Wednesday, March 31 at 7:30 pm at the Hermitage (335 North Franklin Turnpike, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423), Carol Greene, historian, life-long resident of Mahwah, President of the Friends of the Hermitage and Trustee of the Mahwah Museum, will discuss her new book,
The Ramapough Chronicles, the culmination of a life-time of research. Carol will have books for sale for $75.
Everyone is welcome to attend and the event is free.
The Ramapough Chronicles:
A 300-Year History of Mahwah, New Jersey and Its Surrounds
by Carol Wehran Greene.
The Ramapough Chronicles begins with the story of a small 1713 settlement (present-day Mahwah) near the NY-NJ boundary line in the ancient Ramapough region. Mahwah, Oakland, Ramsey, Suffern, NY, and surrounds were all once part of the same civil area.
Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the settlement grew into a hamlet with farms, grist and sawmills, a distillery, stores, a nearby tavern, essential trades, and a church. At the heart of the hamlet was the Ramapough Meeting House (Ramapo Reformed Church) built in 1798. As Mahwah’s oldest existing public building, it is a repository, not only of religious and public records, but also of documents and artifacts of everyday life that provide precious glimpses into bygone times. The roadbed of the Kings Highway of 1703 traverses its cemetery.
Since the 1700s, historic roads have made Mahwah and surrounds a “crossroads”: Ramapo Valley Road (one of America’s oldest roads), Island Road (King’s Highway), Franklin Turnpike, the Erie Railroad (1848), the North Jersey Rapid Transit Company interurban trolley, Route 2/17, I-287, and the I-87/NY State Thruway. The story of these roads is a dynamic unfolding of the development of Bergen and Rockland Counties and the nation itself.
The amazing, sometimes poignant transformation of Mahwah and the surrounding area from small, rural farming communities into modern metropolitan suburbs is portrayed through the activities, achievements, and recollections of many area residents.
The Ramapough Chronicles, an 850-page book with 1,600 illustrations, brings this 300-year story to life. The writing of the book is a 26-year labor of love, with the author’s personal lifetime knowledge of the region resulting in an ambitious work of scholarship that puts many wonderful, rare—even obscure—items into the public domain.
