The Devil's Tower/Oldest Doll In America/The White Manna

So today I got up at like 7:00am which isn’t really THAT early so i’m not complaining, but I got ready and went over to my Grandpa’s. We packed up the car and started on our long ride all the way up Alpine. We left at exactly 8:00am. We started on the Parkway, but we got stuck in traffic around Wall Township. We were stuck in that traffic for like half an hour and I was getting pissed. We finally made it up to Alpine at around 11:00 so it took us almost 3 hours to get up there. UGH.

We got up to Alpine and we went to see the Devil’s Tower. I was so excited to see this, there are so many legends about it I just wanted to see it for myself. We pulled up the the street it is on and there it was, the large stone clock tower that was said to house the devil himself (or something like that). We got out took some pictures and I was in awe over the structure it was so cool. Also the houses there were AMAZING and HUGE. We then got in the car and headed for the next thing.

Like I said in a earlier post I wasn’t sure if the Oldest Doll in America was still showcased at the Steuben house, and to my disappointment it wasn’t. So we just took pictures of the historic area around there which was nice I guess.

Lastly, we headed over to the White Manna in Hackensack to eat. The place was so little and cute. We took some pictures and now everyone knew we were not locals. We walked in and sat and ordered our food and it was really good! The people who owned it were nice too. We had a nice time. 

After that it looked like it was going to storm (it was threatening scatter T-Storms all day) so we just decided to go home even though we still had two more things to do on the list. We also hit traffic on the way back too, my luck. I got called into work on my way back home too so i immediately walked in the door to my house, put my camera away, got dressed and went to work and worked my ass off and now i’m really tired so I’m going to bed.

Edison Light Tower/Light Dispelling Darkness/Mary Ellis Grave/Medical Midgets

So today i got up at the crack of dawn to go meet my Grandpa at his house so we can head up to Edison. I got there at exactly 8:30 am and we got in the car and headed on up to Edison. 

The first place we were headed to was the Edison Light Tower in Menlo Park. We got there around 10:15ish and when we pulled up i immediately got disappointed because they were doing renovations on the Light Tower so it was all covered in stuff so you couldn't see it. We took some pictures anyway and headed out for the next location.

The next location was the Light Dispelling darkness Statue in Roosevelt Park also in Edison. We pulled up, got out, and took a bunch of pictures. It was a good day to take pictures too because it wasn’t sunny so i didn’t have to worry about the sun being all up in my pictures. After we were done we got in the car and headed to my old house. I was born in Edison and lived there for about 4 years until we moved out so we went to go see the old house on Runyon ave. It still looked the same as it did when we moved and everything was still there. I was amazed. After we were done with that we headed off to the Mary Ellis Grave.

The Mary Ellis grave is this grave in the middle of a movie theater parking lot in New Brunswick. It is seven feet off the ground with cinder blocks all around it. When we got there i decided to climb up the cinder blocks and take pictures up close. Just as i was jumping down, my grandpa was helping me all of a sudden we heard YOU CAN’T DO THAT THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY! We turned to see this old fat guy walking towards us. he told me I can decapitate myself by jumping off the grave site  I wanted to be like dude, it’s seven feet off the ground its no big deal i’m young. We said sorry and he didn’t seem too happy about it so we just got in the car and left. i didn’t care what he thought I got my pictures and that’s all I need. 

Next we headed to the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Midgets. Robert Wood Johnson Hospital is in central New Brunswick. It was also the hospital where I was born! The medical midgets are these little people on a beam outside the hospital that are little doctors and nurses and patients, it’s cute. We drove around the block a couple times to find parking, we finally found a spot but i would have to parallel park and i was not liking that but i tired it and let me tell you i could not have parallel park more perfect than I did today, i was pretty proud of myself! We walked up the street, took some pictures and headed out to get something to eat.

We stopped at a Burger King/Popeyes in East Brunswick and got some food which made me sick later. After we ate we got back on the road and headed home. 

