Celebrating Small TOWN & country Life in New Jersey
Photos of the week
Photo by Lee Wolfe
A modern take on the Golden Rule.
Photo by Lee Wolfe
It's the fast ones that you really have to watch out for!
back to School: The Writing Slate
BRJ Blog
Before the availability of affordable paper and ink, the use of writing slates was nearly universal among school students in North America, and much of the world. The slate and a piece of soft chalk, were the primary tools used for learning writing and arithmetic, and since the slate had to be wiped clean with a cloth or wet sponge in between instruction, it forced students of the day to memorize their lessons. Most slates were fairly basic and consisted of a thin piece of slate wrapped in a wooden frame to protect students’ hands, but deluxe models, known as “quiet slates,” because they didn’t make noise when they were set down on the desk, had frames that were wrapped in fabric, leather, or yarn. Another fancier model was the “double” or “book slate,” which had two slates attached along one edge and opened like a book.
Special Event at WCCC
Celebrate Fall and the Great Outdoors
Join guide, Carl Klemme, of PS. 108 and Glow, for a 90 -minute Walking and Meditation experience that will cover a number of miles of the Whittemore trails with meditations interspersed throughout the hike...
Main Event
"Splendor in September"
The Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center presents its 19th Mansion in May signature fundraiser, previously scheduled to be held during May, as “Splendor in September.” The Designer Showhouse and Gardens is open to the public at Tyvan Hill in New Vernon, New Jersey from September 8 to October 4.
Looking Back
The Picket Fence Murder
There were no street lights to expose a murder on the dark streets of Califon, New Jersey on the night of January 19, 1907, nor a full moon to bear witness to the grisly deed. “In fact,” wrote local historian Helen Haggerty Geist, “it was a night made for such a crime.”
Celebrating A Sense of Place
In the Here and Now - We Make Hay
On these bright, beautiful early summer days, like similar days over all the years, I find myself farming. But when I'm asked if I am a farmer, I reflexively say no. I say this out of respect and reverence for real farmers who tend to crops and animals throughout the year, all day, every day, at all hours...
Best of the BRJ Highlights
The Minuteman from Black River
As Rough as Hell: John Basilone
As Rough as Hell: John Basilone
On the fringes of Chester Township, minuteman John Emmons, a teenager who lived with his family in a simple log cabin, was one of the young American patriots that waited for the call to war.
As Rough as Hell: John Basilone
As Rough as Hell: John Basilone
As Rough as Hell: John Basilone
Among the Marines battling for the island of Guadalcanal was Sergeant “Manila” John Basilone, a section leader in a weapons company, from Raritan, New Jersey. .
The Peapack Caverns
As Rough as Hell: John Basilone
The Peapack Caverns
When Mohawk raiding parties descended on the Native American villages in what is now Peapack, New Jersey, the local Lenape tribes would take refuge in the vast limestone caves beneath their lands.