Episode 2: The History of The House of the Good Shepherd, Part II
The second in our podcast series about the House of the Good Shepard!
“The History of the House of the Good Shepherd Part 2” by Sue Lanza and Rev. Shawn Carty. Released: 2021. Genre: podcast.
Transcription
Sue Lanza:
Welcome, everyone, to this episode of House Guest. I’m Sue Lanza, the CEO of the House of the Good Shepherd, a retirement community in Hackettstown, New Jersey. Co-hosting with me today is the Reverend Shawn Carty, our chaplain at the house.
So very glad that you’re joining us today for episode number two. We are continuing our journey to learn about our historic roots at the House of the Good Shepherd. Well, hi, Shawn.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Hello, Sue.
Sue Lanza:
We’re back again.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
We are. Are we going to record the episode now?
Sue Lanza:
We are. Here we are recording our episode. So we’re back again. And as we looked back and listened back to our last episode of House Guest, and we welcome everyone. I’m Sue Lanza.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And I’m Shawn.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. And we’re here to kind of take you down memory lane. Some of this we’re learning as we go along. But our last episode, we teased you with the fact that the House of the Good Shepherd had its origins way back when starting in 1882 in the Oranges and eventually moved to Hackettstown.
But we still have some other parts of this to cover with you. By the time we’re done, it might not be a two parter, it might be a five parter by the time we get going.
But one of the first things that we wanted to talk about that we were not able to get information on the last time was about the five congregations that were part of forming the House of the Good Shepherd back in the Oranges. So, Shawn, tell us a little bit about that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
It was an omission, wasn’t it last time? So looking around we found out that it was St Mark’s Episcopal Church in West Orange, Church of the Holy Communion in South Orange, Grace Church in Orange itself, and Christ’s Church in East Orange.
And of those, only a couple are still around, but the legacy of their good work is very much alive and well here in Hackettstown, as we think about the way that they started things and got things going.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. And I think just the fact that five churches cooperated together. Not that they’re not cooperative, but you have to have some leadership and some gumption to get going and try to make something bigger than yourself.
And it’s hard enough just to run a congregation. And then on top of that, you’re trying to have a higher goal. I think it’s pretty admirable.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Yeah. And as we talked about in the last episode, they were inspired in ways that we understand now that are wanting to do good things in the world. And here they did. That’s great.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, agreed. And I know we kind of left things off around the 1900s. And we said the period of time from 1900 till we got here in Hackettstown in 1965, there was lots of good work and things going on. But we dug a little bit deeper and I know you have some information for us.
One of the things that you came across during the middle of that time period was, believe it or not, the 50th anniversary in 1932. And how is that even possible that they existed for 50 years out in the Oranges?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, yeah. And the interesting thing too is that we often, and I see this in churches all the time, that we don’t necessarily think to write things down about the history as it’s happening. And so oftentimes it’s anniversaries that get us to do that.
And one of the things that happened in 1932, which would’ve been the 50th anniversary from the founding in 1882, was that they had a gathering that was a dedication of some things in the chapel and then it was a reception and a tea, which is classically Episcopal.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, tea. That’s what tipped you off?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Our English heritage, I suppose you have tea. And in this case, I’m looking a transcription of the invitation that had been sent out in which it said that the board of management and control of the House of the Good Shepherd cordially invites you to a service of dedication followed by a reception and tea marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the house.
And in this case, it was going to be on Wednesday, April the 13th, 3:00 in the afternoon in 1932. And I think it’s worth commenting and at least pointing out that in 1932, our country was in some rough shape because the great depression had just happened.
And so it’s maybe understandable that there wasn’t a whole lot of great activity that we would find in the archives during that time. But here it was. They were doing good work and keeping on. And in 1932, they decided to have a gathering.
They invited the bishop who at the time was Bishop Wilson Steer Lee. I looked him up. And one of the things that happened at that gathering was they dedicated or in this case, I think consecrated may be the right word as well, the bishop did, the litany desk, which we still use in the chapel.