On to the next one!

Pio Padre Shrine pt 2/Roadside Robots/Hubcap Tree

So today i decided to go back to the Pio Padre shrine in Landisville. I have been there before but i needed a picture of me at the shrine for the album. So i went there with my boyfriend and it took about a half hour to get there. We had to wait until these people got done with praying because i didn’t want to be rude and start taking pictures when people are trying to concentrate on praying. So when they were done we got out took some pictures and headed off to the next place.

the next place was the route 54 roadside robots. I wasn’t too sure where they were on 54 so before we left i looked for an address and on Roadside America it gave me an address too bad it was the wrong one. But we eventually found it. we pulled up and saw two workers who worked at the garage where the robots were. I got scarred but my boyfriend said it would be fine. So we quickly got out took a picture and headed on,

Next it was the Hubcap tree. we got onto 322 (black horse pike) and it only took a couple mins but we pulled over at the tree, took a couple pictures and left back home. 

on to the next one :)

Absecon Cemetery/The temple of Hope and Knowledge/Insulator House

So since I had nothing to do today and I haven’t gone in a while, I decided to go to a location today. I called up my Grandpa last night and he said he had a Dentist appointment this morning but after he could go. Since the places I wanted to go to were like right down the street it didn’t really matter what time we went. So after his appointment he called me up and i headed over to his house. 

The first place we went was to a cemetery in Absecon. Its located on New Jersey Ave. This guy told Weird NJ that we was there and he saw a little girl in the graveyard, when he looked back to see if she was there she was gone. So we checked it out. It was REALLY cold but on the bright side i got to use my new camera which worked out great. We took some pictures and there was really nothing to see so we got back in the car and headed to the next place.

The next place was the Temple of Hope and Knowledge. It is a church in shape of three pyramids. the two on the sides are little but the one in the middle is big. We tried to get in but there wasn’t even a doorknob! I don’t really know the story behind it but it’s a church located in Pomona on route 30. It is currently not called the temple of hope and knowledge, its another type of church and the yard and building is not very well maintained.

Lastly, we went to the Insulator house. It a house off of Jimmie Leeds road in Galloway that has all these little green bottles, for electricity or something,  on a fence. There are legit like a million of these bottles. I was afraid the guy who owned the house would come out and yell to stop taking pictures of his house but nothing happened. I’m always so paranoid! 

More locations to come soon!

Padre Pio

or Pio Padre whatever you want to call it.

So since i was really bored on Wednesday i decided to go to a nearby location. I decided to go to the Padre Pio/ Pio Padre Shrine. It’s located in on 40 in Landisville in Buena township. 

So it was further than i had thought. I parked in the little parking lot and two guys in trucks were sitting there and were starring me down it was kind of creepy so i decided to wait to get out of my car to go take pictures. They left 5 mins after i got there. So i walked up to the shrine they had some religious music playing which i thought was kind of nice. It was freezing cold out so i said to myself ‘make this a quick one’ I took some pictures of the shrine and stuff and some pictures for my photography class i am currently taking. It took me no longer than 15 mins to take the pictures. Just as i started walking back to my car a women popped out of a car in the parking lot. i thought she was going to yell at me for taking pictures in a religious setting and it was disrespectful because she kinda gave me a dirty look walking up to the shrine but she she didn’t say anything. I got back in my car and drove home. 

Halfway home i forgot to take a picture of myself for the album so looks like i have to wait for another day to go out there and do that. 

Another one down, on to the next one :)

Giant Wine Bottles/Mr. Bill's/Fifteen Foot Woman

So today we went on another Weird NJ adventure. This time no cemeteries, no haunted locations, no abandoned things, it was all about the Giants! Not the football team but the giant statues sitting outside local businesses. 

So we started off coming from Galloway. We got on route 30 west and stopped in Egg Harbor City to take a picture of the giant wine bottle advertising for Renult Winery just down the road. I was rushing it because people were looking at us taking pictures and i hate that so we quickly took pictures and went off.

