What is this, where is this, and what's the point? (Suggested by John Workman at some point in the past year -- thanks, John!)

Did you know that the person that Allendale is named after was a Civil War hero who drowned at sea off North Carolina?

In researching an essay I wrote for an upcoming book on Bergen County during the Civil War era, I found out a lot of amazing information about Joseph Warner Allen and New Jersey's role in the Civil War. 

I even came across an engraving from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly that actually shows Allen drowning (above), and another of his temporary burial in Hatteras, North Carolina.

My wife and I also visited a monument to Colonel Allen in a Bordentown, NJ, graveyard.

Allen lived in the Fell House in the 1840s -- I am not sure if the area that is the Celery Farm was still part of the Fell property in those days, but I'd ike to think Allen walked the property durng his stay.

I wrote about it in the Opinion section of The Record today.

The link is here.

The New Jersey Urban Forest blog had a neat post on the Franklin Lakes Nature Reserve last month.

The link is here, better late than never.

My latest "Bird Watcher" column for The Record is on how to get the most out of a guided nature walk. Additional suggestions are most welcome.

The link is here.

Stiles and Lillian Thomas allowed me to scan a few photos of the Celery Farm Natural Area taken on Sept. 29, 1988. They show the land cleared for the houses on Meadow Lane.

I am tempted to say how incredible it was that the town allowed these homes to be built, but I would be hypocritical -- my house is not much farther away, but built 25 years earlier.

Link the post on the 1955 aerials is here.

Two more pix follow.