Veblen House Written Up in Area Magazine

Now, isn't that weird. I could have sworn there was an article about the Veblen House and cottage in the latest edition of Weird N.J.

Oh, right,

there it is,

page 62,

a lovely four page spread,

right between a pictorial portrait of the Overbrook sanitorium and a man who gave his left arm for Asbury Park.

Weird N.J. is a beautifully rendered magazine edited by Mark and Mark (Sceurman and Moran), who clearly love our state as an bottomless trove of weirdness in truth and legend. Whether buildings or people, we all are worked on by a mixture of care and neglect, elements and time. It's truly weird that buildings and a legacy as distinctive and extraordinary as those Veblen left behind have been neglected, and so we're proud to be part of this edition of Weird N.J. Our aim, passion and privilege, as the Friends of Herrontown Woods, is to make care the dominant influence going forward.

The photos and writeups are by FOHW volunteer Glen Ferguson and myself. I bought a copy online for $7, free shipping, at this site.

Our Trailwork Lauded in Recent Letter

Thanks to Sophie Glovier, whose letter in the Mailbox of Town Topics mentions the efforts of our Friends of Herrontown Woods to reclaim, mark and maintain public trails through 200 acres of open space in Herrontown Woods and adjoining Autumn Hill Reservation. These two Princeton nature preserves had become largely abandoned after storms and invasive shrubs blocked trails. Our group of volunteers has experienced the exhilaration and the sweat of reopening trails through this marvelous, boulder-strewn landscape, most of which was donated in 1957 by Oswald and Elizabeth Veblen. Leading the trail reclamation work has been Kurt Tazelaar, who views the preserve as his gymnasium, a place to get a workout while improving trails and shifting the ecological balance from invasive shrubs to natives.

Though town and county staff maintain parking lots, all of Princeton's nature trails remain accessible only through the largely volunteer work of nonprofits. Elsewhere in Princeton, Friends of Princeton Open Space has for decades maintained trails in and around Mountain Lakes, and the DR Greenway also does some maintenance of local greenspace. Sophie Glovier has been involved with both of those organizations over the years, and her research of local trails turned into the popular book, Walk the Trails In and Around Princeton.

There's also an informal Friends group keeping Gulick Park's trails clear. For those wishing to get out and about after comparative winter confinement, many of Princeton's trails are a bit muddy this time of year, though as you can see in the photo, along the Princeton ridge, there's lots of opportunities for rock-hopping.