Author presentation – March 20th
The College Club of Fanwood-Scotch Plains invites the public to attend a free a program on Monday, March 20th, at 7:30 p.m. at Fanwood Presbyterian Church, 74 Martine Ave, (McDermott Street entrance). The Garden State: Where Ideas Grow, presented by author, Linda Barth.
According to Linda Barth: Many people are familiar with Edison’s “Invention Factory” in Menlo Park, where he invented the phonograph, the light bulb and many more inventions. Yet many other ideas have grown in the Garden State too- New Jerseyans brought sound and music to movies and built the first drive-in theater. In addition to the first cultivated blueberry, tasty treats like ice cream cones and M&M’s, are also Jersey natives. Iconic aspects of American life, like Bubble Wrap, the boardwalk, the Band-Aid and even professional baseball itself started in New Jersey. Life would be a lot harder without the vacuum cleaner, plastic, and air-conditioning, and many other important advances in medicine and surgery were developed here.
Linda Barth has been a fan of New Jersey for a long time. A lifelong resident of the Garden State, she has written two books on the D&R Canal and three children’s picture books,Bridgewater Boy, Hidden New Jersey and Alice Paul: Champion of Women’s Rights. She has also authored: A History of Inventing in New Jersey, From Thomas Edison to the Ice Cream Cone and New Jersey Originals.
Linda Barth spent 45 years teaching fourth grade in the Bridgewater-Raritan School District. She is the director of the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey and president of the D&R Canal Watch, a friends’ organization of the D&R Canal State Park.
