‘History’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Visit: The Met Cloisters {New York}

May 27, 2018 · Narrative

Looking for a fun afternoon exploring New York? Let’s visit The Met Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park!

When we were shut out of our first attempt to attend a taping of Rachael Ray’s television show last month, we had to quickly find a Plan B. Because, after all, when three moms have carved out a bit of free time, we weren’t about to head back home defeated.

And so that’s how we ended up at The Met Cloisters. It was about a half hour drive from the Chelsea Studios of Rachael Ray, and after a friend had mentioned her visit last year, it had been on my list of “things to do,” but had never quite made it to the top of the list.

There are two smaller parking lots that we saw, and on a Spring weekday, the first lot was already full, so if you’re going on a weekend or in the Summer months, I would target for arriving earlier to make sure there’s a place for you to park. The parking was free and easy to find, and we soon made our way to the building.

There are a number of winding staircases leading up to the main entry way, and as we climbed the staircases, various signage indicated that admission was “donation only.”

Well, it turns out, that it is and it isn’t.

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Visit: National Guard Militia Museum {Sea Girt, New Jersey}

April 11, 2016 · Narrative, Travel

A unique, little well-kept secret of a museum that you should visit … because the Jersey Shore is more than just beaches.

Last week, the kids were on Spring Break, and this time, we kept our adventures a little closer to home. We spent a few days down the Jersey Shore, and spent the day in Boston with Sarah and her kids. When we were down the shore, I used the Roadside America app (one of my favorite apps) to see what new and interesting things were in the area for us to discover. Our time last week was equal parts fun, history, and downtime, and our visit to the National Guard Militia Museum falls neatly in the “history” column.

The museum is a little undiscovered treasure trove of history and has been there forever. It, unfortunately, fell victim to the ravages of Hurricane Sandy, taking in over five feet of water and sadly destroying a lot of their historical artifacts, but they have since rebuilt and welcome visitors with open arms. It was such a cool slice of historical awesomeness, I’m hoping more people read this and go check it out.

As soon as we walked in, we were immediately greeted by a friendly host, and he pointed out the different rooms we could explore on our own, in a self-guided manner, and told us to come get him when we’re done (and if we had any questions mid-tour).

The large room when you enter starts with the story of the early settlers, and you can follow the timeline around the room, reading about the events of historical significance and see their accompanying artifacts. The story continues on through World War II in a room in the back, and the third room is more “present day” events, including 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, and how New Jersey responded to those disasters. There are some wonderful videos to watch and placards to read, and it was the perfect amount of information to digest, especially if you have kids in tow.

Once we were done with the three rooms, we went to go track down the guide because we were ready to check out their main attraction, and the original reason this museum popped up in the Roadside America app.

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Visit: Jockey Hollow {Morristown, New Jersey}

January 11, 2016 · Narrative

On the same day that we visited Washington’s Headquarters, we also took a short drive to check out Jockey Hollow. Although we’ve lived within half an hour of Jockey Hollow forever, it was our first visit. In case you’re not familiar with Jockey Hollow, it’s the place where Washington’s army was encamped for about six months, from December 1779 through the following summer. After a quick stop into the Visitor’s Center for a map and information from the Ranger, we took off to visit the cabins. You can park at the Visitor’s Center and walk to the cabins, but it’s a little over a mile one way, and it was quite hot the day we visited and we were totally NOT feeling it.

So we drove down the trail and parked.

Once there, we walked up the large hill to where Ranger Thomas Winslow was holding court and checked out the cabins. They are, of course, recreations of the dwellings that the soldiers slept in while they were there. At its height, there were over 1000 huts and each slept 12. There were also a few separate cabins that slept four, and they were reserved for the men that were higher up in the Army’s rankings.

Over 100,000 men on the fields that we stood on.

Amazing. And so hard to visualize.

Ranger Winslow was a huge font of information; he was our favorite part of our whole visit.

He emptied out his bag and showed us some traditional items the soldiers had at encampment (some replicas, and a few original pieces), and then he gave us a lesson on how to load the rifle, which was awesome. I especially loved hearing about all the tidbits he shared about food … what they ate (or, unfortunately, didn’t eat as the case may be), cooked, and how their day-to-day was. The army rationed that each soldier was supposed to get a pound of beef and a pound of bread every day, but Ranger Winslow said that that literally never happened, and there were even a few instances where soldiers were moved to cook up their shoes and eat the leather just to survive.

Seeing the primitive living arrangements was a real eye-opener, both for me, and for my kids. Especially knowing how harsh New Jersey winters can be.

