The Prallsville Mills Speaker Series continues with three upcoming speakers.
New Jersey is famously the home of Thomas Edison's "invention factory" where he patented the phonograph, the light bulb, and many more innovations. Less well known are the New Jerseyans who created the first drive-in theater or those who cultivated blueberries or whipped up the first ice cream cones and M&Ms.
The Prallsville Mills speaker series surveys all of these innovations with author Linda Barth at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 25. Barth will explore groundbreaking, useful, fun and even silly inventions and their New Jersey roots. This event is free and open to the public.
Other iconic aspects of American life, like Bubble Wrap, the boardwalk, the Band-Aid, and even professional baseball itself started in New Jersey. Barth notes that modern life would be a lot harder without the vacuum cleaner, plastic, and air-conditioning, and the many other important advances in medicine and surgery were developed here.
Barth has been a fan of New Jersey for a long time. A lifelong resident of the Garden State, Linda has written two books on the D&R Canal for Arcadia Publishing and two children's picture books: Bridgetender's Boy, published by the National Canal Museum in 2005, and Hidden New Jersey, from Charlesbridge Publishing in 2012. A History of Inventing in New Jersey: From Thomas Edison to the Ice Cream Cone, published by the History Press, was released in 2013. With her husband, she has published The Millstone Valley Through Time and Somerville Through Time. She has also contributed to the Encyclopedia of New Jersey.
Tom Sheppard, Chief Park Naturalist of the Hunterdon County Parks Department, will speak at the Prallsville Mills at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3. In his presentation, Sheppard will help puncture the darkness that nocturnal owls live in by explaining what they need to survive, tips on how to know if they are in your area and the calls that they make.
Sheppard is a lifelong resident of Hunterdon County with family connections back to the founding of the County. He currently serves the Chief Park Naturalist for the county. He leads bird trips for the county and is an active birder on his own time in the area and around the country. By Spring 2018, he hopes to cross the 700 species mark for birds seen in the United States.
Join the Prallsville Mills for an unusual costumed presentation that will answer the pressing questions of the day: Why was tea so important in the lives of 18th-century people that fashion-conscious families posed for portraits with their tea sets? Did Great Britain lose her American Colonies over "the cup that cheers?"
At 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, Stacy F. Roth of History on the Hoof will explore the revolutionary impact of tea, featuring tons of history, tea lore, songs, poetry, display and demonstration.
Roth is a freelance historical interpreter, educator, vocalist, and musician (with a background in museums, libraries, archives, and material culture) who combines her talents to create multi-layered presentations that make history accessible and engaging. She holds a BA in History from Kean College of NJ, an MA in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MLS from Rutgers. Roth is the author of Past Into Present: Effective Techniques for First-Person Historical Interpretation (University of North Carolina Press, 1998).
The Prallsville Mills complex in Stockton is considered a significant example of early American industrial architecture that was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today, the Mill proudly features cultural and historic events for the entire community. You can find the Mills online at www.prallsvillemills.org.
Submitted by The Prallsville Mills