[NJARC] Speedwell Village

[Dave Sica]

Although I wasn't very happy that I couldn't get over to Kutztown today,
the good news is that I was around to check out the grand reopening of
Historic Speedwell Village in Morristown. 

The place where Vail and Morse did their historic work has been more than
a little neglected in recent years. But the just completed renovation
project had the landmark looking pretty good for its age, and there also
were some special events on tap today. Brand new interactive exhibits
were on display to the public for the first time and historic re-enactors
operated a two-way vintage telegraph system on the second floor of the
Factory building, the place where the telegraph was invented.  In
addition, there were military re-enactors, blacksmithing demonstrations
and several other things I didn't check out too carefully; I was there to
see the telegraph exhibits!

Although I didn't think to bring my camera, I took a bunch of photos with
my phone. The photos are pretty bad (they look more like they might have
been taken with a telegraph than a phone!) but you can get the general
idea. http://www.njarc.org/speedwell.html

This is a genuinely historic site and I've passed by it many times in the
past thirty years or so, always meaning to stop in. Today seemed like the
perfect time to actually do it, and finding myself with an hour free this
afternoon, I was glad I did. Like being in the Marconi Hotel or the Chief
Engineer's cottage at InfoAge, it's a bit awe inspiring to think that
you're actually standing where the great inventors of the past have
stood. But the museum display area actually left me a little
underwhelmed. Our own Radio Technology museum, although it's still taking
shape, holds up pretty well by comparison, in my humble opinion. And
despite the obviously considerable sums of money poured into the
Speedwell interactive displays, having watched visitors at both locations
I can say that our displays seem to be far more engaging to visitors.
Still, Speedwell is easily worth the trip. 

Did anyone else get there today? I'd be interested to hear what you
thought.

--Dave Sica









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