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Renovation revelation: Letter linked to abolitionist found in historic NJ church

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Renovation revelation: Letter linked to abolitionist found in historic NJ church



The former Allen AME Church was being restored for a theater company’s use. Contractors found a letter linked to Alexander Herritage Newton, a prominent abolitionist, in its rafters.

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CAPE MAY, New Jersey − The former Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church yielded a few finds when contractors began renovating it to become East Lynne Theater Company’s new home: some old bottles, collection envelopes from the 1940s, a little metal globe bank whose dusty, rusty surface obscured most of the world’s countries and oceans.

But one item went a little farther back: a snippet of a receipt that may have been hand-written and signed by a prominent Civil War veteran, abolitionist, Underground Railroad facilitator and pastor. The snippet even bears a date: June 19, 1891.

“To all whom this may concern, Elwood Rowland, formerly of Media, PA Daniel Galvin, (formerly of) Phila Plastered this church during The month of June for $250 Rev. Dr. Newton, Pastor (unclear),” the snippet reads.

That name − the Rev. Dr. Newton − connects Allen AME to the famed abolitionist, Civil War veteran and author who spent time in Cape May, though little is known about his stay there. It’s also thrilled history buffs in this seaside resort town full of Victorian architecture, old churches and sites linked to some of the most prominent Black Americans of their time.

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Who was the Rev. Dr. Newton?

Alexander Herritage Newton (whose middle name is sometimes listed with one “r”) was born in 1837 in North Carolina to a free mother and an enslaved father. He came north to New York during the 1850s, where he married and started a family, and where he also became involved with the Underground Railroad as his mother worked to buy freedom for her husband, Newton’s father. In 1863, Newton joined the Union cause in the Civil War, serving with the 29th Connecticut regiment in the U.S. Colored Troops.

Newton later settled in Camden, New Jersey, just outside Philadelphia, where he wrote a memoir, “Out of the Briars.” He was active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1794 in Philadelphia by Richard Allen. And Newton served as pastor at Allen AME Church, which itself was founded by Stephen Smith, a wealthy Black businessman who lived in Cape May, from 1889-1892.

A fire, a renovation, a revelation in the rafters

After a 2018 fire, Allen AME Church, which is in a section of Cape May that was once a center for Black civic life, was in dire straits. The building, which dated to 1888, landed on Preservation New Jersey’s Most Endangered Sites in 2021.

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In Cape May, history is as much of a draw as its beaches, restaurants, shops and nature trails. “So when the church was slated for demolition, the mayor and city council knew we had to save it,” city manager Paul Dietrich said.

“The church did not have funds to do it, so it was incumbent on the city to do so,” Dietrich said. Thanks to a combination of county and state preservation grants, work is nearly complete: The wooden steeple that was destroyed in the fire has been replaced by a steel structure, not only to prevent another fire but also better able to withstand the coastal winds and storms. Drywall has been placed and painted over the wood walls. And the stained glass windows, many donated by families that belonged to the church, have been restored to their former colorful beauty.

“But we also didn’t want it to be an empty shell,” Dietrich added, and so the city partnered with East Lynne Theater Company, which now performs at another nearby church but was looking for a home of its own.

“The contractor is a local, so he knows how important history is here,” Dietrich said. When Kyle Carter of DKC Contractors discovered the letter nailed to a beam in the church rafters, he understood its significance and told city officials what he’d found.

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History hidden, revealed and hidden again

Mark David Boberick, East Lynne’s executive artistic director, said he was thrilled to hear about the discovery of the hand-written note.

“We’ve been storytellers for 45 years, and now we’re telling another story − about the culture and history of this community,” he said. East Lynne, a summer equity theater company that stages classic American plays, is hoping to start using what will be called The Clemans Theater later this year for productions and for events such as art exhibitions, film screenings and fundraisers this summer.

Bernadette Matthews, president of the Cape May Chamber of Commerce, East Lynne board member and AME Church member called the discovery “fascinating,” noting the significance of the note’s date, June 19, or Juneteenth, in American history.

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She talked about other nearby sites, including Stephen Smith’s house, Franklin Street School, Macedonia Baptist Church and the Harriet Tubman Museum, all within a few blocks and all central to Cape May’s historic Black community.

“This whole quadrant is what’s left of the vibrant African American community that was here,” she said.

Newton mentioned his time in Cape May in his memoir, and even alluded to the work noted on the paper that was found in 2025:  “The church building was not plastered or seated, so we decided to borrow money for this purpose,” Newton wrote. 

The note, though, had to remain in place, Boberick said. Removing it from the wood to which it was attached would likely destroy it.

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It remains where it was found, Dietrich said, at the request of former members of Allen AME Church.

Do you want to share a slice of Americana with USA TODAY? Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra



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Monmouth County hospital among World’s Best Hospitals for 2026

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Monmouth County hospital among World’s Best Hospitals for 2026


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Hospitals are an important need in the world.

And finding a facility with high-quality medical care that’s reliable is also important.

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Newsweek, the premier news magazine and website, has partnered with Statista to release a dependable guidance list of the World’s Best Hospitals – United States for 2026.

In it’s eight year, these ranking highlights the leading hospitals around the globe so readers can find information tailored to their needs and location the report stated.

Each hospital was reviewed and given a score based on four data sources: recommendations from medical experts; hospital quality metrics, existing patient experience data and Statista’s Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Implementation Survey. 

In typical New Jersey fashion, the Garden State makes the list among the 2,500 hospitals that were evaluated this year.

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Nine hospitals from the Garden State made the list with one representing Monmouth County. With an overall score of 61.79% and the Infection Prevention Award, Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch made the top 9 list for roster in World’s Best Hospitals 2026 from Newsweek.

World’s Best Hospitals 2026 in New Jersey

  • No. 53: Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center in Morristown; overall score: 70.74%
  • No. 56: Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack; overall score: 70.07%
  • No. 134: The Valley Hospital in Paramus; overall score: 65.36%
  • No. 186: Atlantic Health Overlook Medical Center in Summit; overall score: 64.42%
  • No. 254: Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood; overall score: 63.13%
  • No. 320: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick; overall score: 62.26%
  • No. 364: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark; overall score: 61.82%
  • No. 366: Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro; overall score: 61.80%
  • No. 367: Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch; overall score: 61.79%



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Newly released body cam footage shows response to massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County

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Newly released body cam footage shows response to massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County


LOGAN TWP., N.J. (WPVI) — Newly released body camera footage gives us a first look at the heroic actions of first responders on the scene of a massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County earlier this month.

The explosion happened at an industrial facility in Logan Township, New Jersey, on March 4 and left several workers injured.

The initial blast could be heard miles away.

Now, we are getting a look at the frantic rush to help in the moments after it happened.

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New details released after massive explosion at Logan Twp., New Jersey factory

In the footage, you can hear the police officers frantically trying to locate people who were injured by the blast at Savita Naturals.

Large propane tanks burned in the background as rescuers tried to account for any survivors.

At one point, first responders are seen running inside the building to look for people. You can see damaged walls and debris everywhere.

Four people were injured in the blast, with one of them being thrown off the roof and into the woods near the water tower.

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Amazingly, the worker was found alive by a fence. He was badly burned, but able to talk.

First responders had to load him in a truck and get him to the road, where a Logan Township officer tried to keep him calm as they waited for an ambulance.

Body cam video shows an officer calling the man’s wife to let her know he was alive.

That officer stayed by his side until he was finally loaded into a police car and rushed to the hospital.

The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.

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Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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How hunters are helping to feed those in need throughout New Jersey

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How hunters are helping to feed those in need throughout New Jersey


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For more than 25 years, hunters around the Garden State have been making a difference by working with Hunters Helping the Hungry, a nonprofit organization that raises money and coordinates the efforts of hunters, butchers, and food banks throughout New Jersey to help put food on the table for those in need.

The program began during the 1997/1998 hunting season, a result of the efforts of three Hunterdon County hunters along with help from a butcher named John Person and Kathy Rummel, the director at the time of Norwescap.

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“We started out 25 years ago just as hunters, you know, wanting to go out and get some extra deer. New Jersey had very liberal deer quotas and bag limits. You could get unlimited does,” said Lester Giese, one of the founders of Hunters Helping the Hungry. “I was on a trip, and I was going through West Virginia, and I saw at one of the gas stations a brochure for Hunters Helping the Hungry. I picked up the brochure and looked at it and said, ‘What a great idea.’ When I got back, as it turned out, the state legislature just recently passed a law to allow venison donations.”

Five deer were donated during that first season, according to Giese. Today, the organization averages about 1,000 donations per year, which amounts to between 23,000 and 28,000 pounds of venison, he said.

Overall, since the program’s inception, Hunters Helping the Hungry has facilitated the donation of nearly 2.5 million servings of venison.

While the program originally started as a way to assist hunters who could harvest more deer than they could use, the organization’s mission has expanded. According to its website, Hunters Helping the Hungry currently aims to:

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  • Continue paying butchering costs for hunters who are able to take more deer than they can use;
  • Support municipal and private property owners that pay for the butchering process directly while they attempt to reduce the deer population on their property;
  • And set aside a portion of grants from the state Department of Agriculture to support and pay for the butchering of deer taken by farmers and their agents during depredation hunts.

These efforts ultimately help New Jersey’s food bank system and provide a source of protein to those in need, while also keeping the state’s deer herd in check

“So, kind of a nutshell, we started out just a small group of us with a small focus,” Giese said. “And now we’re trying to do a lot of things for a lot of people.”

The process: From forest to food pantry

In New Jersey the deer hunting season runs from the second week of September through the second week of February. According to Hunters Helping the Hungry board member Mark Charbonneau, this is one of the longest hunting seasons in the United States.

Hunters who want to make a donation bring their legally harvested deer to one of the state-inspected butchers that partner with the organization. Processing fees are paid to the butcher by Hunters Helping the Hungry from a fund consisting of donations and grants.

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The butcher processes the deer at no cost to the hunter and gives it to one of the participating food banks, such as Norwescap, which partners with pantries in Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties.

Venison issued to the food banks is distributed to over 400 charities around the state.

Although New Jersey’s deer hunting season starts in the fall, Charbonneau, a board member of about 20 years and a hunter of about 40, says that the process starts well beforehand.

“The process actually starts before hunting season starts. What I mean by that is hunters will start scouting certain locations to be able to know where deer are, to be able to prepare to harvest them legally and as ethically and quickly as possible,” said Charbonneau, adding that less than 2% of the New Jersey population are deer hunters.

Charbonneau continued, “So when you start that process of scouting areas, setting up your locations, then going afield, then harvesting your game, then removing your game from the field, then field dressing it properly, then bringing it to a butcher, then making that donation, there’s a lot of steps involved and there’s a lot of time involved.”

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JB Person, an Hunters Helping the Hungry board member and the owner of GameButcher in Lebanon, is one of several participating butchers that process the donated deer.

“What the hunters do is come here, they have to fill out some paperwork, and along with the paperwork we request they also fill out a donation slip. They donate the whole deer,” Person said. “What we do is skin it and process it into various cuts – roast, steak, chops, and ground meat. Everything is cut, wrapped, and frozen and then when we have a bunch ready to go, I get in touch with Norwescap and then they come and pick it up.”

Game Butchers averages between 150 and 200 donated deer per year, according to Person, who added that Hunters Helping the hungry is “in desperate need of butchers.”

How to donate deer to Hunters Helping the Hungry

Hunters looking to make a donation can take their legally harvested deer to any of the participating butchers listed on the Hunters Helping the Hungry website.

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Once the required forms have been filled out, the butcher will process the deer. The food bank will then pick up the processed deer from the butcher and distribute the frozen venison to various food pantries, emergency shelters, churches, etc.

If the dressed weight of the deer is more than 50 pounds, Hunters Helping the Hungry will pay the entire processing fee, according to the organization’s website. If the dressed weight of the deer is less than 50 pounds, the hunter will be required to pay the first $50 of the processing fee.

Throughout the 2025/2026 hunting season, a total of 802 deer were donated to Hunters Helping the Hungry. This amounts to 26,846 pounds of venison which yields 107,384 servings.

“The number one thing that people need to know about our organization is that the hunters of the great state of New Jersey are the reason for our success,” Charbonneau said. “The hunters have taken it upon themselves in the great state of New Jersey to go afield every year and harvest game to help those not as fortunate as most.”

For additional information about Hunters Helping the Hungry and how you can donate and/or get involved as a hunter or a butcher, visit the organization’s website at https://www.huntershelpingthehungry.org/.

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