Arcata; a bright jewel surrounded by the redwood forested hills of northern Humboldt Bay; was once the territory of the Wiyot Indians. The tribe only barely survived massacres and relocation after a town was founded there in 1850; a supply point for gold seekers at nearby mines. That town soon evolved into a center for a thriving lumber industry that fed sawmills and a barrel factory; and dairies that prospered on the pastoral Arcata Bottom. Home to Humboldt State University and the much loved Humboldt Crabs baseball team; Arcata is attracting new businesses; industries; and national attention for its innovative Arcata Marsh public works project.
#2139758 in eBooks 2007-05-16 2007-05-16File Name: B009A6I624
Review
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. HUGE project with some inaccuraciesBy Samuel W. FeinsteinI applaud the authors for attempting to chronicle the history of Jews and Judaism in South Jersey.The strong point of this work is obviously the rich collection of photographs that would otherwise remain in family archives. never to be seen again.A weak point is that some of the information presented as facts are in error to a degree that it makes one question what can and can not be trusted from this source. For example. it is stated that the "Beth Hillel Synagogue" in Carmel "is believed to be the only Orthodox synagogue in South Jersey and Cumberland County [in 2007] that is still being used regularly throughout the year for religious worship." The truth is that Temple Beth Hillel has been a Reform congregation for over 20 years now. Sons of Jacob in Vineland (shown five pages later in the book) is a well-known Orthodox congregation that recently celbrated their 100th anniversary. Sons of Jacob holds regular services. including DAILY Minyans.Hundreds of Jewish families are represented merely by the words. "The success of the Alliance settlement prompted the establishment of nearby towns or Norma. Brotmanville. Rosenhayn and Carmel..." My city of Bridgeton has had perhaps a thousand Jewish residents and we are represented by three photographs. This points out the superficial nature of the book. It would be impossible to do justice to a topic so broad in scope without committing some errors. I am only pointing this out so that the book will not become accepted as the benchmark for historically accurate information about Jewish South Jersey. It is a nice collection of photographs with some interesting anecdotes and it is worth buying for that reason alone. It just can not be used a reference for future works.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Lots of good memories of the areaBy Andrea BjergeAlan Meyers and Leonard Vernon have so many local Jewish history books to their credit. This one is just crammed full of pictures. Lots of good memories of the area. Again. another author that chose to omit the Jewish agricultural colonies in Atlantic County.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Good PhotosBy South Jersey GirlI bought this book as a gift for my parents. They both really enjoyed it. Its mostly pictures but it brought back lots of memories for them and even had pictures of people they knew from when their synagogue was being built. Lots of photos from local South Jersey synagogues.
