final farewell

The semester has come to an end and I have seen the best of days with covering Pitman and the worst. All semester long, I walked around the town, camera in hand, detailing various places. After this semester I will not be continuing this blog. While you should definitely check out the video I made relating to the town, I will continuing on in my ventures and will be starting a new blog. When that blog is set up and started I will post a link to it on here so that way you can continue following me.
Thank you to all those who commented throughout the semester and Happy Holidays!

A personal tour of Pitman

Take a drive down Broadway in Pitman and you see every kind of shop lining both sides of the street. The town has exploded into a thriving community, with a large population and business section. People see the shops and see the signs posted around the town yet never stop to read them, never stop to think about how a certain monument got there. For example, one can walk through the grove and see a camp meeting auditorium and the small houses that are lined together almost seem fake yet never stop to question what the purpose of the auditorium is or was. There is a sense of small town life that radiates through Pitman, a town where everyone seems to know everyone. 

Without leaving your home, take a visual tour of Pitman with a mix of video and photos throughout the town. Many of the photos have been featured throughout the months that I have been keeping up the blog.

 

All video and photos were done by me as well as the editing and voiceovers. I apologize for the shaky video work in several spots, due to wind factors and my hand not being very sturdy. Enjoy!

 

Annual Christmas Parade

The Pitman Christmas parade was held this year the Saturday after Black Friday, Nov. 29th. Below is a slideshow of photos posted on Flickr by cwalker71.

Hagerty’s Christmas display

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas all! 

Getting into the Christmas spirit, I looked on Flickr and discovered a yearly tradition in Pitman for children of all ages. A block off South Broadway, in the Grove section, there is a holiday display with lights and decorations, hosted by the Hagertys. 

The following two sites show photos and give a good representation of why people should visit the display. I will likely be doing more this week when I go and visit it myself. 

Links courtesy of city-data.com forum:

Hagerty’s Christmas Display photos on Flickr
Christmas Display, Pitman, NJ 2004

Telephone Companies in Pitman

We all rely on communication, with our cell phones attached permanently to our hands. We all rarely use the land lines built into the house, yet in the past having a phone in the hosue was impossible. In 1905, Pitman first began establishing pay stations in the town, first with the Rural Telephone Company then with the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone Company. The book “Cottagers and Commuters,” as mentioned previously, holds a copy of the telephone directory of the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone Company for February, 1905.

 

21-X          Carr, George W.           Lumber & Mill Work
21-Y          Carr, Joseph                 Livery Stable, Broadway
21-W         Clark, S.P.                    Department Store, Pay Station,
                                                        Broadway & Holly Ave.
22-L          Dilks, Harmon jr.          Druggist, Broadway & Pitman Ave.
22-Y          Fox, W.C                      Liveryman, Pitman & Railroad Ave.
21-L          Kersey, Chas. W.          Butcher, Broadway
33-Y          Kuhn, J.L.                    N. Broad., Pitman Grove
23-A          Lodge, Jos.                  Gen’l Store, Pay Station
26-W         N.J. Southern               Office
                 Gas & Election Co.       Works
26-R         (ditto)
33-W        Nicholson, Chas. H.       Contractor & Builder, Evergreen Ave.
21-W        Phillips, Cyrus B.           Physician, Pitman & Summit
33-L         Seeds, C.W.                   Undertaker, S. Broadway
21-M       Simpson, Wesley B.        Electrical Contractor, Woodlyn Ave.
                                                             nr. Pitman Ave.
33-X        Slaughter, L. N., MD      Residence, 1 S. Broadway
23-D       West Jersey and             Pay Station.
                Seashore Railroad
                Station

A touch of Ireland in modern Pitman

While the world outside of the store was cold and grey, a customer’s world turned inside

The store which is located at 5 South Broadway in Pitman sells imports, gifts and food native to Ireland

green once they stepped inside. The small store called Kelly’s A Touch of Ireland brings the old country to the tiny town. Recently I visited the corner of Broadway and Holly Ave and took a trip to Ireland during my interview with the owner, Lorraine Kelly. Kelly talked to me while in the process of organizing the front window for Christmas and described the history of the store and her views of the town.

 

Q: How long have you had the store here in Pitman?
A: Well it wasn’t our shop since 1997. I bought it in 2000. It was a Touch of Ireland then and now. I kept the name.

Q: Do you think there’s a big Irish presence in Pitman?
A: We have-We have a lot of Pitman people, a lot of customers but its basically people come from all over because we are a kinda specialty thing, you know so it’s more or less now that we are established people come from Philly its not that far. I mean we get people from all over.

Q: Now do you see a lot of business come in because you are a specialty store?
A: I say we are luckier than most shops that we, because we are specialty we have to still get just as much traffic as usual. From the town, not that much. But we’ve been hanging in there pretty good. Can’t complain.

Q: Do you think Ireland plays a part in the history of the town at all?
A: I’d have to say no. Not really. This is more Methodist religion founders, so I think the actual history of the town would revolve around that. We don’t really, none of that would have to do with Ireland.

Q: What do you think of the town itself?
A: I think it’s great. It’s a great little quaint kinda old fashioned town. Which is great. I think people are more and more stearing away from, I’d say their steering away from the mall but cause I could never get off the Deptford (laughs) exit. I think they like the alternative of having small town business rather than having to rely on the mall. They can get things in this store and quite a few stores in town that they can’t get in the mall which is nice. Everybody has their own little specialty thing they try to offer to get business in, which I think that you know, they don’ t really have to do at the mall. They don’t have to make the extra effort to get people in.

Great new book about Pitman

 I was introduced through the Courier Post to a great new book that has everything you would like to know about Pitman, NJ. The book,  ”Cottagers and Commuters: A History of Pitman, New Jersey,” by Harold F. Wilson details every part of the town from the railroad station to the three parks to original phone book. The book is available at the McGowan Library in Pitman and the blog will be having information from the book for this week.