Historians put Ridgewood’s past in the spotlight
OCTOBER 23, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014, 3:12 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Green open spaces, cows in the pasture, tiny wood fences, barns, mills, dirt roads, oat fields…
This scene might not necessarily scream “Ridgewood.”
Yet, it was Ridgewood in the mid-1800s.
Antique photographs, newspaper excerpts, agricultural output, internal squabbles – and even drunken tavern debauchery – were all featured in “The Birth of Ridgewood, 1865-1876: From Post Office to Township,” a presentation that has now been given twice at the Ridgewood Public Library by local historians (and married couple) Joe Suplicki and Peggy Norris.
Suplicki grew up in Ridgewood, and Norris is a 21-year reference librarian at Ridgewood Library.
The presentation – given for the second time during an afternoon last month to about 30 people – was a product of about 17 years of work, according to Norris. The first presentation in February attracted 150 attendees.
To put the presentation together, Elmwood Park residents Norris and Suplicki dated old photographs (that may have been taken by farmer Alfred Demarest Terhune) back to the 1865-1876 time period by finding the landmarks present, and not present, in each photo.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/historians-put-past-in-spotlight-1.1116763#sthash.p9EYWfrk.dpuf