Sue Lanza:
What is a litany desk? Please advise us non-sectarians.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
It’s essentially something you kneel on for prayer. The French term is it’s a prie-dieu, something that you would kneel on while you were praying. But in this case, it’s something I still use in the chapel. Here it is after all of those years still part of what we do.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. And I think it was very telling that you mentioned and put this 1932 in perspective because there was so much going on between the first world war and the second world war, which is about to break out in another seven or so years.
And the fact that they’re able to say that they were… Anything was going on for 50 years, I think is pretty darn amazing because we were looking back and I was going through some of the archives as you were as well. And I’m seeing there was a celebration for the 125th anniversary, which we’ll have to dig out and that’ll be part of this as well.
And I don’t know which other ones they celebrated, but I’m sure the 100th was celebrated. And next year we’re going to want to do the 140th, which is just absolutely amazing of what’s happened. Just even think since 1932 to this year with the wars, and COVID, and just everything in between has been quite amazing.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, the other thing too, I was just thinking about this, is that in 1932 they would’ve been what, 12 or 13 years after the great pandemic, 1919.
Sue Lanza:
Right.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And here we are living through a pandemic ourselves, of course, but to just bear in mind that our ancestors went through these things too and persevered and some good things have happened as a result of what they did in those difficult times as well.
Sue Lanza:
Absolutely. So we know for a fact, we said this, that the whole group made a move in 1965 out here to Hackettstown, which we just had some visitors recently for an event out here. And everybody marvels when they come down our hill at the beauty of our spot here.
Whoever picked this spot out, boy oh boy, did they have it going on because not only is it a hidden treasure, I think actually we always are saying that at the top of the road, we wish people could see it. And I’m almost thinking, no, maybe we should keep that to ourselves because it’s really so beautiful when you come down here.
So we know they got here in 1965, but there were so many things that led up to this. So what are some of the things that you came up with in your research, Shawn?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, one thing that came up, and I was interested in this, it happened in 1963. I’m looking at a letter. And by the way, today we’ve got lots of documents. So if people hear shuffling of papers in the background, they’ll know what that’s about.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, that’s not you doing your grocery list or something.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
No.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, okay. Just checking.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
So July of 1963, this is a letter that was written by Albert Jud was the president of the board of trustees. And as I recall, Albert Jud was a priest in the diocese. I forget which church he served in. Couple of, I think, just very interesting things about this letter. He addresses it to the members of the family.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, I like that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Yeah. And I actually wonder if we might reclaim that from use of that word-
Sue Lanza:
Oh, it’s nice.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
… at some as we think about what it means for people to live here at the House of the Good Shepherd.
Sue Lanza:
Sure.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
But he addresses it to the members of the family, the House of the Good Shepherd. And then he says, dear ladies. And that’s a reminder to us that the House of the Good Shepherd up until it moved here to the Hackettstown location was only women.
Sue Lanza:
I forgot that. But you’re absolutely right to point that out.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
So he’s writing to the members of the family, dear ladies. He begins the letter and he says, ‘I wish I might be writing you on a subject that would be less troubling than I fear this one may be,” which is, oh no, what’s coming?
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. Something great is about to happen.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
He says that the board of trustees have been increasingly aware that for at least two or three years, we’ve been drawing on capital funds to operate the house. And as you know, if you’re spending capital money on operational expenses, that’s never a great picture to be in.
He says that we’ve explored all possible ways to be economize to avoid requiring higher monthly payments for members of the family. We’ve employed the services of an expert accountant. He goes on and on about trying to figure things out.
And he says, “But we find ourselves faced with the inescapable fact that present monthly payments are much less than half what it costs to maintain a person in residence at present living costs.” “It was determined therefore,” he writes, “that beginning on November 1st, our monthly charge must be raised to $150.”
Sue Lanza:
Oh my goodness.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And I’m not involved in the finances here at the House of the Good Shepherd, but I’m reasonably sure it’s higher than $150 a month.
