7/25/15 - Milton, NJ

It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the sky is clear.  We drove to Thomas Edison National Historic Park.  The first part we visited was the Laboratory Complex.  Here Edison developed many of his inventions including the motion picture camera and the nickel-iron alkaline electric storage battery.  The main building had three floors filled with test equipment, machinery, and examples of his inventions and consumer products.  One of the items was a precursor to the Chatty Kathy doll - it had a miniature phonograph inside.  There was also his three story library.

 

Then we drove over to his house, the Glenmont Estate.  The 29 room red brick and wood mansion was built in 1880 by an office clerk who spared no expense in the building, furniture or decorating.  It was built using embezzled money for $400,000.00.  He was forced to sell it back to his company for $1.00 in exchange for staying out of jail.  Edison bought it lock, stock and barrel for $250,000.00.  We went on a tour of the house (no pictures allowed), saw Edison's grave in the back yard, and walked through the greenhouse.

Next stop was an in-progress, new park named Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park.  There will be a grand opening sometime in August.  It is about water power to the mills and factories in Patterson, N.J.  One of the factories here was the Colt Paterson factory.  It was Samuel Colt’s first firearm factory and they made the first successful revolver, the 1836 Colt Paterson revolver.  It played a role in Texas’ war for independence from Mexico.  Jim wanted to see the 2 story remains of the building that was destroyed by arson in 1980s.  The ranger said that area of destroyed buildings was inhabited by transients and there is a lot of crime and it is not safe to visit.

It was rather warm today, 88 degrees, and we went to Cricket Brewing for a beer.  We also went to Magnify Brewing.  Magnify has only been open since May.  Next door was Jersey Spirits Distilling that opened today.  I had a sample of their Cucumber Vodka.  They will eventually have a bourbon and a whiskey for sale.  On the way back to the Casita we stopped at a Barnes and Noble to purchase a DeLorme atlas of New Jersey.