This guest blog was written by PNJ volunteer Lauren Lembo. Lauren is an advocate for the preservation of New Jersey’s historic sites. She holds degrees in Art and Education, and plans to pursue a PhD in History.

The Church of Our Saviour is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as “an excellent example of small-scale Gothic architecture designed by noted Philadelphia architectGeorge W. Hewitt in 1880.”  The church buildings are comprised of an 1892 parish hall and 1912 rectory.  The church historically served a congregation linked to the nearby shipbuilding and maritime industries.  The magnificent sanctuary building was constructed using ballast stones brought from Greenland on the return voyage of Admiral Peary’s famous voyage attempting to be the first to reach the North Pole.

The buildings fell into a deteriorated condition after the Episcopal Diocese abandoned the property in 1995.  Prior to that time, the diocese had rented space in the buildings for use as a daycare and after school program, but was not able to keep up with

Camden’s Church of Our Saviour is being rehabilitated into a community-centered museum celebrating Camden’s rich legacy of maritime industry. Read on to see how the Museum is engaging diverse cultures and age group’s in Camden’s heritage.

maintenance and repair costs.

The concept of the Camden Shipyard and Maritime Museum began in 2003 with the involvement of individuals from diverse backgrounds.  Much emphasis was placed on the interest of revitalizing the maritime oriented neighborhoods of Yorkship Village (now Fairview) and Waterfront South, and preserving the area’s historic integrity.  The BOBS Plan (Boulevard of Boats and Ships), enacted in 2002 by Alley Friends Architects of Philadelphia, was a key catalyst for the museum project.  The BOBS Plan calls for the preservation of the Camden-Philadelphia waterfronts and views them as vital links to America’s maritime history.

In 2006, Heart of Camden Inc. (a community development corporation) partnered with the newly formed museum board to develop a maritime museum plan.  Later in the year, Heart of Camden was able to purchase the former Church of Our Saviour.  At the time of purchase, the roof was leaking, serious water damage was present in the chapel, and the building suffered from general neglect.  The museum board immediately began to develop a strategic plan for the development of the museum while pursuing funding to improve the buildings.  Temporary repairs to the rectory allowed offices and meeting rooms to be established there.

Partnerships were simultaneously developed with a diverse array of local and state governments as well as local community-based organizations.  These partnerships have assisted project staff in raising over $600,000 from a wide variety of public and private sources. These funds were designated to repair the roof, purchase heating and security systems, hire a professional planning firm to design the new museum, and commission a statue of the Arctic Explorer Mathew Henson.  According to Dr. Michael Lang, the museum’s Director, additional grant applications totaling over $400,000 are pending to cover further renovations and museum programs. In addition, the generosity of volunteer labor by AmeriCorps/NCCC and many college groups has resulted in significant clean up and painting sessions at the buildings, which are currently open to the public by appointment.  The museum’s ambition is to have the church buildings ready for daily public attendance between 2012 and 2013.

The Camden Shipyard and Maritime Museum will present a variety of educational programs and exhibitions related to local and regional maritime history, as well as host a selection of family-oriented recreational boating programs. The museum will be an interactive, cultural and educational facility.  It will have several focal themes, including exhibits related to West Jersey Shipbuilding and Shipbuilder Communities, to Arctic Exploration, and Recreational Boating.

The museum will also collect, conserve, exhibit, and interpret artifacts related to Camden’s maritime heritage, and celebrate the diverse array of maritime industries and communities that contributed to the fame of Camden, once known as “The Greatest Little City.” A particular focus

National Park Service archeologists, architects, curators, historians, and other cultural resource professionals work in America’s nearly 400 national parks to preserve, protect, and share the history of this land and its people. This includes:

• 27,000 significant structures in national parks
• 66,000 archeological sites in national parks
• 115 million objects in park museum collections

Beyond the parks, the National Park Service is part of a national preservation partnership working withAmerican Indian tribes, states, local governments, nonprofit organizations, historic property owners, and others who believe in the importance of our shared heritage – and its preservation. This includes:

• $1.2 billion in preservation grants
• 80,000 listings in the National Register of Historic Places
• 2,400 National Historic Landmarks
• $30 billion in historic rehabilitation tax credit projects
• 27 National Heritage Areas

I’ve read a few websites that said you should coat the cut surface with Vaseline or you can use something called “Pumpkin Preserver” that you buy at the halloween store.

I doubt it will surprise you if I told you I don’t do either of those things.

For one thing, I hope to get through my entire life without covering anything with Vaseline. Second, I am not making a special trip to a store for something called Pumpkin Preserver. I don’t have time for that crap.

In 2008, I cut 14 pumpkins exactly the same way and used a different preservative on each one. Why? In the name of science! Actually, I did so because people want to know what works well and honestly, I couldn’t find out without my little experiment.

The Answer? Chlorox Clean-Up Cleaner with Bleach. You could probably use any cleaner with bleach in it, but I used Chlorox Clean-Up in the experiment and it worked really well.

So, I suggest you go into the cleaner cabinet as soon as you are done carving and spray away. I spray all of the cut surfaces as well as the entire insides. Don’t forget to do the underside of your pumpkin’s cap, it doesn’t get a free pass.

This one application seemed to increase the shelf-life of your pumpkin by 100%, all for just one spraying. I suppose you could do even better if you sprayed it every few days, but I didn’t. After all, it’s time on earth is fleeting.

If you want to read the entire results of the study, as if I would falsify the final conclusion, read the next page. It has all of the hard data that the truly nerdy really crave.

According to their website and many satisfied customer accounts, Vespas are definitely built to last so I have to wonder how one handy grandpappy ended up retiring his old model and turning it into the rocking horse depicted throughout this post.

It’s definitely nifty to gaze at and the body seems to be in fine shape, so why grandpappy, whyyyyy?

I can only presume that his scooter spit out its last breath longgggg ago and instead of sending it to landfill purgatory, he recycled it into a sweet little treasure for his doe-eyed grandson, Diego, complete with fiberglass body, stainless steel wrapped platform, wood trimmed edges and imitation leather seat.

Craftsmanship like that isn’t very common these days. Nice job, DIY grandpappy — you are a green trailblazer since I don’t believe that anything quite like this has ever been done before!

“Flex” is a bench top bin, designed by Jon Liow with the aim of promoting neat cooking preparations and easy disposal of chopping board debris.

Usage is simply by slipping a plastic bag over the 4 posts and viola, instead rubbish bin.

For me, this is the type of design which either works or don’t work for you, depending on what you are using it as.

Yes, it does works as a rubbish bin, but as once for disposal of food preparation waste?

If you are the cook at home and you are the one also in charge of taking out the trash, it would obvious how often liquid is dripping from the plastic bag which happens to be pierced by the waste it contains.

Normally these liquid messes are contained within the waste bin which could be washed later but for a open bottom waste bin, this would be flowing off to your kitchen counter isn’t it?

Correct me if I am wrong.

And not to forget to mention, if you are from Singapore, you should know how we would flip the plastic stool and slot a rubbish plastic bag to form a make shift waste bin.

Now that is the similarity I saw between these two concepts.

But this could be a good design though, just not suitable for any trash which are not dry.