The Highlands Business Partnership’s 23rd Annual Seaport Craft Show will begin at 10.am. Sunday, May 26, continuing until 5 p.m.
Admission and parking are free and the show takes place in Huddy Park at Waterwitch and Bay avenues.
“We are excited to welcome old favorites as well as a lot of brand-new vendors at this year’s Seaport Craft Show. We are so proud of having such a wide variety of handmade crafts created by some of New Jersey’s most talented crafters and artisans,” said Diane McIlwaine, the HBP Program Manager.
Among the available merchandise will be handcrafted jewelry, nautical-themed items made from shells, sea glass and driftwood, hand-painted wooden furniture, lawn and garden items, soaps, natural body care products, baby and children’s items, honey, photography and much more.
The Seaport Craft show will feature more than 60 crafters and artisans and a performance by local favorite, Dave McCarthy in the gazebo from noon to 4 p.m.
Personnel at the Highlands Business Partnership booth will hold a gift auction with hand crafted items donated from each craft vendor. After the show, visitors are invited to stay for dinner at one of the borough’s many great restaurants.
The Highlands Business Partnership is a non-profit commercial alliance dedicated to fostering economic growth in Highlands. Generous Sponsors of the programs include Monmouth County Tourism, Montecalvo/Bayshore Family of Companies, Bahrs Landing, Farmacie by the French Market, Dovetail Vintage Rentals, Valley Bank, Feed & Seed, Hufnagel Tree Experts, In the Garden, Off the Hook, Proving Ground, Seafarer, Sandbox at Seastreak, Bridge Marina and WRAT, 95.9.
For more information on the Seaport Craft Show visit www.highlandsnj.com or call 732-291-4713
“This is your town, this is my town, this is our town, you have the say,” Mayor Carolyn Broullon said Tuesday night, opening a special meeting so residents could learn the most updated information plans from the Army Corps of Engineersto build a Flood wall in the Borough.
Broullon promised the question will be on the ballot in November so voters in Highlands can determine whether they want it, but wanted to ensure they had the most updated information from the Corps of Engineers.
More than 100 residents turned out to hear and see the most updated plans. The meeting was held in the Henry Hudson Regional School gym in order to accommodate as many interested people as possible; the new Borough Hall’s largest room can only accommodate 60 people in its largest room.
Bethany McClanahan, an engineer with the Corps for more than a decade, led the discussion and presentation of the visual renderings of the latest plans for the flood wall, which would include land acquisition, construction that would obliterate views and cost millions of dollars, the largest amount paid through state and federal funds, and approximately $13 million by local taxes over a period of several years.
The full updated plans and drawings are available on the Highlands Borough site.
Broullon gave a brief synopsis of the project from when it was first considered in 1990, noting “it’s been 34 years in the making to this point” and added it has been seven years since the Army Corps was in the borough at a meeting such as this one to explain its most updated proposals. She urged residents to give input and become aware of the plans and engaged in them so they can be a part of the decision.
Following the meeting, which will be the last time the Army Corps makes a formal presentation on the project, the mayor said the Council will discuss what was brought up by residents, review the plans, draw up a resolution and approve it by July 31 in order to have the resolution put on the November ballot for a vote.
Engineers at the meeting indicated that should residents turn down the project it is unlikely the federal or state governments would ever approve millions of dollars for a similar project anytime in the future. Should the project be approved by voters, the estimated construction costs would be $84 million from the federal government, and $45 million from non-federal sources, including the state and borough taxpayers.
That is in addition to the pre-construction, engineering and design costs which the federal government is funding at $2.4 million.
Construction would include a detention pond, diversion culverts, raised ground surfaces, flood-wall, floodgate and a pump station for interior drainage, all approved four years ago by the Corps. The flood closure gate would be the first portion of the overall project to be built and it is anticipated the plans and specifications for that portion would be completed by fall of next year.
The project runs approximately 8,000 linear feet along the coast, tying in with high ground in the borough.
Several residents who asked questions and made comments during the two-hour meeting received applause from an audience comprised predominantly of residents who live below the hill and would be most affected by the project.
‘Tommy’ a resident of Gravelly Point, one of the first to speak received applause twice during his highly emotional discussions with the engineers, telling them that concrete, the proposed material to build the wall “is one of the most polluting substances in the world,” adding….”so right there, there’s a problem.”
