Atsion Mansion Update

Ben Ruset

Ben Ruset

Administrator
Site Administrator
Oct 12, 2004
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Monmouth County
www.benruset.com
Hi all,

I just received an email from Barbara Solem. She's been working with Rob Auermuller, the Wharton Superintendant to get the Atsion Mansion reopened. She's created a tour script and is currently training volunteers to give tours of the mansion. Last Saturday was the first tour of the reopened mansion.

She's looking for volunteers to help give tours. If you're interested, please get in touch with me and I will forward along her contact information. If you're not looking to be a tour guide, you should still avail yourself of this wonderful building and go on a tour.
 
dogg57

dogg57

Piney
Jan 22, 2007
2,912
379
Southern NJ
southjerseyphotos.com
Update from Todays paper 6/23/12

SHAMONG — Iron water pipes, originally cast for the City of Philadelphia sewer system, got a reprieve in 1826 when Samuel Richards decided they would make great-looking porch columns for his new Atsion mansion.
Today, they still stand, durable reminders of a time when the Pine Barrens was dotted with bustling, noisy furnace villages where bog ore was turned into iron that supported life in the new nation. The villages were owned by wealthy businessmen like Richards who built themselves manor houses.
You can give the columns a knock and hear their metallic clang if you visit the historic mansion, which recently reopened to tours after a $1.3 million renovation. It’s located at the entrance to the Wharton State Forest on Route 206, where the village of Atsion once housed more than 600 families that worked its furnaces, and later its cotton and paper mills.
“It was a company town. All these old towns in the Pine Barrens were company towns,” said Barbara Solem-Stull, a docent for the New Jersey State Park Service who gives tours of the mansion and the nearby company store.
Solem-Stull is the author of “Ghost Towns and Other Quirky Places in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.”
None of the rooms are furnished. The mansion lacks plumbing, electricity or heat, except from the fireplaces. It would need heat and electricity if furnished, she said.
“It has a truly rich and fascinating history. I’m just really glad to be part of it,” Solem-Stull said.
Saturday tours at Atsion are available at 1 and 2 p.m. Other tours for groups can be arranged by appointment. Solem-Stull said more docent volunteers are needed. For information on tours or volunteer opportunities, call the Wharton State Forest office at 609-268-0444.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/loc...cle_2840b8d3-8050-559f-8a84-42e9fd5cff4a.html
 
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LARGO

LARGO

Piney
Sep 7, 2005
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Pestletown
Aww guys, don't be so cruel. It sounds a little Schmultzy as a word but it ain't so awful.
I have been asked to be a Docent for a couple times at the Barnegat Light Museum.
I think of it as a fun few hours to share with people and perhaps learn a little along the way.
Heck knows I could use it! Can be relaxing and quiet time actually. Peaceful like.
Folks ususally have littlun's which spooks me a bit but if I had not brought my kids to share in some
of my places of interest we might have missed the chance for good memories. All three of mine still
hit me with phrases like "remember the time we went to..."
Just the same, should it put you more at ease... I think a more relaxing term would be "Tour Guide"?
Me thinks that is more the lay person's name of it.

You can call me Joe Shit the Rag Man, if I can do a little sharing and learning of favored interests.

g
 
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