Nutley
Historical Society and Museum
Founded 1945
65 Church
Street, Nutley N.J. 07110
973-667-1528
A not-for-profit organization dedicated to serve the educational, cultural and historical needs of our community.
NEW: Tales of Nutley History!
The Story of Annie Oakley and Her Time in Nutley
Ryan Lui wanted to do something unconventional for his Eagle Scout project. He put his interest in video editing to produce three mini documentaries that tell Nutley history. Lui enlisted fellow scouts in Nutley BSA Troop 147, other video editors, members of the Nutley Historical Society and local historians and together they produced three separate films about Nutley history. Lui is a 2023 graduate of Nutley High School and will attend Montclair State University in the fall.
YouTube videos will open in a new link
Fall Pumpkin Festival
Come join the fun for pumpkin painting and light refreshments
Paint Your Real
Pumpkin. All are welcome. Fun for children and families.
Hosted by The Nutley Historical Society at Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley, N.J.
NHS Board Members' Outside Pursuits
Gabriele on Colonial Taverns
The Nutley Free Public Library, 93 Booth Drive, will host New Jersey author Michael Gabriele for a presentation on his newest book: Colonial Taverns of New Jersey – Libations, Liberty and Revolution, on Saturday, July 15, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Gabriele is a member of the executive board of the Nutley Historical Society.
The Kingsland Manor Celebrates the 39th Anniversary of National Ice Cream Month on Sunday, July 16, 1 to 4 p.m., 3 Kingsland St., Nutley, N.J. At 2 p.m., Gabriele will talk about his new book Colonial Taverns of New Jersey.
Buccino Photo Exhibit
Art @ The Nutley Free Public Library is hosting an exhibit by Anthony Buccino during July and August at the Nutley Public Library, 93 Booth Drive, Nutley, N.J. Buccino is a member of the Nutley Historical Society executive board. Meet-the-artist reception will be held at the library from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 12, 2023.
Above events are free and open to the public.
Special Exhibit: Artwork of Carol Fortunato
The
Nutley Historical Society will host an exhibition of the works
of Carol Fortunato (1958-2022) on November 11 to November 18 at
the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley, NJ. An opening
reception will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 11.
Fortunato resided in Nutley for many years before moving to Montclair in 1990. She was a Fine Artist in the Montclair area for many years. Carol’s paintings were exhibited in Dorset Vermont, and also in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a degree in illustration, Carol continued her studies at the Art Students League. During this time, she discovered an interest in chiaroscuro (use of light and shade) painting.
Carol joined The Christina Gallery – On the Island of Martha’s Vineyard in 2009, and her still-life paintings were admired by many. She had solo shows at the renowned James Beard House and French Culinary Institute.
Carol enjoyed her quiet time in the studio but also loved painting en plein air landscapes in Vermont. In 2013, she spent the summer in south central England painting the Cotswolds and fulfilling a lifelong dream.
WW2 Memorabilia Donated to Nutley Museum
"A letter on a record"
Among items that turned up for sale at the Nutley Family Service Bureau Thrift Shop recently were a small collection of vinyl discs from about 1944, when in addition to military V-Mail, certain locations had a special booth where one could record a letter to send to a loved one. The Thrift Shop donated the items to the Nutley Museum.
In some cases, a new mom would send a record of a baby's first words to a spouse serving overseas. Other times it would be a spoken letter to a loved one just to hear that voice again. During World War Two, there were no smart phones or video chats, and V-Mail was iffy - i.e., none for a while, then a bucket reaches the serviceman.
One of the donated A Letter on a Record" was made at a USO Club operated by the National Catholic Community Service. According to the vinyl disc well-worn paper cover, This "Letter on a Record" is one of the many services offered to those engaged in the defense of their country. They are available at USO Clubs or centers operated by the National Catholic Communities Service. This, and a wide variety of other services, help to make every USO Club operated by NCCS a "home away from home."
The USO "Letter on a Record" was sent from San Diego to Clendenny Avenue in Jersey City.
Another vinyl recording, "Compliments of GEM" was "made for you with the compliments of GEM Clog-pruf RAZOR and GEM blades. Gem Division, American Safety Razor Corp., 315 Jay Street, Brooklyn. The flip side bears the label "Slow Burning Philco Safety Record. Use Philco recording needles to make this record."
A third recorded disc, Capitol Recording Disc arrived in Jersey City with $1.49 postage due COD, despite two 9-cent stamps. Oddly enough it was sent to Jersey City from Vincent Recording Service, 272 New Jersey Avenue, Union, N.J.
To play those vinyl records, one need a phonograph and needles, to say the least. The NFSB Thrift Shop donation included two needle envelopes. "For Better Reproduction Use Cactus Thorn Needles. 35-cents for 12 needles. Package of twelve genuine Cactus Thorn Needles." This envelope was empty save for another envelope.
These latest items will complement the Nutley Historical Society war era items including Blue Star Mothers bound collections of WW2 military newspaper clippings.
