American History Press

Wicked Woodbridge & Crazy Carteret

$19.95

Wicked Woodbridge & Crazy Carteret

Vice in New Jersey's Oldest Township

Gordon Bond

Wicked Woodbridge & Crazy Carteret is an unflinching romp through some of the less-than-respectable events that occurred in New Jersey's oldest townships. Drugs, prostitution, bootlegging, riots, swindles, counterfeiting, and even witchcraft - all have variously appeared on the otherwise pleasant and law-abiding streets of Woodbridge and Carteret. Author Gordon Bond places these local stories firmly within the broader contexts of how the shifting social attitudes and moral standards of the world-at-large play out in our backyards.

 Specifications

Format: 6" x 9" x .6" perfect-bound paperback on acid-free natural paper, printed in the USA
Pages: 228, including Endorsements, Introduction, Text, About the Author, Index
Published: November 2015
ISBN 10: 1-939995-12-4
ISBN 13: 978-1-939995-12-4
LCCN: 2015948503

Price: $19.95 (Bulk order rates are available upon request)

About the Author

Gordon Bond, author of "Wicked Woodbridge and Crazy Carteret"

Gordon Bond is an independent historian, author and lecturer, and the founder and ePublisher of www.GardenStateLegacy.com, a free online quarterly magazine and resources website dedicated to New Jersey history. He is also the author of the books James Parker: A Printer on the Eve of Revolution, North Jersey Legacies, and Hidden History of South Jersey. He has also written a large number of articles and reviews for Garden State Legacy.

His other topics of research include Thomas Mundy Peterson, the first African-American to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution at Perth Amboy, Rev. Hannibal Goodwin and his invention of roll photographic film in Newark. He and his wife are also studying New Jersey's folk grave marker tradition. In addition, he also runs his own freelance graphic designs business - Gordon Bond Designs.

Gordon and his wife, Stephanie M. Hoagland, live in Newark, New Jersey, with their two cats, Onslow and Daisy.

Excerpt

"Colonial American common law was inherited from English common law, and since prostitution was not illegal in the latter, it remained legal in the former. If anything, when it seemed to be getting out of hand in a given community, it was viewed as more of a nuisance to be dealt with as a form of vagrancy. In 1699, for example, the Massachusetts Assembly passed a statute against the “common nightwalker.” Almost sounding like a type of nocturnal bird or insect, the phrase referred to prostitutes who would walk the streets at night, soliciting business and making respectable folks uncomfortable. They would not be charged with prostitution, but a form of loitering, albeit for immoral purposes. While prostitution certainly went on in colonial New Jersey, there were no laws specifically against it—there didn’t need to be."

Reviews

"Gordon Bond is an author with a remarkable sense of curiosity that is on full display in his new book, Wicked Woodbridge & Crazy Carteret. Far from being another pedestrian history, the book explores many of the lesser known—and less respectable—facets of the Woodbridge and Carteret story. The table of contents gives a sense of the book’s unusual topics—prostitution, drugs, bootlegging, witchcraft, riots, counterfeiting, and swindles—all set against the background of Woodbridge and Carteret.

Bond pushes the envelope even further, placing local history into the broader contexts of science, philosophy, and the many other fields that helped to shape it. Did you know why chocolate makes your brain feel good? Gordon Bond knows the answer and will share it with you.

Bond is an unstoppable explainer, and the reader will find Wicked Woodbridge & Crazy Carteret a rollicking and
enlightening experience."

- Marc Mappen, New Jersey history author and co-editor of the award-winning Encyclopedia of New Jersey

 

"Gordon Bond’s book provides a captivating insight into Woodbridge and Carteret’s long forgotten past and transports readers to a much different and admittedly darker time in our shared history. Whether you have lived in these towns or are a student of history, you will find yourself turning the pages anticipating what is going to happen next in Wicked Woodbridge & Crazy Carteret.

- Daniel J. Reiman, Mayor, Borough of Carteret

 

"As Mayor of Woodbridge Township - the oldest established Township in the State of New Jersey – I receive many requests to review works of fiction and non-fiction.  Gordon Bond’s newest historical account of Woodbridge: Wicked Woodbridge and Crazy Carteret is his best work yet... bringing to light any number of “unusual” historical events that highlight the oft overlooked Woodbridge historical accounts. 

Bond’s biography of printer James Parker – Woodbridge’s most historical figure – or his account of the tragic 1951 Woodbridge train wreck, stand as accurate accounts of our greatest citizens and most tragic events.  On the other hand, Wicked Woodbridge and Crazy Carteret bring to light some of the “history” we might like to forget or leave in the annals collecting dust on unknown shelves. 

Whether uncovering some of the lesser-known aspects of the Township’s history, including a 17th century riot over land that led to the downfall of a governor... or a Carteret man driven by desperation during the Great Depression to counterfeit nickels... or how the police ran down bootleggers during Prohibition...and so many more well kept secrets of the past, I must say that Gordon has done the research and uncovered our most closely held - and assuredly deniable – events from the past. 

From all of us who continue to flog away at the history of this remarkable Township... thank you Gordon Bond for uncovering what we have successfully “buried” for the past 300 years.  It’s a great read.”

- John E. McCormac, Mayor, Township of Woodbridge


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This product was added to our catalog on Friday 20 November, 2015.

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