Consumed by everyone from wealthy landowners to day laborers, cider was the most common beverage in early America. Much of it was made simply to be drunk, but a few Americans, like Washington and Jefferson, tried to create something truly special. We will explore the range of American cider culture from the earliest settlement to the 1790s and see how cider was so ingrained in American culture that even the early Temperance movement thought it was safe.

Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Museum, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, and the Hopewell Public Library.

About the Speaker: For over twenty years, Mark A. Turdo, historian and museum professional, has been researching and recreating historic alcoholic cider. He is especially interested in early American cider and cider culture. In 2013, he began the Pommel Cyder blog (https://pommelcyder.wordpress.com), where he shares his adventures in cider research and his experiments in cidermaking. Turdo has shared his cider research at several cider events, cideries, and museums, including the Pennsylvania Cider Fest, Pour the Core Philadelphia, Philadelphia Cider Week, Pennsbury Manor, the Sigal Museum, Manoff Cidery, and Ploughman Ciders.

Time: 7:00 - 8:30 PM

Hopewell Presbyterian Church, Fellowship Hall, 80 W Broad St, Hopewell

Or via Zoom

Registration for in-person is required

Registration for Zoom is required

Come out to the "Saw Shed" at 43 Railroad Place on December 6th for our annual Holiday Open House, held in partnership with the Hopewell Public Library and the Hopewell Old School Baptist Meetinghouse. The renovation has begun, so visit us to see our upcoming plans for our Reimagination of the Hopewell Museum. We will also have some choice items from our extensive archives.

Thanks to Liza and Sky Morehouse of Morehouse Engineering, we can host our Open House in office space graciously made available to us while work goes on at the museum.

Also, be sure to check out local businesses in Hopewell for the Holiday Passport Weekend!

Doors open at 1:00

Please park in the plentiful street parking.

Why is there an Italian Villa standing alone in the Sourland Mountains above Hopewell Borough?

And how was it a “dress factory,” where locals remember their mothers working?

Join Doug Dixon as he talks about his investigation into the history behind these clues, using public records to reveal a quintessential early 20th century Hopewell story: newcomers who came to Hopewell to find a good home for a family — and an environment that supported their entrepreneurial ambitions.

New Jersey was the “Crossroads of the American Revolution.” Author Michael Gabriele will take us back to the time when battles raged and colonial taverns formed the social network that held the state together. The program will include information on two sons of Hopewell who were prominent figures during the colonial era: John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; and James Manning, an influential Baptist clergyman. Attendees are invited to dress in Colonial attire; Asher Lurie, Executive Director of the Hopewell Museum, kitted out in clothing typical of the 1770s, will showcase items carried in the pockets of everyday civilians. Period food and drink will be available; donations are always welcome! All proceeds will support the Hopewell Public Library.

On Christmas night, December 25, 1776, General George Washington and about 2,400 beleaguered troops crossed an ice-filled Delaware River. What happened next? Historian Larry Kidder and Roger Williams have the story.

Don't miss this opening event of the 250th anniversary of America's Independence in the historic 1867 Sanctuary in Ewing on October 19, 2-4pm.

On June 23rd, 1778, the Continental Army entered the Hopewell Valley and camped on John Hart’s farm. In the following few days, Washington would make plans to attack the British as they marched through New Jersey, trying to get back to New York City. But what was life like for the soldiers of Washington’s army camped on John Hart's farm? How had recent campaigns forced the army to change? Who were these soldiers, and why was this army camped at Hopewell in the early Summer of 1778 different from the army that had marched defeated into Valley Forge in December 1777? On June 25th, Asher Lurie will explain the experiences of these soldiers, clothed and equipped as a soldier of the New Jersey line as they would have looked during the Monmouth Campaign.

This program is in memory of Cate Litvack, who spent decades promoting New Jersey's role in the American Revolution.

Please enjoy an early preview of the D&R Greenway Land Trust’s future park at Hillside Farm. This is a special opportunity at Hillside Farm, a property donated to D&R Greenway Land Trust by the family of Betty Wold Johnson. The property is not open to the public at this time; D&R Greenway will be opening a public preserve on this land in the fall of 2026.

