History and Culture in Cumberland County

I always shake my head when I hear people say there isn't anything to do in Cumberland County because there's tons of things to do for all ages if you know where to look.

And so in this upcoming series here on the Bridgeton Beacon, we are going to be highlighting all of the county's amazing art and cultural opportunities and most importantly showing you where you can go to find the upcoming calendar of events. Let's begin by talking about the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission, which serves as the hub for all of these events. Its mission is dedicated to the development and promotion of public interest in the arts and history of local and county cultural traditions.

Each year, the County of Cumberland receives block grants provided by both the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Historical Commission. The Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission then re-grants this money to various in-county, non-profit organizations based on criteria established to determine A, the quality of the proposed programming and B, that anticipated value to the community. So a significant part of the commission's work each year is the development and administration of these various grant opportunities secured for these in-county, non-profit organizations.

So where can you go to find out more about the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission and find that calendar of art, cultural, and educational things to do in Cumberland County? Well, several years ago, the county embarked on an Explore Cumberland County tourism campaign. So I want to make it a point to mention that the county's Cultural and Heritage Commission's website is new and you can find it at jay.com. They also have a new Facebook page titled Explore Cumberland NJ as well as a new Instagram page entitled at Explore Cumberland NJ. I'm making it a specific point to emphasize this new website and these new social media pages because the old website and old social media pages haven't been taken down yet.

So for example, if you were to conduct a Google search for the commission, you'd link to the old website which was previously located at cumberlandnjart.org. In fact, the Cumberland County, the county's website still links to that old site as does the Google listing. And so that may create confusion for folks who might search the old site and get the wrong impression that nothing's going on. So again, you want to make sure you bookmark the current website ExploreCumberlandNJ.com and the current Facebook and Instagram pages that both use that Explore Cumberland New Jersey handle.

I want to give a shout out to Mary Williams who is the Shared Services Coordinator for the Cumberland County Department of Planning, Tourism and Community Affairs for keeping the calendars on these new sites updated and current. Now once you start exploring, you will quickly see that the arts are alive in Cumberland County. You got the Bay Atlantic Symphony, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Glass Town Arts District, Vineland Regional Dance Company, the Carlisle School of Glass Art, Clay College, the Cumberland Players, Gallery 50, the Landis Theater, the Lavoie Theater, the Off-Broad Street Players, the Luciano Theater, the Delce-Driven Theater, Pat Witt's Barnes Studio of the Art, and one of my favorites, the Bridgeton Public Library.

And these are just a few of the many opportunities to explore the arts in Cumberland County. There's also literally dozens and dozens of farms, farm markets, parks, including the Kahansik Zoo in Bridgeton, nature preserves, wildlife management areas. You've got the Albert J. Kalanich Nature Trail in Bridgeton, Clark's Pond and Wildlife Management Area down in Ferryton, Cumberland Pond in Millville, Glade's Wildlife Refuge in Downtown Shetland, Manamusken River Preserve, and the wild and scenic Morris River and Bluffs Preserve, which I actually had the pleasure of hiking recently, and if you haven't been there, you've got to go.

Now let's switch gears for a minute and talk history. As many of you know, Cumberland County is home to a number of historical sites and museums, and as I mentioned a few minutes ago, the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission supports, through its re-granting program, local non-profits that promote local history. There are quite frankly hundreds, and too many to name here, although I did want to specifically mention the Cumberland County Historical Society, which was organized as a non-profit in 1905.

They have a wonderful website. You can find it cchistsoc.org. They also have an active Facebook page where they highlight their many regular events and programming at the Gibbon House in Greenwich, the Warren and Reba Lummis Genealogical and Historical Research Library, the Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory, as well as the John DuBois Maritime Museum. The Historical Society also just completed a very exciting project in which they digitized the Bridgeton Evening News, which is now available for viewing down at the Lummis Library in Greenwich.

So be sure to check out the Cumberland County Historical Society's blog, website, Facebook page, and upcoming speaker series, which we will also promote in this series and in future series on the Bridgeton Beacon. None of this would be available without the support of the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding obtained from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, as well as the New Jersey Historical Commission. But it's meaningless unless we support those events through our attendance and our participation.

Our mission here at the Bridgeton Beacon is to promote awareness for all of the amazing people, organizations, businesses, nonprofits in the South Jersey area. But we can't do it without you. So please like and share our YouTube channel, follow us on Facebook, or follow us on your favorite podcast app.

We really hope you do and we really hope to see you soon.