This Year's Past Programs - 2023
The Hopewell Valley Historical Society regularly sponsors community programs on local history, often in partnership with the Hopewell Museum. These programs typically are free and open to the public.
Recent 2023 Programs:
See also:
Recent 2023 Programs:
- Fri., May 26, 2023 - Walking Tour of St. Michael's Preserve - Rick Klevze
- Mon., May 22, 2023 - Grow It, Cook It, Serve It!: Historic Utensils and Implements
- Wed., May 24, 2023 - History of the Mercer County 4-H Fair - Larry Kidder
- May 19 - 29, 2023 - Hopewell Valley Heritage Week
- Wed., May 3, 2023 - The Story of the Hopewell Inn - Doug Dixon - VIDEO
- Sat., April 15, 2023 - Hopewell Clean Communities Day
- Sun., March 19, 2023 - A Pennington Profile: Margaret J. O'Connell - Koeppel & Antebi
- Sat., Feb. 4, 2023 - Panel: A Slice of Life: African American families with deep roots in Hopewell Valley - VIDEO
- Sun., Jan.22, 2023 - The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad in Hopewell Valley - Robert Lawless - VIDEO
See also:
Walking Tour of St. Michael's Preserve
Hosted by Rick Klevze
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Fri., May 26, 2023 - 6 pm - Meet at the north entrance to the Preserve
Rick Klevze hosts a walking tour of St. Michael's Preserve, including the land farmed by the Klevze family. Rick will explain the history of the farm, the orphanage and the farm's relationship to St. Michael's Orphanage.
Rick Klevze is a lifelong area resident who was raised on and worked the St. Michael's farm until 1997. He has a Bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cook College/Rutgers University and a Masters degree in soils and crops from Rutgers. He is currently employed by Growmark FS as a Certified Professional Agronomist and Certified Crops Advisor, where he has worked for 43 years. Klevze serves on the Farm Credit East Customer Service Council and is a member of the MidAtlantic CCA exam writing committee for the American Society of Agronomy.
Klevze's grandfather, Charles Murphy, came to St Michael’s as an orphan in 1902. His grandmother, Mary Fish Murphy arrived between 1909 and 1920. They became a caretaker and cook respectively. His mother, Catherine Murphy Klevze, was born in 1932 and was raised on the farm. In 1949, his father, Frank Klevze, was sponsored by the Catholic Church and emigrated to the US. He was placed at St. Michael’s to work the farm. In 1955, he partnered with Klevze's uncle, John Eichinger, and leased the property from the Diocese. He operated a dairy until 1976 and then continued with livestock and field crops until 1997. A Hopewell Valley Heritage Week event, sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. Meet at 6 pm at the north entrance to the St. Michael's Preserve, past First Street just outside of Hopewell Borough. Parking is limited at the Preserve, with overflow parking at the Hopewell Elementary School, 35 Princeton Avenue. (The main St. Michael's lot further south also is in use for the new Awakening sculpture in the field.) See the D&R Greenway map of the St. Michael's Preserve. |
Family on hay wagon, 1940
Rick Klevze
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History of the Mercer County 4-H Fair
Presented by Larry Kidder
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Wed., May 24, 2023 - 7 pm
- Attend in person at the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library 245 Pennington-Titusville Rd., Pennington, NJ Free, but limited space - Registration Required -> Register here (through MCL) - Or join online virtual presentation via Zoom -> Register here for online only Larry Kidder tells the story of the changing nature of agriculture that led to changes in rural life in the early 20th century. New opportunities in towns and cities resulting from the industrial revolution, combined with a focus on celebrating rural life and finding ways to make farming a viable lifestyle, led to the creation of educational opportunities for all ages and especially the young. The 4-H programs that we know today grew out of that movement. In Pleasant Valley, one of the earliest and very successful programs for young people in Mercer County developed into the Pleasant Valley Calf Club during the second decade of the twentieth century. One activity of the club was putting on a community wide agricultural fair in the summer, which was held at the rural school house in the center of the Valley. The Calf Club and other youth clubs devoted to aspects of rural life became part of the growing 4-H program and the annual county 4-H fair. Today, the Mercer County 4-H Fair is held in central Pleasant Valley near where those early Calf Club Fairs were held.
