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War once again comes to #BergenCounty! March 23, 1780!

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Hackensack NJ, from the Bergen County Historical Society : 

Hackensack NJ, The Revolutionary history of Bergen County and New Bridge does not end at the Retreat in 1776. In fact at least 11 engagements occur at the New Bridge and was a constant scene of activity during the war.

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Bergen County Historical Society : Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

New Bridge Landing NJ, Bergen County Historical Society on this day in history , “We hope everyone has a Happy St. Patrick’s Day! There are certainly many traditions on this day, but one event will have a lasting impact on Bergen County. On this date in 1776, British forces will evacuate Boston and will regroup to determine their next strategy. Where will the British go next? Their decision will have a MAJOR impact on New Jersey, Bergen County and New Bridge as war will come to NJ’s door. From the fall of 1776 to the late fall of 1783, NYC will be occupied, leading to numerous incursions, battles and plundering of Bergen County and its inhabitants by both sides of the war. It is an often overlooked and unfortunate side of the war but an important story to tell. “

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Bergen County has 192 Sandstone Houses listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

New Bridge Landing NJ, Bergen County has 192 Sandstone Houses listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places as “Stone Houses of Bergen County, Thematic Resource.”

These houses really say “Bergen County”, this very distinctive building type is not known to be found anywhere else in the world. 
(Okay, there are examples in Rockland County)

Continue reading Bergen County has 192 Sandstone Houses listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places
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New Jersey State Review Board for Historic Sites approves the Zabriskie-Schedler house for the state and national registers

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Anyone can prepare a New Jersey and National Register application. Applications are typically prepared by individuals, cultural or historical organizations, government agencies, and professional consultants. Completed applications are submitted to the Historic Preservation Office where a staff member reviews and evaluates them for eligibility, technical completeness, and substantive sufficiency. Property owners and county and local officials are notified and given an opportunity to comment, and a public meeting is held for large historic districts.

Continue reading New Jersey State Review Board for Historic Sites approves the Zabriskie-Schedler house for the state and national registers
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400th Anniversary Commemorating the First Documented Arrival of Africans in Colonial America

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

New Bridge Landing NJ, August 2019 marks the 400-year anniversary of the documented arrival of the first Africans arriving in colonial English America. Dr. Evelyn McDowell and Camile Amadio will discuss one of the women captives, Angela, and lead into a presentation about women, quilting, and slavery. We will briefly review the history of early colonial quilting and discuss the significance of quilting in the African-American community. We will end our talk with a discussion of the 400-year Commemoration Quilt Project currently underway and sponsored by Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage. We will leave time for a hands-on demonstration of the block used for the commemorative quilting project. The talk begins at 1:30 pm in the Steuben House. The whole museum site is open for tours.

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Washington’s Birthday 287th – Anniversary – A Country Ball Sunday, February 24th, 2019

George Washington

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

New Bridge Landing NJ, Dance mistress Denise Piccino and the Tricorne Dancers will give two one hour public performances in the Steuben House at 1:30 and 3:00 pm. Ridley & Anne Enslow will provide musical accompaniment on fiddle and hammered dulcimer. Throughout the afternoon, Rodger Yaden will portray General George Washington. Hot cider and crullers will be served in the restored 18th-century tavern in the Campbell-Christie House, where our gift shop is also located. Visitors may also see open-hearth cooking demonstrated in the Out-Kitchen featuring items that General Washington might have eaten during his stay at New Bridge in 1780 and recipes from Martha’s cookbook. Re-enactors from the 3rd New Jersey Regiment will demonstrate military life. Activities for children include: soldier drills, paper doll take-away project & scavenger hunt.

Continue reading Washington’s Birthday 287th – Anniversary – A Country Ball Sunday, February 24th, 2019
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Governor Phil Murphy Puts Focus on Historic Preservation Tax Credit as Part of Incentives Reform Package

schoolhouse museum

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

PATERSON NJ, the Bergen County Historical Society says, “This could be a game changer when it comes to historic preservation in NJ. Saving historic structures that provide communities their identities makes sense.”

On a street lined with former silk mills, only blocks away from the Great Falls of Paterson, Governor Phil Murphy detailed a new historic preservation tax credit program as part of his vision for incentives reform. The Historic Preservation Tax Credit will serve to revitalize and fully realize the potential of New Jersey’s storied cities and towns.

“50 Spruce Street is one of hundreds, if not thousands of similar buildings in our state that have vast unfulfilled potential and can be restored to their former glory and repurposed for modern day use,” said Governor Murphy. “Historic preservation tax credits have helped other states preserve and utilize their historic buildings. These beautiful structures are often hidden in plain sight and are waiting for the right investor. We are here to help with that.”