NHS Meeting Room Available for Rental
We are happy to announce that our meeting room is now available for rentals. To inquire about availability and rental fee, please call 973-667-1528 and leave a message for our caretaker, Kerry Flynn.
Call Kerry Flynn, caretaker to rent the hall
PLEASE CALL AND LEAVE A MESSAGE BEFORE YOU EMAIL FOR RENTAL AVAILABILITY INFO - Thanks
to Annie Oakley to the Morris Canal on Our Western Border
to Quarry Town and Speed Racing Velodrome
to our Golfer's Heaven and Old Military Hall
to Presidential Visits and Professional Wresting
to Cold Ice Cream to our Cold War Anti-Aircraft Radar Camp
to the Arrival of Route 21 ...
"Annie Oakley: Little Sure Shot" by Gary Erbe
Ice Cream for History, Thursday, June 1
The Nutley Historical Society is hosting its Annual Ice Cream for History night and museum tour at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 1, at the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley, N.J.
The Society is especially happy to welcome children to the museum along with their parents who will enjoy Nutley's rich history, including serving ice cream to Annie Oakley and Mark Twain more than 100 years ago.
Ice cream is free, and all are welcome to tour the Nutley Museum on the 2nd floor.
Ice Cream for History Night Celebrates Guthrie’s
If you wanted “iced cream” on a hot summer day, you had no choice—you went to Guthrie’s. Out-of-towners traveled miles to try some. Locals, like Annie Oakley, enjoyed it too! ... Local legend has it that Mark Twain tasted his first ice cream soda at Guthrie’s!
Seven-foot Baron Made Nutley's Firts Ice Cream
Together with Mark Twain, H. C. Bunner, the witty editor of “Puck,” Frank Stockton and an array of artists and writers from The Enclosure and Nutley Park, many strange characters moved through the quaint setting of the Guthrie store.
None was more striking than the exiled Baron de Saint Mart, who stood 7 feet tall in his cavalry boots and had been exiled from his homeland for having killed a man in a duel. With monocle screwed into his eye, he turned the handle of the first ice cream freezer ever used in Nutley while his wife, a daughter of the De Neuville family from the French court of the Bonapartes, painted miniatures in one of the great rooms upstairs.
'A Walk In The Park' 2023 Historic Tour
“A Walk in the Park” is an annual historic tour held on Memorial Day Weekend sponsored by the Nutley Historical Society.
Led by Nutley Museum director John Simko, the tour begins at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 28, at the Mud Hole (near the intersection of Passaic and Vreeland Avenues) and follows township history along the Third River.
Simko will talk about the Yantacaw River’s role in Nutley history as a source for early industry, as inspiration for world-class artists, as a symbol of civic pride, as an important boundary marker, and as a fitting memorial to our war veterans.
Visit the sites of three former mills, see the pre-Revolutionary War Van Giesen homestead, find out why the Yantacaw, or Third, River, splits in two, learn about the beginnings of our hundred-year-old Carnegie Library and even older Town Hall, and walk through one of Nutley’s oldest cemeteries.
“A Walk in the Park” ends at approximately 10:30 a.m., inside Nutley’s first brick schoolhouse which is now the Nutley Historical Society and Museum.
“A Walk in the Park” is free but is limited to a dozen people and requires registration. Register for the tour by emailing johnsimko1014@gmail.com or by calling 973-752-8984 and leaving a message and your phone number or e-mail address. You will receive confirmation via e-mail or a phone call.
Simko began the "A Walk in the Park" history tour more than 10 years ago and it is as popular as ever!
‘Colonial Taverns of New Jersey...'
by Michael Gabriele
The Nutley Historical Society will host New Jersey author Michael Gabriele for a program on his newest book: “Colonial Taverns of New Jersey – Libations, Liberty and Revolution,” published by The History Press. The book-launch event will be Friday, May 12, 7 p.m. at the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley. The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for sale.
Read All About Colonial Taverns Here
Arbor Day at the Nutley Museum
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Featuring:
*Memorial Tree dedications in memoriam to past board members
Pas
t President Ed Stecewicz, Annie Oakley expert trustee Nancy Gruelich, Van Riper historian Patricia Williams, and trustee Michael Slomkowski.*Arbor Art featured by local Artists including Nutley Students
*free tree seedlings to first 50 guests
*refreshments will be served
Sponsored by Nutley Historical Society, Township of Nutley, NJ, Arbor Day Foundation, and Nutley Tree Rescue
The Rooming Houses of Nutley, NJ
Dutch Introduced Skating as Nutley Winter Sport
Few alive today would recognize most of the Nutley backwoods and ponds described in this memoir sixty-odd years ago. Bearskin Brook, Rusby's Pond, or Hillside Park ring a bell in your olde Nutley memories? Compare your memories.
Artists of Nutley
Letter to Mark Twain:
“There isn’t much that is prettier than
this end of New Jersey. It is all upland, tumbling into shallow valleys
and bright sunny reaches along the Passaic River, and hillsides white as
snow with the daisies, and everywhere trees, in little clumps or in long
lines by the roadside.... You come. I’ll drive you around on Sunday and
show you some views that will do your heart good. I’ll row you up the
Passaic. I’ll give you a chance to play tennis.... Don’t be afraid. You
can’t play worse tennis than I do.... The mosquitoes are very small this
summer—few over an inch long...
