We covered a lot of ground today. Our day began in Trenton, New Jersey and ended in New Haven, Connecticut. Our first stop was the New Jersey State House. The building is undergoing a massive rehabilitation, so our tour only covered a part of the building. Unlike yesterday’s trip, this State House is massive.
There is a stained glassed ceiling in the building that shows many aspects of the state. The artwork has a compass in the center. Around the outside of the compass there are depictions of information about New Jersey. Each panel shows the coordinates of the particular area of the state highlighted in that panel.
The capital also has a stained glass dome that is quite ornate.
The former supreme court area was housed within the capitol complex. It is now used as a meeting room.
Our tour guide for the day was also the keeper of the keys for the building. We were on an early tour, so we got to see the tour and watch the building get unlocked at the same time. Here is a view of the Senate Chamber from the gallery. The columns in the picture used to be the outside wall of the chamber.
The number of senators was increased as the population of the state grew. The solution for providing extra space was to remove the “outer ” wall of the chamber and use columns to support the second floor.
The house chamber did not require a similar redesign.
Our tour took almost an hour, but did not cover a significant portion of the building because of the construction. In this picture of the capitol taken from the war memorial across the street, you can see how much of the building is boarded up as part of the restoration.
Our next stop for the day was Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey.
Edison was a prolific inventor. He was also a practical businessman. He owned a cement company.
Edison is also credited with establishing the motion picture industry. Not only did he help create motion pictures, he built a movie set on wheels that could be rotated as necessary to provide the correct lighting for filming a scene. While the invention worked, the building was not air conditioned, so filming was a very uncomfortable task. Rotating the building was no small feat either.
After our quick tour around the Edison’s West Orange facility, we headed toward New Haven, Connecticut. Our drive took us by New York, New York. We got a view of the New York skyline.
We also crossed the George Washington Bridge. I am glad we had an Ez-Pass so we did not know until later how large the toll across the bridge was.
We went to New Haven for a quick tour of our third apartment and my first job. For a short time, we lived in an apartment complex in West Haven, Connecticut. It was challenging trying to locate the apartment after so many years. We found the address, but could not identify the building on Google maps because it is not directly visible from the road.
The building looked the same, but now it is a condo rather than an apartment. It was also interesting driving to our old address. At first, nothing looked familiar. As we toured around a little, the memories returned.
It was only a short drive from our apartment to my first office. Marlene looked up the google directions. I asked her to turn down the volume so I could try to get there by memory. At one intersection I had to ask for confirmation for a turn because I was not sure. It turned out my first impression was the correct one.
While I only had one job in New Haven, the office moved down the street while we lived there. The tall building labeled 195 (Church Street) was the second office where I worked. We tried to find my favorite lunch spot, but could not find it. It must be the place is now closed, because I am sure (ha ha) I remembered how to get there.
From New Haven, we drove to our hotel in Hamden, Connecticut.