectable philatelic find is one of very few surviving pieces of air mail flown in a Wright Brothers built biplane during a short-lived experiment from August 3-10, 1912 between Ocean City and Stone Harbor, New Jersey.
Postcard with handwritten notation VIA AEROPLANE
“The First Air Mail Flights in South Jersey – 1912,” Harlan B. Radford, Jr.’s authoritative 3-page story of those historic pioneer flights of the early “AERIAL U.S. MAIL SERVICE” is liberally illustrated with items from his philatelic collection.
In the throes of one of New Jersey’s infamous humidity drenched August heat waves we have to admire the ingenuity of these Rivertonians of old who found a way to keep cool.
Way before postwar prosperity and innovative construction methods of builders such as Phil Anthony and Herman Silverman, respective founders of Anthony and Sylvan Pools, enabled mainstream America to construct swimming pools in their own backyards, the Fitler family of 109 Bank Avenue made one in theirs.
This may be the “first swimming pool in Riverton” described by Mrs. Barbara Page Bartholomew during an interview conducted by former HSR President Gerald Weaber when he researched his feature, “The Fascinating Fitlers,” for the November 2009 Gaslight News. Gerald recorded:
Miss Barbara was fond of her aunt’s husband, Nathan Myers Fitler, whom she affectionately called Uncle Myers and who she said built the first swimming pool in Riverton. Nathan Myers and Mary Biddle Fitler lived in the home known as Graystone at 109 Bank Avenue. The first swimming pool in town was on the same property where the Fitler playhouse once stood. The playhouse, where Miss Barbara played as a youngster, was later the home to Anne Knight-Ruff, author of Ruff Copy, located at 4 Thomas Avenue behind Graystone.
These adorable century-old candid shots of kids at play are from a family album loaned to us for scanning by Mr. and Mrs. William Steel of Cinnaminson.
In it were a number of other photos of historical interest that will be shared here and, since some photos had no captions, we may need your help with names or guessing dates.
Below is a preview of coming attractions. One wonders how many other glimpses into Riverton’s past lie waiting to be discovered and shudders at the thought of the history that is often discarded. – JMc
No, not really, and it’s not a sale at your favorite discount store either.
But I do feel like I just got a big present to open when I find in my email these scans gifted to us by a postcard collector friend and frequent contributor to our archives.
Find nine new additions to our vintage postcard image collection below.
L.V.R.R. and C.R.R. Stations, Phillipsburg, N.J. Postmarked SEP 1908
Avalon Pier, Avalon, N.J. 1930
Stone Harbor, N.J. Pennsylvania R.R. on Second Avenue (c. 1920)
The Beach at Sea Isle City, N.J.
Bathing Beach Avalon, N.J.
Ocean Avenue, Looking East, Sea Isle City, N.J.
Avalon Casino Boardwalk and Beach, Avalon, NJ
Avalon Pier, Avalon, N.J. 1930
Railroad Station, Landisville, N.J.
Regular visitors here know that the Society owns very few real postcards and that much of our virtual catalog of vintage postcards consists of scans, or digital files, contributed by collectors who have shared their prized images here.
Perhaps no images have elicited more comments from visitors than the many picture postcards of the Jersey Shore. The views often launch a reverie that compels them to leave a comment like the ones below.
Thank you for posting the wonderful (Avalon) images. My very happiest childhood memories are of my family’s two-week vacations to Avalon from 1964 to 1969. – Gregory G.
… I worked at the Harbor Theatre for several summers. It was fun to see what it used to look like. Also did not realize that St. Paul’s had such a long history in Stone Harbor. I still attend Mass there. This was a wonderful treat to see these pictures. – Eileen P.
I will be 70 in April and for a few hours of looking at your pictures I was a kid again. – Margaret S.
I was a lifeguard at Beach Haven in 1958 and 1959….We used to go to the Baldwin (Hotel) in the evenings… – Robert B.
Love it! I always featured Lucy (the Elephant Hotel) when teaching about New Jersey in fourth grade. The good old days! – Susan D.
Thanks for posting all the pics…My first trip to Stone Harbor was 1959, the last year of the old Shelter Haven. Spent many fun summers working there. McClures gulf, short stop restaurant, hahns…still remember pizza alley and the old wooden freds tavern. Haven’t been in SH since 2000, but think about it alot. agasin, thanks for the memories. stayed at Carolyn hotel and later the Sherwood house, both long gone. – Jim A.
Browse for a while in the many categories of our IMAGES section and see to where and when the pictures transport you. Leave a note if you wish. Please contact us if you have vintage postcards or ephemera of the South Jersey/Delaware Valley region to donate or wish to send us scans. – JMc
