The Early History Of Watches

The earliest and largest watches considered more of the pocket watch types, were invented within used Tudor watches, England in the sixteenth century. These timepieces weren't worn around the wrist then but mostly as a necklace around the neck due to their larger designs.

These pocket watches became more commonplace within the earlier seventeenth century and were crafted to be more accurate in their time keeping as well.

A man named Mr. John Harrison was a watchmaker by trade and had taught himself this craft completely with great and wonderful results. Mr. Harrison created a greater accuracy within watches of his times and found that the exact time could help in determining precise longitudinal locations of the ships for the Captains. He worked endlessly for over ten years to invent only four Chronometer Harrison Marine watches in the latter seventeenth century; these miraculous watches were also the size of smaller dinner plates. Through many tests by the Queen's Captains these watches proved their worthiness to her and Mr. Harrison then received $20,000 in pounds as a prize for his creative and helpful inventions by Queen Anne of England herself.

The history of wrist watches began with a man named Patik Phillippe in the early nineteenth century. Wrist watches were worn at this time mostly by women as accessories; the men carried pocket styled watches as their timepieces. During this century, the watch company called Rolex was opened and owned by Mr. Hans Wilsdorf in the year 1905. Wrist watches gained an added quality by the addition of an alarm within them in the year 1914 and the watch company called Seiko was opened in the year 1924 within Tokyo.

In the twentieth century, wrist watches were very popular, but some men still loved their tried and true pocket watches and these were still being manufactured in larger quantities up until the 2nd World War when production decreased dramatically. In the year 1952, wrist watches that were powered by batteries instead of winding mechanisms were out on the markets; this was a large and wonderful advancement within the timepiece era.

Watches, which were electronic, were the most popular in the 70's and in the 90's a reemergence of mechanical watches happened due to vintage and nostalgic wants in the watch markets of that time. Over 25% of Swiss made watches are all mechanical and not electronic. They keep to the original quality that first endeared these timepieces to their clientele and faithful customers.

Quilt Explained

The ability of layered fabrics to insulate against the cold has been known for a long time. Handmade patchwork quilts as we know them are made of three layers: the quilt top, the batting and the quilt back. The quilting is the stitching that bonds these three layers together to create the quilt.

The top of the quilt can be one fabric, or, it can be a pieced quilt top, sometimes made of thousands of pieces of fabric sewn together to make the quilt top.  The middle layer of a quilt – the batting – is more and more often  polyester. Unless asked to do otherwise, even the Old Order choose polyester batting over cotton batting. You may wonder why

quilters use polyester rather than cotton batting? A polyester bat is easier to quilt, it has more loft (better memory) and it shows off the quilting more effectively than cotton batting. A handmade quilt with polyester batting is also easier to care for, it dries faster and the batting will not shift or shrink with use. Also, the quilt does not retain body moisture and it is much warmer than a quilt with a cotton batting.


The quilt back, like the top, is made of fabric and should always be quilt grade cotton. Some quilt makers prefer aAmish quilts for sale solid fabric shift , wrinkle, bunch or move in any way while the quilting is underway. The quilt is then stitched together via either hand or machine quilting.
while others utilize print fabrics as quilt backing.The quilt back, batting and top are assembled then pinned together or stretched onto a quilt rack so that during the quilting they will remain fixed with respect to one another. You do not want one or more layers to

Handmade Quilts for Sale The last step involved in quilt making is to bind the edges. This is the closing or sealing up of the three layers at the quilt’s edges and this is of course done on all four sides. The batting and backing are trimmed to be just short of the binding strip. The binding is folded over the quilt’s edges and then sewn to the back of the quilt using a blind stitch. It’s like folding over and sealing the flap at the back of an envelope.

This is what a quilt is. It’s light, warm and versatile.

Upper Township historical society hopes to unpack history in old town hall

TUCKAHOE – There is plenty of history packed into the small rooms atop the Tuckahoe Train Station where the Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township stores artifacts from the area’s past.

In one corner there is a drum from the Tuckahoe Concert Band, which played at the old bandstand in front of the Tuckahoe school and led July 4 parades in the 1920s and ’30s. It was donated to the society a few years back by members of the Corbin City Historical Society. A man from Tuckahoe named Mason Ingersoll owned the drum. He had the nickname of “Spoodle” for some reason.