Sue Lanza:
It is. You are correct. You’re really good at this. You’re correct. But it’s just so funny because here’s another one of those examples of something that is exactly true today as it was back then.
These are very unpleasant things that we have to do in our role, let’s say for me as CEO, where I have to write a letter and we have to be mindful of the cost and you have to write one of those letters. So isn’t that interesting that he had to say that?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And in some ways it’s maybe not terribly surprising because we know that this is a charitable place. It’s not someplace that’s always been a profitable place.
Sue Lanza:
Right. There’s been many lean years here.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Sure.
Sue Lanza:
But we had thankfully lots of good people supporting us all through the years. Not only church, but individuals and I know we’ll get to many of them as we go on with the story here.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
One of the things I wanted to share, this comes from a pamphlet, really more of a prospectus, I suppose, at the time when they were considering moving. And they were noting that the average operating cost per resident day in places in Pennsylvania was $5 a person.
Sue Lanza:
Oh my goodness.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
In Trenton, it was $8 and 75 cents.
Sue Lanza:
Ooh. Well, out in Pennsylvania, I guess they’re saying that it was easier.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
A little less expensive.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, a little less expensive, which people today are still moving out to Pennsylvania for reason from New Jersey. So interesting. So the other thing was, there was a lot of preparation I know in that time period.
1932 was one thing, but then as the next couple of decades happened, there was some preparation and there was sort of a case for why should they move? And I don’t know if you have anything to elaborate on that aspect.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I do. We have, in our archives, quite a few newspaper accounts of what was happening partly because when they bought the property here in Hackettstown, there was some controversy around it. It had been the Sherman family property.
One of the things that those of us who work in the nonprofit sector know is that nonprofits don’t pay property taxes. And that’s controversial particularly if someone who’s paying property taxes sells it to a nonprofit, who’s not going to be paying property taxes.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, the town is not going to be too thrilled about that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And at the time, I think the town was thinking they would be losing a certain number of thousands of dollars back in the ’60s. And that was considered a problem, of course.
And then, of course, there’s also within it, the discussion in these newspaper articles about well, if you’re going to be having a House of the Good Shepherd here with employees and people who will be buying food and all kinds of other things, it’s going to balance out.
And I think that’s a fair case to make and certainly is the case. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I buy things here in Hackettstown because this is where I work.
Sue Lanza:
Right. You’d go to the dry cleaner. You get your hair cut. I go to the shop. Of course.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Exactly.
Sue Lanza:
And all our residents do too. They use all the services nearby. Absolutely.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Part of the desire at the time though, to move out to Hackettstown was quite honestly because there were some changes in Orange and in that area, it was beginning to get built up as we talked a little bit about in the last podcast episode. But there was a desire really to be in a place that would be idyllic, we could even say.
Instead of the busy streets of Orange to be in a quiet place where you hear the river running by. And so that was definitely part of what was going on as well. One of the things I came across, this comes from a newsletter from St. Stephen’s Church in Millburn, which is a lively congregation. Still doing good work there in Millburn.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, still there today.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
They had a board member who was writing about the House of the Good Shepherd moving. And he said that as times have changed, the need of more extensive care has become apparent. This will ring some bells for many of us nowadays.
People are living longer. They frequently need infirmary care, as they called it back then. The neighborhood has changed. One of our guests was assaulted last year in the-
Sue Lanza:
Oh, dear.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
… neighborhood of Orange. The house is sandwiched between two large hospitals and the new freeway, what we now know as I 280 will make the area even less desirable for our purposes.
I think what they meant by that was that it would be a much busier, noisier kind of place. I do think it’s helpful. And this is something that we need to talk about carefully. This was the time when many people were moving out of the suburbs, what we would call White flight, unfortunately.
And while I have not, in my reading, found anything to indicate that was the motivation, we just know that that’s one of the cultural things that was going on at the time.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, you have to acknowledge it because it was present.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Absolutely. Long story short. However, they decided that it was time to move. And they also talked about some things that would be familiar to us. One of our old buildings has outlived its usefulness.
