Batsto Village
In summertime, back in the 1970s, and into the early ’80s, the people managing southern New Jersey’s Batsto Village brought craftspeople in to live in the cottages on the remaining main street. Potters, chandlers, weavers #&150; crowds of people would wander the street and watch twentieth century artisans plying their trades in a nineteenth century setting. Some of the original residents of the village still lived there, deep in the Wharton State Forest; the water wheel-driven sawmill still produced lumber. One memorable autumn day, my boyfriend at the time took me to Batsto, to discover a full-scale bluegrass festival playing on the big lawn by the entrance.
Batsto was founded in the late eighteenth century and was active through the nineteenth century, serving first as an ironworks, a glassworks, and finally redeveloped to support local agriculture. When commerce failed, Batsto Village remained largely abandoned and forgotten until the middle of the twentieth century, when the state bought it.
After Warren and I met, Batsto was our favorite jaunt for a while. We’d walk the grounds and hike through the woods. Warren would engage the sawyer in conversation and bend his ear about the best methods for making boards and shingles. We’d watch the crafters and come home with big ideas for projects #&150; even did a few of them.
The 1980s saw a scaling back on public events at the village. The last actual residents of the village left. The crafters cottages closed, to be replaced by static displays; the big concerts on the east lawn slowly ceased.
Even without all that, Batsto still makes an excellent outing. They conduct tours of the Mansion; there are sponsored hikes and self-guided tours, too. There are stargazing events, and crafts shows. The shop has expanded and they now have a museum attached to it. The sawmill is as fascinating as ever. The state is working seriously on restoring the village to its nineteenth century state.
It’s a different kind of outing today #&150; Warren and I go there to walk and take pictures, to reminisce and recalibrate. We haven’t been there yet this year #&150; we’ve been dealing with some serious medical issues since last winter #&150; but I hope we’ll have a weekend day soon, when Warren says to roll on down.
- Here’s what Wikipedia says about Batsto Village
- Batsto’s official web site
- New Jersey’s tourism site, with a link to Google Maps search for the village
- New Jersey’s Division of Parks and Forestry has an entry for Batsto, with a downloadable satellite map
- The Batona Trail goes through Batsto
- Here’s a brochure about the Batona Trail, with a detailed map