If you happen to be in the area, or even a slight drive away, it’s worth a visit (be sure to check their operating schedule – they will reopen for the season on President’s Day weekend). It’s a gorgeous area to visit and makes for a wonderful history lesson. In the warmer months, it makes a great destination for a good hike, a picnic lunch, and we even spotted people playing Frisbee on the fields when we were there. The entrance fee is just $7, but there are many times during the year when you can visit for free (listed here), as we did, including the upcoming President’s Day weekend.

Jockey Hollow Visitor Center
580 Tempe Wick Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
973-543-4030

Hungry for more to do in New Jersey?
I’ve got all my New Jersey activity posts in this dedicated Pinterest board.

Visit: Washington’s Headquarters Museum & Ford Mansion {Morristown, New Jersey}

October 7, 2015 · Narrative

A few weeks ago, it was National Public Lands Day, which means free admission to our nation’s national parks. I did a quick search to find out what was in the area. One is the Thomas Edison museum and estate. A beautiful property that we have visited before and definitely worth a stop if you haven’t been. Another national park in New Jersey is both Washington’s Headquarters & Ford Mansion, along with Jockey Hollow, in the Morristown area. Although I have lived in the area for a million years, I have never visited and was clearly long overdue.

It was a gorgeous day to be outside, so after Madeline finished cheering at a football game, we jumped in the car and headed on over to Washington’s Headquarters. It’s super simple to find and convenient from Route 287. There is a small (free) parking lot right near the main building, and that’s where we started our afternoon.

There are some exhibits set up in the main building (above photo), along with a small gift shop, and that’s also where you check in and sign up for the tour. There are many guided tours throughout the day (you can find a more specific schedule here), and we were lucky enough to walk in just before the next tour started.

Our guide, or “Ranger,” as they are called was Thomas, and he was quite awesome. He knew the history of the place backwards and forwards and was quick as a whip in answering our group’s questions. He even offered to pose for selfies at the end, which I thought was equal parts endearing and hysterical given he was likely in his late 60s and not part of the nonsensical selfie generation.

This property was important because it was the scene of the winter encampment of George Washington and his troops during 1779-1780. Mrs. Ford lived in the mansion on the property (photo below) with her children (her husband had already died in the war), when members of the army knocked on her door and asked if the General and his troops could stay there. She, of course, agreed, and with the General came all his high-ranking officials, their staff, their servants … even all their horses. It was quite an imposition, to say the least, although an honor as well, and they were camped out in her home for six months. Martha Washington even came for several months as well during the holidays!

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Visit: Liberty Bell {Philadelphia, PA}

October 27, 2012 · Narrative

So when I found out that the Philadelphia Zoo was only 12 miles from where we were staying on Nick’s belated birthday celebration weekend, it was a given that we would visit it.

I mean, seriously. My kids + animals = no brainer.

And when we were renting a stroller at the zoo because we seriously had to walk like a mile just to get to the entrance, I asked the friendly stroller rental girl how far exactly the Liberty Bell was from the zoo.

“Less than 15 minutes.”

So it stands to reason that we couldn’t NOT visit the Liberty Bell.

And I could have totally taken this line of rationale until we ended up somewhere in the middle of the country looking for other national treasures. But four kids, busy weekend, I didn’t want to overdo it, you know?

I mean, a girl’s gotta know her limits.

Which means another trip to Philadelphia is definitely in the offing because there’s still so much to see and do.

But the Liberty Bell? I don’t know, for some reason I was fixated on it.

I’m 42 years old. And, doing some rough math, we’ve lived under two hours from the Liberty Bell for about 30 years of my life.

And I’ve never seen it.

And little facts like those are how my future bucket lists with the kids (oh you should see the things we want to do together!) get made.

Because while I have been to Brussels, and Crete, and Scotland, and Paris. I haven’t seen the Grand Canyon. Niagara Falls. And a million other places in the good US of A.

Growing up, with my Dad’s old job, there was a lot of international travel, not so much domestic.

So there is a lot of ground to cover.

Like literally.

So the bell.

When we left the zoo, it was after 3 pm on Sunday. I seriously debated. Go find the bell or just go home. Should we? Shouldn’t we?

We went for it. I told the kids, who really wanted to go see it, that we would see if we could find it, how busy it was, and the parking situation. We would give it a go.

Using the GPS, I found the area and went up and down the streets. Partially because the Google’d address wasn’t specific. I could tell the general area of where the bell was supposed to be, but couldn’t tell specifically. As in there it is and here’s where I should park.

And part of the problem? Because for some wild reason, in my mind’s eye, I pictured the bell being at the top of some grassy plain, open and out. I know, weird.

Because it’s clearly not.

Which is why I was having trouble figuring out where exactly the darn thing was.

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