Hunter Research Gets Its Just Awards

We are proud and privileged to be the recipient of two of the state’s 29th Annual New Jersey Historic Preservation Awards announced last Friday, February 19, in a virtual ceremony streamed live to the region’s preservation community. 

One award was for archaeological mitigation performed on the site of the recently completed Honors Living-Learning Center at Rutgers Newark.  This project entailed the excavation, analysis and reinterment of more than 300 sets of human skeletal remains recovered from the former Halsey Street Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in downtown Newark.  Joining us as part of the winning team were Rutgers, RBH Group, and Monmouth University anthropologist Hillary DelPrete.  More information about this project can be found in a previous news post here. 

The other award was for Hunter Research’s participation in a team led by architects Clarke Caton Hintz and heritage tourism consultant Cheryl Hargrove, which conducted a statewide visitor readiness study of Revolutionary War sites in New Jersey for the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area.  The study was undertaken in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and involved analysis of 150 historic sites. The full report can be downloaded here.

A full list of Hunter Research’s past awards can be found here.

Jackson Street Bridge – Trenton Made

The historic Jackson Street Bridge over the Assunpink Creek is a central feature of Mill Hill Park in downtown Trenton. Thanks to a New Jersey Historic Trust grant, this pin-connected, Pratt, through-truss structure, fabricated in 1888 by Trenton’s own New Jersey Steel & Iron Company (NJS&IC), is now receiving needed repairs and a paint job that should last it at least another quarter century Over the past several years, Hunter Research has assisted the City of Trenton in fulfilling the terms of the grant with tasks related to preserving and interpreting the bridge, as well as other resources in Mill Hill Park.

The Jackson Street Bridge is thought to be one of just four examples of NJS&IC truss bridges surviving in the United States. One of the other three is located on East Ward Street in Hightstown, New Jersey, and curiously the other two are in Texas. Hunter Research’s Principal Historian/Architectural Historian Patrick Harshbarger offered remarks on the bridge’s significance at a groundbreaking ceremony in September 2020. He noted how bridges like this one, designed as a kit of parts akin to a large erector set, represented a pinnacle of American ingenuity and were shipped all over the world. An interpretive sign, developed by Hunter Research, is located on a walkway near the bridge’s southern approach. It describes the role of NJS&IC in hot rolling the steel shapes, like I-beams, plates, channels and angles, which made this bridge technology possible.

Passaic County - Making History Accessible

Hunter Research recently teamed with Dorothy Hartman of History in the Making to complete an innovative interpretive plan for historic sites, museums and parks throughout Passaic County in northern New Jersey.  Geographically and demographically diverse, the county challenges any attempts to distill its story into a single perspective. From its populous communities on the I-80 corridor to sparsely developed northern highlands, Passaic County brings together a metropolitan worldview, based on generations of immigrants from all over the world, yet, in places, still rests on a bedrock of small towns and closely knit neighborhoods.

The interpretive plan fulfills one of the recommendations of the Heritage Tourism Element of the Passaic County Master Plan, which set the goal of promoting high-quality countywide history and culture. The interpretive plan anticipates a new “core” exhibit at the historic Lambert Castle, which is undergoing restoration and scheduled to reopen in 2023. The core exhibit will explore the full breadth of the county’s heritage and culture, threading together the three themes of Nature’s All Around You, a Culturally Diverse and Creative People, and the Freedom to Think, Invent and Innovate. Satellite exhibits will be placed strategically, encouraging visitors to explore interpretive programming throughout the county. The plan collected data from 55 locations, of which about half currently have interpretive programs, and the remainder having the potential to offer high-quality interpretation with further investment. The project was made possible through a grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust to the Friends of Passaic County Parks, and was developed under the direction of Kelly Ruffel, Director of the Passaic County Department of Cultural and Historic Affairs.