If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 443

Batsto Mansion, New Jersey, ca 1976

This used postcard with a photograph of the Batsto Mansion in New Jersey was published by The Sheller Co., Hackettstown, New Jersey.  It has the number 145630 at the center bottom edge on the reverse. 

Batsto Mansion is a State Historical site located in Batsto Village, Burlington County, New Jersey.   It is in the Wharton State Forest, which is part of the Pinelands National Reserve and is listed on the New Jersey National Register of Historic Places.  The Batsto River flows through the Village.  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Parks & Forestry is the administrator of the site. 

The area became an ideal place to establish an iron works because there was an abundance of bog ore in the area along the Batsto River and there was plenty forest land for making charcoal to be used in smelting the ore.  Charles Read, an ironmaster, built the Batsto Iron Works in 1766 and the village grew up around the works.  John Cox bought the Iron Works in 1773 and began producing cooking pots, kettles, and other items.  Batsto Iron Works also manufactured supplies for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.    The ironmaster was an important member of the society and was usually the owner of a forge or blast furnace for processing iron.  He would have had a large country house or a mansion as his residence.

The next owner was Joseph Ball who bought the works in 1779 and later in 1784 his uncle William Richards bought a controlling interest.  The Richards family built most of the buildings in the village.  Demand for iron declined in the mid 1800s and Batso transitioned to glassmaking.  Unfortunately the glassmaking enterprise was not successful and Batsto went bankrupt.  In 1876 a businessman, Joseph Wharton, purchased the property.  Wharton improved many of the buildings and was involved in a diverse array of activities from forestry to cranberry farming.  After he died in 1909 the Girard Trust Company of Philadelphia managed the properties. 

In 1952 the U.S. Air Force proposed building an arms depot at Batsto but by 1956 that plan was scrapped in favor of another location.  The state of New Jersey purchased the properties in the late 1950s and started restoring the 50-room mansion and rebuilding a dam for recreation on the lake.  The historic village was dedicated in 1961 and opened to visitors.  Today there are more than 40 sites and structures, including the mansion, a sawmill, charcoal kiln, blacksmith and wheelwright shop, ice and milk houses, a gristmill, and a general store.  About 14 of the rooms in the mansion have been restored and are open for tourist visits. There is a Batsto Post Office where collectors can have stamps hand-cancelled. 

Rev. Herbert M. Griffin with his wife, Frances McMunn Griffin, and their son, ca 1923

I sometimes get curious about the people who sent or received the postcards.  In this case Rev. Herbert M. Griffin sent the card to his niece, Dorothy Christison.  Rev. Griffin was employed by the China Inland Mission and spent many years in China as a missionary.  Two of his three children were born in China during those years.  The card shared this week is postmarked 1976, which would have been about 4 years before he passed away in 1980.  I found the photograph above of Rev. Griffin with his wife, Frances, and son, age about 3 or 4, on Ancestry.com.  Their passport application is dated 1922 and it seems most likely the picture was taken around that time, before the next child is born while the family is living in China in 1924.  It was also interesting to note on the passport application that he intended to be in China for a period of 7 years.  Their youngest child was born in China in 1928.  

The stamp is a 9-cent "Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble" issued in 1975 with a gray background and the Capitol Dome featured in green. 

 For additional information, see:

https://batstovillage.org/mansion/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMF_International
https://search.ancestry.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batsto_Village_New_Jersey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironmaster
https://arago.si.edu/category_2029040.html