For past Newsletters click here
Current Newsletter: March 2025
View From the Porch
In reviewing what I wrote for this newsletter last year at this time, I see that I announced two new initiatives being undertaken by the Historical Society, the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and the West End Community Center Oral History Project. I have a lot to report on both fronts.
For starters the Historical Society has partnered with Rev NJ, which is a joint venture of the New Jersey Historic Commission and Crossroads of the American Revolution. A group, headed up by Historical Society Members and representatives from the American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Moorestown Improvement Association, the Perkins Center for the Arts, Saving Historic Moorestown, the Moorestown 4th of July Parade Committee and others has been meeting over the last few months to plan events that will celebrate and highlight the important role that New Jersey and Moorestown played in the War of Independence. Just this week we learned that we have been approved by the Museum of the American Revolution to host the First Oval Office Project (see the article in this newsletter for more details) which is a replica of George Washington’s tent which served as his home and headquarters during the war. The tentative date for this event is March 28, 2026 and it will kick off the 2026 leg of our celebration.
We have other events planned for 2025 as well. For starters our lecture series will feature topics around the revolution (see inside for more details). A second Historic Home tour is also being planned for September 27th of this year, along with the first annual Hessian Retreat Fun Run.
At the end of February we wrapped up the first phase of our West End Community Center (WECC) Oral History Project. We are in the process of submitting our final report to the New Jersey Historical Commission who provided us with the funding. We have completed scanning and indexing all of the documents created by the board of the WECC (meeting minutes, budgets and correspondence), we have conducted a number of Oral Histories of members of the West End community who remember the Center and who took advantage of the services offered there. Our plan is to embark on a second phase which will include scanning and indexing documents from the Second Baptist and AME churches that relate to the WECC and the placement of historic markers.
This will also be my last newsletter as the President of the Historical Society. According to our bylaws a President serves a two-year term and can serve only two such terms consecutively. This I have done now twice so I am sure that people have had more than enough of me. It has been a great four years. The job of President is made easy because we have such an excellent and engaged Board of Trustees. The Board will meet in March to recommend a new President who will be voted on at our Annual Meeting on April 21st.
Lenny Wagner, President
Lwagner559@comcast.net
To view a color PDF of this March 2025 Newsletter click here.
Top right: Model of Smith-Cadbury Mansion, built by Bill Rose. Image shows north side of the house with the restored side porch.
