Crystal Ball Real Estate

Montclair Historical Society - Distinguished Service Dinner

Nice event at the Montclair Golf Club in West Orange Friday - honoring Amy Hatrack,Barbara Casi;;o. Jeffrey Farrell, Mary Ann Lindholm and Terry Lowe for all their work in making and keeping th 3 buildings in the condition and continued tradition ( the Crane House, The Clark House and Evergreen, The Charles Schulz House). Gardeners, Lisa Caplan, Jane Griffith and Diane Simon for all their digging and planting and to Bangz Salon for it's preservation success of the former Masonic Temple on South Fullerton. Executive Director Carlos Pomares has done a terrific job in getting new members and old members to work on projects. http://www.Montclairhistorical.org for information = membership forms and hours of tours and programs.

Happy Birthday NJ - 345 years old today! 6/24/2009

New Jersey Day today in celebration of the 345th anniversary of New Jersey's founding as a British proprietary colony. This was the date  in 1664 that the name New Jersey first appeared as a designation for the territory - A birthday cake, tours of the State Museum, and recognition of the students as winners for the largest number of participants in the National Student Mock Election this past Fall. Governor Jon S Corzine was there, as was Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and commissioner of Education Lucille Davy. ( I had a tap on my arm from the Governor as he walked by!) We all sang ' Happy Birthday' - there was red, white and blue cake and cupcakes - and I visited the Gift Shop (very nice) The New Jersey State Museum at 205 WEst State Street is a great building - on display was an original copy of the Declaration of Independence - http://www.newjerseystatemuseum.org  - Plan a visit -

http://www.montclairhistorical.org - is the correct address!

Don't always assume an organization is identified by the same way the name is - my first printing of the Historical Society organizations' name was very wrong - and Google does not help at that point. To find out more about the Kitchen Tour 6/14, go to; http://www.Montclairhistorical.organd not the incorrect address in the post below.

Anderson Park, an Olmsted park

When Olmsted visited the area in 1902, he began formulating his vision for Montclair's first designed park. http://www.FriendsofAndersonPark.com for history of the area donated by Charles W. Anderson who lived in town. 15 acres - one of the early parks in the Essex County Parks System...The Friends of the park have nominated the park to the State and National Registers of Historic Places - scheduled to bo before the New Jersey State Review Board for Historic Sites June 23. This site certainly deserves the nomination - a very green part of a now not-so-suburban town - and appreciated for over 100 years - so far!

Glen Ridge historic cobblestone gutters

Annual spraying for weeds keeps vegetation in control - The borough administrator explains that the gutters have been a feature of the town since its founding in 1895  (when Glen Ridge became independent from neighboring Bloomfield )- and inherited the cobblestones. Very few towns have gone to the trouble to preserve their original architecture - and few go to the lenghts to save them. Routine spraying is part of the effort. The chemical sprayed is called Glyphosate.

History of chocolate at Montclair Art Museum!

Interesting program by Archaeologist at Montclair Art Museum - on Chocolate from locations in Honduras and other areas  - pottery remains used to determine details - even Chaco Canyon in Colorado -evidenced usage - before Columbus! So we went to Holstens for a hot fudge sundae, Broad Street in Bloomfield - of Soprano fame.

Benjamin Franklin shocked at Housing Prices!

PoorBenjamin Franklin - on his return from 5 years in London in 1762 he was shocked at the price of housing! In the New York Times today, Tim Arango tells of the ' housing bubble ' that greeted Franklin - and has a list of historians and their ' take' on that plus the reasons for the American Revolution - tea, stamp tax, currency act etc - find out what the historians, economists and social historians all have to say - going back to 1913 and Charles A. Beard, and his ' An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution'  and later Benard Bailyn of Harvard and 'Ideological Origins of the American Revolution"- and the latest writers: Gordon S. Wood, Brown Univ: Ronald W. Michener, U. Virginia,and Robert W. Wright, NYU, all sound like good reading material - Let me know if you think the current conditions will provide more motivated buyers and serious sellers - then we'll know if history 'repeats itself', is a step to more knowledge or always being  altered? This obviously means a trip to the library or Amazon.com at least!

Benjamin Franklin shocked at Housing Prices!

PoorBenjamin Franklin - on his return from 5 years in London in 1762 he was shocked at the price of housing! In the New York Times today, Tim Arango tells of the ' housing bubble ' that greeted Franklin - and has a list of historians and their ' take' on that plus the reasons for the American Revolution - tea, stamp tax, currency act etc - find out what the historians, economists and social historians all have to say - going back to 1913 and Charles A. Beard, and his ' An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution'  and later Benard Bailyn of Harvard and 'Ideological Origins of the American Revolution"- and the latest writers: Gordon S. Wood, Brown Univ: Ronald W. Michener, U. Virginia,and Robert W. Wright, NYU, all sound like good reading material - Let me know if you think the current conditions will provide more motivated buyers and serious sellers - then we'll know if history 'repeats itself', is a step to more knowledge or always being  altered? This obviously means a trip to the library or Amazon.com at least!

NJ, Teardown Capitol, says NY times

Described as the most tear down state - not very good. New Jersey Preservation is having its annual meeting Jan 31 in Red Bank go to site for information and how to work at saving historic properties.The only good thing with the ' slow down' is that develpers are less able to continue some ot their works. http://www.PreservationNJ.org

Red Hats at Lambert Castle