Exploring Outside of the Box

Upon exiting the front gate of The Peddie School, Andre and I had little in common. We had never been in class together. I was a day student and he a boarder. We rarely encountered one another during the regular class day. As fellow traveler Tanya Shaffer mentioned in her travel tale, “Looking for Abdelati”, one loved aspect of travel is that “strangers get a chance to amaze you” (AWPT 3). Although Andre was not a complete stranger to me, throughout our journey he continued to surprise me as to how much we had common.

As we walked down empty streets, I learned that Andre knew as little about Hightstown as I. Being Peddie students, we had never traveled beyond the typical stomping grounds of Slowdown, Maninos, and Theo’s. Not knowing that Hightstown was much larger than the Main Street stretch, we decided to explore what we considered the outskirts of town. Upon arriving at the first crosswalk that would lead us down long streets filled with houses and unfamiliar businesses, Andre mentioned how friendly people were in yielding to pedestrians. Where we come from, not many people are willing to take five seconds out of their busy travels to yield to pedestrians so, we were pleasantly surprised by this gesture. Although, after safely crossing over Main Street, Andre realized that a police officer was parked a couple hundred feet in front of the crosswalk, we still liked to believe that people stopped out of the kindness of their hearts, not because the police were watching.

Walking up and down the streets less traveled by cars taught Andre and I much about the history of Hightstown and a little about the people who traveled before us. On either side of each street were small houses and shops. Although these places may not seem small to the inhabitants, to us, they were much smaller than those being constructed in new development complexes within the state of New Jersey. Intrigued by the houses during our walk, I turned to Andre and said, “I love the way that all of these houses are basic and not too extravagant.” Nodding his head in response, Andre replied, “Yeah, it looks like all of them have been here for a while.” As we walked down more settled streets, we were fascinated that none of the houses looked particularly newly built. All looked as if they had been inhabited for many years. One particular house on the corner of Bank Street and Academy Street looked as if it had been once occupied many years ago, and has been deteriorating ever since. Andre and I imagined the creamy yellow mansion in its prime and concluded that wealthy people had once lived there. Despite the fact that the once elegant mansion is now run-down, its inner beauty could not be taken away. Not even the rumors of it being haunted, a random yellow cat at the foot of the mailbox, nor the sound of a dog bark coming from the backyard, could keep Andre and I from wishing to learn more about the house’s “younger years”.

On our way down another street away from the yellow mansion, Andre and I discovered three of the most visually appealing houses. All three were over one hundred and fifty years old and looked like life sized versions of doll houses. Their bold, yet smooth colors and carefully sculpted structures allowed Andre and I to feel like we were in the mid 1800s. Walking down what I like to call “doll house row”, and discovering the “haunted” yet beautiful yellow mansion really gave Andre and I a taste of Hightstown’s history.

During our journey, Andre and I came across a small corner shop called “Curious, etc.”. Since we were “curious” to learn more about the store, we decided to have a look inside. From the moment we walked in the door, we were warmly greeted by three beautiful, elderly women. After exchanging handshakes and introducing ourselves, we decided to ask a few questions as to why they chose Hightstown for the location of the shop and what exactly they were selling. After learning that the store was just five weeks old, we were surprised that we had not noticed its arrival into the town earlier. Once the three women covered their store’s background information, they quickly changed the topic to current events and personal stories. We told the women that we were exploring town and asked if they knew of any interesting locations outside of the “food strip” on Main Street. They recommended that we check out the sign near Peddie Lake that mentioned the history of Hightstown, including information about the founders, the Heights family. After listening to many interesting stories of the women and their grandchildren, we kindly bid them farewell and continued on our journey through town.

At the end of our journey, Andre and I picked a cozy booth in the Slowdown Café to sit and share our experiences from the journey. We both agreed that Hightstown was not the small town that we had pictured it to be. Instead, it was full of rich history and interesting locations. We would have never known that the town was full of construction companies, antique shops, and hundred year old houses. As Andre and I walked back through Peddie’s front gate onto campus, we brought with us a whole new understanding of the not-so-little town of Hightstown as well as a traveling companionship.

Understanding Hightstown

The sun was beginning to break through the dense late morning clouds. It was clear that the town had been awake for some time already, as the people and traffic moved fluidly through their daily routines. Hilary and I were in Hightstown, New Jersey and were on a mission to find Ms. Eve, the renowned psychic whose shop sat at the north end of Main Street, and whose wizardry and depth of understanding was unparalleled and known the world over. Hilary sought answers to her questions about the dance planed for the following evening, who would she dance with? How would her dress look? And other questions that girls might ask, while questions of what I might ask Ms. Eve ran through my head. Though I kept coming back to one question as we strolled down Main Street. How did a town such as Hightstown come to acquire a woman of such limitless knowledge and understanding? What was it about Hightstown drew her here and how could this seemingly normal town accommodate such a powerfully abstract woman?

When we got to Ms. Eve’s shop there was a note along with a map on the door that read:

I will not be in my shop. If you would like to talk to me come see me at my house at 5 Richardson Street.

-Ms. Eve

We studied the map and oriented ourselves in the direction of Ms. Eve’s house. The feeling of setting off in a foreign place with a new destination was exhilarating. Though we had our new destination and intended on finding it soon, we did not hesitate to explore the rest of Hightstown amidst the morning rush. We stopped in a small store owned by Hispanic immigrants called G + C Variedades; the small and unadorned store front did not do justice to the establishment itself which offered everything from soccer jerseys to money orders. After leaving G + C’s we headed further up Main Street, Hilary was determined to find Ms. Eve while my second wave of morning hunger was kicking in, we compromised and stopped for a snack at Hot Bagels. The small family run bagel store was ideal, the fact that the morning rush was over, clerks were cleaning and only a handful of bagels remained on the shelves offered us the chance to talk with the owner himself. Over a crispy toasted blueberry bagel we learned that the owner and his family hailed from Cairo, Egypt and that he had entered the bagel business after his brother had come to the States and learned the art of bagel making. Upon finishing our bagels and gathering to leave the owner told us that he too would come visit us “one day he would come visit [us]”. When traveling, a traveler can always pick out other travelers in moments such as those, at that point I realized that he too knew the life of a traveler and may have once been in a very similar position.

So the long and arduous journey up Franklin Avenue in search of 5 Richardson Street continued. Along the way we were met with obstacles like an open fire hydrant which sprayed red rusty water over everything within a fifteen foot radius. Our next stop came at a local but what we learned to be a very large scale flower and landscaping business. The folks at Comisky’s Greenhouses were very hospitable. Speaking with Marlene, Comisky’s manager of over 30 years, we learned that the store itself had been there for far longer than that and had grown significantly, now reaching all the way down Manlove Avenue. We looked to Marlene for information about Ms. Eve and Richardson Street. Of course she knew of Ms. Eve, but was less sure of her whereabouts. Marlene was a gracious host and offered that we tour the grounds and see the endless array of flowers blooming in their greenhouses. We accepted the offer and then continued on our way. Venturing farther up the street towards the turnpike overpass and still not seeing any sign of Richardson Street, we stopped at an old red house converted into an antique showroom. Our options were limited at this point on Franklin Street and we hoped that if it was open they might be able to direct us to Richardson Street. Sure enough it was open, the owner was sitting just inside the door with his friendly cat, Blackjack. The owner who had lived there for over 40 years could offer little information about the mysterious Ms. Eve, though he did mention that he had encountered other travelers in the past who had sought 5 Richardson Street.

And so the mystery would remain unsolved. It was getting late and time to head back, we accepted the fact that we may not have found what we set out to find, but we were reminded of the fact that a true travelers plans rarely meet every goal but sometimes surpass others along the way. Our journey had answered my early question of what drew a psychic like Ms. Eve to the seemingly dull town of Hightstown, New Jersey. The answer is its diversity, its people and its places like those that we met and got to know today were all very different. Hightstown is a place where someone like Ms. Eve can find her own niche and fit right into the community because of this diversity. The mystery of Ms. Eve will remain unsolved but what our journey did reveal to us was the mystery of Hightstown.