Continue reading
Nutley Was Born in Strife, Strategy and Secession
Nutley
Author
Nutley Museum Online Tour
Nutley Museum Director John Simko's online tour of the Nutley Museum, recorded December 5, 2020. Simko spotlighted the Annie Oakley collection and other select items featured throughout the Nutley Museum. Projects by the Nutley Historical Society were also highlighted.
Long-time Nutley Historical Society Trustee Patricia E. Williams, 79, passed away on March 18, 2023. Born in Passaic, she was a lifelong resident of Nutley. Her sister, Connie Iannicelli, said Patty loved everything about Nutley and collected books about its history.
Patty, a 1961 graduate of Nutley High School and a graduate of Fordham University, put her love of learning towards saving the Van Riper House on River Road from demolition and had been on hand to see the renaissance of its restoration all these years later. As past president of the Van Riper Restoration Trust, she provided a connection among local historical groups, serving as the historical society's Van Riper Historian for many years.
Post-Covid Lockdown Nutley Museum Big Plans, New Exhibits
A recap of the many changes implemented during the lockdown. Be sure to stop in to check out our new exhibits!
■ Won’t You Join the Nutley
Historical Society and Museum? We invite you to become a member of
the Nutley Historical Society. It’s easy and fast to join.
Founded 1945
65 Church
Street, Nutley N.J. 07110
973-667-1528
Copyright & Reprint Information
Contact Room Rental, via phone, not email, Call 973-667-1528
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2023 Calendar
October 15 - Fall Festival, Pumpkin Painting
November 11 - Artwork of Carol Fortunato
Subject to change
Got Historic Nutley Stuff?
Our trustees and docents continue to itemize, catalog and preserve as much Nutley history as we can. If you have an item tied to our town's history, please consider donating it to the Nutley Museum. Give us a call 973-667-1528, or email us for more information.
NUTLEY Yesterday - Today - Ann Troy
& Vivian Noyes Fikus
Where
all great study of Nutley history begins
The importance of history in general cannot be doubted. It sets
before us striking instances of virtue, enterprise, courage,
generosity, patriotism and, by a natural principle of emulation,
encourages us to copy such noble examples. History displays the
dealings of God with mankind. It often leads us to view with awe His
darker judgments and again it awakens the liveliest emotions of
gratitude for His kind and benignant dispensations.
In 1945 the founders of the Nutley Historical Society wrote into its
constitution the statement that:
“It shall be the purpose . . . of this association to do all in its
power to collect all the available historical material connected
with . . . the history of Nutley and carefully to preserve the same.
. . . This shall mean ultimately the writing of the history of the
town. . . Down through the years, work on this project continued
until the present volume has been prepared.
So now, since History never stops, we in the Nutley Historical
Society in 1961—like those who wrote the first History of Nutley in
1907— pass on the torch to those coming generations who at some
future time will feel the need to once again issue a . . .
“HISTORY OF NUTLEY”
Robert F. Heald
First President 1954 to 1961
March 5, 1961 The Nutley Historical Society From the Foreword
As
a member, you and your family are welcome to participate in any or
all of our upcoming events.
When you join or renew your membership, the Nutley Historical
Society will be able to continue and expand our work to bring
you interesting, informational and fun programs throughout the year.
By making our history available and known to those who visit the
museum, we continue to move forward by knowing about and
appreciating our past. We can only accomplish this with your help.
Join Now Now is a
great time to join or renew your Nutley Historical Society membership.
Thanks to all our members who supported the Nutley Historical Society’s
events and activities.
Thanks to all
who joined
us to raise a toast in celebration of the seventy-fifth
anniversary of the founding of the Nutley Historical Society on
March 5, 2020. Events included cake cutting and a birthday toast, an update
on recent museum acquisitions and activities, and a special tour of
museum highlights by the museum director.
Nutley
Historical Society Celebrates 75th Anniversary
Call Kerry Flynn, caretaker
PLEASE CALL AND LEAVE A MESSAGE BEFORE YOU EMAIL FOR RENTAL AVAILABILITY INFO - Thanks
See the 1910 artist's view of Nutley in person in the Ann Troy Gallery on the first floor meeting room!
Also of Interest in Nutley, N.J.
Kingsland Manor
Nutley Historic Preservation Committee
Web site
development & maintenance
provided at no cost to Nutley Historical
Society,
sponsored by:
Links are subject to change
Contact Room Rental, via phone only, not email, Call 973-667-1528
Email Nutley Historical Society
The Nutley Historical Society is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serve the educational, cultural and historical needs of our community.
65 Church
Street, Nutley N.J. 07110
973-667-1528
Web Master/Social Media: Anthony Buccino
Nutley Notables in two volumes:
The men and women who made a memorable impact
on our
home town, Nutley, New Jersey
