First Flight in America

On January 9th, 1793 the renowned French aeronaut, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, made the first air voyage in America. Monsieur Blanchard, accompanied by a small black dog, various scientific instruments, a few bottles of wine, and an official passport from President George Washington, began his ascent at 9 minutes after 10 o'clock in the AM. With a waving of a double-sided French & American flag to the amassed spectators, Blanchard lifted into the hitherto virginal American aerial domain from the courtyard of the Walnut Street Prison grounds at 6th & Walnut, Philadelphia.

Blanchard's Vaisseau Volant, his dirigible balloon.
Sketch by M. E. Wigfield, after a 1784 engraving
in the collection of William Gerhard.

His ascension was met with cheers from the crowds who gathered to witness the historic spectacle, shouting from the grounds below, from neighboring rooftops and out of open windows. After a kindly parting of a flock of pigeons to make way for the air balloon and having been now carried away from the city, Monsieur Blanchard remarked of the Delaware reflecting sunbeams "painted of a transparent white" and appearing to be of a breadth of about four inches. Once across the river, Blanchard became concerned with gathering clouds in the Southeast and began his descent. He was about to land amongst the woods very close to Woodbury, but his impact on the city had already become apparent prior to even Blanchard's launch as noted by the following entries in Woodbury resident and businessman Samuel Mickle's diary:

"1793. 1/8. Made some preparations to visit Philada. tomorrow morning. Having forgot ye report of a Balloon intended to be raised there tomorrow... ...also that all of Woodbury almost was going to see it, which appeared likely to obstruct my business... ...have postponed going there. 1793. 1/9. Great ado with looking for and at the Balloon which came, I suppose, within one mile from and eastward of us at Woodbury, and perhaps one-half mile in height. This is an instance of the body also as well as the mind being in ye air. Balloon is ye subject in almost every quarter."

A Map of the First Air Voyage in America, by M.E. Wigfield,

after a map by Erwin L. Schwatt, aviator. The certificate

of descent given to Blanchard gave the distance as

"about fifteen miles from Philadelphia" to Woodbury.

They probably estimated the distance by the carriage roads.

A homing pigeon would fly it in about nine miles.

But Blanchard's air voyage was not straight.

Blanchard landed in a clearing in the woods in the township of Deptford after being in the air for 46 minutes. With the help of the signed letter of passport from President Washington and the offering of wine, Blanchard, who spoke no English, was able to convince a few, at first, very shocked farmers to assist him on his return to Philadelphia. The names of the local residents being: Everard Bolton, Joseph Griffith, Joseph Cheesman, Samuel Taggart, Amos Castell, and Zara North.

"He is no dry-as-dust scientist; he is inspired. At the time of his forty-fifth aerial adventure, then ten years after his first, he is still excited and interested at every moment of his life in the air. He is a friendly man, an honest, modest fellow, an enthusiastic Frenchman, and eloquent writer. He is the gallant aeronaut waving his plumed hat, together with a double flag, as the ascension begins." (Frey & Blanchard, 1943)

A Portrait of Jean Pierre Blanchard, by M.E. Wigfield,
after the 1785 engraving by I. Sewel.
Fac simile of Blanchard's mononymized signature.



Frey, C., & Blanchard, J. (1943). The first air voyage in America; the times, the place, and the people of the blanchard balloon voyage of January 9, 1793, Philadelphia to Woodbury, together with a fac simile reprinting of the journal of my forty-fifth ascension and the first and the first in america by Jean Pierre Blanchard. Philadelphia, PA: Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Preservation Potentials: 30 Newton Avenue

Attention: Victorian House Lovers, Steampunks, Anglophiles, and fellow appreciators of all things antique! I'm not sure old-house hunters outside the immediate area realize the unique architectural offerings this quaint city has in store. In some cases these houses will require a little creativity to restore them to their former glory, but most will have retained a large semblance of the magnificent days of English-inspired American architecture, for a fraction of the cost found in other areas. The City of Woodbury offers a generous tax abatement program for conversions from multi-house setups back to single family homes, further details HERE.

Today's featured house is an amazing three story brick Victorian built in 1893. The left side is for sale, listed at $152,000 and features many original details such as original porch, 1st floor bay window and double entry doors. The right side of the building houses a quiet lawyers office. Newton Avenue is a lovely street populated with many fine Victorian houses, one of the best is situated right across the street, so you would have a lovely view of an immaculately maintained and stately home (see the second picture below for the partial view).

with this porch, one can surely travel back in time.

As it stands now, 30 Newton is separated into various offices so potential office space rental income exists, but the house is multi zoned so there would be no problem converting it back into a single family home or a live-in office with 2477 square feet of living space.

For the listing visit: HERE. It is my opinion that reviving a once grand city is a community effort that largely starts at home. Vested homeowners that value the history and heritage of their house and who treat their home as an extension of the family and not just some place to crash, can and do make a difference. Preserve the past, to better the future!

