LINDBERGH IS BACK AT THE HUNTERDON HISTORIC COURTHOUSE!

AN AMAZING GALLERY FULL OF RARE HISTORIC PHOTOS, COURTROOM AUTOGRAPHS, MEMORABILIA AND SO MUCH MORE; 6 LECTURES, INCLUDING BRAND NEW MATERIAL, AND 2 MEET UPS ALL STARTING TOMORROW NIGHT AT 6 PM.

COME AND MEET AUTHOR JAMES DAVIDSON AND BROWSE THE GALLERY OF ARTIFACTS PROVIDED BY BOTH JIM AND THE HUNTERDON HISTORICAL SOCIETY STARTING AT 6 PM.  THEN STAY FOR THE LECTURE.  WE ARE SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS SERIES AND WE HOPE YOU ARE, TOO!  

LINDBERGH MINI SERIES

A special thank you to the Hunterdon County Board of Commissioners, Director Jeff Kuhl, Deputy Director Sue Soloway,  Members Zach Rich, John Lanza, and Shaun Van Doren, County Administrator Brad Myhre, and Executive Director of the Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission Natalie Zaman for making this happen.

We hope you will enjoy leaving the Historic Courthouse and strolling downtown Flemington to see the actual locations which Jim discusses in his talks.  Enjoy dinner before the evening talks or lunch before the afternoon ones.  Please make sure you make reservations as appropriate for before or after dining.  A list of dining establishes in Downtown, Flemington, follows at the end of this blog.

NEW! The Circus Returns to Flemington:  A Photographic and Memorabilia Exhibit of the Lindbergh Trial:  The Hunterdon 300^th in partnership with the Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission and Hunterdon County Historical Society is pleased to announce an exhibit on the Lindbergh kidnapping and trial throughout the month of September. The exhibit, features a large photographic and memorabilia display of the “Trial of the Century,” courtesy of noted Lindbergh speaker, James Davidson. Mr. Davidson has assembled a collection of over 90 rare photographs, many never before seen in public, as well as Lindbergh trial memorabilia. The County Historic Society has also provided rarely seen Lindbergh artifacts.  The exhibit will be on view during the month of September on the first floor galleries of the newly renovated Hunterdon County Historic Courthouse and Jail where the Lindbergh trial took place.

View the exhibit before and after the lectures. The Hunterdon County Historic Courthouse and Jail is open for special events, such as this lecture series, and by appointment. If you wish to schedule a tour of the Courthouse, Jail and exhibit outside of the lecture series, please call the Hunterdon County Sheriff’s Office at (908) 788-1166.

A SPECIAL LINDBERGH LECTURE SERIES:  In 2014, the Hunterdon Tricentennial Committee, now the Hunterdon 300th, produced a series of 8 lectures over an 8 week period by Jim Davidson on Lindbergh at the Historic Courthouse.  We are proud to bring a new series of 6 lectures to the Historic Courthouse over 2 weekends with Jim!

James Davidson has lived the Lindbergh Kidnapping for over 30 years. A former history teacher and a popular speaker on the Lindbergh case, this is the third book he had written on the Lindbergh Kidnapping. Along with co-author Mark Falzini his first book was “New Jersey's Lindbergh Kidnapping and Trial”. This was followed up in 2022 with “When the Circus Came to Town – Flemington New Jersey and the Lindbergh Kidnapping Trial”.  James Davidson grew up in Flemington, New Jersey where from an early age he heard stories of the Lindbergh Kidnapping and Hauptmann Trial. His parents had lived in Trenton, NJ and attended a Hauptmann Execution Party at a local hotel, where they listen to Gabriel Heater broadcast the execution live from outside the State Prison. His father said all the lights in the hotel dimmed when they electrocuted Hauptmann! As a young boy Davidson met William Allen, who worked for his grandfather and who was one of the people who found the Lindbergh baby. In Flemington he knew Lloyd Fisher, who was his father’s attorney and who was also Bruno Hauptmann’s attorney, while Davidson’s neighbor was one of the jurors at the trial. A local historian and former history teacher, Davidson, over a 30 year period, has amassed one of the largest collections of Lindbergh Flight and Trial memorabilia. With Mark Falzini, archivist of the New State Police Museum, he co-authored “New Jersey’s Lindbergh Kidnapping and Trial.” Davidson is an avid and much sought after speaker on the Lindbergh’s, the Kidnapping and the Trial.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH:  ANNE AND CHARLES LINDBERGH, PART ONE:  A two-part biography of the couple, including Lindbergh in Nazi Germany and the families Lindbergh fathered in Germany.  Historic Courthouse, Main Street, Flemington, 7 pm.  Free. No reservations are required.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6TH:  ANNE AND CHARLES LINDBERGH, PART TWO:  Historic Courthouse, Main Street, Flemington, 7 pm.  Free. No reservations are required.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH:  SEARCHING THE SOURLANDS:  Early stages of finding the Lindbergh baby, including all the chaos in Hopewell.  Historic Courthouse, Main Street, Flemington, 2 pm.  Free. No reservations are required.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH: MEET UP! VISIT TO THE STATE POLICE MUSEUM WITH A SPECIAL MEET UP AT THE LINDBERGH KIDNAPPING EXHIBIT:  We've arranged a very special visit to the State Police Museum to tour the State Police Museum and meet up at the Lindbergh Exhibit where there will be a special talk.  Come on your own as early as 9 am when the Museum opens.  Spend time before or after our Meet Up at 11 am at the Lindbergh Exhibit.  The Museum closes at 3 pm so you can tour at your leisure no matter what time you arrive.  Please have photo identification for every member of your party.  The State Police are graciously allowing us to provide some refreshments as well.  This tour is free but we are requiring reservations as we get closer to the event to provide a head count to the State Police.  Limited to 50 guests.