Its maintenance is increasingly expensive. And then as this person goes on to write, it became apparent to the board that a move was imperative. We had hoped that we could locate somewhere in the vicinity of the Oranges and made exhaustive searches for land nearby, but none was to be found.
We looked further out in Jersey and found that zoning regulations in Essex and Morris communities expressly forbid homes like ours. I find that interesting.
Sue Lanza:
Oh my goodness. Because there’s so many of them now, but maybe back then there were guidelines.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, and the concern, which I already mentioned was that municipalities consider tax loss as a threat to their income source.
Sue Lanza:
Right, to their income stream. Sure.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
As this person goes on to write, throughout our search for a new site, we had to keep in mind proximity to shopping centers, hospitals, convenience for travel, et cetera. We knew we needed ample land. 10 acres would be fine.
A pleasant situation and nearness to the labor market in order to find employees. Quite early in our search, we discovered a location in Hackettstown, but rejected it because we thought it was too far away and we represent too much of a move for our people. Again and again, we saw other places we turned to reevaluate the Hackettstown site.
I have to say as somebody who has bought and sold a couple homes over the years, sounds a little bit like people shopping for a house. They keep coming back to the one that made some sense and was attractive to them for whatever reasons those may be. And so that’s what happened as we know.
Sue Lanza:
And that’s a lot of information that it kind of summarizes. It lays out their case for why they actually decided to move. And they say the two hospitals kind of sandwiching them in there. I knew about the one hospital, but I guess the hospital probably just built around them and they probably felt squished.
And then they had the same issues that we’ve had where you’re in a building and it’s great. And then next thing you know, 50 years go by and plumbing is shot. And we have parts of our building still that are from 1965 and we’ve babied them along and we’re trying to make them work.
And that’s some of the stuff that we’re going to do as we renovate down here for the independent living area because you have to keep up with things. So they were really very forward thinking to make this because when we do things around here now with the current climate, it’s difficult to make change.
You have to go through a board process and we’ve got a great board and lots of cooperation, but it’s still push and pull and the money and the decisions. It’s very hard to come to these decisions. So to finally make this big move really quite a distance away. I always wondered why they hadn’t gone to a county or an area closer.
Now, granted in Orange, there’s going to be a difficult situation with finding available land, and they kind of stated that, but then now they’ve explained why they weren’t in Essex or Morris County, which would make more sense.
As soon as you come out to Warren County, we’re out here as they think of the sticks, really way out here. And when he was touching on the idea of the labor market, that’s still a concern because They probably would’ve had a lot better connections to get staff there. So kudos to them for this forward thinking to make it all the way out there.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, it definitely was a bold move. I mean, it’s not as though they were moving to the next town. They were moving a couple of counties away.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, and I don’t even know how many miles it is, but I’m guessing it’s like 25 miles, 30 miles probably, right?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I’d have to look. I don’t know.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, I know. Something like that. But it’s definitely a good ride. If we had to get in the car and go to Orange now, it would take us quite a while.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
It would, yeah.
Sue Lanza:
So what else have you got there?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, just for fun, this morning I looked up… Nowadays you can go on to online maps and see street side in Google Maps or whatever.
Sue Lanza:
Oh yeah, like Google Earth and stuff where you can go on to street level.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
So just out of curiosity, I searched for the address of the House of the Good Shepherd that was in Orange, 280 Henry Street in Orange.
Sue Lanza:
Right.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And when you look at it, I think it’s an abandoned restaurant. It looks like an abandoned restaurant.
Sue Lanza:
Oh really?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
With a rather weedy looking parking lot now.
Sue Lanza:
Oh dear.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Indeed, it was sandwiched in between the hospital, which I don’t believe is functioning anymore and another, which is actually a long-term care facility, I think. But it was very interesting to do that. It did occur to me it might be interesting someday to drive there.
Sue Lanza:
I know what you’re going to say. I knew you were going to say that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Field trip.