This summer's annual Mercer County 4-H Fair will be held on July 29 & 30, 2023 at Howell Living History Farm. The fair includes animal shows and exhibits, homemade ice cream, hay rides, pony rides, music, magic shows, and farm tours. Admission and parking are free. William L. (Larry) Kidder received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania and is a retired high school history teacher who taught for forty years in both public and private schools, including 32 years at the Hun School of Princeton.
He served four years of active duty in the US Navy and was assigned to the US Navy Research and Development Unit, Vietnam and then the destroyer USS Brownson (DD868) home ported in Newport, Rhode Island. In the 1980s he was the lead researcher and writer for the creation of the Admiral Arleigh Burke National Destroyermen’s Museum aboard the destroyer museum ship USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD850) at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. For more than thirty-five years, Larry has been a volunteer at the Howell Living History Farm, part of the Mercer County Park System, in Hopewell, New Jersey where he has served as an historian, interpreter, and draft horse teamster. He is an avid member of the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM). Larry is the author of five books focusing on the American Revolution in the Mercer County region. Active in historical societies in Ewing (past president), Hopewell (also a past president), and Lawrence townships, Larry has given a number of talks to a variety of groups in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He has worked on several projects for Crossroads of the American Revolution, including as editor for its Meet Your Revolutionary Neighbors project and consultant for the creation of its recent Ten Crucial Days Audio Tour. He is also a consultant and battlefield tour guide for the Princeton Battlefield Society. As a founding member of the non-profit TenCrucialDays.org he helps narrate full-day bus tours of Ten Crucial Days sites. For more of Larry's projects and books, visit his website, wlkidderhistorian.com. A Hopewell Valley Heritage Week event, co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library. |
Leon Brady's award winning Ayrshire heifer he raised for the Pleasant Valley Calf Club and entered in the 1928 Miss Pleasant Valley beauty contest
Larry Kidder
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Also check out the Dairy Farms of Hopewell Valley exhibit of milk bottles from local dairies at the MCL Hopewell Branch Library. These include bottles from Pennington, Hopewell, and Titusville dairies, with both painted labels and older examples with embossed labelling.
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Milk bottles from Hopewell Valley dairy farms
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Grow It, Cook It, Serve It!:
Historic Utensils and Implements from the Farm to the Table
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Mon., May 22, 2023 - 6:30 - 8 pm
The Hopewell Museum, 28 East Broad Street, Hopewell, NJ Join William L. Kidder, Catherine Granzow, and Sarah Mezzino - local experts in historical agriculture, hearth cooking, and decorative arts - for a “show and tell” about antique farm tools, kitchen gadgets, and serving ware. The program will feature objects from The Hopewell Museum, Howell Living History Farm, and the Granzow personal collection.
The event will be held outdoors, behind the the Hopewell Museum at 28 East Broad Street, Hopewell Borough, weather permitting. |
Download Flyer (PDF)
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Hopewell Valley Heritage Week
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May 19 - 29, 2023
Hopewell Valley Heritage Week is back, May 19 - 29, 2023, celebrating the rich heritage of the Hopewell Valley with a full week of events, some virtual and others outdoors. This year’s theme is Farm to Table—Honoring Hopewell Valley’s Agricultural Roots.
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The Story of the Hopewell Inn – and the People Who Sustained It
Presented by Douglas Dixon
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Wed., May 3, 2023, 7 pm - Free and open to the public
- Attend in person at the Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood, Hopewell, NJ - Or join online virtual presentation via Zoom -> Register here for online only The Hopewell Inn, long known as the Central Hotel, had a nearly 150 year history as a part of the town of Hopewell before it was demolished in July 2022. The building was used for residential and retail, hotel and livery, saloon and apartments, luncheonette and rooming house, and bar and bistro.
This presentation explores the forgotten history of the Hopewell Inn, and of the people and families who nurtured and reinvigorated the building and ran the businesses through the years. We also will take a visual tour of the building in its final form – not only the exterior and public spaces, but also the upstairs rooms and cellar – and discover clues about how the building was constructed and expanded over time.
