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Hadrosaurus Foulkii: New Jersey’s Oldest Resident
By Stephen Finn
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF JOHN GIANNOTTI
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Former Rutgers University professor John Giannotti is responsible for creating the Hadrosaurus Foulkii sculpture in downtown Haddonfield, N.J.
HADDONFIELD – A small South Jersey town with picturesque, old-time charm, Haddonfield is home to corner cafes, boutiques, gourmet restaurants… and a ten-foot dinosaur.
While strangers to the town might not believe their eyes, Haddonfield’s residents livecomfortably in the shadow of a giant reptile. The Hadrosaurus foulkii is actually one of local artist John Giannotti’s lifelike pieces of public art proudly displayed in the center of the town’s shopping district.
Giannotti is an artist, sculptor, and a former professor of fine arts at Rutgers University. His work can be seen in public areas everywhere from his hometown in Haddonfield to Soka University in Tokyo, Japan. In 2002, he was commissioned by his town to build a sculpture commemorating the 1858 discovery in Haddonfield of the first intact dinosaur skeleton found in North America.
The historic discovery of the Hadrosaurus led to its being named New Jersey’s official state dinosaur in 1991. The prehistoric addition to Jersey’s state symbols was made possible by the efforts of elementary school teacher Joyce Berry and her fourth grade class at Strawbridge Elementary School in Haddon Township.
Over the roughly ten-month period it took to complete the dinosaur, Giannotti invited children from surrounding schools to visit his studio. Each one was given a piece of clay to place anywhere on the framework of the Hadrosaurus, or “Haddy” as they started calling it. The project was gradually becoming theirs and Giannotti wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“It became a real community project,” Giannotti recalls. “I was really happy with how it turned out. Children still come to visit the sculpture and point to the spot where they put their piece of clay.”
There’s not many places you can go and tell someone to “meet me at the dinosaur” without sounding slightly deranged, but for Haddonfield locals the Hadrosaurus represents not only a landmark centerpiece for the town’s business district, but a community project that brought people together and will continue to do so for years to come.
Champagne Wishes and Blueberry Dreams
"It's a fantastic, bubbly slice of South Jersey." - Susan Dawson, tour guide of Renault Winery in Atlantic County.
By Don Woods
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF SUSAN DAWSON AT THE RENAULT WINERY
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EGG HARBOR CITY – Renault Winery, which has been making champagne for 150 years, has an interesting twist on the official fruit of the State of New Jersey. The most popular beverage is their patented Blueberry Champagne.
“We’re the only winery in the country that makes blueberry champagne,” said Joseph Milza, assistant manager of Joseph’s Restaurant at Renault Winery, which is located in Atlantic County.
Louie Renault of Champagne, France, founded the winery in 1864. Because of being grandfathered into the champagne tradition, Renault is the only place in the United States that can call their sparkling wine champagne.
With blueberry farms in Hammonton so close by, it is no surprise that the winery chose the fruit for their special brand of champagne.
Bill Shipley from Williamstown visited Renault for his anniversary. After trying the bever
age he described it as, “Sweet and bubbly with a little bit of a kick.”
“I actually prefer a fruity champagne over a dry,” Shipley said. “It does give you that feeling of celebration.”
The champagne won the bronze award in the New Jersey State Wine Competition Awards in both 2007 and 2009. It also won the bronze in Finger Lakes International Wine Competition in 2010.
“We are the Garden State,” Milza said. “It kind of makes for a great match.”
Renault marries the New Jersey tradition of both blueberries and wine into one concoction.
“These two things together makes blueberry champagne a really local based phenomenon that just comes out to be a wonderful product and delicious,” Milza said.
Spotting the Eastern Goldfinch in Cape May
By Jodi Kovacs
LISTEN TO MIKE CREWE OF THE CAPE MAY BIRD OBSERVATORY
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Mike Crewe is a naturalist at the birding school and store manager at the Cape May Bird Observatory.
CAPE MAY – As spring approaches, many South Jersey residents are rediscovering the joy of bird watching at The Cape May Bird Observatory. But spotting the Eastern Goldfinch, the official bird of New Jersey, is difficult this time of year.