Tommy after speaking his piece
But the resident was more incensed at the destruction that any activity of this nature would cause sea life. “we’re a sand tidal town’ he said, ticking off the numerous varieties of sea life who make the river their home. While not refusing him his right to continue talking, the Mayor called on the resident to calm down and acknowledged council is aware of everything he is saying. He continued his objections but reminded the visitors that “we’ve gone through a lot before” and “You can’t mess with Mother Nature,” she’ll find a way to go where she wants. We’ve been through a lot, we got through, it makes us stronger.”
In other discussions, engineers told another speaker there is no Plan B should this plan not be effective, the borough would be responsible for replenishing sand from any erosion,
All beaches would have access with stairs over the wall, the floodgates would be primarily open similar to Port Monmouth, and 80 per cent of the property involved is privately owned.
Residents spoke of their reasons for buying homes in Highlands, to be close to the water and have a view and cited the fact residents have spent money and time reconstructing homes at a higher level after Hurricane. They suggested the flood wall be built in the river or at Sandy Hook, neither of which is feasible, they learned, and residents would have to finance their own attorneys following declaration of taking if they do not agree with the negotiated funds. Corps Corps Corps Corps
The restoration of a Cadet Program with the First Aid Squad was announced by Councilman James Murphy at last week’s meeting of the governing body, in giving his monthly report on the local volunteer unit.
Murphy made the announcement for Squad Chief Lance Hubeny and noted that the unit had been popular in years past when both this unit and one in Keyport were “known as the best along the Bayshore.” The councilman pointed out that many of the previous cadet members went on to become successful EMTs and finding success in other medical professions after their experience in the borough.
Murphy, with the enthusiasm of Hubeny, noted boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 18 are invited to become cadet members, and added one of the benefits in addition to getting first aid experience from professionals in the field is their ability to ride on emergency calls. “These young members are the future of our squad,” Murphy said, “as well as the life blood of our community,” in urging teenagers to join.
Murphy also announced that the squad is continuing to accept bid cards, auction items or items for baskets for the annual PBA Ball which will be held May 25 at the Shore Casino. The First Aid Squad is this year’s recipient of the proceeds from the ball the department holds annually to assist worthy and hard-working organizations in the borough.
Murphy also announced Chief Hubeny’s report that five volunteers have now graduated from the Northern Monmouth EMT School and congratulated Brian Boms, Susa Doran, Amanda Stolte, Brandon DeSourz and Katie Lushekski for their dedication.
In order to be certified, each of the five had to complete 240 hours of class under a grueling schedule that included three-hour night classes twice a week in addition to full Saturdays and “hundreds of hours of study time outside the classroom.”
The May 4 graduation ceremony marked the first time in the history of the 95-year-old history of the borough squad, the councilman pointed out, that five members graduated from the EMT school together.
Murphy noted that the squad’s newly purchased used ambulance, acquired with funds the squad raised itself, has been titled, lettered, cleaned and fully stocked and went into service earlier this month, responding to six calls on its first day of service.
The vehicle, and the second one the squad owns can now respond to mutual aid calls in addition to better serving this community. The squad is making initial preparations to purchase a new vehicle, with the anticipated time for delivery more than two years distant. The squad’s Zodiac boat is also in the water, ready to respond to calls in the Marina to the breakwater.
The squad answered 30 calls during April for a total of 117 calls so far this year, averaging almost one call a day.
Residents desiring membership information in the squad or cadet program or interested in providing donations for the PBA fundraiser can call Chief Hubeny at 732-291-8118 or write info@ahfirstaid.org.
For anyone who admires and appreciates the wisdom, intelligence and pride in the nation he helped found, a visit to Jefferson’s Rock in Harpers Ferry West Virginia is well worth the steep hike to get to it, the piece of the Appalachian Trial you can cover at the same time, and the beauty of the place Thomas Jefferson got on that rock to view…the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers several hundred feet below.
Now under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, which doesn’t seem to care much about it, the rock is actually a mass of shale rock on top of other very large masses of shale, one on top of each other.
When Thomas Jefferson was in town in 1783, long before he was President and when he was a mere 40 years old, the slab he stepped on for a better view of the surroundings was on a very narrow natural foundation. The slab was so narrow he could sway the rock back and forth with a slight push.
Weather and curiosity seekers cutting chunks from where Jefferson stood made it even thinner, so it became even more dangerous to be on or near it. Sometime in the late 1850s, the Army armory superintendent in Harpers Ferry ordered four stone pillars to be placed underneath the corners of the slab to keep it from moving, saying Jefferson Rock was “endangering the lives and properties of the villagers below.”.
Today, the slab is still there, the pillars under it are still there, and most likely daring young people still scale it to stand where Mr. Jefferson stood. However, falling off it means a swift fall straight down between treetops and hard rock before actually hitting any ground.