The story of the Hopewell Inn begins in the 1870s with the Sexton sisters, who sold their family farm and opened Hopewell’s first drug store in the building.
After being converted into a hotel in 1893 and expanded in the early 1900s, the building’s heyday continued into the 1930s, when, as Gebhart’s Hotel, it became the headquarters for the world press after the Lindbergh kidnapping. Since the 1950s, the building was shepherded by multiple generations of two different families, as it evolved into a friendly neighborhood bar, restaurant, and gathering space. In addition to the building owners who focused on food and lodging, we also will remember others there who contributed to Hopewell, including Mrs. Carter’s Millinery and Fancy Goods store (and Library!), Cray’s Oyster Saloon and Livery, Funeral Director F. K. Forsythe, and Paul (“Pop”) and Bertha Gebhart’s Lunch Room.
Doug Dixon is an independent technology consultant and writer, now morphed into a history enthusiast. He is a board member of The Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.
Over the past few years since 2019, Doug has developed the Hopewell Valley History Project (HopewellHistoryProject.org), working with over 100 local contributors to collect and freely share digital copies of local historical materials. The History Project now hosts some 500 documents and maps, 3000 images and videos, and an interactive historical map of Hopewell to aid research into Hopewell area people and places. As a software technologist, Doug specializes in Web technology, databases, and digital media. He has authored four books on digital media, published hundreds of feature articles, and presented over a hundred technical seminars and talks. Hopewell Public Library Speaker Series Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and The Hopewell Museum - Attend the event in person at the Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood Ave, Hopewell, NJ. The event is free and open to the public – No registration is required. - Or attend the event online via Zoom – Register here for online only |
“Times Square” at Gebhart’s Hotel - 1932 Lindbergh press [JCD]
Doug Dixon
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Hopewell Clean Communities Day - Sat., April 15
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The Hopewell Valley Historical Society (HVHS) is participating in the Clean Communities cleanup day on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Please volunteer your time helping to clear our local roads of litter. Volunteers also earn donations to their favorite non-profit for time worked. The HVHS is a qualified non-profit organization to which you can donate your hours.
There are two ways you can participate in Clean Communities: You can register to be part of the event, pick up supplies, and be assigned an area that needs cleaning, or you can clean up on your own and then check in with the HVHS to record your hours.
This has been a twice a year event in the Hopewell Valley for over 30 years. Please do two good deeds at the same time: clean our community and provide funding to the HVHS. For further information contact the HVHS coordinator at hvhisttreas@gmail.com. More on New Jersey Clean Communities in Hopewell New Jersey Clean Communities is a statewide litter-abatement program 1986. The nonprofit New Jersey Clean Communities Council oversees the implementation of litter abatement programs in 558 municipalities and 21 counties. In the Hopewell Valley, Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FoHVOS) implemented the first Clean Communities Day in 1991, and has since run 63 of these semi-annual events. The program now will be transitioned to management by Hopewell Township. On Clean Communities Day, volunteers - groups and individuals - pick up discarded trash from Valley roadways and parks. They also raise money for a selected non-profit by reporting their hours worked in its name. See the Hopewell Express article for more on the history of the cleanup day in the Hopewell Valley. |
Cleaning up
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A Pennington Profile: Margaret J. O’Connell - Educator, Author, Historian
Presented by Jack Koeppel and Jordan Antebi
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Sunday, March 19, 2023 - 3 pm ET
In person at the Wesley Forum of the Kenneth Kai Tai Yen Humanities Building, The Pennington School - Click for In-Person Registration Also online as a virtual presentation via Zoom - Click for Zoom Registration Margaret O’Connell was a pioneer in public history, who helped raise awareness for local history and culture, and educated an entire generation of Hopewell Valley students. Most famously, she wrote Pennington Profile, the Borough’s landmark history, which she considered her legacy to the children whom she could no longer teach. This talk highlights the life and legacy of a trailblazing woman whose contributions helped shape today’s Valley community, and whose courage in the face of adversity can inspire others today.