https://events.humanitix.com/meet-up-visit-to-the-state-police-museum-with-a-special-meet-up-at-the-lindbergh-kidnapping-exhibit

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 (RAIN DATE SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22):  LINDBERGH'S FLEMINGTON WALKING TOUR:  Join historical architect and Flemington architecture expert Chris Pickell for a new walking tour on and around Main Street to explore Main Street as Lindbergh saw it.  Chris will also outline and show some of the special places in town including where Defense Attorney Lloyd Fisher's office was, where Anna Hauptmann and her son stayed, and where the reporters ate.   Reservations are required for the event. Limited to 20 guests. 10 am.

https://events.humanitix.com/lindbergh-s-flemington-walking-tour-ffku6j93

A SPECIAL LINDBERGH LECTURE SERIES CONTINUES:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH:  DEBUT: THE OTHER LINDBERGH KIDNAPPING TRIAL IN FLEMINGTON:   In 1932, Charles Lindbergh sat in the Flemington New Jersey courtroom in the First Lindbergh Kidnapping trial. Most people are familiar with Charles Lindbergh vs. Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the famous 1935 “Trial of the Century.” But very few people know that there was another trial that preceded the Hauptmann trial. In the summer of 1932, John Hughes Curtis, a well-known pillar of society in Norfolk, Virginia was approached and asked to serve as an intermediary between the gang who said they kidnapped the Lindbergh baby and Charles Lindbergh. Thus began an adventure with Curtis and Lindbergh out to sea for three weeks, Curtis being held captive in the basement of Lindbergh's house, culminating in a wild trial in the hot summer of 1932 in the Flemington courthouse. Many of he same people who show up in the Hauptmann trial are there: Lloyd Fisher, Anthony Hauck, Col. Lindbergh, Col. Schwarzkopf, Betty Gow, Ollie Whately, etc.  Historic Courthouse, Main Street, Flemington, 7 pm.  Free. No reservations are required.  We will have Jim Davidson's new book, just published in 2024, The Other Lindbergh Kidnapping Trial, available for sale.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH:  WHEN THE CIRCUS CAME TO TOWN: Much has been written of the Lindbergh-Hauptmann Kidnapping Trial of 1934. Jim Davidson's 2022 book, When the Circus Came to Town, examines what actually happened in the town of Flemington, New Jersey, a sleepy farm town that became, for a few months, the center of the universe. The first weekend of “The Trial of the Century,” the town saw 50,000 people arrive. Over 700 reporters were on hand as well as 150 photographers and countless sketch artists. Nellie’s Bar in the Union Hotel became a landmark for those who got to drink there while prostitutes roamed the streets, paying newsboys tips for “Johns.” Every famous news writer and commentator of the day was there – Adela Rogers St. Johns, Damon Runyon, Dorothy Kilgallen, Walter Winchell, Gabriel Heater, etc. This book examines what they wrote and what they said in their own words as well as colorful stories about each of them. Some of the most famous sketch artists and cartoonists of the times were also there and this book examines what they produced on a daily basis. Flemington, the trial and the times are shown in a light heretofore not described in other books. Historic Courthouse, Main Street, Flemington, 2 pm.  Free. No reservations are required.  We will have this book available for sale.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH:  12 THEORIES OF WHO KIDNAPPED THE LINDBERGH BABY:  This dynamic lecture goes through not only the most popular and well-known theories of the Lindbergh Kidnapping, but also some of the less well known that will make you rethink everything you ever knew about the kidnapping.  This talk is a stunner as Jim Davidson summarizes various theories, spinning them into the facts of the case and how each theory could possibly identify other guilty parties including a famous mafia don and Colonel Lindbergh himself.  You will leave this talk questioning whether or not Hauptmann acted alone or with others, what he really knew, who else was involved and whether or not he was simply framed.  Sunday afternoon Sept. 29 at 2 pm: 12 Theories of Who Kidnapped Jr.  Historic Courthouse, Main Street, Flemington, 2 pm.  Free. No reservations are required.

Downtown Borough Restaurants, Cafes, Snack Bars (please check hours of operation and make reservations as appropriate)

Cilantro Garden (136 Main Street) 

https://cilantrogarden.menufy.com/

Dolce's Italian Restaurant (161 Main Street) https://www.dolcerestaurantnj.com/

Bistro 55 (55 Main Street Suite 2) http://www.55main.com/

Gabby's Pizza (203 Main Street) https://gabbyspizzapasta.com/

Jack's Pizzeria (55 Main Street) https://www.orderjackspizza.com/

Little Egypt Oasis (79 Main Street) https://bobashopflemington.com/

Main Street Bagel Company (26 East Main Street) https://mainstreetbagelnj.com/

Market Roost (65 Main Street) https://www.marketroost.com/

Matt's Red Rooster (22 Bloomfield Avenue) https://www.mattsredroostergrill.com/

Shaker Cafe (31 Main Street) https://www.jsshakercafe.com/

Viva Mexico (148 Main Street) https://restaurantvivamexico.com

Bread & Culture (123 Main Street) https://breadandculture.com