Roebling

The van tour yesterday was to Roebling, NJ, a fascinating place for a variety of reasons.  Our usual quartet went: Susan, Barb, Pat, and me, and I drove.  The van left from Tip Seaman Park, right here in Little Egg, which was unusual and much more convenient for us.
If I was the retrospective type--oh, that's right, I am!--I'd say Roebling illustrates the long, sad history of labor in this country.  It had been a thriving company town, thanks to John A. Roebling, who came here from Germany to establish his steel and wire mill in Trenton, then this hamlet (in 1904), which would carry on his name.
Thousands of workers, many from Hungary, the Czech Republic, and other eastern European countries, worked in the huge, twenty-acre facility.  In its heyday, the mill belched smoke, was exceedingly noisy, and naturally, dominated the town.
Roebling built brick homes for the workers: fairly modest, but decent, row houses for the laborers; larger, semi-detached homes for skilled tradesmen; and very large, quite impressive singles on the river for managers and department heads. I was fascinated to learn that, no matter the size, the homes contained only one bathroom.  And were the workers up in arms because of this?  Oh, no, they were thrilled by the fact that indoor bathrooms took the places of outhouses.
The museum--which had been the gatehouse when the mill was active--was modest, but interesting, and we had a competent docent, "Roy," as guide.  We learned that the mill was started in 1904, thrived for many years, had close ties with the nearby Trenton plant, and was sold by descendants in 1952.  Little by little, steel jobs went overseas--the reasons why are too long and involved to go into here, and the mill closed for good in 1974, putting an end to the dream of a decent living for those who relied on it.  Here's a good, succinct account of the town of Roebling:  
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1905.html
As for the trip itself, we endured the usual crammed-in-like-sardines van.  We had been scheduled to eat our lunches in the museum, but there was some mix up about that.  Therefore, we parked on the street next at the river.  It was exceedingly cold and windy, but I couldn't stand to stay in the van, so a few others and I went out to have lunch on the benches.  Brr--!
Got home an hour later than we were supposed to, but that was okay.  Went to the library after dinner and was pleased to have Aline come in.  We had a nice talk--she's been away for several days and I missed her--and made a date to go back up to Mercer County today, at my suggestion.  We'll tour Bordentown, also an historic place in this very historic state.