In another room there is the clock that hung from the wall of the Tuckahoe National Bank when it was robbed in 1925. Robert Holden, the historian for the historical preservation society, pulled it down from a shelf Monday, March 20 and pointed to where a bullet ricocheted off the face during a shooting at the time of the robbery.

Bill Brown, president of the bank for many years, donated the clock to the society in 2015. Holden said he would like to see it properly displayed.

“We have so many things in storage that people deserve to see,” Holden said.

Michael Houdart, a former president of the historical society, said the group also has the radiator from the getaway car that the Tuckahoe bank robbers used. The motor from the old REO motor car was found at the Lord’s Boat Works at Head of the River, where it was used as a winch to haul boats in and out of the water. Houdart said when he found the motor he wasn’t leaving until he had the radiator with the REO insignia on it.

“I pulled on it until it came loose,” he said.

Bank vice president Edwin L. Tomlin was blackjacked and shot during the robbery, Houdart said. He died three days later, according to reports at the time. The three bank robbers escaped with $7,000, followed by a posse of townspeople. Their escape attempt ended when their car overturned in a cranberry bog. The robbers were tracked down by New Jersey State Police dogs and jailed.

There are other artifacts in the society’s collection: copper coins from the reign of King George III found in a Tuckahoe field; family photos from the early 20th century and earlier that were donated; a large collection of ledgers from the Tuckahoe National Bank and the Tuckahoe Building and Loan Association that tell the story of land acquisition; and even a woman’s hood and robe from the Ocean City chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

The local historical society received the hood and robe as a donation, along with the 1926 charter of the Ocean City Klan No. 13 and a seal stamp the group used, Holden said. There is also a picture of Klan members and its women’s auxiliary at a gala dinner in the Jefferson Hotel in Atlantic City, he said. The items were put on display for a time at the Cape May County historical museum, he said.

“The chapter had a lot of members from Upper Township,” he said.

Holden and a subcommittee from the historical society have been working the past two years to develop a business plan to use part of the old town hall building on Mount Pleasant-Tuckahoe Road as a museum. The group is now waiting on cost estimates from the township to remove mold and asbestos in the building, and then it hopes to apply for Cape May County Open Space funds with the township to renovate the first floor for the museum.

“Upper Township is one of the only communities around that doesn’t have a museum,” Holden told Upper Township Committee members at their March 13 meeting. “We receive innumerable comments from people about the history of Upper Township. Where do we send people for answers?”

The answer to that question could depend on the cost of environmental remediation at the old town hall. It was built in 1906 and served as a school for some time but was abandoned 30 years ago.

Holden said the historical society had an architect through the old town hall recently, and the building has good bones. Some brick pointing is needed on the outside, he said, and new windows, HVAC, insulation and sheetrock inside. An Open Space grant would cover 100 percent of the renovation costs, he said.

“The township will have an asset that can be used for other purposes,” he said. “There will be a whole other room for receptions. You could possibly have outside groups come in and use the building.”

But Township Committee members have raised concerns about architectural fees and maintenance costs that will not be covered by a potential Open Space grant.

“Museums are in terrible shape across the country,” said Committeeman Curtis Corson, who is a member of the county historical museum. “They are closing, not opening.”

He said the county has cut funding to the historical museum in recent years, now contributing about $20,000 toward its $190,000 operating budget.

“I think we are going to need a cost analysis of what it is going to take,” Committeeman Ed Barr said. “What are going to be the costs to renovate it and what are the costs to operate?”

Officials said it would cost about $20,000 to hire an architect to draw up plans for renovations. The township and historical society could then use those plans to apply for Open Space funding. The cost of renovations has been estimated at around $250,000.

Committeeman Hobie Young said the township will likely have to do something with the old town hall eventually. It is a contributing structure to the Tuckahoe historic district and cannot be demolished.

“No matter what we do with that building we’re going to have to remediate it,” Young said. “It’s a concern but it’s going to be a concern 10, 15 years from now.”

He said proceeds from holding events at the museum could fund some of the operations. A museum would also be a good thing for Tuckahoe, he said.

“We’ve got new street lights and sidewalks with benches,” Young said. “What are we going to do?”

Mayor Richard Palombo said he would like to see a historical museum in the township, which is more than 200 years old, but he’s not sure where. He said the township now maintains the Upper Township Senior and Wellness Center and would be hard pressed to take on more costs.

He asked Young and Barr to meet with the historical society board after cost estimates for environmental remediation are complete.

“There is a rich history here,” he said. “I hope we’re not creating the impression we’re resistant to this.”