Hello, everyone! I just wanted to spread the word about an information session the Library Director will be holding tomorrow night (Thursday, April 30, 2012) at 7 pm. View pictures of the new construction, take a video tour, learn about how the library will be furnished, and hear from the Friends of the Library about their part in the move. I will also be there to talk about the Ride to Read. If you are interested in what I'm pedaling 60 miles to raise money for, please stop by!
Curious about why the journey from the Catherine D. Hofman Branch to the Northeast Branch is called Fifty Shades of Death? During one of my training rides, I stopped by the infamous Shades of Death Road in Allamuchy Twp, where I'll be riding during the second part of the Ride to Read.
To add to what I said in the video, the earliest mention of the name "Shades of Death" that I have seen is from the book Archaeology of Warren and Hunterdon Counties by Max Schrabisch and published 1917. The entry was about a cave called a "Fairy Hole" that is located "a few hundred yards west of a ravine known as "Shades of Death" (page 57). Another archeology book, Archaeology of New Jersey by Dorothy Cross, published in 1941, describes that spot as being a "heavily wooded valley formed by the northern end of Jenny Jump Mountain and a small hill to the east" (page 143).
The Easton Express newspaper printed an obituary of a man named Bill Cummins who was murdered on Shades of Death Road in 1928. The obituary describes Cummins' home as being located "in the wild regions near Great Meadows known as the 'Shades of Death'", and it references a previous murder in the area from May of 1923 committed by Myrtle Carpenter. A second death notice, about Cummins' funeral, describes the place of the murder as the "Shades of Death" section of Independence.
We may never know exactly how that spot got its name, but there sure is a lot of interesting history to dig up about it!
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates on my training and for some details about the type of furnishings for the new building that I'm raising money for!
Some people have asked me if they could join the Ride to Read and ride the course with me, and the answer is yes! Here are some details in case you or someone you know is interested:
Cyclists may join me for any part of the ride. It could be 5 miles, it could be a branch-to-branch section, or it could be 60 miles.
In order to ride, please make a donation. You may collect sponsorships for yourself or give an amount of your choice.
The Library van will make periodic stops along the course to advertise the ride and provide limited assistance, if needed. The van will not be able to shuttle you back to a previous point on the course.
The owner of Rock-N-Root Cycle in Andover has offered to ride with me and provide mechanical assistance, if needed.
The pace will probably be slow. I'll have a good idea of the approximate miles per hour after some of my long training rides in the coming weeks.
The ride will begin at 9 am on Wednesday, September 19th (rain date Wednesday, September 26th).
I plan on stopping at each branch for about 30 minutes.
I'm guessing that with the stops, the entire ride will take about 7 1/2 hours.
Neither the Friends of the Library nor the Warren County Library can be held accountable for any illness or injury that you may experience during the ride.
If you have further questions, you can post a comment here on the blog, email me at reference@warrenlib.org, or call the library at 908-475-6322.
This past week, staff from all branches of the Warren County Library headed over to the county fairgrounds to meet and greet fair-goers at the library's booth. We gave tours of the bookmobile and offered a free raffle for 4 different prize baskets. I was there myself on Wednesday night and was so pleased to find that so many people were interested in supporting my Ride to Read. Thank you to everyone for stopping by the booth!
The library had a table inside the Freeholders' building which included a book-shaped monitor of pictures from library events, flyers and brochures about the library and its programs, and a really big Ride to Read banner!
