Need to get your mind off the Brrr COLD -
    try some of these quizzes:



Can You Pass An 8th Grade Test From 1912?

Do You Know Everything About American History?

Can You Solve All Of These Classic Riddles?
Last Holiday Weekend Opening today 12/10 
at the Foster-Armstrong House
Harmony In Motion Carolers  
  Open between 1 & 4 PM


 100 years ago, WW1 was being fought in Europe.

Here's an ad from the Dec. 10th, 1917 Port Jervis newspaper, 
The Evening Gazette:



Though we have images of the Puritans and Native Americans sharing a harvest feast, Thanksgiving wasn't marked on a special day until 1863.

Prior to that - President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, as an official holiday of “sincere and humble thanks.” The nation then celebrated its first Thanksgiving under its new Constitution - but it wasn't consistently observed nationwide.

It was President Lincoln who chose to announce, in the midst of the Civil War, a national day of thanksgiving that would be marked on the last Thursday in November.

Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, in December 1941, signed the legislation making Thanksgiving into a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.


As reported in the Port Jervis newspaper, THE EVENING GAZETTE, 
on Oct. 23, 1917:

FASTING TO BE URGED FOR THANKSGIVING
Hoover Advocates Emulation of
the Pilgrims of Plymouth.

Washington, Oct. 23.—Thanksgiving
as a day of fasting rather than of
feasting will be advocated this year
by the food administration, with a
strong prospect that the president in
his proclamation may designate the
final Thursday of November as a fast day.
It is pointed out that the first
Thanksgiving day, celebrated in the
autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims at
Plymouth, was a fast day. For many
years thereafter the annual Puritan
holiday was a fast day, and the development
into a time of feasting
came only after the little colony of
Massachusetts had become a successful
and a growing community.
Herbert C. Hoover, the food administrator,
looks upon the movement for
a "turkeyless Thanksgiving" as a
clean cut movement in the right direction,
so far as food conservation is
concerned. Great feast days, like all
great holidays, are productive of a
greater waste, greater extravagance
and needless expenditure of needed
commodities, in his opinion.
Throughout the United States the
annual recognition of the one time
local holiday of old New England has
grown to be a season of inordinate feasting.
The food administration believes
that if the Thanksgiving wastage
should be cut from the calendar this
year it would mean in actual conservation
of foodstuffs a saving of approximately
the food supply of 24 hours for
the entire 110,000,000 dwellers under
the Stars and Stripes.
Last week's snow showers, hint that winter is fast approaching. 
Here's something you can make to decorate your home for the Holidays:
https://www.va.gov/



Ensign Severyne Westbrook

 There shall be a dedication of the military headstone for Revolutionary War Ensign, Severyne Westbrook, held starting at 11 am on Sat., Oct. 14th, 2017 in Montague Township. Parking will be by the Grange Hall at 280 River Rd. 

 The old family burying ground is a small plot located 300 yards behind the Montague Grange Hall, surrounded by lands of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Those attending should wear walking shoes as the main access is a walk via a mown lane to the site.

 Based on directions that longtime historian Robert Longcore and the Montague Township Historian had obtained from former Montague resident, Bob Myers, and also via Army Corps of Engineers info - two moss-covered footstones were located.
Westbrook Headstones reset
by R. Longcore & Sheriff"s SWAP program 

 Westbrook’s already broken and illegible original headstone was later uncovered by Robert Longcore, working in concert with the Sheriff’s SWAP team in the late 1990’s - along with 2 other headstones. In the years since, the stone began disintegrating. With the assistance of a Westbrook descendant, a military headstone was acquired.

 After the dedication program, there will be a display and light refreshments - at the Grange Hall. 

 Representatives of the DAR Chinkchewunska Chapter and the NJSSAR Col. John Rosenkrans Chapter will be participating. 

Did you know October is Family History Month?

thegenealogygirl.blog


The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, has announced its free family history classes and webinars for October 2017. 
Participants can attend online.

If you are unable to attend a class in person or online, 
most sessions are recorded and can be viewed later online at your convenience. To access these, go to the archive for 
www.montaguefd.org

In case you're not familiar with a "WETDOWN" -
it is a ritual celebrated by many 
volunteer fire departments in the United States. 

Squads of firefighters come from neighboring towns to ritualistically commission the
 new fire apparatus by anointing it with water
sprayed from the visitors' firefighting equipment.

SOLAR ECLIPSE  8/21/17 early afternoon

https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america

Safety Tips

Are Eclipse Glasses or Handheld Solar Viewers
actually legit and safe to use?
https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-certification


Advice is to test all purchased eclipse viewing glasses [as there are counterfeit ones with the valid ISO #] prior to the eclipse by heading outside tonight
 as the sky starts to get dark (similar to what will happen tomorrow 8/21).
Look up at an outside bright light / street lamp.

