Press Release

Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc.

August 17, 2009

For more information call Jane Morton Galetto at 609-774-5853

 

Every river has a history, a compilation of stories and lore that give the river a life intertwined with the people who know it best. In 2002 we began a River Recollections Project that explores the stories of the Maurice River.
 
The project is set up on CU's website as an historic adventure along each of the river's reaches using an interactive map. A river reach is a stretch of river between two bends.  Clicking on a buoy reveals details and photos about the given reach.  There are two major components used to tell the stories: the first is an historic narrative developed by Research Journalist Debbie Barsotti, and the second is a series of interviews in which individuals relayed information about one or more reaches.  
 
The project was begun when CU President Jane Morton Galetto began to investigate the lore behind the various names of sections of the Maurice River.  Joseph Reeves authored a book called  Maurice River Memories, in which he labeled a map with various names for the reaches.  The scale of the maps he used resulted in names of areas north of the Menantico Creek being misplaced by a couple of reaches, as is evidenced by the indisputable location of the Burcham Point.  Thus began the investigation.  Jane relays, "Originally, I began to interview some of the people whose families historically used the river to see what names they knew the reaches to be called.  A complex web of folk history began to develop.  During the late 90's I would sporadically return to the inquiry, but finally I realized that if we were to have information to share with our website visitors, we needed to hire a person to conduct the research.  The primary goal was to engage readers  with the Maurice through telling the stories of the river."  After a period of time, it was decided to hire a research journalist to conduct interviews and delve into various local and historical archives.  Jane began to assemble photographs to make the story more vivid for readers.  Dale Wettstein of Steelman's Photographics was enormously helpful in this task with their vast array of archived photos.  
 
In total, there are over 40 narratives on the various reaches from Millville to  Delaware Bay  and more than 20 separate interviews.
 
The Reaches Project is part of the larger Recollections Project that has involved campfire recollections, osprey platform stories, the Down Jersey - Celebrating Our Sense of Place Teachers' Curriculum and presentations at various  Citizens United  functions.
 
To access the stories, visit  www.cumauriceriver.org  and go to the side bar selection About the Maurice River. On this page, you can access the River Recollections Project.
 
This is a living project and people are encouraged to submit stories on line in the organization's mail bag.  Photos and stories that are believed to complement the existing narratives maybe submitted via email to forrivers@comcast.net  or via U.S. mail CU, PO Box 474,  Millville, NJ 08332 .
 
To take an historic adventure along the river reaches and read the stories of our river  click here  to use our interactive map.