Bird's Eye View 1886 style

Below is a small excerpt from the amazingly detailed historic panoramic map of the City of Woodbury created by O.H. Bailey and Co. in 1886. One can clearly see how navigable and important Woodbury Creek was in those days and how many businesses used the watery thoroughfare to their advantage. I would personally love to see some kind of ferry service to Philadelphia restored, but not sure to what extent the creek has changed over the many years to allow such travel.

click image for larger version

Other points of interest on the map are the original covered bridge on Broad Street over the creek and the trellis bridge on Hunter over the railroad tracks. Note Newton Avenue, a prominent Victorian street parallel and between Hunter and Cooper streets, was not yet created. The view is towards the East. What else do you see? Feel free to comment!

The full version of the map is freely available from the inimitable Library of Congress HERE.

John W. Thompson's Grocery Store

Woodbury lost another piece of its architectural history early Saturday morning, January 14th, 2012. A multi-alarm fire ripped through the 1870 John W. Thompson Sr.'s Grocery Store. The building was so badly damaged it was demolished later that day. Fortunately the 91 year old resident escaped with his life. His son had just replaced the batteries in all of the smoke detectors in the house.

"John W. Thompson Sr.'s grocery store on the southwest corner of Penn and Glover Streets was opened around 1870 and was in operation for three generations. Thompson's featured its own delivery service, which brought fresh poultry and produce to homeowners on a daily basis. The store closed in 1956 and later became the Colonial Electric Shop." (Sands, 2006) "The house was purchased by John W. Thompson, Jr., glassblower, in 1885. His father, John W. Thompson, Sr. died in 1891. Sr. lived in the house a year or so before he died. John W. Thompson, Jr. had a son John W. Thompson, who ran the store until he died in 1935. The last John W. Thompson mentioned fathered a fourth John W. Thompson who died of pneumonia in his youth (about 1917)." This house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1984 image of the Thompson House.

2010 image by Ton2cats

I just visited the site and all that is left is a smoldering pile of debris surrounded by a still lovely decorative Victorian iron gate, which must have been added after the above photo. A sad sight indeed. Smoke detectors may not be the most sightly and stylish of objects, especially in Victorian homes, but they do save lives and in many cases the dwelling, which was not the case this time around.



Sands, R. W. (2006). Woodbury: Images of America. (p. 128). Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing.

Preservation Potentials: 42 + 44 N. Maple Street

UPDATE: SOLD

Attention: Victorian House Lovers, Steampunks, Anglophiles, and fellow appreciators of all things antique! I'm not sure old-house hunters outside the immediate area realize the unique architectural offerings this quaint city has in store. In some cases these houses will require a little creativity to restore them to their former glory, but most will have retained a large semblance of the magnificent days of English-inspired American architecture, for a fraction of the cost found in other areas.

Today's featured house is a buy one get one free special of sorts! For $100,000 you can own both sides of a circa 1880 Victorian duplex. Rent the one side and it will virtually pay for your mortgage while you live in the other half, as each side has over 2300 square feet of space. This house sits nestled inbetween immaculately maintained Victorian houses of similar style in a beautiful section of Woodbury.

The external condition of this house retains many original Victorian architectural features such as stone porch, wood trim and fretwork, brick quoins, and I believe a slate roof. It also features a nice sized yard with a view of Stewart Lake! The only catch, I suppose, is that until recently it was used a daycare center and will take some work to convert the interior of the building back into a proper home, or homes.

This lovely property will be auctioned on May 18th at 1:00 PM! It is my opinion that reviving a once grand city is a community effort that largely starts at home. Vested homeowners that value the history and heritage of their house and who treat their house as an extension of the family and not just some place to crash, can and do make a difference. Preserve the past, to better the future!

Cooper and Poplar Streets at Dusk

The skies at dusk were very dramatic back in the day! Actually, I've always enjoyed these sorts of colorized postcards, adds such a magic to an already beautiful scene.

Cooper St. looking West, Woodbury, N. J.

Not quite sure where Poplar Street is nowadays, it was most likely renamed. It appears that the street that was called Poplar Street is now Woodland Avenue. Looks to still be a dirt road in the photograph below.

Poplar St. from Cooper St., Woodbury, N. J.

Piscozackasing or Woodberry

"The Indian [Native American] name for Woodbury, county seat of Gloucester County, was Piscozackasing, which meant the place of black burrs. There are several versions as to how Woodbury got its present name, many having to do with wood and berries. The Indians most likely derived their version from the burrs of the many chestnut trees in the vicinity. In some old legal papers [and maps, see below] the name is spelled Woodberry.

The most plausible explanation of the name is that Henry Wood and his family moved there from Bury, Lancashire, England, in 1683. As was custom of many early settlers who were first arrivals at a spot, Wood combined his name with that of his former home, calling the place Woodbury." (McMahon, 1973)

1778 map of "The Province of New Jersey. Divided into East and West. Commonly called The Jerseys" by Wm. Faden of Charing Cross showing alternate Woodberry spelling.

1808 map "Plan of the City of Philadelphia and Environs" surveyed and published by John Hills also showing Woodberry spelling.

McMahon, W. (1973). South Jersey towns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.

quotations mine.