You should NOT be able to see it at all.

Regular cameras need a special filter  - and staring at the sun via a camera lens can also damage your eye's retina. It is never safe to look directly at the sun through a telescope, binoculars, or camera lens without a solar filter.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykarcz/2017/08/18/dont-let-the-eclipse-be-the-last-thing-your-iphone-sees/#1f27844d3c92


Northern NJ will not experience a view of the totality of the eclipse,
when the brightness of the sun is totally obscured by the moon!
https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/safe-viewing
https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/optics-filters

A homemade pinhole projector is the safest way of watching the eclipse;
you can make one yourself with 2 thin pieces of stiff paper or cardboard,
or paper plates.

Here’s how:
Put one piece of paper or cardboard (or a paper plate) on the ground.
Poke a tiny, round hole into the other piece of stiff paper or cardboard.
With your back to the sun, raise the cardboard with the hole in it above your head and aim the light coming through the hole at the paper or
cardboard on the ground.
The hole will project an image of the eclipse on to the other paper.

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2017EclipseAcrossAmericaFlyer_508.pdf


From among all the contestants for this year's  Queen of the Fair,


Miss Montague 

won the People's Choice Award!!

Courtesy:  NJ Herald 7/30/2017 Fair issue


This award is given to the contestant who was chosen through 
ballots sent in by mail to the NJ Herald.

FRAUD ADVISORY: 

Inspector General Warns Public About SSA Employee Impersonation Scheme

Social Security Administration FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is warning citizens about a new Social Security Administration (SSA) employee impersonation scheme. SSA and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) are receiving reports from citizens across the country about phone calls from an individual posing as an SSA employee. The caller attempts to acquire personally identifiable information from victims to then edit the victims' direct deposit, address, and telephone information with SSA.

Acting Inspector General Stone warns citizens to be cautious, and to avoid providing information such as your SSN or bank account numbers to unknown persons over the phone or internet unless you are certain of who is receiving it. "You must be very confident that the source is the correct business party, and your information will be secure after you release it," Stone said.

If a person has questions about any communication - email, letter, text or phone call - that claims to be from SSA or the OIG, please contact your local Social Security office, or call Social Security's toll-free customer service number at 1-800-772-1213, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, to verify its legitimacy. 
(Those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing  call Social Security's TTY number at 1-800-325-0778.)
Fourth of July weekend - time to sit back, 
relax and reminisce!

Courtesy http://www.halloweendayquotes.net

If you're curious about life before smartphones, DVD's and HDTV's ... 
enjoy this collection of photos showing how things have changed in NJ.
             
Click this link & #52 on the first image seen.
Montague Township's Historical Society, MARCH,
 starts its summer season today - June 25th

Open House Museum Tours will be offered 1- 4PM
 at the Foster-Armstrong House [FAH] and the Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse.  
Courtesy of MARCH Facebook site

6/25 featured featured exhibit: 
 Covered Bridges with Bill Coughlin, who created each scale model on display.
One side  of each model reflects the actual appearance of the 
particular bridge is its modeled on, 
the other side shows the truss style used in that particular construction.
Mr. Coughlin can explain the significance of each.

         Courtesy http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/nj-wwi-facts.html
More than four million American families 
sent their sons and daughters 
to serve in uniform during the Great War.

116,516 U.S. soldiers 
gave their lives in combat. 

Another 200,000 were wounded,
a casualty rate
 far greater than in World War II.


More than 350,000 African Americans served in the U.S. military, 
as did Native Americans 
and members of other minority groups. 

And, for the first time, 
women joined the ranks of the U.S. armed forces.
Posted by http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/
   Ticks are making the news 
      & not in a good way!
Photo Courtesy of Calif. Dept of  Public Health
Deer ticks shown at different stages on a finger. 
L-R: Larvae, Nymph [aka seed ticks ]; Adult male; Adult female.
                                              
Courtesy

   American Lyme Disease Foundation

Life Cycle 

(click above titles for info)

The life cycle of a deer tick takes approximately 2 years to complete. Their development is dependent on both environment and availability of hosts. They may, however, be capable of developing in less than one year.

All three of the development stages require a blood meal from hosts. Deer ticks attach themselves to and feed on a single host during their larval stage, another during nymphal stage, 
and the third during adult stage.  
The tick larvae and nymphs both molt after feeding.

After laying eggs, the female adult deer ticks will die. 
One female is capable of laying up to 3,000 eggs. 

