Stone Harbor Resident Recieves 2016 Cecilia Gaines Holland Award

STONE HARBOR – May 3, 2016 at their annual convention in Atlantic City the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs (NJSFWC) of the General Federation of Women’s Club (GFWC) honored Barbara J. Hencheck (Barb) of Lambertville and Stone Harbor, NJ and Old Town, Amelia Island, FL as their 72^nd recipient of the Cecilia Gaines Holland Award. This prestigious award is given annually to one clubwoman who demonstrates her commitment to her community by performing outstanding civic and volunteer works that extend above and beyond her service to her club.
Barb has been a member of The Kalmia Club in Lambertville since 1978 serving as president, vice president, and chairing the Community Outreach Committee of which she continues as a member. She is a founder of the Lambertville Historical Society serving as its first curator and presenting historical programs at their Annual Meetings on two occasions. She chaired the Shad Festival in Lambertville. She worked to relocate a circa 1950 monument erected by the Pilgrims to the grounds of the Cape May County Genealogical and Historical Museum. In concert with the Stone Harbor Archival Museum, the Borough and the Chamber of Commerce she devoted her efforts to make the First Airmail Flight Reenactment over Stone Harbor a significant event.  During Stone Harbor’s 100^th anniversary year she devoted considerable effort to the centennial book serving on the Steering Committee and contributing to the writing.  She contributed to the museum’s video titled Stone Harbor the Early Years with a piece on Michael Lennon the Borough’s First Police Chief.  She researched and presented lectures with power points on The Early Years and Four Significant Early Families for the museum and for the yacht club on their founding history. She devotes effort to the preservation of the historical integrity and fabric of Old Town, Amelia Island.  She is an active member in many patriotic, lineage societies serving as Historian in both the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of New Jersey and the General Mercer Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.   She is the chair of both the Patriotic Service and Historical Activities Committees for the New Jersey Dames.  She is a historian and writer recently co-authored and published a book on Coryell’s Ferry, early Lambertville.
Cecilia served as the second president of the New Jersey Federation founded in 1894.  Established in 1944, the Cecilia Gaines Holland Award is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a New Jersey Clubwoman.  Besides her work with the Women’s Federation, Cecilia was known for her letter writing, newspaper and magazine articles, and frequent public speaking. She is most remembered for her commitment to the preservation of Cornwallis’s Headquarters and what would become the Palisades Interstate Park.  In 1909 at the Cornwallis Headquarters the governors of New Jersey and New York dedicated the park officially opening it to the public to mark the 300^th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the Hudson River.  In 1929 the Women’s Federation Memorial was dedicated to acknowledge the key role of women as Cecilia and the Federation in saving the Palisades.  Finally, in 1965 the United States Department of the Interior and the National Park Service designated the Palisades Interstate Park as a National Historic Landmark.
The NJSFWC provides opportunities for education, leadership training, and community service through participation in local clubs.  The New Jersey Federation is comprised of 200 clubs throughout New Jersey with over 8,000 members making it the largest volunteer women’s service organization in the state.  Community service is accomplished through a wide range of initiatives as the Special State Projects, advocacy through the issuance of Legislation Resolutions, and projects initiated by the local clubs. In 1918, it founded the New Jersey College for Women now Douglass College. Through their Douglass scholarship program among other scholarships they continue to support education.  Additionally during the summer it holds Girls’ Career Institute on the Douglass campus providing high school junior girls with an opportunity to work with women in a variety of career and professions as they explore the working world, women’s issues and contemporary problems.