But it’s magnificent to see, if only to contemplate Jefferson’s admiration of natural beauty.
Jefferson Rock is along West Virginia’s portion of the Appalachian trail, a short distance further down the mountain from Harper Cemetery, the family burial grounds of the founder of this small town better known for the insurrection against the nation led by John Brown, a key reason for the onset of the Civil War.
The town is also at the precise spot where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet and flow together in what Jefferson described as “perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes of Nature.”
But that wasn’t enough for this lover of nature to say. He had to describe the Blue Ridge on the mountains and the beauty of the rivers below more precisely to be sure everyone appreciated it.
So he continued: “You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea.”
Still not enough to describe what he saw. The man who went on to become the third President wanted to let you know what it felt like for him to see this: He continued “The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flowafterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base.”
The man has a way with words. He went on to write about the piles of rock, the marks of disruptions from riverbeds and how the result is so different from the forces of nature that caused it all. “It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous… , a small catch of smooth blue horizon, … inviting views, “from the riot and tumult roaring around….to the calm below.” This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”
Jefferson’s words, later written in the Notes on the State of Virginia (of which West Virginia was a part at the time) were published in 1785.
Access to Jefferson’s Rock is either down Washington St to Church street and up a trail and a few rocks to get to it, or from the Lower Town below St. Peter’s Catholic Church, up a steep flight of steps near the Civil War Museum to the steps by St. Peters and past the ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church to the same rocks just below Jefferson’s rock.
Either way, it’s worth the walk.
While at that height, it’s only a short little hill to the family cemetery with stones dating back to the Revolution and still burials today. Many of the graves are tended, with fresh flowers or American flags, others are illegible. All the grounds are kept clean and benches invite prayer time and meditation.
A second stop to once again admire everything Jefferson described, a jaunt down all those rocky steps and a visit to the National Park Service historic sites before dinner and another walk up to the Upper Town and the Harper Valley Guest House.
Prayers on the Porch, the informal group of local residents gathering once a month, will meet in the Grotto Garden of St. Agnes Church at 6 p.m. this evening.
The Garden is located adjacent to the church office on Center Avenue,
Started by former Mayor Loretta Gluckstein several years ago, Prayers on the Porch is a monthly informal gathering of residents from churches of all faiths from the surrounding area who meet for a half hour of sharing friendship,, informal prayers and conversation for a half hour .
Catholic parishes in Highlands, Atlantic Highlands, Rumson, Red Bank and Middletown will all have new priests as part of their pastorate beginning July 1, as the Bishop announced the annual priest personnel changes for the Diocese of Trenton. Catholic Priests
Bishop David O’Connell made the announcement of the changes this month, the traditional time of year when priests either receive new assignments or are retired. New priests are ordained in May and begin their priesthood with assignments beginning July 1.
This year, there are four priests retiring in the diocese, including the Reverend Daniel Hesko, pastor of St. Catherine Laboure parish in Middletown and the Reverend Michael Manning, pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Rumson. Two men are being ordained this year and will be assigned to churches in Red Bank and Freehold as parochial vicars, also known as assistants to the pastor of the parish. Catholic Priests
With the retirement of Father Manning from Holy Cross, the Reverend Michael Lankford-Stokes will become the new pastor. Father Stokes most recently was on the staff as Catholic chaplain for the NJ Healthcare System, VA Hospital. Catholic Priests
With Father Hesko’s retirement after serving at St Catherine’s, the Reverend Richard Osborn will be named administrator of St. Catherine’s. Most recently, Father Osborn has been parochial vicar at St. James in Red Bank. He will be replaced in that parish by the Reverend Wynne Kerridge, one of the two newly ordained who will serve as parochial vicar.
The Reverend Eugene Vavrick, who has been parochial vicar at Our Lady of Perpetual Help-St Agnes Parish in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, is being transferred for a similar duty at St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish in Hamilton. The Reverend Jarlath Quinn, pastor of the parish, will also announce Father Vavrick’s transfer at the masses in both churches this Sunday. Catholic Priests
Reverend Thomasaiah Mallavarapu, CMF will replace Father Vavrick in the OLPH-St Agnes parish, coming to the Dioceses of Trenton from Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Perth Amboy.