Six-legged larvae emerge from the eggs & begin search for a host. 
A larvae then feeds for about 4 days before dropping to the ground to molt and become a nymph. 
Nymphs have eight legs and once again search or hosts. They will the feed and molt into an adult.

Larvae
Larval and nymphal stage deer ticks prefer small hosts and are most likely to feed on rodents. Adult ticks are fond of white-tailed deer and sometimes feed on human hosts. Diseases are transferred to humans and animals during their nymphal and adult stages.

Eggs
Females lay eggs in suitable areas close to vegetation. Emerging as larvae, they immediately begin to search for hosts, which tend to be small, e.g.,  mice. During these early feeding stages is when ticks contract diseases such as Lyme. 
The diseases are transmitted to hosts during future feedings.


De-ticking clothes is best accomplished by throwing everything into a hot dryer for 15 minutes, even before washing. 
Washing clothes first does not kill them but drying does.

       On April 6, 1917, the United States formally entered World War I by declaring war on Germany. By the summer of 1917, communities around the country had mobilized human and financial resources in support of the Allied war effort. In light of this year marking the 100th anniversary of American forces joining the fight in WW1, this Memorial Day takes on a special significance.
www.memorialdayfoundation.org
The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo; 
No more on Life's parade shall meet 
That brave and fallen few. 
On Fame's eternal camping-ground 
Their silent tents are spread, 
 And Glory guards, with solemn round,
 The bivouac of the dead.







Poem - Bivouac Of The Dead, 
by Theodore O'Hara


            Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday of May, commemorates the men and women who died while in the military service. 
It is a day dedicated for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of a wound sustained in battle.

            In observance of this day, many people visit cemeteries and memorials, and volunteers often place American flags on each grave site at national cemeteries. 

A National Moment of Remembrance takes place 
at 3:00 p.m. local time.
  Marking the Centennial of the United States
 entering World War 1

President Woodrow Wilson signed a
 War Resolution on April 6, 1917 to join Europe 
in the war that had begun in 1914 .

NJ has set this year aside to remember those who served.

Thomas Wainwright, born in Montague, was among those who served.
Courtesy of the NJ State Archives

125 years ago today-  Gladys Louise Smith was born.
                                 Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences                                                                                               / Academy Film Archive publicity still
She is best recalled as Mary Pickford, the star of silent films.
Filming in proximity to Montague, it's possible she may have visited here.

"The first silent movie ever made in the U.S. was filmed in Milford, Pike County in 1912. Mary Pickford, queen of the silent film era, starred in The Informer produced by D.W. Griffith.  The Informer was one of two films made in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1912, the other film, A Feud in the Kentucky Hills was shot in Pike County as well.  DW Griffith brought his troupe of 40 actors known as the Biograph players to Milford, Pennsylvania to utilize the local terrain.  The troupe stayed at the Sawkill House in Milford and used locations overlooking the Delaware River and used many local extras in the films, including Ernest Wood.
In 1927, the film industry visited Milford again to shoot The Strength of the Weak and used many locals as extras."
Courtesy - HISTORY at http://poconofilm.org
The author of 

will speak and do a book-signing 
at the 
Foster-Armstrong House 
at 320 River Rd.,  Montague, N.J.
 on Sat., March 25th at 2 p.m.

        Bibi Gaston uncovered 5,000 pages of Old Timers letters at the Library of Congress. She has written this book to tell of her great-granduncle, Gifford Pinchot, Chief Forester of the U.S. Forest Service from 1905–1909 and the experiences of his fellow forestry pioneers.
        Pinchot served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1923 to 1927 and again from 1931 to 1935. His father had built Grey Towers, which later served as a home to Gifford Pinchot and his family. It is now being administered by the US Forest Service, the federal agency founded by Pinchot which currently maintains the Grey Towers National Historic Landmark in Milford, Pa.
     HAPPY SPRING!

The sun rises due east and sets due west today no matter where you are. The equinoxes are the best times to find due east or west 
from your house or any other landmark.
Today is the anniversary of 

New York City saw up to five feet of snow, 
winds of 45 miles per hour and higher, and snowdrifts of 50 feet and higher.  


From the Archives of the NJ Herald:   March 13, 1941

Blizzard almost duplicates 1888

"The heavy snowfall that started Friday evening and extended from Virginia to New England was a very forceful reminder of the famous blizzard of 1888. While in Sussex County the depth of snow reached but fourteen inches. In some sections, the snow was fully as deep as in 1888.


"However, the fourteen inches of snow in the county made harder work for the men operating snow removal equipment than would ordinarily have been the case, because of the high wind that blew the snow back into the highways almost as fast as the plows pushed it out. "


Gov. Christie has declared a state of emergency 

as our 2017 blizzard approaches N.J.

