A special interest is in history, with special interest on railroads and related social and economic factors. Also includes personal interest and local flavor.
Draft – not for release. Mary VanCampen: Her Short Life and Special Gravestones Mary VanCampen’s headstone and footstone. We know very little of Mary’s life. Dying young was not at all uncommon at that time, and her life was less than two years in duration. Hardly time to develop any personality, yet something about her […]
Calno VanCampen Cemetery — This is an initial working draft. Not complete yet! — Visit the Tocks Island/Water Gap Intro Page VanCampen headstones at Calno from 1966 Menzies “Before the Waters.” Overgrown even then. Some Background: Reactions to the Tocks Dam Threat In the decades following the abandonment of the Tocks Island Dam project, strong
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Marl: Past and Present Marl is a product in the ground of historic natural forces, typically found where coastlines or shallow bodies of water once existed. It is found in various colors, often greenish, with a number of key mineral ingredients and other characteristics that were valuable to farmers, and later, to chemists. It often
A Delaware Water Gap National Park? Evaluating the Redesignation Controversy By Jim Alexander, updated October 18, 2022 and October 25, 2024. See Our Full Tocks Island / Recreation Area History The Setting | The Park Proposal | The Opposition |Comparability Argument | National Parks Generally |Happening at the Water Gap | Lesson from the Past
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The Breakdown of Law, Order and Social Fabric During the Tocks Island Project The destruction of homes was accompanied by a breakdown in the established order. How it was before … “It seems that the only problem I have with this job is to find a place to move or build.” As John Uporsky settled
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A Legacy of Hurt:Eminent Domain at Tocks Island The dam was never built, but Annie Oftedal died alone at home because of it. “Why fight a losing battle?” commented Joseph H. Cook, Jr., chief of the Corps of Engineers real estate division in Philadelphia. “We wish we never heard of the damn thing.” “We uprooted
Tocks Island Project Resistance Publications The Minisink Bull was a periodic newsletter circulated in the area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey that would have been impacted by the proposed Tocks Island Dam construction. It was published by Joan Transue Matheson, a resident of Dingman’s Ferry, PA, with the assistance of unpaid local writers and supporters.
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Women of the Delaware Nancy Shukaitis Thoughts on Women’s History Month 2021 By Jim Alexander Updated February 20, 2025 March was Women’s History Month. On the fourth day of that month, an elderly woman died in a nursing home in Nazareth, PA, her granddaughter at her side. Outside
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Tocks Island Dam – Video https://youtu.be/5wNSyeqC720 For more information: Main Tocks Island Page
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Dr. Ely’s Legacy: The Mount Holly, Lumberton and Medford Railroad James Alexander Jr. ©2018 Lumberton Station TERRIFIC EXPLOSION OF A LOCOMOTIVE IN MOUNT HOLLY — LOSS OF LIFE — A HORRIBLE SCENE. — Excerpted from the Mt. Holly New Jersey Mirror. May 26, 1869. A train operated by the Camden and Amboy Railroad, running on