I've lived in New Jersey for more than 40 years, but I'll never be a real New Jersey girl. I grew up in Pennsylvania where there was lots of snow, one traffic light in town, and 90 kids in my grade--from kindergarten through graduation. I didn't know anything about The Shore, or baked ziti, or Chanukah until I came to Jersey. But, I've come to love all of that and much more--especially the history. I now know about the Jersey Dutch, strawberry baskets, railroad suburbs, the bridge that saved a nation, and so much more. I've learned that to tell the local stories about regular people I need to read wills, estate files, census records, pension applications, letters, tombstones, newspapers, and anything else I can find. So, that's some of what I want to share with you!

Friday, May 3, 2013

Bergen County Maps Celebration

I'm really excited.  I guess there's nothing for it, but that I'm a Map-Nerd.  We have 7 Bergen County wall maps hanging outside the Heritage Center at the Ridgewood Public Library, with one more to come.  I can't stop looking--what happened to those wetlands so clearly delineated in 1867.  How many country clubs can you fit in Alpine?  What did this county look like without Rts 17, 80 and the Parkway?  How did the county get fractured from a few townships to 70 municipalities?

 On Saturday, May 11 the Library is celebrating Bergen County Maps with the display and programs.



9:00 AM  Sanborn Maps Workshop.  Learn how to use Sanborn Insurance maps for local history research.  Auditorium.  Registration suggested.  (email pwnorris@ridgewoodlibrary.org)   

10:15 AM  Writing a House History.  How to make the walls of your house tell stories.  Several Ridgewood buildings will be used as examples.  Auditorium.   

11:15 AM Children's Event: Map Story, & Craft.  Open to Ridgewood Cardholders.  Contact the Children's Room (201-670-5600, x 110) or register online.   

11:00  AM Bergen County Map Displays.  8 Bergen County wall maps and 2 Bergen County atlases will be on display.  The maps will be on display through May 19.

1:30 PM  Bergen County, 1860.  Guest lecturer, Kevin Wright, looks at Bergen County on the eve of the Civil War through the lenses of the 1860 census and the 1861 G. Hopkins map (also on display).  He will discuss the growing political and cultural divide between the County's agrarian northern townships and the suburbanizing southern townships.  Kevin is Past-President of the Bergen County Historical Society and one of Bergen County's premiere historians.

All events at the Ridgewood Public Library, 125 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450.  Free.  If you're a map nerd you won't be able to resist.
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