The National Weather Service has recommended people living northwest of I-95 "should be thinking about sheltering in place from around 2 AM to 2 PM. In other words no unnecessary travel."
The National Park Service is seeking written comments to be submitted on the proposed strategy for prioritizing historic properties as well as potential treatment options by the end of March.

Their informational documents include a flowchart showcasing the strategy, as well as a newsletter that describes the strategy and treatment options in a different way.

All materials presented at the public meetings held on March 8th and 9th, 2017, are also available here. 


It is being administered through a partnership with MARCH - Montague's historical society - which also cares for the Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse.

 The Minisink Reformed Church building and the Montague Grange are also properties owned by the National Park Service, and cared for by the Church congregation and the Grange membership. 

 The remaining historic properties in town currently in need of partnerships or alternative proposals, and care through a Historic Property Stewards Volunteer-in-the Park program, are the DeRemer site [house dates to 1872], the Nelden-Hornbeck farm [aka "Roberts Farm", and the Mabel Roberts parcel [house originally known as Clark-Hornbeck].

Comments on the strategy can include input on issues, viability, and suggestions for alternative strategies. The strategy will be used to prioritize historic properties, and how each individual property would be prioritized will be released for public input in late Fall 2017.


A meeting is scheduled today from 6 to 8 p.m. at East Stroudsburg University's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, Room 336, 562 Independence Road, near the intersection of Route 209 and 447 and just off Exit 309 of Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania.
The National Park Service is in the process of creating a Historic Properties Management Plan to address the future of all  historic structures acquired during the Tocks Island Dam Project acquisitions, which created the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.


Release date:  February 23, 2017

 NPS Announces Public Meetings for Historic Properties Management Plan

BUSHKILL, PA- National Park Service (NPS) Superintendent John J. Donahue announced today that public scoping for the Historic Properties Management Plan (HPMP) for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area will take place from Thursday, February 23 to Friday, March 31.   “This plan will provide guidance for park employees and managers when making strategic maintenance and preservation decisions about our historic structures in the future,” said Donahue.  “It will be a very important and useful tool and public input is essential.  At this time, we want to share what we’ve accomplished and solicit public comment on the proposed actions that we have developed.”  

To provide information about the project, answer questions, and solicit public comment, two public meetings have been scheduled.  The first meeting will be held from 6-8 pm
on March 8 in the cafeteria at North Warren Regional High School, 10 Noe Road, in Blairstown, NJ.  A second meeting is scheduled from 6-8 pm on March 9 in Room 336 of East Stroudsburg University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center located at 562 Independence Road in East Stroudsburg, PA (near the intersection of Routes 209 and 447).  The public can also review documents and background information and provide comments online during the scoping period at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/DEWA_HPMP.
Comments may also be mailed to Superintendent John J. Donahue, Attn:  HPMP, 1978 River Road, Bushkill, PA, 18324. 

Preparing the HPMP is one of several mitigation measures intended to mitigate for adverse effects to cultural resources in the park from the construction and operation of the Susquehanna-Roseland Transmission Line. In 2012, the National Park Service released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) for the S-R Line Project, which included a requirement that such a plan be prepared. When completed, the HPMP will incorporate evaluations of historic significance, physical and structural condition, and potential future uses and will recommend treatment options for each structure or property in the park.  It is expected to be completed in late-2018.


For more information on Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and this project, call park headquarters at (570) 426-2452, Monday through Friday from 8 am until 4:30 pm; visit our website at www.nps.gov/dewa; of follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS. 

2017

[This ran in the Jan. 23, 1917 issue of The Evening Gazette]
The Jamestown, N. Y., Chamber of Commerce is one of the most active and successful of the many Chambers of Commerce in the State of New York. The reason for this is that it has the earnest support of the business interests of that city. The Chamber publishes a paper appropri-ately called "The Civic Weal." In the January number of the "Weal" appeared the following New Year's resolution which the paper editorially expected every resident of Jamestown to adopt and live up to. 
 
I herein take liberty as the blog's creator to likewise pose: 
Let us all adopt their resolution, substituting as the paper had for "Jamestown" - whether we apply it to our immediate street, neighborhood, or the township. 
  "That I will begin the New Year with the thought that part of my time belongs to Montague.
"That I can well afford to give back to Montague some portion of what it has given to me.

"That I will co-operate with my fellow citizens in every move made for our common interest and betterment.

"That I will think only good thoughts about the town which is good enough for me to live in.

"That I will talk prosperity and think prosperity about my town and its future."
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