By Jennifer Ortiz
Staff Writer
HOWELL — To Ann Julian, who is a member of the Heritage Group of Howell, pursuing local history means each question that is answered leads to another question to be asked.
“And you say, ‘Gee, that was interesting. Let me take it just a little bit further.’ You get the bug bite and then you have to itch,” Julian said.
Julian said there is a great deal of information about the past just waiting to be shared and she said the group is working to keep history alive.
On June 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Howell Library, Old Tavern Road, history re-enactors Stuart Buncher and Judi Buncher will come in costume as Sister Veronica, who was one of the first naval nurses on the first naval hospital ship during the Civil War, and Marine Cpl. Andrew Tomlin, who was one of two New Jersey soldiers to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War.
The program is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Heritage Group of Howell and the Friends of the Howell Library.
Judy Buncher contacted the Sisters of the Holy Cross, to which Sister Veronica belonged, to recreate the habit that would have been worn by a nun of Sister Veronica’s order, to be as accurate and realistic as possible in her portrayal.
Julian credits the Friends of the Howell Library and the library staff for making the historic presentations possible.
“We (the Heritage Group of Howell) are an informal group; a handful of people who have an interest in history. We are in our third year of presenting programs of different interests, not only Civil War related,” Julian said.
On Sept. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Howell Library, Gretchen Coyle and Deborah Whitcraft, the authors of “Inferno at Sea: Stories of Death and Survival Aboard the Morro Castle,” will speak.
“The Morro Castle was a cruise ship that went from New York to Havana, Cuba, in the late 1920s. It was a quick trip … and people were looking to have fun, so this cruise was a big hit. Something happened off the coast of Asbury Park; the ship caught fire,” Julian said.
Julian said people on land tried to help the passengers who were abandoning the ship and heading for shore.
“It was quite an event,” Julian said, and one that left people asking why a ship of that size was not prepared for a fire. “Hopefully, this book written by these two ladies will answer that.”
Another event may focus on the Howell Preventorium, which was a building designed to isolate patients who were infected with tuberculosis, but who did not yet have an active form of the disease. The building (on Preventorium Road) closed in the late 1950s and eventually housed Howell’s municipal offices. A former employee of the Preventorium may address attendees, Julian said.
“In the early 1900s, tenements were crowded, people were not necessarily healthy and tuberculosis was prevalent. The children would be brought to the Preventorium and nursed back to health,” Julian said. “It was an employer in the community … there are a lot of pictures and stories that go along with the Preventorium.”
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Julian said the Heritage Group of Howell is always looking for volunteers.
“We are looking for a following, for suggestions, for people interested in keeping the history rolling,” she said.