NJ State Museum

     Saturday, April 23, 2022: The first time I visited the New Jersey State Museum, 205 State Street, Trenton (609-292-6464) was on a school trip in the 1960s, and my last trip to this museum was in 1994. Therefore, I felt that another visit had been long overdue! Starting on the lower level, I noticed that the planetarium wasn’t open, but I still looked at a state-of-the-art, half-globe/computer display that gave facts about the Earth, the Moon, the Solar System, and beyond, including space travel. Another area on this level covered the history and lifestyles of the local Native Americans, the Lenape, and of how their lives changed after the arrival of European settlers. Other sections in this area explained what became of them through the years, up to the current times via texts, pictures, dioramas, and exhibit items. Up on level one, I saw a gallery showing Civil War flags that NJ soldiers carried into battle, and a temporary gallery during the time I was there presented photos of African-American women. One section of the second level exhibited the natural history of NJ with pictures, texts, and display items showing rocks & minerals, plants, and animals—both extinct and non-extinct. Here, I also glanced at bones and taxidermy animals. A nearby temporary gallery gave detailed information about sharks. The other side of this level presented art from American artists of the 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-centuries in paintings and sculptures. Meanwhile, the museum’s shop was close by. Finally on the third or last level, the museum exhibited large objects: furniture, vehicles, machines, statues, tools, quilts, flags, etc. That was why the museum called this room “Pretty Big Things: Stories of NJ History.” Overall, I do recommend a visit here to receive a basic idea about NJ’s past—human, animal, vegetable, and mineral.      

Kuser Farm Mansion

    Saturday, April 9, 2022: I liked looking at Victorian mansions, inside and out! For the date above, I had a chance to do so when I visited this Mercer County, New Jersey place: The Kuser Farm Mansion, 390 Newkirk Avenue, Hamilton (609-890-3630). The Kuser family originally had this 1892 mansion built for a summer home away from their New York City home. Nevertheless, once inside, I looked at elaborate oak wall paneling, ornately carved fireplace mantel pieces in the living room and dining room, as well as the Victorian-styled furniture—some of it owned by the Kuser family, painted and photographed pictures of the Kuser family, and some stained-glass windows. A member of the Kuser family helped finance William Fox in his film making company that later became 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, the dining-room curtains could be drawn open along the wall to display a large movie screen. (During certain times, the staff presents movies to the public.) Other rooms included an enclosed porch, a kitchen displaying late 19th and early 20th century technology, and bathrooms with its share of turn-of-the-20th-century innovations. Upstairs included different fancy bedrooms, bathrooms, an office, and a sewing room. Outside, on the 22 acres of the original 70-acre grounds, I glanced at some out buildings and a fountain, as well as a gazebo and the usual current park amenities. After the tour, I had a picnic in this park, and it all made for a good day.   

Harriton House, Bryn Mawr, PA

 

     Saturday, April 2, 2022: Even though it is on the Philadelphia Main Line, Harriton House, 500 Harriton Road, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (610-525-0201) predated the start of the “Main Line” by almost two centuries. In fact, the name Bryn Mawr, meaning “high hill” in Welsh, applied to the property that this 1704 house stood on long before those in power named the nearby town with the same name. Welsh Quaker Rowland Ellis built this house and lived here until 1719 when he sold the property to Richard Harrison. The most famous owner, however, became Charles Thomson who married Hanna Harrison, daughter of Richard Harrison, in 1774. Thomson served as secretary to the Continental Congress, and after 15 years in public service, he retired to this place in 1789 until his death in 1824. During his retirement, he pursued his interests in agriculture and translating the Bible from Greek into English. After Thompson’s death, different tenant farmers lived here until 1926 when the family sold the house and property. On the day I was there, I noticed how the Harriton House Association made the interior look the way it did when Charles Thomson lived there. A few pieces of the furniture were even once owned by Thomson! The three rooms on the ground floor included the main reception area that served as a living room or dining room, an adjoining room served as a smaller parlor, and PBS filmed an episode of the show, “A Taste of History” in the kitchen. The upper floor displayed two 18th-century styled bedrooms, and on what has been left of the grounds, I saw a bee keeping area and a building that once served as a barn, and later as a pool house, but currently, it has been serving as an administrative center. Overall, long before the Main Line became a home for the elite, this area of PA once comprised of farmlands, and this place could give you a taste of what the area was once like in those times.