Next we took another pit stop in Hammonton to take a picture of yet another giant wine bottle also advertising for Renult Winery. We had to park in this driveway thing to get to the bottle since there really was no where to park off the road by the bottle. I didn’t rush this one because i was feeling more comfortable here.

Next we started heading to Mr. Bill’s but then my grandpa said he wasn’t that hungry yet so we just decided to go to the fifteen foot woman instead. We got to Blackwood which was further away then i originally thought. We got the tire place that the Fifteen foot woman is outside of. We parked and took a couple pictures. As we were about to walk back to the car a guy comes towards us. “Are you taking pictures?” he asked. we answered yes. I thought he was going to tell us we had to pay to take pictures but instead he handed this box to us saying it was a free gift for stopping and taking pictures. inside the box was a mini statue of the bigger statue outside their shop. we said thanks and headed back to the car.

Lastly, we went back to Mr. Bill’s and tried to take pictures but the sun was in the way so we decided to go in and eat then try again. We ordered our food sat down and then ate. Man do they give you alot of food! My grandpa got a “short” stack of pancakes but in reality it was a pretty large stack. I got cheese fries. :)

After that we headed home. Now were getting ready for the next adventure!

The Grave of the Gypsy King/Drew University/Bayley Ellard High School

So today was yet another day of visiting locations. I slept over my friends house the night before and stayed up late so i was pretty tired when i woke up this morning. I got up, drove to my Grandpa’s house and we got in his car and headed up to Madison. It took us about 2 hours to get there so it was a pretty long trip. Today we were visiting the gypsy king, drew university, and the bayley ellard high school.
We pulled up to the Hillside cemetery and parked up on the hill. I could already tell it was a old cemetery. There were gravestones there from the late 1700’s. I took some pictures of the cemetery from on top of the hill and worked my way down the hill to the bottom and i found the grave of the Gypsy King, Naylor Harrison. I don’t quite understand how he is the “gypsy king” but it is in Weird NJ so i have to visit it. We took a couple pictures and headed down the street to Drew University.

 Drew University is a private college, one i could never afford but one of the buildings, Mead Hall, is said to be haunted by the originals mansions owner’s wife. Something like that. So we parked and snapped a couple pictures. then it was my grandpa’s idea to go inside. i wasn’t crazy about it but when we walked inside it was so nice. it made me want to go to college there! it was an old college so the buildings are old. Mead hall burnt down and was rebuilt in the 90’s so it wasn’t the original building.

Next we stopped at McDonald’s to get something to eat and we ate at the same McDonald’s we ate at when we went to go to Morristown.

Lastly we went to the Bayley Ellard High School. It was a catholic high school that closed down in 2005. I thought it was sitting there abandoned but it was being used by the church. It a catholic center for evangelization called St. Paul inside the walls. we took the pictures from the outside and once again my grandpa wanted to adventure to the inside so i said ok. First off the building itself was beautiful and when we walked inside it was even more nice :D We talked to the front desk lady and she was nice she told us the history of the school and such and this one guy told us about all the construction that took the re-do the place. Its not like the place is open for tours but we just decided to go inside.

After that we got back in the car and headed back home. Now to get ready for the next location! 

The Inventor of Octane pt. 2

So i was supposed to wake up at the same time my boyfriend woke up today for school which is around 7:30 to get up and go back to the cemetery to find the Inventor of Octane. But our bed was so warm and cozy that i didn't want to get up so i slept right through the morning. When my boyfriend got out of school at like 10:45 he called and was like "i'm guessing you didn't go" and i said no and he laughed. But when he got home his friend called him asking him if he wanted to go to the gym and my boyfriend was willing to go so i decided while he was at the gym i would go to the cemetery.

