Tag: Walking Downtown Millville NJ

Millville Historical Society 200 East Main Street Millville, NJ 08332

Millville Historical Society 200 East Main Street Millville, NJ 08332

Millville Historical Society

200 East Main Street

Millville, NJ 08322

(856) 293-1078

http://millhistsoc.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Millvillehs/

Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Tuesday Closed/Wednesday 1:00pm-4:00pm/Thursday-Saturday Closed

Admission: Free but donations are accepted and recommended to help operate the museum

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g46627-d27044122-Reviews-Millville_Historical_Society-Millville_New_Jersey.html

The Millville Historical Society at 200 East in tv Main Street

The Baracha-Dunn House right next door to the Historical Society is open for touring.

History of the museum:

(from the museum’s website)

The Millville Historical Society has been preserving Millville, New Jersey’s past for over nine decades.  Incorporated in 1927, the organization’s headquarters and archives depositary is located in the historic 1857 Millville Bank at 200 E. Main St., Millville.

The main gallery of the Millville Historical Society

The Society has been entrusted with the care of three of Millville’s most historic structures: the 1857 Bank building at 200 E. Main Street, the 1798 Baracha Dunn House, and the 1814 Wood Mansion House.  

Admission to all buildings is free.  Donations are gratefully accepted.

The main gallery of the Millville Historical Society from the front door

I recently visited the Millville Historical Society and got to tour the museum and the historical home next door. The main part of the museum is built inside a historic bank that the Society took over in the 1970’s. All the displays are showcased around the museum.

The original picture of the Millville National Bank during the turn of the last century

One of the first displays you will see is the original drawing of the bank. This beautiful historic building sits on the very edge of the downtown as you enter Millville. On the top of the display was a model of a sand separator that was in the creation of glass which the area was known for in the previous century.

The historic map of Downtown Millville, NJ

Another display has a model one of the major ferries that once ran in Millville.

The model of the Millville

The ferry that once ran in the area

The pictures of when the boat was christened

There was school display with one of the old bells of the school’s in Millville and a picture of one of its long serving principles, Rebecca Mulford Bacon.

The bell from the schoolhouse

Principal Rebecca Milford Bacon

The Principal’s plaque

The museum houses the recorded history of the town and the genealogy of the town and its citizens for people to research.

The Research Library along with more artifacts

After I toured the displays along the perimeter of the museum, I had a tour of the Baracha-Dunn House next door which was part of the historical society’s complex. These historic buildings were built in the late 1700’s and the addition in the early 1800’s. The tour takes you through both the main house and the later addition both upstairs and downstairs.

The Barack’s-Dunn house was open for a tour

The entrance the house from the street

The main room of the original house with the hearth in the main room for cooking and for heat in the house

The hearth is the center of the house

The Living Room of the main home

The Living Room of the home

The Living Room

The other side of the house which was the later addition to the home offered more rooms.

The Living Room from the main door

We walked up the narrow stairs to the second floor to the bedrooms. Each small room on the second floor was furnished with period furniture.

The bedroom on one side of the house

The second floor bedroom the leads to the attic

The second floor bedroom

This room led to the connected room on the other side of the floor

The small room on the second floor

The bedroom on the second floor

The Children’s room display of toys, furniture and clothing

The display of Children’s item

The house really showed life in the early parts of the 1800. The home’s period furniture decorates all the rooms in this home. The museum has another historical home in the downtown area that was closed that day. The museum offers a glimpse of Millville in its past.

The historical sign outside the museum

On my second trip to the Millville Historical Society, I was able to visit the Wood Mansion from 1814. The home had been home to generations of the Wood family, the founders of Wawa, among other businesses.

The Wood Family Mansion

The Historical Society Museum sign

The David Wood Historical sign

The Living Room decorated for the holidays

The Victorian Christmas tree in the formal parlo

The Christmas decorations in the Living Room

Th bannister decorated for the holidays

The Dining Room decorated for the holidays

The mantle in the Dining Room decorated for the holidays

The dish-ware area

The kitchen fireplace

The Ice House display under renovation

The Whitall Tatum glass display

The Whitall Glass display

The glass display

The Wood family tree and the progression of the business of the family

The local amusement park display

The local factory display

Pictures of the mansion since 1814

The Lincoln display

The main bedroom

The main bedroom

The Children’s display

The Children’s Toy Display

The Children’s Toy display

The Trolley display

The other Bedroom display

This beautiful Grandfather clock was made Salem, NJ

The beautiful display on the front door when you leave the house. Everything had been decorated for the holidays

Millville Army Air Field Museum 1 Leddon Street Millville Airport Millville, NJ 08832

Millville Army Air Field Museum 1 Leddon Street Millville Airport Millville, NJ 08832

