Free lecture series begins at HCSV

Historic Cold Spring Village’s 6th Annual Spring Lecture Series will take place on four consecutive Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m.
The March 25, April 8 and April 15 presentations will be held in the HCSV Welcome Center. The April 1 talk will take place in Price Hall on the grounds of the Cold Spring Presbyterian Church.
There is no charge for admission. The Free Spring Lecture Series is made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission.
“We look forward to offering these educational and entertaining presentations free of charge,” said HCSV Executive Director Anne Salvatore. “It is a great pre-season community gathering with enjoyable subject matter.”
Topics to be discussed focus on aspects of local and popular interest, with a particular emphasis on history and culture.
Featured speakers for 2009 are:
• March 25 – “Early Architecture of Cape May County,” by Joan Berkey, architectural historian and HCSV consultant.
Cape May County is fortunate to have a significant number of structures that have survived from the early years of the county’s history.
Berkey has extensively examined and researched each of them and the stories of those who built and inhabited those early homes.
She will discuss her recently published book, “Early Architecture of Cape May County, NJ: The Heavy Timber Frame Legacy.”
Copies of her book will be available for purchase.
• April 1 – “Do You Remember? Atlantic City, 1854-Present,” by Allen “Boo” Pergament, Atlantic City historian.
Pergament looks back at the glorious past of the city once known as “The World’s Playground.”
Hundreds of pictures, postcards and other memorabilia will present the story of Atlantic City from 1854 to the present.
This presentation will be held in Price Hall on the grounds of Cold Spring Presbyterian Church, Seashore Road, in the Cold Spring section of Lower Twp.
• April 8 – “The Coffee Trade and Luxury Goods in Early America,” by Dr. Michelle Craig McDonald, assistant professor of history at Stockton College.
The lecture presents a fascinating look at the importance of coffee and other tropical goods in Early American trade.
Using cookbooks, etiquette manuals, trade records and material objects, McDonald will explore how something once considered a luxury, became, by the early 19th century, an American way of life.
• April 15 – “Ghosts and Hauntings in Cape May,” by Craig McManus, psychic medium and author.
Cape May County has an interesting past, but do spirits from that past still inhabit the present?
The author of the popular three-volume “Ghosts of Cape May” series, as well as the upcoming “400 Years of the Ghosts of Cape May,” looks at hauntings in some of the area’s best-known homes and hotels.
Weather permitting, McManus may bring the group out into the Village to see what might be lurking in some of HCSV’s buildings!
For more information on this series, call 609-465-3535 or e-mail museum@co.cape-may.nj.us.