So at like 12:15ish i got in my car and went to the cemetery while my boyfriend got in his car to go to the gym. Mind you i hate going to locations alone. i don't know i why i just don't like it. But i drove the 15 mins it took to get from his house to the Cemetery. I got there and there were like 5 cars there and i was wondering if there was a funeral today but it was just all people paying their respects. I got out of the car and began my search for the inventor of octane. i pulled up what the gravestone looked like and looked and looked section by section. I was in the front section when i decided to go down the stairs that were there to the bottom of a hill where there were three memorial gravestones. one was to something, i have no idea because the whole gravestone was in Russian. The Middle gravestone was just the name of the church and when it was founded and lastly the one on the left said someones name and then THE INVENTOR OF OCTANE. i was like holy crap i just found it. If i never came down the hill i would have spent all that time in the actual cemetery looking for it and would have never found it. I took some pictures with my Camera and my phone and sent a pictures message to my boyfriend. I got in the car and headed home. 

When i got back to my boyfriends house i told him where it was and he was like omg we were in the exact same spot yesterday! If only we looked harder at the gravestones!

So i'm happy i found it. And now were going to another location on Thursday, my grandpa is coming to this one so hopefully the weather is good!

The Inventor of Octane

So since i was staying at my boyfriends house this weekend i found a nearby location we could do. It was about a ten min ride from his house. It was the St. Mary’s Russian orthodox Church Cemetery. The inventor of Octane is buried there. So since we were at a get together with his friends last night and slept in till 12 then took a shower we didn’t leave the house until about 2:30 which is fine because it’s not like it was a long trip anyway.

I have seen the cemetery before on the way to the Deb grave in Imlaystown and i thought it looked nice and then when i got the Weird NJ magazines issues 4, 5, and 6 one of them mentioned that the Inventor of Octane was buried at this cemetery. So i told my boyfriend about it and he was down to go next time i went up. 

We drove up into the middle of the cemetery and parked. We got out and there were a TON of gravestones. i would say over 1,000 were buried there and it was a huge cemetery too. I had no idea what the gravestone of the octane guy looked like let alone know where it was located in the cemetery. So we just started looking around taking pictures of gravestones that looked cool. There was this big morgue in the middle-ish of the cemetery that was pretty cool. We found a couple gravestones that had the top of it has the top of a russian church. Most gravestones though had the Russian Cross as the top. While walking around my boyfriend whipped out his phone and googled the inventor of octane and found a picture of what the gravestone looked like. It was small and looked like alot of the other gravestones there. So since the cemetery was so big and we were running out of daylight we decided to just go home. I also took some pictures of the exterior of the church and we got back in the car and took a trip to the deb grave since it was about a 10 min drive from where we were and i really wanted to show my boyfriend. We didn’t spend too much time there and went home since we were freezing cold. 

My boyfriend has to get up early for school so i decided i’m going back to the cemetery to look for the gravestone of the inventor of octane and see if i can find it. Even though it will proly be really cold but whatever. 

Fish Factory/Tuckerton Tower/Chair House

So today since me and my boyfriend had nothing to do we decided to go to a location. We decided to go visit the Fish Factory in Tuckerton, the Tuckerton Tower and the Chair House.

So we got in the car and headed up the parkway until we got off the exit to Tuckerton/Little Egg Harbor Township. We got on Great Bay Blvd./Seven Bridges Rd. and getting down to the very edge took about 20 mins. On the way there we passed a marina that was totally destroyed by Hurricane Sandy so we stopped and took a picture of that. Then we got down to the very end and saw the abandoned fish factory on an island in the bay. pretty much all that’s left of the building is it’s skeleton and a water tower.

Next we drove up to Mystic island which is a area near Tuckerton where the base of an WW1 tower is located. It was used by the Germans and all that’s left is this itty bitty base. So we took pictures of that.

Finally we drove up route 9 and saw the Chair House. The Chair House is this old Victorian house that has a chair on the very top of the roof. weird huh?