UNION, NJ — The public is invited to visit the 1780s Caldwell Parsonage and Tool Museum in its adjacent 1800 carriage house. Open houses are on Sundays, the next scheduled for Jan. 21, from 2 to 5 p.m. Tours are given by members of the board of trustees. Caldwell Parsonage is located at 909 Caldwell Ave. Admission is free.
James Caldwell was hired as a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown in 1762. A year later, he married Hannah Ogden. Through the next 16 years, they had 10 children. One of the schools in Union is named after Hannah.
The hour tour features a new exhibit about children who lived during the time. Kathy Arminio, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Union Township Historical Society, exhibited costumes from the era, which were made by Rita Gerace.
There are panels where you can learn everything the children did. Chores included helping with laundry and farm animals and candle-making. Play included games of tongue twister, tag, leapfrog, hide and seek and jump rope.
The children’s exhibit was made as “interactive as possible,” according to Arminio, and will stay up for the next six months.
The Carriage House, which was built after 1800, was restored by the Union Historical Society. Inside the Carriage House guests can take a journey back in time and see all sorts of items that were used back then.
Barbara La Mort, president of The Union Historical Society, said the owner of Jacobson’s Appliance in Elizabeth was collecting vintage radios and televisions and keeping them in a furnished basement. He randomly called The Union Historical Society and donated them.
“People are fascinated by them,” La Mort said. “They say, ‘My parents had this, my grandparents had this …’ Some of the kids are interested. They like history or technology. They like to see how far technology has come in a short time.”
Inside the Carriage House “Communications Room,” there’s a Victrola Wurlitzer, a rotary phone, a 1949 RCA television, a typewriter and a 1939 console radio, to name a few.
There are also old house and farm implements. “My grandmother used to call the refrigerator the ‘ice box,’” La Mort said. “It looks like a college dorm-size refrigerator.”
There’s also an apple press, a device that dogs and goats ran on in order to create energy and a drinking trough for horses which is still in its original spot.
La Mort further explained that the Caldwell Parsonage had been burned down during the American Revolution in 1780. It was rebuilt two years later on its original foundation.
The Union Township Historical Society is a non-profit and has maintained the Caldwell Parsonage for 65 years.
To learn more about The Union Township Historical Society, visit: https://www.unionnjhistory.com/.
Photos by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta