New Jersey's Historic Obscurities and Oddities Quiz

Answer: The remains of a concrete ship

During World War I, as steel became scarce, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson allowed 24 concrete ships to be built. Only twelve were completed, just as the war ended, but the Atlantus was used to transport American troops back home from Europe and later to transport coal in New England. In 1920, the ship was retired to a salvage yard in Virginia. In 1926, the Atlantus was purchased with the idea of using it, and two other concrete ships, as docks for a proposed ferry line connecting New Jersey and Delaware. In March of that year, the Atlantus was towed into New Jersey waters and, in June, a storm broke the ship loose from its moorings, stranding it on a sand bar only 150 feet from the beach. Attempts to pull it free were unsuccessful and so it remained in that spot, a broken, eroded wreckage barely resembling a ship.

The sign on Sunset Beach reads:
"S.S. Atlantus -
Remains of experimental concrete ship. One of twelve built during World War 1.
Proven impractical after several trans-Atlantic trips because of weight.
Broke loose during storm (June 1926) went aground. Attempt to free her were futile."

Answer: The Twin Lights of Navesink

Originally called the Navesink Light Station, the Twin Lights of Navesink (or Highlands, as some prefer) was first constructed in 1828 to serve as the primary lighthouse for vessels sailing the dangerous North Jersey coastal waters into New York Harbor.

It was said to have the best and brightest light of any Atlantic Coast light house. In 1862, after the original fell into a sorry state of disrepair, a new brownstone light was built. The architect, Joseph Lederle, designed the building as two non-identical beacon towers linked by the keepers' private rooms and storerooms.

In addition, the two beacons were designed with the unique characteristic of having one flashing and the other providing a fixed beam. The double-uniqueness of the beacon and tower designs made it easy to tell Twin Lights from other nearby lighthouses.

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1949 and, in 1962, was purchased by the State of New Jersey from Highlands and became a state museum. Twin Lights is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

Answer: Under the Pulaski Skyway with giant cement-filled yellow pants

The Paul Bunyan statue started out as a lumberjack whose origins are, sadly, unknown. The fiberglass giants are scattered throughout the United States, advertising everything from lumber to mufflers to carpet to hot dogs. The Jersey City "Muffler Bunyan" was purchased by Wilson's Carpet from a sign company that had previously purchased it from an Amoco gas station.

When the carpet business moved in 1990 from Hoboken Avenue to its Route 1 location under the Pulaski Skyway, they brought the statue along, put a steel roll of green "carpet" in its arms, and anchored it into their parking lot. Apparently the Wilson Carpet Giant came with a second pair of pants that share the parking lot with "The Man"...originally pink, they were repainted yellow in 2009.

Answer: Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)

"Brandy, you're a fine girl
What a good wife you would be
But my life, my lover, my lady
Is the sea"

"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" was written by Rutgers' student Elliot Lurie and became a Billboard Hot 100 number one hit single for his band Looking Glass in 1972. Mary Ellis' story is that she fell in love with a sea captain who vowed to marry her when he returned from his voyages. Every day she would ride his horse that he left with her and stand at the spot where her grave is now located and look out over the Raritan River to watch for his ship. The ship, of course, never returned. She supposedly kept this daily vigil until she passed away in 1828. Looking Glass had one other song reach the Top 100 in 1973: "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" peaked at number 33...their initial success never returned either and, after five years and two albums, the band broke up in 1974.

Answer: Lakehurst

The Lakehurst Naval Air Station is known as Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at Naval Air Engineering Station (NAES). Hanger One, where the Hindenburg was to be stalled, was designated a Registered National Historic Landmark in 1968. The actual crash site is marked with a chain outlining a concrete pad, as well as a bronze plaque where the gondola landed.

It was dedicated as a monument on the 50th anniversary of the disaster. There are pre-scheduled tours of the site available but, because of security issues, normally only U.S. citizens may attend.

Answer: Margate

Lucy the Elephant is the only survivor of three such animal-like structures built by James Lafferty in the 1880s. The others were the twelve-story Elephantine Colossus of Coney Island, NY, also known as the Elephant Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 1896; and, the 58-foot high Light of Asia, called Old Jumbo by locals, which was built in Cape May in 1884.

It was torn down in 1900. Lucy almost became extinct in 1969 when a group of businessmen wanted the dilapidated eyesore torn down. Money was raised to save Lucy by volunteers going door-to-door and, on July 20, 1970, the 89-year-old pachyderm was moved several blocks to her modern site and rehabilitated by the Save Lucy Committee, becoming home to guided tours, a small museum and gift shop. Lucy the Elephant received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Answer: It is topped with a 13-foot tall working light bulb

The Thomas Edison Memorial Tower, erected in 1937, is an art-deco spire topped with "The World's Largest Light Bulb". This "bulb" is a 13-foot tall, three ton, bulb-shaped, amber-tinted Pyrex dome that is illuminated at night. From 1876-1886 "The Wizard of Menlo Park" received over 400 patents while at the Menlo Park facility before relocating his home and lab to West Orange, NJ in 1886. And about the last breath thing: legend has it that Henry Ford caught Edison's dying breath in a test tube that is kept at the Henry Ford Museum.

Answer: Lou Costello

Lou Costello Memorial Park is located at Cianci and Ellison Streets in Paterson's downtown, only a couple of blocks from the Great Falls. The statue, called "Lou's on First", is a life-size bronze of Lou Costello, shouldering a baseball bat and wearing his trademark derby. You may have seen it on a couple of episodes of "The Sopranos".

Answer: Hoboken

On June 19, 1846 the first *officially* recorded organized baseball match was played under Alexander Cartwright's rules on Hoboken's Elysian Fields. While most of Elysian Fields large parkland eventually succumbed to urban scrawl and development, a small section remained between Hudson Street, Frank Sinatra Drive, and Castle Point Terrace. In 2003, at the intersection of 11th and Washington Streets, where the original diamond was located, a concrete and bronze "base" monument was placed in the sidewalk. Also, a bronze plaque denoting the connection to early baseball was placed in the median strip of 11th Street between first and second bases.

So, what about Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown, you ask? In 1907, Abner Graves gave the only "eyewitness" account of how Abner Doubleday drew up a diamond on paper and had a group of Cooperstown, NY boys play a game of ball according to his instructions in 1839. It has come into question as to whether he was trying to gain some fame by making this claim or if he was just mistaken about his facts. Town ball was popular during the late 1830s and it is quite possible that Graves did see a game. It is most likely, though, that Graves' memory of Doubleday presence in Cooperstown was inaccurate because of his age at the time of his recollection. Surprisingly, Abner Doubleday's diaries make no mention of baseball.

Answer: A rodeo

The Cowtown Rodeo was started in 1929 by Howard Harris Sr. and his son "Stoney" as part of the Salem County Fair and was an annual event until 1937. It was re-introduced in 1955 by Harris' grandson Howard Harris III, the 1954 National Intercollegiate All Around Rodeo Championship winner (University of Idaho) and is the oldest weekly rodeo in the United States. Grant Harris purchased the rodeo from his father in 1978, becoming the fourth generation of the family to oversee its production.