Established in 1922, The Hopewell Museum preserves and protects many objects that tell the story of the Hopewell Valley and its residents. To continue the museum's mission, The Hopewell Museum retained preventive conservator Wendy Jessup to plan and implement the recovery of the museum’s vast garment and textile collection.  On April 29th, Jessup will present an illustrated lecture about the project and the importance of community involvement in the stewardship of shared resources.

Wendy Jessup celebrated her fiftieth year as a museum professional in 2024. She began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, followed by several years at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and in 1983, she joined the administration of the newly completed Museum Support Center (MSC) of the Smithsonian and was involved in all aspects of operation of a complex collections storage and research facility, including pest management and environmental monitoring and management. During her tenure at the MSC, Wendy developed one of the first IPM programs for a museum facility. Since establishing her private practice in 1989 to provide preventive conservation services, she has consulted to a large number of museums, archives, and historic sites within the United States and internationally. A Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation and Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation, Wendy is highly experienced in identifying vulnerabilities and risks to collections and in setting objectives for risk reduction, collections accountability, and preventive conservation. She served on the course development and instruction teams for the Getty Conservation Institute’s Preventive Conservation, Museum Collections and their Environments (1989-1994) and Preserving Collections in the Age of Sustainability (2016-2018), part of the GCI’s Managing Collections Environment initiative.  Much of her recent practice focuses on collaborative development of facilities for long-term preservation of cultural heritage resources, balancing the needs of collections, the buildings in which they are housed, and the stewards who care for and use them.

This program is co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library. 

You can attend the event either in person or by zoom

Registration is required for both.

IN PERSON at the Hopewell Branch of the MC Library - Click here to register
BY ZOOM - Click here to register

Mined for trap rock on and off for more than a century, the Moore’s Station Quarry on Route 29 in the northwest corner of Hopewell Township ceased operation in 2023 and is preparing for a new life as a Mercer County park. This gigantic hole in the ground, a geological marvel exposed by the progressive removal of the western end of Baldpate Mountain, has a fascinating, little known history

Here, in colonial times, was Bellmont Farm, the upriver estate of the Coxe family, West Jersey’s original landed gentry. Loyalist to the core when the American Revolution broke out, the Coxes’ farm was confiscated during the war, re-emerging in the 19th century as the focus of Moore’s Station, a canal and rail-side hamlet. In the 1890s, the Moore family sold the former Coxe farm to the Delaware River Quarry and Construction Company, ushering in an era of mining that initially employed hundreds of Italian American migrants and eventually culminated in the familiar rumble of truck traffic transporting roadstone up and down the Delaware Valley. Dr. Richard Hunter, a long-time neighbor of the quarry, will trace the history of this unique gouge in the Hopewell landscape as it enters a new phase of recreational land use.

Presented by the Pennington Public Library. Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and  The Hopewell Museum.

Time: April 27, 3pm-4pm

Venue: Wesley Forum of the Kenneth Kai Tai Yen Humanities Building, The Pennington School, Pennington, NJ. Click here for directions.

Registration is required for both in person and zoom

In Person: Click here

Zoom: Click here

In this talk, Hopewell Borough native Kate Jackson will present her multi-faceted research on Black history in Hopewell Valley, discussing the various archival sources she has found and analyzed.

Thanks to the work of Beverly Mills and Elaine Buck, Black history in Hopewell Valley has become more visible in recent years. There is still much to be discovered and discussed. By examining census details, trends of migration, employment records, and documented residences of Black families, Kate’s research commits the existence of the Black community to the historical record. Using other archival sources, Kate pieces together a broader sense of the nature of life in Hopewell for this long oppressed community.

Co-sponsored by:

The Hopewell Valley Historical Society; The Hopewell Museum; The Hopewell Public Library;Sourland Stoutsburg African American Museum

Kate Jackson is a life-long Hopewell Borough resident, who interned with the Hopewell Valley Historical Society this past summer. In her final year of undergraduate studies at Rutgers University, Kate continued researching Black history in Hopewell by making it the subject of her senior capstone project. Through her work with the Rutgers Scarlet and Black Research Center, Kate has explored newspaper advertisements detailing freedom seeking events of enslaved folks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She maintains engagement in the Hopewell community by volunteering for the Chubby’s Project

This Program is FREE and open to the public.

