House Tour, Emancipation Proclamation talk on Saturday

This meticulously restored Plainfield mansion will be featured
in the benefit 'Tour of Notable Homes'.

This Saturday will offer Plainfielders two exceptional opportunities. A House Tour benefiting the Westfield Symphony will feature two of Plainfield's grandest homes, and the Plainfield Public Library is offering a free talk commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Tour of Notable Homes (10 AM - 4 PM)

This fundraiser for the Westfield Symphony is the 29th outing of the annual homes tour. Five homes are on tap this year, including two in Plainfield.
One of the oldest, an ornate Victorian on West 8th Street, which has been meticulously restored by John Stewart Jr. and Craig Bowman, will open its oaken doors and display fabulous rooms, stained glass windows, vintage furniture and wallpapers, and an up-to-date kitchen.


And the newest in construction will be the lavish home of Gina Addeo and Mike Sullivan on Rahway Road at the intersection with Prospect Avenue. This truly stately mansion replaces an earlier home on a wooded plot of several acres, and features a brewery and bar, a wine cellar and tasting room, and a 1920s-style 'speakeasy'.


Tickets are $30/person advance and $35/day of, and are available at Norman's Hallmark in Fanwood, and Coldwell Banker East and West locations in Westfield. More information and reservations online at the Westfield Symphony website, westfieldsymphony.org.

The US Postal Service has issued a stamp
commemorating the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

New Jersey and The Emancipation Proclamation (2 PM)

New Jersey is often thought of as both the southernmost northern state (Cape May is actually below the Mason-Dixon Line) and the northernmost southern state (pro-Confederate 'Copperhead' sympathizers were active in New Jersey).


Dr. Linda Caldwell Epps, an Elizabeth native and 40-year educator will detail New Jersey's role in the quest for freedom from slavery. That quest began with the very settlement of the colony and continued until President Lincoln issued the Emanicpation Proclamation in 1863. Dr. Caldwell Epps notes we are still defining the concept of freedom.


This free talk is sponsored by the Local History Department of the Plainfield Public Library and will be held in the library's Anne Louise Davis Meeting Room. The meeting room is on the ground floor of this architecturally outstanding building. The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street. Parking is available in the 9th Street parking lot.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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