Littell-Lord Farmhouse Museum and Farmstead

The Grandmother House, Littell-Lord Farmstead Museum

 
The Berkeley Heights Public Library has a Flickr account with scanned photographs from the library's vertical files. This photograph of 'The Grandmother House' and the brochure from the Historical Society of Berkeley Heights might interest residents interested in local history. All three images can be found on the Flickr set 'Berkeley Heights Historical Society.'

     The Littell-Lord Farmhouse Museum and Farmstead is at 31 Horseshoe Road, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, located south of the intersection  of Mountain and Snyder Avenues.

- Matthew G. Taylor

Related sources:

From the Passaiack to the Wach Unks, a history of the Township of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. New Jersey: The Historical Society of Berkeley Heights in cooperation with the Berkeley Heights Bicentennial Committee, 1977. (156 - 157)

Littel-Lord Farmstead, Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littel-Lord_Farmstead

'Four Centuries in a Weekend' brochure (16)
http://ucnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2012-Four-centuries-Online-Book-complete.pdf

Berkeley Heights Library Flickr account  http://www.flickr.com/photos/berkeleyheightsnj/

It takes a library to raise a child



The original library building in Berkeley Heights,N.J.

This is a picture of the Original Public Library for Berkeley Heights from the early 1900's. This picture spoke to me like a voice from the past saying "Berkeley Heights has a strong tradition of families supporting libraries!" 
The building actually was the real estate office of Mr. William Jeffrey.
Mr. Jeffrey was a reader, and his real estate office was filled with books. In the early 1900's he would leave his office open for commuters who wished to stop, rest and read on their way to the train.  Slowly it began to be spoken of as the "public" library.The building was located near the corner of Plainfield Avenue and Putnam Avenue.
The clothes the children are wearing in the picture are neat and clean as a pin. The young lady's and lad's outfits are quite typical  for the time. This is a picture of a strong family unit in a community that values education and institutions like the public library.
This picture caused me to step outside the typical deadlines, schedules, and chaos of my "modern life", and focus on the importance of family,  libraries, education, and the values needed to build strong  communities.
Matthew G. Taylor

     



The Deserted Village, Union County, New Jersey

The Deserted Village in the Watchung Reservation was a winter refuge for the Lenni -Lenape tribe long before European settlers came there in the early 18th century. Known as the Blue Brook Valley, a powder mill located there supplied the American Revolutionary War. Some of the settlers stayed in the valley to build a saw mill which became a prosperous lumber business. In 1845, the mill was purchased by David Felt, a New York City printer, who expanded the operation to include making paper, as well as binding and printing books. The area became known as "Feltville." Mr. Felt ruled his town with a strong dictatorial style - (i.e., insisting that his employees both attend church and get to sleep by 9:00 pm.)  Mr. Felt ruled the town for fifteen years. Felt sold his holdings in 1860 and left the area.The village gradually declined and was acquired in 1945 by the Union County Park Commission. The valley is now referred to as the "Deserted Village".  

- Matthew Taylor

Mill Hand Cottage in the Deserted Village

Related sources and websites:

'Berkeley Heights, N.J. : a local government school and community study.'

League of Women Voters (1)
 
Flickr slideshow of portions of 'Berkeley Heights, N.J.: a local government school and community study'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/berkeleyheightsnj/sets/72157633159485292/

'Our Town Berkeley Heights by the League of Women Voters' 1963 (2-3)

The Deserted Village, Union County website  http://ucnj.org/community/parks-community-renewal/parks-facilities/activities/the-deserted-village/

The Deserted Village by Dr. Arthur L. Johnson, a digitized pamphlet from Mountainside Public Library (also available in Berkeley Heights Public Library's New Jersey Reference Collection) http://www.mountainsidelibrary.org/HistoryFiles/DesertedVillageJohnson.pdf

 Our Tribal History, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape website http://www.nanticoke-lenape.info/history.htm

Welcome to the Berkeley Heights Digital History Project

A Steam Locomotive Passes by The  Berkeley Heights Station**

The purpose of this blog is to provide a narrative of the significant historical events which determined both the character and other unifying traits that comprise the community of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.

Based partly  on pictures and records from the Berkeley Heights Public Library historical collection, I will post both articles and pictures about Berkeley Heights' past and present. 

An abbreviated history of the township of Berkeley Heights follows: my source is a 1978 Study of Berkeley Heights,by the League of Women Voters.*

"Berkeley Heights started out as a portion of pre-revolutionary Elizabethtown, which later became the capital of the colony of New Jersey... In the late 18th century it left Elizabethtown to become part of the newly formed Springfield Township, where it remained until 1809. Then the area comprising Berkeley Heights, New Providence and a portion of Summit separated to become New Providence Township. In 1869 Summit withdrew from New Providence Township. In 1899 the remaining area was divided into New Providence Borough and New Providence Township.The confusion of having two New Providences side by side persisted for over half a century, until 1952, when New Providence Township, which had existed as a political entity in its present 6.2 square mile since 1899, changed it's name to the Township of Berkeley Heights." (1)

-Matthew G. Taylor

Related sources:

*Link to the digitized version of the 1978 pamphlet about Berkeley Heights which can also be found in the library's vertical file. http://www.flickr.com/photos/berkeleyheightsnj/sets/72157633159485292/

**Link to digitized photographs of the train station from the library's local history collection. http://www.flickr.com/photos/berkeleyheightsnj/sets/72157632871801791/

According to Virginia B. Troeger's book "Berkeley Heights' (94), the above photograph of a steam train pulling into the Berkeley Heights train station was taken around 1920. It was then the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 'familiarly known as the "Delay, Linger, and Wait"...