Presentation: The Evergreen Boats: Monmouth County’s Forgotten Christmas Greens Trade by Michelle Moon.
Another example of Monmouth County's waterborne trade with New York City: For weeks before Christmas, Monmouth County locals harvested greens from the woods and hand-crafted them into roping, swags, and wreaths.
Please REGISTER at left for in-person at Bahrs or to join via Zoom
7:00pm Coffee and cookies. 7:30 Presentation. 8:30 Q&A and close.
Schooners and steamboats, loaded to the rails with evergreens, plied back and forth between Bayshore ports and New York’s markets. From the end of the Civil War to the 1930's, New York City’s churches, homes, and department stores wanted lavish displays of evergreens, and Monmouth County’s farming and fishing communities could supply them.
Michelle Moon will share stories, images, and surprising details from this forgotten industry. She is a public historian and museum consultant whose mission is to connect people deeply to the meaning of their local histories. As principal of Saltworks Interpretive Consulting, she works with cultural organizations nationwide on exhibition development, interpretive planning, and audience strategy. Her research interests include tourism history and food history, and she has published two books on food in museums, Interpreting Food at Museums and Historic Sites and (with Cathy Stanton) Public History and the Food Movement: The Missing Ingredient. She holds an MA in Museum Studies from Harvard University and a BA from Connecticut College. She lives with her husband Steve and two cats in Atlantic Highlands.
Navesink Maritime Heritage Association
Navesink Maritime Heritage Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging Eastern Monmouth County with maritime and water related historical, skill building, environmental, and recreational activities, and which encourages responsible use of the Navesink estuary through its Discover, Engage, and Sustain approach.
