Spring house!

This week is so full of winter, ugh. I mean, snow is prettier than the usual barren brown winter colors, and I’d take winter over summer any day, but seriously, I am ready for spring, aren’t you?

So HERE IS A SPRING HOUSE!!!

It’s part of Berkeley Heights’ Littel-Lord Farmstead.

That’s all well and good (I hear you say), but WHAT IS A SPRING HOUSE?

A spring house is a sort of old-fashioned refrigerator. Back in the olde days, you’d go find a natural spring, and build a little shed on it, and voila! you could keep your perishables longer ‘cos they were cooled with freezing spring water. Like an ice box without ice. (And it self-replenishes!)

And this building might be the last known spring house in New Jersey, which is pretty nifty!

 

References:

Berkeley Heights Historical Society (Documented September 1, 2012). Spring House (sign). 28-31 Horseshoe Rd., Berkeley Heights, NJ.

“Spring house.” (Last edit Dec 2012). Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_house.

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Falling ice

Brrrrr! The weather’s gotten cold again.

(Which is not surprise, seeing as it’s February and all.)

(But the days are getting longer! It’ll be spring before you know it!)

Frozen pond

After a week of above-freezing weather, it’s almost guaranteed that Seeley’s Pond is no longer frozen solid like this.

But after last week’s run of nothing above 25°F, it was sure frozen last week.

I saw some kids running on it, which blew my mind a little. Encouraged, I cautiously tested it for myself, and: yup, totally frozen, totally walkable.

Even geese were like “yeahhh, check ME out, crossin’ this pond without swimming, aw yeah.”

Ice on a spillway

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: ICE ON A SPILLWAY. Because this is a spillway, and that is ice.

(It’s a little creek near Seeley’s Pond, right on the tri-border of Berkeley Heights, Scotch Plains, and Watchung.)

Tree tubes

So there you are, in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, hiking through the Passaic River Parkway, and suddenly you see a bazillion big weird things that look like hollow candles.

“What the heck!” you say.

You lean close to peer at a label, and learn that these hollow-candle-things are TREE TUBES.

But what on earth are “tree tubes?”

These tree tubes protect native saplings from being browsed and damaged by deer and also act as a mini “greenhouse”, allowing light to filter through and moisture to become trapped within. Once the saplings reach the top of the tubes they (the tubes) will be removed by Parks staff.

For more information about our native plantings please call:
(908) 527-4900

So that’s that.

Nathaniel Smith House!

It’s BORING HISTORY TIME! (cha cha cha)

The Nathaniel Smith House is one of the two Registered National Historic Places in Berkeley Heights (the Littel-Lord Farmstead is the other one). It was built around 1740, and it sits on Springfield Avenue, which is still a major thoroughfare through the town.

 

And this is what it looked like in 1899.

DONE! That wasn’t so bad, was it?

 

References:
Troeger, V.B. (1996). Images of America: Berkeley Heights. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0752404903.

Wikipedia. (2012). “Nathaniel Smith House.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Smith_House.

Seeley’s Falls (again)

A different angle on the same view I showed you Monday.

…And I think I can get away with a cheap trick like that? The nerve!

…But I mean, you don’t really mind looking at similar pretty photos on different days, do you? DO YOU?

Gazebo-thing

At some point, this gazebo-thing probably afforded a lovely scenic overlook of Seeley’s Pond, but with all the trees that have grown in, it’s no longer a particularly exciting view.

It’s still a cute little gazebo-thing.

Across the pond

And you thought I was kidding when I said on Monday that I’d assault you with autumn pictures of Seeley’s Falls all week, huh? TOTALLY NOT JOKING. We are dead serious here at New Providence Daily Photo.

So in dead seriousness, this is Seeley’s Pond, which is the manmade pond that feeds Seeley’s Falls.

The leaves, they are a-changing

I love autumn, but it really snuck up on us this year. One week, we were blasting air conditioning, and the next week we were snuggling into sweaters. The leaves, too, have been green green green, then a hint of yellow, then BAM! LEAF RAINBOW OUT OF NOWHERE. It’s pretty terrific.

Oh and by the way this is New Providence Daily Photo’s second birthday (and 731st post). Woohoo, two years, hooray for New Jersey.

As I reevaluate what I’m doing with this blog, and as I struggle to improve my photography (and my blogging etiquette), I want to make sure I post a few things that you want to see, in addition to pursuing my own weirdly unappealing photodocumentarian vision.

So: is there any particular type of photo or post you’d like to see more of? Landscapes, macros, stories of people and festivals, historic buildings, wildlife, charming local landmarks? Do you generally enjoy the stuff I post? If not, what could I do better? If so, what do you like?