Millville Army Air Field Museum

1 Leddon Street

Millville Airport

Millville, NJ 08832

(856) 327-2347

Museum

Open: Sunday 10:00am-4:00pm/Monday By Appointment Only/Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm

Admission: Donation Suggested Adults $10.00/Children 5.00

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g46627-d2647289-r971146426-Millville_Army_Airfield_Museum-Millville_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Millville Army Air Field Museum at 1 Leddon Street

The entrance to the museum

The history of the Millville Army Field Museum:

(from the museum website)

The roots of the Millville Army Air Field Museum go back to the early 1970s. Millville Airport manager Lewis B. Finch had just completed eliminating the last apartments in former base buildings and looked forward to major industrial development at the airport. Most people in the community were aware the airport had been an army base, but knew no details of its history. This was Millville Airport when teenager Michael T. Stowe learned of some underground bunkers just south of the airport.

Museum founder, Michael T. Stowe and Frances Burt, examine her father’s leather “A-2” flying jacket. Her father, Second Lieutenant Lee L. Pryor Jr, died in an P-47 accident near Cedarville on May 2, 1945.

Stowe explored those bunkers and surrounding areas and later began to find related artifacts. For nearly ten years, he continued to collect artifacts and information, and in 1983 he approached city officials about a permanent place at the Millville Airport to display his collection. Stowe’s original collection of artifacts and airfield data remains the cornerstone of the Millville Army Air Field Museum (museum website).

The museum’s collection has grown through donations of time, effort, and artifacts from surrounding community and the community of veterans who served at the Millville Army Air Field. Today, both the museum and Millville Airport continue to grow and prosper through the Delaware River & Bay Authority’s management of the airport and the museum gaining recognition as a leader in World War II and post war aviation history.

The main gallery of the front part of the museum

Models of all the aircraft during the wars

The fire department brigade that protected the airport

Uniform gallery and objects from modern warfare

Artifacts from the beginning of WWII

Navajo Code Talkers: no one could break the code during WWII

The Radio Headquarters during WWII

The Philadelphia Seaplane Base/U.S. Army Signal Corps. Display

Artifacts from the Philadelphia Seaplane Base

Uniforms and plane display

The second gallery was broken down into themes and each display told its own story.

The 9/11 display dedicated to the events on September 11th, 2001 in New York City

This display also contains artifacts from the Towers on that tragic day.

The displays contain propaganda and spoils of war from both the Japanese and the Germans. These donations remind us of a time not too long ago when our now Allies were our enemies.

Display on German memorabilia during WWII

Display of Japanese memorabilia during WWII

The back gallery on Veterans backgrounds and personal life

The POW display

War Marriages displays

During and after the WWII, the number of marriages that took place started the “Baby Boom” Men and women waited for one another. The family unit was tight because emotions still rung high after the war years. People were eager to start their families.

The War Marriages

Toys of the war years

The last gallery was dedicated to each of the wars after WWII from Korea, to Vietnam, to Desert Storm, to Middle East Crisis each having their own display and artifacts showing that the tactics of war may change as well as the equipment.

The gallery dedicated to those who have served in the various wars

Women pilots

Behind the scenes and in front of them women played a big role in the war effort as pilots, engineers, teachers, factory workers, nurses and doctors and in all aspects of business for making the system work. This is their story.

Communications in the war

Military nurses display

Every war effort has been given a display in the museum with artifacts and spoils of war to represent that time. In each display, it tells another story in the protection of the country. We thank all those military personal, men and women, who helped in the war efforts to protect our country.

History of the wars

Army display

Vietnam War display

The Iraq War/Middle East conflict

Desert Storm Conflict

Vietnam War

Gunning/Sharp shooter display

The museum continues outside with all sorts of interest equipment on display. Take time walk around the property and look at the displays.

The Creation of the museum:

(from the Millville Army Air Field Museum website):

The Millville Airport was dedicated “America’s First Defense Airport” on August 2, 1941 by local, state, and federal officials. In less than a year, construction of military base facilities began, and in January 1943, the Millville Army Air Field opened as a gunnery school for fighter pilots. Gunnery training began with Curtiss P-40F “Warhawk” aircraft, but after a few weeks, the P-40s were gone, and the Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt” ruled the skies over Cumberland County. During its three year existence, thousands of soldiers and civilians served here, with about 1,500 pilots receiving advanced fighter training in the Thunderbolt.

Following the War, the airfield was declared excess to the governments needs, and returned to the City of Millville. Most of the airport buildings were converted to apartments for the many veterans returning from the war. The last of the apartments vanished in the early 1970s, and the airport soon became a hub of industry and aviation for Southern New Jersey (from the museum website).

Military equipment on display

Military equipment on display

The outside of the museum