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BY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
Notwithstanding the congestion and sprawl, New Jersey remains the Garden State.
Jersey tomatoes and our sweet corn are as tasty as any.
There is also a long and important connection to the cranberry.
North America's only native berry, and native to the state, Cranberries have long thrived here – especially the shallow lakes, cedar bogs, swamps, acidic soils of the Pine Barrens region. Lenape Indians used the berries for arrow wounds, and saw their preservative benefits as long lasting.
It did not take long for European colonists to see these benefits either. They found the medicinal benefits of cranberries. They also found that it could travel well over sea.
The first man-made bog in New Jersey was constructed in 1835 in Burlington County. The local wild berries were actually cultivated in the swamps and pine barrens of Burlington, Ocean, Atlantic, Cape May and Monmouth Counties. It grew to be a big business after the civil war.These days in New Jersey is listed as the third largest cranberry producing state after Wisconsin and Massachusetts. It is said to produce as much as 58 million pounds of cranberries a year in Burlington, Ocean and Atlantic Counties.
Each year this history and presence is celebrated in Chatsworth with the annual Cranberry Festival.
Chatsworth is home to an Ocean Spray juice factory. Its connection to the cranberries goes back a long ways. For example Pine Island Cranberry Company, a fifth family farm in Chatsworth, is the world's largest producing cranberry farm. As far back as the turn of the last century, pickers were trained out of Philadelphia to harvest area fields by hand.
Though mechanization has changed the harvesting process, the connection between berry and community is celebrated at the festival. There all things cranberry are honored.
The event is organized by the Chatsworth Club II. The original Chatsworth Club, circa 1900, included in its ranks the likes of DuPont, Vanderbilt and Astor and was dedicated to activities such as fishing, hunting and hiking.
The modern day version of the Chatsworth Club was started as a project to restore the historic White Horse Inn. These days it's dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the pinelands, which includes this event which is this year celebrating its 27th anniversary.
The aforementioned White Horse Inn, located at the intersection of Routes 532 and 563 at the railroad tracks, is headquarters for the event, which will take place on October 16-17. The inn itself one served as home to Prince Ruspoli of Rome and played host to numerous socialites, political dignitaries and millionaires prior to World War I.
The festival itself is a happening for everything cranberry. It is said to be the third largest cranberry festival in the nation. The color red is everywhere. It can be seen on everything from hats, clothes to cranberry ice cream cones.
And the red is used in a number of foods (cookies, pies, muffins, cranberry ketchup and even pizza). They try to determine the biggest and smallest cranberries. There are cranberry crafts (wreaths, dolls, etc.) and there's a unique use of red is an antique car parade for which an award is given to the car with best cranberry coat of paint.
The festival, also a tribute to the Pine Barrens and its culture, is rounded out by a large range of other activities including country music, storytelling with an accent on local folklore, and a large marketplace.
When it's done you might also contemplate a stop at Buzby's General Store – a local mainstay since 1985 and a place made famous by John McPhee – where one can pick up a Cranberry cookbook.
Or you might get a look of the brilliantly colored bogs. While there are no tours being offered this year (there is no recipe contest or photography contest this year either), visitors have the chance to learn about the cranberry industry and how the fruit is grown and harvested. It's quite a site if you're lucky enough to be able to watch harvesters, clad in chest-high waders, guide the crop through a golden mass of scarlet fruit to an elevator and then on to trucks on one of those picture perfect clear sunny autumn days.
And then there are the makeshift roadside stands to be found on the way in and out of town to pick up cranberries or tchotchkes.
It's a fun time and you'll leave with one less item on your Thanksgiving food list. And it's all right here in the Garden State.
