MULLICA HILL – At an April 2011 event entitled “We’re Still Here,” members of the Lenni-Lenape American Indian tribe of New Jersey gathered to dance, remember traditional ways, and promote cultural awareness. “Our history is a vital part of the history of this state and the country,” said Pastor John Norwood, whose Lenape name translates to Smiling Thunder Bear. “It’s a continuing history. It’s not just in the past. It’s something that is happening right now.” The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribe is still fighting for official recognition from the state of New Jersey.

ROEBLING – Visitors to the Empire State Building might be surprised to learn that a Trenton company, John A. Roebling’s Sons, made their elevator ride to the top possible. The same goes for some of the most instantly recognizable suspension bridges in the world. Even Charles Lindbergh’s landmark flight across the Atlantic and the first undersea cable linking the United States to Europe depended on wires Roebling manufactured during its heyday.

Roebling anchored Trenton as a major manufacturing hub from the mid-1800s into the second half of the 20th century. It even built a self-sufficient company town alongside its Kinkora Works plant eight miles south of Trenton.

The firm remained family-owned until 1952 but gradually succumbed to economic pressures, shutting down in 1974.

Today, the former company town of Roebling is a bedroom village community where many former plant workers or their descendants still live alongside newcomers.

It is also home to the Roebling Museum, which showcases the history of the company, its people and the community it built.

George Lengel, a retired history teacher and lifelong Roebling resident whose parents, grandparents and other relatives worked in the Kinkora plant, was a driving force behind the museum.

As a museum volunteer and board member, he plays his part in ensuring that Roebling’s special place in history and as a standard-bearer of New Jersey’s industrial glory days live on.

“It’s a remarkable story,” Lengel said.  “It would make a good movie some day.”

MARGATE – Lucy the Elephant, a six-story tall, wood and tin pachyderm-shaped building, has dominated the shoreline view of Margate since 1881. Now celebrating 130 years as a Jersey shore novelty, Lucy continues to be a popular tourist attraction. “Lucy was built here before there were roads,” says Bob McGuigan, assistant director of the Save Lucy Committee. “Before there were casinos, Lucy was here. Before there were condos, Lucy was here.”

ATLANTIC CITY – Joe Rechten, who dresses in red, white, and blue and is known as “The Cap’n,” is one of the most recognizable rolling chair operators on the boardwalk. Rechten has a history of unusual jobs, including mascot for the Atlantic City Surf minor league baseball team and ventriloquist. He recently pushed an elderly woman, who made a special trip to the boardwalk to ride in his chair. “That’s when you don’t mind doing a 14 or 16-hour shift,” said Rechten. “That’s what makes it worthwhile.”

CAPE MAY – Sue Hobbs is a globetrotting conchologist or scientist of shell life. As a leading authority in her field, she loans her findings to museums, galleries, and collectors. Several of her shells have toured through the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian. She is also an expert on the knobbed whelk, the official state shell of New Jersey.

LISTEN TO AUDIO OF JOHN GIANNOTTI

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.

CHERRY HILL – Students at Camden Catholic High School are raising brook trout, the official fish of New Jersey, from eggs to maturity and then releasing them back into streams. The project is part of the Trout In The Classroom program, an environmental science project in partnership with the Division of Fish and Wildlife and the conservation group, Trout Unlimited. It is challenging, yet rewarding work for both teachers and students; usually only 8 fish out of 300 eggs survive.

TUCKAHOE – Jesse Briggs, one of the captains of New Jersey’s official tall ship, the A.J. Meerwald, grew up in a seafaring family in the tugboat business. But he gave up a higher-paying tugboat job in Hawaii to seek out his paradise at the helm of the Meerwald in the remote former oyster port of Bivalve.

By Lauren Briede and Robert Stern

Photo courtesy of the E-Street Shuffle

By Sean Randazzo

LISTEN TO A CLIP OF THE E-STREET SHUFFLE

MANASQUAN – At 10:30 on a Saturday night, more than 70 people cram into Edgar’s Pub in Sea Girt to hear Sean Loughlin and his rock band play some music. But the crowd did not come to hear Loughlin’s original songs, they’ve come to hear Bruce Springsteen. And Loughlin, who fronts the Springsteen tribute band, E-Street Shuffle, is as close as anyone in the bar is going to get “The Boss” on this night.

The band begins the night with “Badlands” and immediately the crowd starts singing along and dancing.

Photo courtesy of the E-Street Shuffle

“Springsteen has always been number one to me,” said Loughlin, 34, after the show. “Everyone else is a distant second. I want to sing something that I believe in, and my goal for the night when we go out is to get as many people dancing and having fun as possible.”

In just a few years, E-Street Shuffle has traveled extensively, going as far as West Virginia, and playing in venues such as the Trump Plaza, Trump Marina, and the Atlantic City Hilton.

“Playing the big places is a lot of fun,” said Loughlin. “You play for maybe an hour and get paid three times the money you would playing at a bar like this.”

In addition to Loughlin, who has been the lead singer for the band since 2007, E-Street Shuffle consists of his younger brother, Ryan Loughlin, Bill Shanker, Rich Hodder, Chris Rudo, David Turner, and Mark Bistis. They come from all walks of life. Rudo is an airline pilot for Continental Airlines. Shanker, the saxophonist, is an executive at GMAC. Turner, the pianist, is a civil engineer. Bistis, the organist, owns his own printing company.

All the band members have played in various bands, but came together to cover Springsteen tunes. “It’s the right lineup, it really is,” said Rudo, the band’s bassist.

Photo courtesy of the E-Street Shuffle

While they haven’t played with The Boss, they have come pretty close.

“He knows about us,” said Ryan, the guitarist. “We played with the original E-Street drummer, Vinny Lopez, a few years ago.”

At Edgar’s Pub, the band played a three-and-a-half hour set, with just one 15-minute break. The show didn’t end until 2 a.m.

“He’s got a ton of hits and hits that sustain a night of music,” said Loughlin.

The set hit its highpoint when the band went into “Glory Days,” one of Springsteen’s most famous songs and one that taps into the sense of nostalgia that is the appeal of any cover band.

As the set ended, the people on the dance floor walked up to the band, and showered the group with praise and admiration. The band members talked with everyone they encountered. Some in the crowd are loyal fans who had seen the E-Street Shuffle previously.

“We play the hits, like ‘Glory Days’ and ‘Born to Run,’ but we also play the least-known songs, ones that only the most fanatical fan will know, and no other cover band of Bruce can really do that,” Loughlin said.

TRENTON – The Old Barracks Museum is one of the oldest standing public building in New Jersey and an icon of the Revolutionary War. Today it serves as an educational center for schools across the state. The staff regularly coordinates elaborate reenactments to teach residents about the state’s role during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. “You can do it in your own backyard,” said Richard Patterson, the executive director of the museum. “Half a tank of gas, $5 on the train…anything they do at Williamsburg, we do it here.”