4th of July Celebration!

4th of July Ice Cream Social to Be Held in the St. Aloysius Church Gymnasium!

The Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association in cooperation with the Office of New Jersey State Historic Sites, and New Jersey State Park Service is pleased to announce the Annual Grover Cleveland Birthplace 4th of July Ice Cream Social for 2024.

Due to the renovation of the Carriage House and Visitor’s Center, the event will be held at the St. Aloysius Church Gymnasium located next door to the birthplace at 219 Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell. 

The event will be a fun filled celebration with

  • Ice Cream from Guerriero Gelato, Caldwell
  • Food from Cloverleaf Tavern
  • a Magician, a Clown, a D.J., and Free Lemonade
  • and a Visit from “Grover Cleveland” himself!

The opening ceremony and reading of the Declaration of Independence will begin at 12:30 pm, followed by serving ice cream at 1:00 p.m.

The festivities will conclude at 4:00 p.m.  

Birthplace Administrator and Caretaker Sharon Farrell will be on hand to discuss and answer questions about the exciting new renovation developments in our facility. 

Local historians Richard and Linda Gibbs will return for a third year with their West Essex County postcards and pictures collection on display and will be on hand for questions and comments.

Items from the Grover Cleveland Birthplace will be available for purchase.

Members of the GCBMA Board are working on a “USA 250 Mystery”, “Did General Lafayette ever come to Caldwell?” Find out about this mystery and plans for the 250th Anniversary for the United States being planned in Caldwell by some local organizations. 

“Old and New Games Through the Ages” for children will also take place which will introduce the history of the “Frisbee”, the origins of “Basketball”, “Presidential First Pitches”, and more.

Donations from the Caldwell Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs are helping make the afternoon possible.  We are in need of adult and teen volunteers for the afternoon.  For specific details about the event, please contact GCBMA President Paul Maloney at EssexNewsMaloney@aol.com.

RECENT EVENTS

Outdoor Fun at the Grover Cleveland Birthplace

In between the construction of the Visitor Center and the upcoming restoration of the historic carriage house, the Grover Cleveland Birthplace staff was able to test a new program for larger school groups, Outdoor Fun at the Grover Cleveland Birthplace. So far, three groups of local 2nd and 3rd graders and their teachers have participated in this immersive 90-minute program. The students enjoyed exploring the grounds of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace with an Architectural Scavenger Hunt, touring the museum, investigating replica artifacts up close, and playing with historic games and toys. This program is designed for groups of 25-40 students in grades K-4 and requires a minimum student-chaperone ratio of 6 to 1.
This program is all about fostering curiosity and empowering students to pose their own surprising and delightful questions such as:
Did Grover Cleveland have a pet? Why is there a bathtub in the middle of the kitchen? Why do you use plexiglass to protect certain artifacts? If there is no plumbing, where did people go to the bathroom? Why wasn’t Grover born in the hospital?
The historic educators enjoy fielding these questions because they open the door for deeper conversations about Cleveland’s life, early 19th century living, museum operations and many other topics.
Once the dust has settled next year from the remodeling of our historic carriage house, we will be ready to host more large groups of students. In the meantime, we will be working on developing even more content for our community of learners.