The New Jersey State Bird: American Goldfinch - Photo courtesy of creativecommons.org
In the summer, the bird is a golden-yellow in color. In the fall and winter, it turns a deep brown, making it hard to distinguish from other birds. Many people mistake the Eastern Goldfinch for sparrows.
“If you didn’t know your birds you probably wouldn’t even believe it was a Goldfinch,” said Mike Crewe, a naturalist at the birding school and store manager at the Cape May Bird Observatory.
The Eastern Goldfinch, which stays in the area for winter, often feeds on common backyard feeders in New Jersey.
The Cape May Bird Observatory offers educational walks and activities year round.
The Cape May Bird Observatory was founded in 1976 and remains a non-profit center for research, environmental education, bird conservation, and recreational birding activities. It is open year-round five days a week.
Members can visit the shop and bird watch. Experts offer guided walks on trails and to points where bird watching is especially popular.
Throughout the year, the observatory has festivals, bird walks and boat trips, photo exhibits, bird watching classes, and events for kids.
Racehorses Past Their Prime Find Retirement Haven
By Robert Stern
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF DOMINIKA NAWROT AND HER HORSES
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HAMILTON – When sudden blindness robbed Duke of his eyesight many years ago, it also abruptly ended his days as a competitive racehorse. Sightless, Duke was as good as dead.
Dominika Nawrot draws blood from Homer, a retired Standardbred in the care of the Standardbred Retirement Foundation, to test for equine infectious anemia.
As recently as five years ago, some 105,000 horses in the United States were slaughtered for their meat, many simply because they were past their prime as racing, riding or companion horses, according to a 2010 federal report on horse-slaughter prevention by the Congressional Research Service.
Duke avoided that fate because his compassionate racing family handed him off to a nonprofit organization in New Jersey – where the horse is the official state animal – that either serves as a sanctuary for retired harness racehorses like Duke or places them with loving adoptive caretakers.
In its 22-year existence, the Standardbred Retirement Foundation, which is located in Mercer County, has found adoptive homes for more than 2,300 horses.
Many others that are too old or too physically impaired to be easily adopted, including Duke, remain in the foundation’s care for life.
“No one wants to adopt him because it’s hard to cope with a blind horse,” said Dominika Nawrot, the foundation’s horse trainer, barn manager and volunteer coordinator.
Duke and other horses live at the leased 133-acre farm where the foundation is based in Hamilton, Mercer County, while others in the foundation’s care are at boarding facilities elsewhere.
Duke has learned to adjust to his blindness in remarkable ways, endearing himself as one of Nawrot’s favorites, she said.
He has the trust and confidence to run as long as a rider has him under saddle, she said.
“He’s kind of our wonder pony,” Nawrot said, using the term loosely since Duke is 21 years old and his pony days are long gone.
Duke even has a companion horse, Taxi, which he relies on as his “seeing-eye pony,” Nawrot said.
Dominika Nawrot leads a retired Standardbred, Graig, out of his paddock while her pit bull puppy, Herbie, checks things out on Feb. 14, 2011.
Every horse with which the foundation gets involved is a Standardbred because that was its founders’ desire.
Standardbreds are the horses in harness racing, where the horse is hitched to a two-wheeled cart.
That doesn’t mean Standardbreds, even those with a wildly independent streak like Nawrot’s own Ozzy, can’t be adapted to horseback riding, Nawrot said.
She said Ozzy’s willingness to be ridden is almost beyond belief, considering the nasty temperament of his younger years at the track.
“Now we use him for pony rides at our events. He’s kid-safe. He’s dog-safe,” Nawrot said. “I do 50-mile endurance rides with him.”
But there are vast numbers of other unwanted horses across the United States that caregivers like Nawrot and organizations like the Standardbred Retirement Foundation don’t have the resources to reach.
These days, many wind up exported to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada to be butchered for their meat because the last three horse slaughterhouses that operated in the United States shut down in 2007.
Tour Guide at the Top of the Cape May Light House
By Lauren Briede
LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH GERRY BENJES, CAPE MAY LIGHTHOUSE TOUR GUIDE
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CAPE MAY – Each day, Gerry Benjes, 87, climbs the 199 steps to the top of 157-foot tall Cape May lighthouse to tell visitors about the history of the town and structure. Benjes has worked at the lighthouse since it opened in 1988. “That is about as high as you can go,” says Benjes.” I’m trying to do it for 25 years.”