weekly photo challenge | MV Obsession

The prompt: Share with us an image, or two, or three, (or more!) of where you live. For bonus points, tell us what it is about the photo(s) that you love. I can’t wait to go on a fantastic virtual tour of the world, courtesy of photo challenge participants. Away we go!

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Rather than share where I live now I want to share where I was born and raised and lived until I got married.

My home town… Newark, New Jersey

Court House - Newark NJ

Above is the Essex County courthouse. In the forefront is a statue of Abraham Lincoln called the Seated Lincoln sculpted by Gutzon Borglum who was the creator of the Mount Rushmore sculpture of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Surprising to many who don’t know much about the city of Newark, it has some beautiful parks in it. Washington Park, Lincoln Park and the newly revitalized Military Park. Here sits another of Gutzon Borglum’s works, one of his most compelling : Wars of America. He created this magnificent sculpture over the course of six years, completing it in 1926. It memorializes all the major conflicts in which Americans participated up to and including the First World War.

Thus ends a short tour of two of the beautiful sculptures you can find in Newark, New Jersey 🙂

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/tour-guide/

This week we are to share a photo of something that says “heritage” to us. My daughter Deb and I have been deep into genealogy and tracing our roots. On my father’s side our family, the Freeman’s go back to the original founding fathers of Newark, New Jersey. My 8th times great grandfather (not sure of the number), Robert Treat and a host of other men from Milford and Branford, CT founded the city of Newark in 1666. I am the last of our particular Freeman line to be born in Newark as was my father, my grandfather etc.

There are two monuments to the founders of Newark in the city. One is in Fairmont Cemetery where many of my family are buried. That’s Robert Treat on the top.

Newark NJ founders statue (Robert Treat)

The other monument, which had fallen into disrepair was restored and put in its new location last year for the 350th anniversary of the founding of Newark. This monument has the founders names on it… there’s my 8times great grandfather, Stephen Freeman.