Janet Nielsen didn’t waste any time when it came to planning the Brick Township Historical Society’s annual Christmas event at the Havens Homestead Museum.
Above: Mother and son Judy and Jeff Propert play a tune from the Civil War for visitors at the Havens Homestead Museum during the Brick Township Historical Society’s annual Christmas tour on Dec. 11. Below: Amanda Growney, 3, and Brooks Growney, 4, share a pre-Christmas visit with Santa Claus in the parlor. Ask her when she started coordinating the tour, you’ll get a oneword answer.
“January,” she said.
This year’s theme came to her when she and her daughter, Bonnie, were driving through New England.
“I said, ‘I need a theme for the 2009 tour. Something with the word Christmas,’ ” Nielsen said.
Cranberry Christmas, Bonnie replied.
“Perfect,” her mother said.
Nielsen was one of many historical society members on hand Friday night in the 1820s farmhouse, which was open to the public that evening and Sunday. She shared the small parlor with Santa Claus — aka society member Nick Capuano —who sat next to the fireplace clad in his trademark Victorian Santa blueberry-colored robe.
PHOTOS BY CLAIRE SHEPROW Nielsen spent much of the year creating all of the decorations for the pine tree, which was decorated with milkweed pods, pine cones and anything cranberry.
“I make all the handmade ornaments for the big tree,” she said before the event began. “I make a hundred of the giveaway ornaments. Then I do other ornaments, about 15 to 20 of each, and put them on the tree. I tried to make it very natural. I use natural stuff because it’s free.”
The only items on the tree that weren’t natural were the cranberries.
“If they were real, they would rot,” she said. “You can’t buy cranberries until they’re in season.”
New Jersey is one of the three states in the nation that is still a major cranberry producer, along with Massachusetts and Wisconsin. And Brick has a rich cranberry history.
T
he low-lying areas of Brick
Township provided just what cranberry plants needed — fresh water, acid peat soil, sand and a growing season that stretched from April to November. Farms began cultivating cranberries in Brick back in the 1840s. Cranberry production picked up around the time of the Civil War and reached its peak in 1900, when Brick led cranberry production in Ocean County, township historian Gene Donatiello has said.
Cranberries were once called the “miracle cure” of the season, Nielsen said.
“Ships stocked them during the season because they were known to prevent scurvy and other diseases,” she said. “It’s the pectin in the fruit.”
Vilma Oxenford, a longtime society member, stood at her post in what was once the only room in the farmhouse, handing out samples of cranberry compote, a mix of cranberries, apples, raisins, sugar and vinegar, and tiny cups of steamed cranberry pudding topped with a dollop of hard sauce.
Cranberries were a staple in homes back in the 1800s. The berries kept well, she said.
“It was a major part of their lives,” Oxenford told the visitors who gathered in the room lit by candlelight. “Families used it for breads and sauces. They used it for a number of things.” Members of the historical society began the Christmas tours of the homestead 12 years ago, society president Jane Fabach said, as she stood in the mud room of the farmhouse and welcomed visitors.
“We had a record number of people this year,” she said. “And this had to be the coldest we’ve had. I kind of like it at night because of the candlelight.”
Other visitors gathered in the room once known as the “inn” of the farmhouse. Back in the 1840s, the Havens family made a little extra money by serving breakfast and mid-afternoon dinner to travelers, society member Gene Donatiello said.
“They didn’t stay in business long,” said Donatiello, who came into the house briefly to escape the chill of the barn, where he had vintage trains set up.
Society member Jack Zezula ladled out hot cranberry punch spiked with oranges and spices.
“Welcome to the inn,” he boomed as visitors entered the room.
Jeff Propert and his mother, Judy, provided the music portion of the entertainment. Jeff played the fiddle and mandolin and Judy played the guitar. Brick resident and country music icon Jim Murphy played with them on the Sunday tour.
Society member Margaret Vanderburg made the punch and 15 different kinds of Christmas cookies displayed in baskets. Visitors were invited to help themselves to the goodies.
The house was in the Havens family since 1827, when Joshua Havens built a one-room cabin and bought 104 acres of land off what is now known as Herbertsville Road. Havens put a two-story addition on in 1846.
Elmer and May Havens donated the homestead to the historical society in March 1993, with the understanding that it would be used as a museum. The homestead does have a few concessions to modern life, including electricity and running water. A small room was remodeled into a kitchen. A rest room is off the kitchen.
The museum is open from April to October, except for special events. For more information about the Brick Township Historical Society, call (732) 785-2500 or go online at www.bricktwphistoricalsociety.com.