Burlington County Historical Society

Back in May, Don, Ashley and I attended the New Jersey History Fair and had our picture taken by the Burlington County Historical Society. Ever since that chance meeting, we have been trying to get to the museum to see it for ourselves.

Yesterday was the day. It was threatening to rain, so we used the museum as an excuse to be closer to Don's office so we could offer him a ride home (he rode his bike to work that morning).

We showed up at 1:30. Laura, a new docent who last worked in Cooperstown (pay attention to that clue) gave us the grand tour of the four buildings. All together, we were there about 3 1/2 hours.

 The first stop is the Bard-How house. As far as historic significance goes, no one famous lived there and nothing remarkable happened in that site. The county decided to turn it into a living history museum. It represents the type of dwelling a fairly well-to-do family in the 18th century in Burlington, NJ would have lived. Though small by 21st century standards, it housed the husband, wife, grandparents, eight children and several servants. The first floor included a shop that the grandfather ran. Fortunately at some point the family added a section which nearly doubled the site.

Today it is in the style of an historic please touch museum -- everything can be played with and felt. I failed to mention, Laura's first mission was to dress both of us in Colonial attire, which we wore for the rest of the tour in this house. 

It added a bit of fun walking through the house and learning about the times while wearing a mob cap. I felt a bit like a horse with blinders on as I could not see sideways. Going up and down the narrow stairs in the skirt was also a challenge.

While in this attire, Ashley and I played draughts and wrote a shopping list using a quill pen.

Before heading to the next house, we had to change back into 21st century attire. Next door is the James Fenimore Cooper House. Mr. Cooper was born in Burlington, NJ and lived in this house until he moved when he was 13 months old to (drum roll please) Cooperstown, NY. Yes, our docent is destined to be following in the footsteps of James Fenimore Cooper the rest of her career. James Fenimore Cooper is most famous for writing "The Last of the Mohicans." Since the family moved out of that house, only one chair was original to the family -- the chair his mother sat in and threatened to stay in Burlington when his father insisted they move. The elder Mr. Cooper picked his wife up, chair and all, and moved them to the wilderness up upstate New York.

The third house is the Captain James Lawrence house. His claim  to fame is uttering the phrase: Don't Give Up the Ship! He died anyway during that battle.

The upper galleries are home to Burlington County's most internationally famous resident: Joseph Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother). He lived in Bordentown, but some of his furniture can be seen in the Burlington County Historical Society.

The last building is the Children's Museum. Here we ran out of time to do everything. Ashley did work on a quilt, but she did not have time to create a grandfather clock.

I would highly recommend visiting with a scout group or a class. The place is rich in teaching about history of many different eras. In addition to being a lot of fun to go with just the two of us, or a family, they are well equipped to educate and entertain larger groups.

http://www.burlingtoncountyhistoricalsociety.org/museum.php