Holiday
House Tour Lights Up Historic Bridgeton Again
Bridgeton,
NJ. November 21, 2014. For immediate release.
Bridgeton
puts its historic riches on display once more on Saturday, December 6, as New Jersey’s
largest National Register Historic District offers its annual Historic House
Tour. This year’s East Side and West Side wings (1-5pm & 3-7pm) include 20
historic homes, public buildings and churches mostly along Commerce Street,
plus more unique food items and holiday gifts and crafts than ever at shops in
the downtown.
Tour
veterans take note: on the East Side, besides its handsome homes and churches,
there’s fresh paint and fresh hospitality at the Bridgeton Fire House, a
still-functional, lovingly preserved Arts & Crafts gem. And the nearby Free
Public Library’s “Cumberland Bank”section, a tiny structure with a big story,
tells not just how it was built and survived the life and budget crises of two
centuries, but the recent saga of its now beautifully-restored
nineteenth-century front door, steps and rails.
Visitors
who’ve never seen Sara Penka demonstrate her mastery of fireplace cooking
should take a detour off Commerce Street for a glimpse into colonial life at
historic Potter’s Tavern on Broad Street. En route: the just-dedicated new
public mural by Philadelphia artist Cesar Viveros-Herrera, remembering some of
Bridgeton’s riverfront mills and the work and workers who made industrial
history there.
Tour
hub is the 1791 David Sheppard House (31 West Commerce), right at the historic
bridge Bridgeton is named for. A rest-stop between tour-wings, Chris Hawk at
the piano will be backing up Gil Walter’s personal photo-take on historic
Bridgeton.
The
evening belongs to the West Side, with its sparkling historic architecture in a
neat loop around Commerce and Lake Streets. At First Presbyterian’s Bonham
Hall--a quiet Gothic Revival jewel amid the vivid high Victorians of the
gentry--the church’s original organ offers swelling backup as historian Jim Bergmann
shares his latest digs on the history of Broad Street Cemetery and Harriett
Weber showcases a few of her most intricate and glowing creations in the
time-honored quilter’s craft. Up-street, the splendid Francis Minch House (now
Chance McCann law offices) has Meghan Wren’s best picks to entice you into a
trip to Bivalve's Bayshore maritime heritage center .
One
$20 ticket buys this whole sure way to get your heart into the holidays,
including free Victorian caroling by the Off Broad Street Players and as many
easy rides on a horse-drawn “trolley” as you can fit into a single tour. Call
Bridgeton Main Street: 856-453-8130 or visit BridgetonHouseTour.com for ticket
information and more tour details and pictures.
Contact:
Carola Lillie Hartley <carolahartley@aol.com>
or Bridgeton Main Street Association at 856-453-8130