Ben

The Search of Madam Eve

One cloudy Friday afternoon, I went on a journey with my travel partner Ben to explore the small town surrounding our sheltered school: Hightstown, NJ. My first thought was, after two years of walking by and wondering, to go into Madam Eve’s psychic hut on Main Street. I do not really believe that someone can tell me my future, I just find it interesting to think of the possibilities. I had been looking forward to the visit all day and could not wait to go. During first period Calculus class, I was trying to get Ben excited as well. His enthusiasm was convincing enough.

When Ben and I finally started out into town, we talked to one another about our previous travels and the trips we hoped to one day embark upon. I discovered that Ben had gone to South Africa with his family and loved it, but was looking for a different kind of travel experience: independent travel, as in without his parents, flying solo around the World to Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and much more. Once we reached our destination, a small wooden shack with strange Egyptian symbols and figurines in the window such as Anubis and the Eye of Ra, we found a sign on the door which said that she would be at her house and gave the directions. Feeling adventurous, Ben and I decided to find Madam Eve’s house which was supposedly a mile away on 5 Richardson Lane in Hightstown. We turned right onto Franklin Street as directed and continued on that road until the New Jersey Turnpike and the entrance sign into East Windsor came into view. We still had not seen Richardson Lane and figured that we must have missed the turn so we went into a Flower Shop near by on Manlove Road to ask directions. When we stepped into the Flower Shop, I was struck by a powerful aroma of fresh flowers. To my surprise, the Flower Shop seemed to extend on and on with green house after green house. I had never seen a green house so large. Ben and I explored the green houses seeing countless beautiful flowers. Ben informed me that he is not much of flower person because they quickly die and concluded in saying that instead he like trees which could last for hundreds of years. His reasoning made sense, but his view did not cause me to loose my appreciation for the beauty of flowers.

After meandering for a few minutes, we asked a cute old woman behind the desk if she know where Madam Eve lived.
“O yes! Mrs. Eve,” she replied. “She has a house with a big porch not far from here. She has the biggest blonde hair and she loves to sit outside on that porch.”
“Is it past the Turnpike?” I asked.
“O yes, I believe so,” she said with some uncertainty.

We thanked the Flower Shop lady and left the shop. Ben was convinced that she did not know what she was talking about so we went into an old antique shop across the street. On the door there was a sign that said not to let out the cat so I made certain to carefully open and close the door. Sure enough, there was a black cat named Black Jack waiting on the other side of the door. The storekeeper was watching us from behind the counter. He had rather glassy eyes and I noticed that his chin, or should I say chins, folded in such as way that the light cast a shadow on one of the folds making it look like he had a large scare on his neck. We said hello and Ben began to ask the storekeeper about his shop while I went to pet Black Jack who was now on a shelf. Eventually, I asked the storekeeper if he knew where Madam Eve lived.

“You shouldn’t be believ’en in that stuff now. It’s all a bunch of nonsense!” he exclaimed.
The storekeeper continued to lecture me on how no one has the power to tell the future while Black Jack, dark and mysterious as midnight, proceeded to sniff my face with his wet black nose. Ironic? I thought so.

Ben decided that Richardson Lane did not exist and he did not want to go around wasting time to look for it, so our search for Madam Eve came to an incomplete ending. We commenced our walk back to Peddie campus; my walk a bit more of a defeated trudge. My spirits were perked when Ben, always hungry, said that we should go to the famous Hot Bagels for a pre-lunch snack.
We stepped into the bagel shop to find three men busy at work sweeping and straightening the shop. We both order blueberry bagels. While Ben’s bagel was toasting, we started conversing with the owner. He told us that he and his brother had come from Cairo, Egypt! I inquired about the Pyramids and he said that they truly were a beautiful sight to behold. As we left the shop, the owner bid us farewell and promised to let us know next time he went back home to see the Pyramids.

To eat our bagels, we sat down on a bench by the lake. We both took out our notebooks to jot down some notes from the afternoon’s adventure in Hightstown. From where we sat in the heart of Hightstown, I could see Peddie off in the distance. At that moment, I snapped back into my real life and realized how not even two hours had opened up my eyes to the life around me that I had never really took the time to observe. There is a world outside Peddie’s gates if you just take the chance to look.

Note: 5 Richardson Lane does exist! I looked on mapquest.com and found that it was right on the other side of the Turnpike.