the staff of the Ridgewood blog
New Bridge Landing NJ, Are the days too frigid and the nights too long for you at this time of year? Is darkness depressing and the cold’s in your bones? One solution is a trip to the tropics, but if that doesn’t fit your schedule, come celebrate Brigid’s Day and Candlemas at Historic New Bridge Landing along the Hackensack River in River Edge on Sunday, January 26, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Escape the winter blues as people did for over a thousand years in celebrations of warmth, light, and music. Sit in the main room of the 267-year-old Steuben House and tap your feet to Irish music played by The Racket River Girls. With fiddle, guitar, concertina, and harmonious vocals, they’ll transport you back to old Ireland; you’ll swear you smell the peat fire! (Performances are at 1:30 and 3:30).
We are rolling out new exhibits in the Steuben House featuring BCHS’s collections of New Netherland and Jersey-Dutch artifacts including artifacts we received from the George Way estate. Several items, for example a large trivet, are marriage relics featuring hearts. George Way was a collector of 17th and 18th century material culture, Jonathan Friedman benefited BCHS with several objects after Way’s passing.
Make sure to stop by the Out-Kitchen to see how candle-making was done; drop in the tavern for some seasonal refreshments or a peek at the treasures in the gift shop. Wee ones with you? They can make an authentic brideog (a Brigid’s Day doll) from cornhusks & lavender or fashion an Irish Brigid’s Cross from reeds. We also have a history scavenger hunt with prize. As always, the eighteenth century stone houses will be open with knowledgeable interpreters to help you understand the lives of earlier Bergen residents.
Admission: $12 adults; $7 students 6-22 yrs; Bergen County Historical Society members free! (Take an annual membership and support preserving Jersey’s past: $20/individual, $30/household). Free onsite parking or take a train on the Pascack Valley Line from Secaucus via NJ Transit to the “New Bridge Landing” train stop. Walk one block north & east. By car, HNBL is only 5.6 miles from the GWB.
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