A new Digital Edition of Margaret O’Connell’s comprehensive book, Pennington Profile, A Capsule of State and Nation, is now available as a free digital download, with searchable text and over 190 annotated photos, through the cooperation of the Pennington Library and the Hopewell Valley History Project. - See hopewellhistoryproject.org/pennington-profile Jack Koeppel is a lifelong Pennington resident with a passion for preservation. In the 1980’s Mr. Koeppel developed an interest in local history and began uncovering dozens of old photographs and other historical artifacts pertaining to Hopewell Valley’s past. While serving as a trustee of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society he, along with other dedicated members, established a permanent collection dedicated to preserving these items. The collection continues to grow.
Mr. Koeppel served as president of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society; Pennington Business Association; and was a trustee of the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space; and Howell Living History Farm. He has three grown children and lives with his wife in Pennington. A lifelong Pennington resident, Jordan Antebi received his A.B. degree in History from Princeton University. His undergraduate thesis was the recipient of the Paul A. Stellhorn New Jersey History Award, as well as the C.O. Joline Prize in American History and the Dean Hank Dobin Prize in Community Based Scholarship. As a high school student, he also worked with Hopewell Valley educators to develop a local history curriculum supplement for the public schools. Currently, Jordan serves as a volunteer trustee of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail and is a lifetime member of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. Co-sponsored by the Pennington Public Library, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, and The Hopewell Museum.
- Attend the event in person at the Wesley Forum of the Kenneth Kai Tai Yen Humanities Building, The Pennington School, 112 West Delaware Avenue, Pennington, NJ 08534 (Directions) - Click for In-Person Registration - Or attend the event online as a virtual presentation via Zoom - Click for Zoom Registration |
Pennington Profile's author Margaret J. O'Connell proudly displays her invitation to the
1960 Presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy to her high school students
Jack Koeppel & Jordan Antebi
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A Slice of Life: A panel discussion featuring African American families with deep roots in Hopewell Valley
Moderated by Catherine Fulmer-Hogan
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Saturday, February 4, 2023 - 1 pm ET
In person at the Hopewell Valley Central High School Media Center 259 Pennington-Titusville Road, Pennington, NJ This event is free and open to all - no registration is required In honor of Black History Month, please join us for A Slice of Life: A panel discussion featuring African American families with deep roots in Hopewell Valley. This is a great opportunity to hear about our local history from residents who were often marginalized but led wonderful lives and built a powerful community in spite of it.
Moderator, Catherine Fulmer-Hogan is the current President of Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM), board member of the Hopewell Museum and Founder and Chair of Hopewell Valley Heritage Week.
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Photos are courtesy of Evelyn Brooks, Beverly Mills, Elaine Buck & First Baptist Church of Pennington.
Download Flyer (PDF)
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When the Railroad Comes to Town:
The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad in Hopewell Valley
Presented by Robert Lawless
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Sun., Jan. 22, 2023 - 2 pm ET
In-person at the Titusville Presbyterian Church, 48 River Dr., Titusville, NJ Or on-line virtual presentation via Zoom - Register here for online only The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad ran along the eastern bank of the Delaware River from Trenton through Phillipsburg and beyond to Manunka Chunk in Warren County. The arrival of the railroad in 1851 brought significant changes to the communities along its route. These effects were not limited to economic opportunities, but also resulted in long-lasting impacts on the societal and cultural aspects within the region.
In this presentation, we will travel back in time to explore the by-gone days when the Bel-Del Railroad was an integral facet in daily life for the citizens of the Hopewell Valley. Robert Lawless is a board member of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, and Chairperson of the Program Planning Committee. His extensive research has focused upon the development and operations of railroads in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Robert has worked in the railroad industry for most of his career, and presently employed by a regional transportation authority. Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, the Hopewell Museum, the Hopewell Township Historic Preservation Commission, and the Titusville Presbyterian Church. Attend in person at the Titusville Presbyterian Church, 48 River Drive, Titusville, NJ 08560 Or attend the on-line virtual presentation via Zoom - Register here for online only Next - Past Programs 2022 |
Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotive from Down Along the Old Bel-Del – The History of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad Company by Warren F. Lee.
Bob Lawless
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