Author Linda Barth–Garden State:Where Ideas Grow

 

 

Everyone knows about Thomas Edison’s “invention factory” in Menlo Park, the very location where he invented and patented such famous items as the phonograph and the light bulb.  And many people already know that New Jersey was the birthplace of movie-making, especially those movies with added sound, and the drive-in theater.  But don’t be fooled into thinking that the Jersey creativity ends there.  Far from it.

Did you know that  ice cream cones, M&M’s® , and even the first farmed blueberries are also Jersey natives?   It might not surprise anyone to find out that NJ was the birthplace of the boardwalk,  but what about Bubble Wrap® , the Band-Aid®, the vacuum cleaner, and air conditioning?  For that matter, what about football, and professional baseball?  It would seem NJ is ground zero for quite a few iconic “Americanisms.”

On Sunday, November 24^th, from 2:00 – 4:00 PM, at the Crane-Philips House at 124 North Union Avenue in Cranford, the Cranford Historical Society hosts Linda J. Barth, creator of The Garden State: Where Ideas Grow, A History of Inventing in New Jersey: From Thomas Edison to the Ice Cream Cone.  She is also the author of Bridgetender’s Boy, The Delaware and Raritan Canal, and The Delaware and Raritan Canal at Work and has contributed to The Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Linda is actually a retired fourth-grade teacher who lives in Somerville, New Jersey. She has served on the boards of Celebrate New Jersey, the Raritan-Millstone Heritage Alliance, and the D&R Canal Watch and currently is the executive director of the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey. And she is just chock-full of information about the many things . . . . both useful and silly . . . . that have had their roots right here in NJ.

Admission is free but donations are always welcomed, and space is limited so reservations ARE required. To reserve your seat, please call the Historical Society’s office at 908-276-0082 or email cranfordhistoricalsociety@verizon.net.  The Historical Society dedicates itself to the preservation and perpetuation of Cranford’s history by continuing to collect and document the town’s past, and to document its present. Visit their website at www.cranfordhistoricalsociety.com .

So show a little Jersey pride, and arrange to come out and here what else got its start in the Garden State!  It just may surprise you!