Attend in person at the Hopewell Theatre, 5 S Greenwood Ave, Hopewell, NJ - no registration required.

Or join online via Zoom. Register by clicking the RSVP button at the top of the page to get an email with the Zoom login information.

https://www.hopewellvalleyhistory.org/event-details/exploring-hopewells-black-history-through-the-archives/form

Born in Newark, Stephen Crane was the youngest son of Jonathan Townley Crane, D.D., former principal of Pennington Seminary. At thirteen, Crane followed in his father’s footsteps, attending the Seminary, where he laid the groundwork for his future as a writer. A literary giant of the 19th century, Crane influenced Hemingway, Conrad, and Cather. He authored The Red Badge of Courage, a classic Civil War novel, and “The Open Boat,” a landmark of literary Naturalism. A prolific writer and journalist, Crane covered wars in Cuba and Greece, published stories across the West, and worked for major New York City newspapers.

In this talk, The Hopewell Museum trustee Eric Lubell will present a multimedia portrait of Crane’s life and work, exploring his genius, controversies, and enduring influence on American literature.

This program is co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Pennington Public Library.

About the Speaker: Eric Lubell, a Hopewell resident and board trustee of The Hopewell Museum, spent over 40 years as a writer and creative director in the audio-visual industry. His work is showcased in museums worldwide, including the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, the Malaysia National Science Centre, the Kaohsiung National Science and Technology Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, and Kennedy Space Center’s SpacePort USA. For a decade, he penned the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Awards and Glamour Magazine‘s Women of the Year Awards. Lubell also founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of The Independent: A Journal for Princeton, where he published essays, criticism, and fiction by Princeton alumni for the university community.

The recent rehabilitation project at the Hopewell Railroad Station is the result of an ongoing relationship between the Borough of Hopewell and the New Jersey Historic Trust. Since the early 1990’s, the station has twice been a recipient of grants in aid from the Trust to preserve its form and materials. The station is one of the oldest in New Jersey and its picturesque Second Empire detailing has made it a favorite subject for artists. The building has become the visual symbol of the community and is part of the official seal of the Borough.

The presentation will discuss: the historic background of the station, the chronology of the original project including the Preservation Plan, grants from the NJ Trust and DOT, the uses of the building, deferred exterior maintenance over time, the preservation plan update, and the recent grant work. Michael Mills, FAIA, of Mills + Schnoering Architects, LLC, the architect for both grant projects will discuss the project history and 1990’s restoration, and Senior Associate, Jennifer Arnoldi, AIA, will review the building conditions that the current project addressed, show work in progress during construction, and present the vision for the completed project.

Come to the Hopewell Museum on December 7th for our annual Holiday Open House, held in conjunction with the Hopewell Public Library NJ and the Hopewell Old School Baptist Meetinghouse. Visit us and see all the work that has gone on over the last year with our museum as we progress forward with our "Reimagination".

This year we will be unveiling the plans for the museum's renovation in 2025 and showing off our conservation of the Hopewell Museum's vast textile collection.

As an added program, the museum will have Revolutionary War British reenactors in front of the museum, commemorating the raids in the Hopewell Valley in early December of 1776!

Doors open at 1:00!

When the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped on March 1, 1932. Hopewell became the center of the universe. Reporters from all over the world, along with their photographers descended on Hopewell hoping to get a story. Gebhart's Hotel on West Broad became their center of activity, staying open 24 hours a day. Broadcasting and telegraph hookups were set up all over town. As the State Police searched the Sourlands for clues, so did the reporters, often finding clues that were never followed up. This went on for ten weeks until the body of the baby was found on Carter Road just outside of town.

Jim Davidson will share his stories of the Lindbergh kidnapping along with a presentation of many never before seen pictures of of those whirlwind weeks in Hopewell and the Sourlands.