Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
Belgian Draft Horse Chester: A Story of Friendship is a wonderful book by Larry Kidder about his long friendship with Chester, a draft (working) horse at the Howell Living History Farm. It’s a charming story that includes some sad moments, and also moments of great satisfaction as Kidder describes his growing friendship and working relationship … Continue reading A Man and a Horse: Larry Kidder and Chester
We have five fascinating historic (and snowy) images of 65 Main Street, known as “Dixie Farm” when it was the home of William P. Howe, Sr. from 1910 to around 1913. The postcard shows a formal view of the structure from around the 1910s, with a two-story circular colonnaded portico framing the front door and … Continue reading William Howe’s “Dixie Farm” on S. Main in Pennington
The March updates to the History Project featured the updated Hopewell Borough History Briefs – 2022 Edition, plus a variety of fun contributions, and the upcoming talk on the Hopewell Inn. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 299 files in the Archives, including 149 documents and 150 maps … Continue reading March 2023 Update – History Briefs Edition
This is the 2022 Edition of a compilation of some 40 Hopewell Borough History Briefs written over the past three years. These History Project research reports have been compiled into a book, which is now available as a free PDF download for convenient reference, searching, and printing. The goal of this ongoing work is to … Continue reading Hopewell Borough History Briefs – 2022 Edition
Can you imagine what it would be like in the late 1890s to have local telephone service become available in your town? Now you could call around town to chat with friends or for shopping, and in emergencies you could summon a doctor or report a fire. And soon thereafter you could call to farms … Continue reading Early Telephone Service – 1908 Phone Book
by Douglas Dixon Here are some of the highlights of the 2022 additions to the History Project site, with links to more information, plus associated documents, maps, photos, and videos. The purpose of the Hopewell Valley History Project is assemble an archive of reference material in local history, shared online in digital and searchable formats … Continue reading Hopewell History Project – 2022 Highlights
Tomatoes and milk, chocolates and lumber – just some of the products that helped Hopewell grow after the arrival of the railroads in the 1870s. This Thursday, October 27, Doug Dixon will present Life in 1900s Hopewell with the Arrival of the Railroad, exploring how the arrival of the railroad drove the development of Hopewell … Continue reading When The Railroad Came to Hopewell
The Hopewell Valley History Project and the Pennington Public Library are pleased to announce the release of the new Digital Edition of Margaret J. O’Connell’s comprehensive book, Pennington Profile, A Capsule of State and Nation. The book, previously out of print, was originally published by Margaret O’Connell in 1966, and was republished by the Pennington … Continue reading Pennington Profile – Digital Edition Released
It’s Hopewell Borough’s annual Town-Wide Yard Sale weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 11 & 12. So as you clear out the attic and browse the sales – this weekend and this summer – please be on the lookout for historic artifacts that we can preserve and share here on the History Project site. Here are … Continue reading Yard Sailing for Local History
This is the story of how the news came to Hopewell of its first son who was killed in World War II – Irvin D. Van Nest, Jr. (1916-1943). The story is told by Dean Ashton, who published over 50 issues of his “Hopewell News” news-sheet during the war, with a distribution of over 500 … Continue reading Memorial Day – Hopewell’s First Fatality in WW II
