New Jersey Cemeteries and Tombstones

New Jersey Cemeteries and Tombstones
Author: Richard F. Veit
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2008-09-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813545668

From the earliest memorials used by Native Americans to the elaborate structures of the present day, Richard Veit and Mark Nonestied use grave markers to take an off-beat look at New Jersey’s history that is both fascinating and unique. New Jersey Cemeteries and Tombstones presents a culturally diverse account of New Jersey’s historic burial places from High Point to Cape May and from the banks of the Delaware to the ocean-washed Shore, to explain what cemeteries tell us about people and the communities in which they lived. The evidence ranges from somber seventeenth-century decorations such as hourglasses and skulls that denoted the brevity of colonial life, to modern times where memorials, such as a life-size granite Mercedes Benz, reflect the materialism of the new millennium. Also considered are contemporary novelties such as pet cemeteries and what they reveal about today’s culture. To tell their story the authors visited more than 1,000 burial grounds and interviewed numerous monument dealers and cemetarians. This richly illustrated book is essential reading for history buffs and indeed anyone who has ever wandered inquisitively through their local cemeteries.

New Jersey, the Natural State

New Jersey, the Natural State
Author: Dwight Hiscano
Publisher:
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813527727

Were you surprised to find you were reading a description of New Jersey? If so, you aren't alone. Even many New Jerseyans don't realize their small state is home to some of the nation's most diverse and beautiful landscapes. From the Kittatinny Mountains in the north to the beaches of Cape May in the south, New Jersey overflows with natural beauty, and Hiscano captures it all with unparalleled artistry in this magnificent collection of more than 100 photos taken over the past decade. Brief section openers describe each region's history, physical features, and ecological importance. In the spirit of Ansel Adams, who showed the world the previously overlooked magnificence of the Southwest, Hiscano allows us to view the state as never before, showing us its many splendors and varied seasons. His incomparable photographs are organized geographically-The Kittatinny Ridge and Valley, Highlands, Piedmont, Pine Barrens, and the shore. We view the state from its mountain tops and sand dunes. We see mighty oak trees and fragile wild roses. Waterfalls and beaver ponds. Snow-covered cedars and sun-drenched black-eyed susans. Sunrise and moonrise. Beauty in the most obvious and unexpected places. Hiscano's extraordinary portrayal of New Jersey in its most natural state also focuses our attention to the state's rapidly diminishing wildlands, and points out the urgent need to continue to preserve the landscape for future generations.

Plant Communities of New Jersey

Plant Communities of New Jersey
Author: Beryl Robichaud
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 1994
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780813520711

The book portrays New Jersey as an ecosystem--its geology, topography and soil, climate, plant-plant and plant-animal relationships, and the human impact on the environment. The authors describe in detail the twelve types of plant habitats distinguished in New Jersey and suggest places to observe good examples of them.

Railroads of New Jersey

Railroads of New Jersey
Author: Lorett Treese
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2006-03-28
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 081174356X

• Regional histories of the major railroads • Railroad attractions Dividing the state into regions, the author recounts the stories of the people and events that shaped the state's railroad history, explores the major phases of the industry's development, and identifies the state's rail-culture relics--steam and diesel locomotives, routes, bridges, stations, and landmarks, as well as tourist railroad lines and Rails to Trails paths.

Black Landscapes Matter

Black Landscapes Matter
Author: Walter Hood
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2020-12-09
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0813944872

The question "Do black landscapes matter?" cuts deep to the core of American history. From the plantations of slavery to contemporary segregated cities, from freedman villages to northern migrations for freedom, the nation’s landscape bears the detritus of diverse origins. Black landscapes matter because they tell the truth. In this vital new collection, acclaimed landscape designer and public artist Walter Hood assembles a group of notable landscape architecture and planning professionals and scholars to probe how race, memory, and meaning intersect in the American landscape. Essayists examine a variety of U.S. places—ranging from New Orleans and Charlotte to Milwaukee and Detroit—exposing racism endemic in the built environment and acknowledging the widespread erasure of black geographies and cultural landscapes. Through a combination of case studies, critiques, and calls to action, contributors reveal the deficient, normative portrayals of landscape that affect communities of color and question how public design and preservation efforts can support people in these places. In a culture in which historical omissions and specious narratives routinely provoke disinvestment in minority communities, creative solutions by designers, planners, artists, and residents are necessary to activate them in novel ways. Black people have built and shaped the American landscape in ways that can never be fully known. Black Landscapes Matter is a timely and necessary reminder that without recognizing and reconciling these histories and spaces, America’s past and future cannot be understood.

Landscape Archaeology

Landscape Archaeology
Author: Rebecca Yamin
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1996
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780870499203

As the editors note, "This volume includes many searching looks at the landscape, not just to understand ourselves, but to understand the context for other peoples' lives in other times, to unravel the landscapes they created and explain the meanings embedded in them.".

Ethnic Landscapes of America

Ethnic Landscapes of America
Author: John A. Cross
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2017-06-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319540092

This volume provides a comprehensive catalog of how various ethnic groups in the United States of America have differently shaped their cultural landscape. Author John Cross links an overview of the spatial distributions of many of the ethnic populations of the United States with highly detailed discussions of specific local cultural landscapes associated with various ethnic groups. This book provides coverage of several ethnic groups that were omitted from previous literature, including Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Arab-Americans, plus several smaller European ethnic populations. The book is organized to provide an overview of each of the substantive ethnic landscapes in the United States. Between its introduction and conclusion, which looks towards the future, the chapters on the various ethnic landscapes are arranged roughly in chronological order, such that the timing of the earliest significant surviving landscape contribution determines the order the groups will be viewed. Within each chapter the contemporary and historical spatial distribution of the ethnic groups are described, the historical geography of the group’s settlement is reviewed, and the salient aspects of material culture that characterize or distinguish the group’s ethnic landscape are discussed. Ethnics Landscapes of America is designed for use in the classroom as a textbook or as a reader in a North American regional course or a cultural geography course. This volume also can function as a detailed summary reference that should be of interest to geographers, historians, ethnic scholars, other social scientists, and the educated public who wish to understand the visible elements of material culture that various ethnic populations have created on the landscape.

New Jersey's Environments

New Jersey's Environments
Author: Neil M. Maher
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2006-01-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0813539226

Americans often think of New Jersey as an environmental nightmare. As seen from its infamous turnpike, which is how many travelers experience the Garden State, it is difficult not to be troubled by the wealth of industrial plants, belching smokestacks, and hills upon hills of landfills. Yet those living and working in New Jersey often experience a very different environment. Despite its dense population and urban growth, two-thirds of the state remains covered in farmland and forest, and New Jersey has a larger percentage of land dedicated to state parks and forestland than the average for all states. It is this ecological paradox that makes New Jersey important for understanding the relationship between Americans and their natural world. In New Jersey’s Environments, historians, policy-makers, and earth scientists use a case study approach to uncover the causes and consequences of decisions regarding land use, resources, and conservation. Nine essays consider topics ranging from solid waste and wildlife management to the effects of sprawl on natural disaster preparedness. The state is astonishingly diverse and faces more than the usual competing interests from environmentalists, citizens, and businesses. This book documents the innovations and compromises created on behalf of and in response to growing environmental concerns in New Jersey, all of which set examples on the local level for nationwide and worldwide efforts that share the goal of protecting the natural world.