Father Mallavarapu is a priest in the order of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an order of brothers and priests whose headquarters is in Rome. The order priests serve in parishes in California, Arizona, Illinois and the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey.Catholic Priests
Reverend Brian Meinders, the second newly ordained priest with Father Kerridge, will be assigned to St. Rober Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold. Catholic Priests
Even if aging macular degeneration or any other diseases of the eye are not your primary problem, enjoying the recipes that provide so many of the vitamins and minerals necessary for good eye health are the same ones that ensure good heart health, better circulation and so many other benefits for heart and body.Drink
With warm weather approaching, salads are always a wonderful choice for lunch or dinner, but also refreshing are a variety of juices made from fruit combinations. They’re all easy to make with a blender and can be strained with a fine mesh sieve for a smooth and refreshing drink.
Carrot-Ginger Juice
Carrots have long since earned and keep their reputation as excellent vegetables for eye health, but mixed with some ginger even their health benefits can be improved. Ginger, be it fresh, bottled or dried, promotes proper blood circulation; it can even be mixed into a paste with honey to help brighten your eyes if tired, but that’s another story.Drink
This recipe provides 20 percent of the recommended daily requirement of Vitamin C as well as high doses of Vitamin A and beta carotene.
8 large carrots, peeled and chopped
¼ teaspoon minced ginger
2 teas. Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 Cups boiling water.
Combine ingredients in a blend; blend for two minutes. Strain through a sieve and chill before serving.
CUCUMBER KALE DRINK
Kale is a leafy green vegetable that is also often overlooked, with so many opting for a variety of lettuce rather than this vegetable loaded with Vitamins A and C as well as lots of zinc, beta-carotene and lutein and zeaxanthin.Drink
The Medal of Honor is credited to New York, but Gunnery Sgt. Fred William Stockham is a Marine buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Union, New Jersey, most likely because as an orphan he was raised by his aunt in Irvington. He apparently joined the Marine Corps from a New York office.
But there is a story about both the Medal of Honor recipient and the determination of Marine Corps officers in ensuring that their heroes are properly remembered, respected and honored.
Fred Stockham was born March 16, 1881, in Detroit, Michigan and joined the Marine Corps prior to World War I. While serving as a Gunnery Sergeant with the 96th Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Regiment, 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division on June 13-14, 1918, the enemy bombarded Sgt. Stockham and his fellow Marines while they were in trenches near Belleau Woods in France. Stockham, at Boi-en-Belleau. In aiding others more severely injured than himself, the Marine ripped off his own gas mask and placed it on the face of the Marine he was carrying when that Marine’s mask was shot away. Taken to a field hospital himself, Stockham died a few days later, June 22, the results of gas poisoning. More than 90 per cent of the troops were killed or wounded in that assault by the enemy in France.
Stockham’s commanding officer, Lt. Clifton Gates, wrote a citation to have the Marine considered for the Medal of Honor.
Twenty-one years later, Lt. Gates was General Gates, Commandant of the Marine Corps. He discovered that the citation he had signed and submitted two decades earlier had been lost. It was 1939, and the US Congress had closed acceptance of applications for World War I two years earlier. Nonetheless, Commandant Gates submitted his citation, and Gunny Sgt. Stockham received his Medal.
Originally buried in France, Sgt Stockham’s aunt had his body returned to the United States and he was buried in the Union Cemetery.
Sixty years after his death and years after his body was re-interred in Union, Paul Angelo the Registrar of Veterans graves for Union County, discovered there was no VA marker on the hero’s grave; he conducted the research and secured approval to obtain a VA marker. When the marker was dedicated in 1983, it was Capt. Max Cleland, a Vietnam vet who had lost both his legs in that later war, who headed the dedication team.
The Medal of Honor was presented at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, on Dec. 21, 1939. It was later presented to an American Legion Post named in Gunny Sgt. Stockham’s honor in St. Louis, Missouri. A replica of the Medal is now at the Naval Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard
CITATION
During an intense enemy bombardment with high-explosive and gas shells which wounded or killed many members of the company, GSgt. Stockham, upon noticing that the gas mask of a wounded comrade was shot away, without hesitation, removed his own gas mask and insisted upon giving it to the wounded man, well knowing that the effects of the gas would be fatal to himself. He continued with undaunted courage and valor to direct and assist in the evacuation of the wounded, until he himself collapsed from the effects of gas, dying as a result thereof a few days later. His courageous conduct undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his wounded comrades, and his conspicuous gallantry and spirit of self-sacrifice were a source of great inspiration to all who served with him. Stockham
Unlike flying, taking a train to destinations hours or days away is relaxing, enjoyable, peaceful and an opportunity to appreciate the natural and man-made wonders of the nation albeit at 80 miles an hour. Like my recent trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Amtrak offers numerous opportunities around the country, but for us in the eastern states, there is so much to see, learn and enjoy within hours. Trips south from Newark Penn Station also offer some time for a visit to Washington DC’s magnificent Union Station and, without even leaving there, a view of the nation’s Capitol high on the hill.
