John August Roebling Makes His First Appearance!
John August Roebling was a brilliant engineer, inventor & entrepreneur who is known for his work on the Alleghany, Niagara Gorge, Allegheny and Brooklyn Bridges.
In his lifetime, he became the world’s greatest suspension bridge engineer and started a manufacturing business that prospered through four generations. James Cordingley, who is a retired professional planner & who now works with Actors’ NET in Morrisville,PA, will portray Mr. Roebling. 

 

Come Meet British General William Howe
General Howe challenges us to understand the other side of the Revolutionary War. A relative of Great Britain’s King George III, William Howe was sent to end the colonial rebellion quickly and at a minimal cost. He was to protect Britain’s substantial investment in the colonies. Howe will be portrayed by Bob Gleason, a trained actor, who has been featured at the White House Visitor’s Center, Ford’s Theatre, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the National Constitution Center.

 

Dutch Foodways
Mercy Ingraham, an open hearth cook, will prepare a spring dinner for a Dutch colonial family.  Visitors will come away from the experience with an enhanced knowledge of food preparation and an increased respect for the efforts our ancestors made in their daily lives.

 

 

 

Come Meet Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, USN  
Farragut joined the Navy as a Midshipman at the age of 9 in 1810. He fought in the War of 1812 & the Civil War where he commanded the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flagship the USS Hartford. Farragut will be portrayed by Bruce Tucker, a history lecturer at Rutgers University who has presented at local NJ schools, libraries, & living history events. 

 

 

Lenape Foodways
Susan McLellan Plaisted is the proprietress of Heart to Hearth Cookery, a food history business based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  Susan will interpret & demonstrate Lenape cordage & net making techniques of catching & drying shad from the Delaware River.

 

 

Play Ball!
Don’t miss this opportunity to see America’s pastime played according to 19th century rules.  Dressed in period uniforms and using period equipment, the Hoboken Nine will square off with the Elizabeth Resolutes. 

 

 

Discover 19th Century America in Song
Linda Russell performs in period costume and inspires her audiences to absorb the music and the history through her highly entertaining & educational presentations.  As dominant as music is in today’s culture, students will see that “live music” was central to the daily lives of the citizens of past centuries. The 19th century is a time rich with Stephen Foster songs, Hutchinson Family tunes, the hymns of Lowell Mason and Thomas Hastings, parlor ballads, campaign songs & the Celtic melodies of Robert Burns & Thomas Moore.

 

 

Phydeaux’s Flying Flea Circus & Wahoo Medicine Show
You won’t want to miss this hilariously funny & entertaining performance!  You will be enthralled by the heart stopping, death defying feats of Phydeaux’s famous acrobatic fleas & tremble in awe at the inimitable life changing scientific wonder of the age, Chief Wahoo Miracle Elixer.  The show is a delectable slice of 19th century Americana.

 

Robert Mouland Performs
Robert Mouland is a rare musician - a combination of performer, historian and storyteller who uses period instruments and clothing to educate and entertain in a variety of settings with an unparalleled authenticity.  Come and enjoy the music from America’s war for independence & discover that it consists of far more than “Yankee Doodle”. For example, George Washington’s favorite marching tune was actually a dance melody called Jamaica.

 

“Cappy” John Hummel Returns
Rich Pawling, of History Alive!, is back again to portray “Cappy” John Hummel, an 1870’s Canal Boat Captain. Hear the "sneckehorn" blow and hear songs from the past as "Cappy" entertains with an action-packed program oflife on the canal.

 

Meet Molly Pitcher – Heroine of the Battle of Monmouth
Stacy Flora Roth, of History on the Hoof, will portray Molly Pitcher (nee Mary Hays). “Molly” willreminisce about the days when she accompanied her husband through summer battles & winter encampments from Valley Forge to Monmouth to Morristown. Relating her tales of firing a cannon in the heat of battle to trudging "behind the baggage," she provides a glimpse into what it was like to be a "camp follower" in the days when American Independence was a dream rather than a certainty.

 

George Washington
Meet the General who led the 1776 Christmas Crossing of the Delaware. David B. Emerson, of History on the Hoof, will once again portray General George Washington. Emerson will present two programs during the day and stroll among visitors throughout the Fair.  Emerson was featured as George Washington in New Jersey Network's "Ten Crucial Days."

 

Meet the Man who Tamed Lightning
Jack Sherry will portray Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s Founding Fathers.  Learn about Ben’s experiments involving lightning and electricity; his inventions like the lightning rod and bifocals; his proverbs from Poor Richard’s Almanack and his involvement with Congress in drafting the Declaration of Independence - thus sparking the American Revolution and the formation of the new United States of America.

 

Walt Whitman, America’s Good Grey Poet
Darrel Blaine Ford, who has been studying Walt Whitman for the past 74 years, will bring him to life as he portrays this iconic figure of American literature. Listen to “Walt” as he recites his poetry.  Learn about his life and his experiences during the Civil War.  Discover his home in Camden, NJ – the only home he ever owned and where he died in 1892. See why Whitman is often called America’s greatest poet.