Continue reading Governor Phil Murphy Puts Focus on Historic Preservation Tax Credit as Part of Incentives Reform Package
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Coldest Winter During the American Revolution

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, from the Bergen County Historical Society :
As the cold weather breaks, a look back to one of the coldest winters during the Revolution, the winter of 1780.

1 February 1780. The coldest winter in human memory, something we can relate to this year, continued in Bergen County. Loyalist spies continue their detailed observations on the surrounding countryside, both to avoid surprise in New York City, and to look for opportunities for the British to strike at Washington’s isolated outposts, such as the one in Paramus…

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On this Day in 1865 the United States Abolished Slavery

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photo  courtesy of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, on this day in 1865, the United States of America abolished slavery with passage of the 13th Amendment!It was the first amendment to the Constitution in more than 60 years, as the initial 12 amendments occurred shortly after the Constitution was adopted.

There were still approximately 40,000 slaves remaining in Kentucky alone were freed by the 13th Amendment.”Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

The 13th amendment, along with the 14th & 15th, is one of the trio of Civil War amendments that greatly expanded the civil rights of Americans.

Today also marks what would have been Jackie Robinson’s 100th birthday. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the most popular sport in America, and helped change the way the country thought about racial integration.

If is often said the ,Babe Ruth changed baseball , while Jackie Robinson changed America.

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Why Martin Luther King Was Republican

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frice | Wednesday Aug 16, 2006 12:00 AM

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S’s: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860s, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s.

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, Dr. King was fighting the Democrats who stood in the school house doors, turned skin-burning fire hoses on blacks and let loose vicious dogs. It was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who pushed to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools. President Eisenhower also appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation. Much is made of Democrat President Harry Truman’s issuing an Executive Order in 1948 to desegregate the military. Not mentioned is the fact that it was Eisenhower who actually took action to effectively end segregation in the military.

Democrat President John F. Kennedy is lauded as a proponent of civil rights. However, Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act while he was a senator, as did Democrat Sen. Al Gore Sr. And after he became President, Kennedy was opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King that was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. President Kennedy, through his brother Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King.

https://humanevents.com/2006/08/16/why-martin-luther-king-was-republican/

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Bergen County Historical Society (BCHS) School of Interpretation & Volunteer Meeting : The Steenrapie (River Edge) Encampment of 1780

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photo courtesy of BCHS
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

New Bridge landing NJ, As one of the major events of Bergen’s Revolutionary War history, the Steenrapie Encampment brought the American army to present day River Edge and Oradell, and forever tied Washington himself to New Bridge Landing. Join author, military historian, and BCHS Past President Todd Braisted for his presentation on the history, legends, and luminaries that became part of Bergen County in September 1780.

For anyone interested in volunteering at Historic New Bridge Landing events as a docent, greeter, operations personnel, or living-history interpreter in period dress, the Bergen County Historical Society sponsors the School of Interpretation to hone communication skills, familiarize volunteers with Bergen’s unique history, give insight into the material culture of the past, and train volunteers in historical presentation. It also provides an opportunity for prospective participants to ask questions and learn about volunteering with BCHS. Please meet in the Steuben House (the house nearest the bridge), 1209 Main St, River Edge, NJ. No charge.

Bergen County Historical Society (BCHS) School of Interpretation & Volunteer Meeting
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Topic: The Steenrapie (River Edge) Encampment of 1780

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Visit the reenactment of the Battle of Trenton

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photo courtesy of the NJ Historic Preservation Office

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton NJ, from the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office ,Christmas takes on enormous historical significance in Trenton, NJ as the Revolutionary War Battles of Trenton are commemorated with reenactments & activities. The battle of Trenton was a major turning point in the Revolutionary War .

Make plans now to visit for the reenactment of the Battle of Trenton, and more Patriots Week events! More info here: www.destinationtrenton.com/events/patriots-week

December 26 – 31, 2018!

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9/11 ATTACKS

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On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.

https://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks

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This Day in History President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

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The Emancipation Proclamation

September 22,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, On September 22, 1862, partly in response to the heavy losses inflicted at the Battle of Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all the slaves in the states in rebellion if those states did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. The extent of the Proclamation’s practical effect has been debated, as it was legally binding only in territory not under Union control. In the short term, it amounted to no more than a statement of policy for the federal army as it moved into Southern territory.

Lincoln Tee https://www.redbubble.com/people/foodstampnation/works/12059369-lincoln-tee?asc=t&p=t-shirt via @redbubble

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73rd anniversary of D-Day

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June 6,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, On this 73rd anniversary of D-Day let us remember, and honor, the soldiers who gave their lives for the freedoms of France and rest of Europe.

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops.

It was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich and a major turning point to free Europe and show that freedom can prevail over totalitarianism.