But for me on this trip, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the Jefferson Rock, and a closer look at the atrocity and stupid boldness of a murderer, John Brown, were the destination.
It also meant meeting some pretty wonderful people who make Harpers Ferry their home; a fantastic restaurateur whose restaurant, The Kelley Farm Kitchen, takes advantage of all that nature provides on its lush farmland, an on-the-job police sergeant who appreciates history and laments more people don’t know it, and a borough employee, Karissa, who probably has more pride, knowledge and appreciation of her job, the people she works for and with, than just about businessman in town. There was also a pretty terrific retired border patrol agent who doesn’t really want to talk about what’s happening at our borders today and is about to make a major decision in his own life now, all of which taught me more than anyone else I met in four days learning, enjoying , walking, and trying new things.
It also meant staying at the Harpers Ferry Guest House, a cozy, comfortable and immaculately kept B&B run by Cathy and Bryan where even the names of the individual rooms bring smiles…for me, the Chickadee Room had paintings of this chirpy and happy looking little bird on the door.
Harper’s Ferry Guest House
It meant visiting Jefferson’s Rock more than once for the breathtaking view, walking roads that make the hills of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands look like practice runs for Harpers Ferry, walking a piece of the Appalachian Trail as well as walking from West Virginia to Maryland, and hunting down the burial place of the lone US Marine who was killed when John Brown decided to take the world in his own hands.
It also meant talking with Judy, a great volunteer at the Appalachian Trail Visitor Center who actually walked the entire more than 2100 miles of the Trail when she was in her 50s, and learning about Bill Irwin, one of the world’s most courageous souls who did the trail from Georgia to Maine when he was blind, accompanied only by his dog.
There was a lot of adventure, a lot of wonderful people, a lot of education, great food, great fun and admiration for many people packed into three days and two train rides, all to be covered in several articles because there is so much to say about it all.
Amtrak never fails. It’s easy to get from Middletown to Newark’s Penn Station….not every long-distance train stops at Metropark…by New Jersey Transit and then just checking the up-to-date boards to locate the correct time, and track for the Northeast Regional train to Washington. Then it’s a short wait in the handsomely re-done and refurbished Union Station to hop on the Capitol Limited, one of Amtrak’s fleet that stops 70 minutes later at Harpers Ferry.
Once past Washington, the view is practically all forests, trees, and this time of year, colorful flowers and bushes before the train travels through a mountain pulling into the historic Harpers Ferry railroad station, the first of many museums highlighting so many different aspects of this little but very friendly town.
Enroute home, it’s just as easy and beautiful, though Amtrak allows a couple of hours for connecting trips should the Capitol Limited, stopping at Harpers Ferry enroute from Chicago, be delayed. That gives you the option for a couple of hours in the nation’s Capital or simply switching your ticket for another Washington to New Jersey local; or, if you really want to get home in a hurry, even the Acela.
The Harpers Ferry station of course is at the lowest end of the town, with shops and restaurants and National Park Service historic areas as well as the first of their museums at that level, then the start of those very steep and exceptionally long hills to more historic sites and great restaurants and residences in the higher elevations.
If you stay at Brian and Cathy’s Guest House, however, it only takes a phone call to let Cathy know the train is in and a two minute wait until she’s there in the parking lot, ready to take you to the Harper’s Ferry Guest House, where comfortable chairs, a ready fire pit and more great views are waiting on a raised porch in the courtyard with even more spectacular views, and the very private and secure entry to …yes, more stairs….the third floor rooms in your home away from home for several days.
Once settled, you have the time to check out the books in your bedroom bookcase and an even larger supply in the foyer bookcase and whet your appetite for the innkeeper’s own love of history. You can scan the supply of maps and brief descriptions of all that’s available within walking (if you’re sturdy and love it) or driving to everything from restaurants and guest houses, campgrounds and hotels to the National Park Service grounds. There are addresses and phone numbers for shops for pottery, health and body goods, pottery, clothing, jewelry, accessories, ghost tours, escape adventures and outfitters for biking and hiking. There’s more information on things more distant, including a toy train museum, zip-lining, and wineries.
None of which is necessary if you simply want to enjoy all of what Harpers Ferry has to offer. My personal goal was to visit Jefferson’s Rock, the rock at the top of a mountain named for the President who stood on top and proclaimed it more beautiful than visiting Europe.
Harpers Ferry
Some other stories of my travels HERE (Mostly by train, and mostly solo!)
