It's a Boat! It's a Train! It's An Inclined Plane!

If you stayed up late to watch fireworks, in celebration of Independence Day,
you might have looked like this on Monday morning:

Or not.

If by chance you were the mascot for your town's 4th of July parade and celebration, and you really wanted to be anywhere but there, you might have looked like this:

Or not.

I hope you didn't spend Independence Day with these ladies:

. . . because they don't look happy.

I understand that when they finished the flag,
they used it to wrap up that starched nurse like a mummy, and make a break for it.

They were last seen at a 7-11, stealing a 6-pack of Bud and a bag of Twizzlers.

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In July of 1832, when That Old House was brand new, Independence Day celebrations
in New York City were subdued and cautious; the city was in the grip of a cholera epidemic.

But out in what was then the country, there were only
sporadic outbreaks of cholera, and patriotic celebrations went on as usual
in the country towns -- parades, fireworks, picnics and music; daylong celebrating.
Just as Benjamin Franklin hoped for in 1776.
Only, he thought we'd be celebrating on July 2nd.

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The big news of 1832 in northern New Jersey was the Morris Canal, a man-made ditch that ran from Newark Bay on the Atlantic to Phillipsburg on the Delaware River at the border with Pennsylvania.

102 miles.
Elevation changes totaled more than 1600 feet, made possible by a series of locks,
inclined planes, and rails -- powered by a giant underground turbine.
Pretty slick engineering for the early 19th century.

1832 was its first full year of operation, and boats passing on the Canal
could have watched That Old House being built;
our house is across the street from the old Canal site (now filled in).

This is a picture of the Morris Canal, as it ran through our town,
about a mile north of That Old House, which was on the left (or west) side of the waterway.
You can't see our house in the picture -- it would be further along in the lower left.

But if we had a picture of our house from those days,
it would show the house to be about half the size it is now.

That's 2010, a color photo turned sepia on the computer.

That Old House has seen many July Fourth celebrations;
let's hope there are many more July Fifths in its future!

My Dad came for dinner on the 4th; last year we brought him home from the hospital on the 4th of July, after his first of three pneumonias in the past year. This year, we used our tablesetting from last Thursday, Howard grilled burgers, and we all gave thanks.

Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday.
Visit her at Little Red House, here!


And thanks also to Cielo at The House In The Roses,
for Show Off Your Cottage Monday.

Thanks to Karen at The Graphics Fairy, for the patriotic images, above.
Her blog is a fabulous resource of vintage art!

The New York Historical Society is where I found the cholera broadside, and from the New Jersey Canal Society comes the image of the canal, and the information. Interested in learning more about the best mode of transportation in the new republic, until the railroads came to town? Visit the Society here.

And if you drive around northern New Jersey, you can spot dozens of "Morris Canal" historical markers that pinpoint some still-existent canal ditches, and spots where the canal crossed what is now a modern road.

I wish you a Happy 5th Of July, 6th Of July, 7th Of July . . . you get the picture.
3 cheers for the red, white and blue! -- Cass