Sue Lanza:
Road trip. Can we get ice cream when we go?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Absolutely.
Sue Lanza:
That’s all I care about really. No, I think that would be fun to actually take some pictures and maybe put them on our website before and after and whatever we can find because there’s so much great materials here that we’re finding as we go along.
I was looking for something yesterday and I came across stuff to give to Shawn part of his research he’s doing. So it’s just endless. So then we get to the part. And I know there’s going to be a lot more to say about this so that we actually get here to the property.
But one of the things was, I know you uncovered some information about, and we were just talking about out this recently because of our own construction we’re going to do here, some of the ceremonial aspects that happen. When you come onto a property, how do you honor the old and embrace the new?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, and one thing I was curious about and then I finally did discover an answer to the question was about the cornerstone. It’s currently located in what we call the lodge, which is the dining area for our independent living residence.
You can see both the original cornerstone and then a later cornerstone from 1965 when they moved here. What’s interesting to me is that there’s a tradition of actually putting a time capsule in with the cornerstone.
Sue Lanza:
I love that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And not everybody knows about that, although I did bump into somebody here who did know something about that. I’ve noticed it in churches that I’ve served. And particular times, for example, a Centennial or something like that, the cornerstone might be opened up and the time capsule opened up.
In this case, however, it was precipitated because they moved. They had to. So the curious thing now I am wondering about is where is the time capsule? Is it still in there? I’m guessing it is because one of the things I discovered in my reading was about the ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone.
It happened on Saturday, May 15th in 1965, 11:00, if you want to know the time. Our Bishop at the time, the Right Reverend Leland Stark who was Bishop of Newark at the time came for that. And we have pictures of it. And there’s some interesting kind of snapshots of it. I know you’ve got a couple there in front of you.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, they’re really interesting because they’re obviously on a construction site and they have them in a little cabin or cupboard or something where they’re actually doing the ceremony and then the people are safe a little distance away.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
What I found in our archives was the program from that day.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, that must be interesting.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And one of the thing, as I said, I was curious about the time capsule, it lays it all out right here in the program in which they talk about the various things that they put in to the cornerstone.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, I can’t wait to hear what some of these things are.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, they’re not terribly surprising, but there’s a book of common prayer, which is what we use in the-
Sue Lanza:
Sure.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
… church. In that case, it would’ve been the 1928 book of common prayer because we revised it in the 1970s.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, I didn’t realize. So that many years would go by in between a new edition?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Exactly. And anytime we would revise the prayer book, it’s a big controversy because-
Sue Lanza:
Oh, I’m sure.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
… people like the old one. We know something about that. So the other things that were in there were some coins from that particular year presumably goes in. And there was a record of the founders and board members of the foundation presumably from the beginning of the House of the Good Shepherd.
It’ll be curious, whenever somebody opens that up, and I don’t know when that will be, of course, to look at those things. And just remember that back in 1965, they did that. There’s a marvelous picture in our archives of Bishop Stark laying the cornerstone and you can see he’s got the trial in his hand with some mortar on the trial.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, he’s really doing it.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Exactly.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, good for him.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
But what I find fascinating about this picture, and maybe we can publish this place on our website, but he’s paying very close attention to what he’s doing. And everybody else in the picture is looking around as if they’re not paying attention.
Sue Lanza:
Oh my goodness. Why? He’s doing this-
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I just find that really curious. And I don’t know-
Sue Lanza:
He is doing good work.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
… maybe it was the dress rehearsal picture. I don’t know. But it was just funny to think that he was being very studious about this.
Sue Lanza:
Well, good for him.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Very careful about it and wanting to make sure that he did it right.
Sue Lanza:
Well, and it’s funny because we were just talking about the whole time capsule. Well, not the time capsule part, the cornerstone part of this, because as we’re talking about doing renovation for our independent living residents in the lodge, which is our dining area, that used to be the front entrance of the building at one point.
So that’s why it’s like, well, why would there be a cornerstone in the middle of a dining room? It doesn’t seem to fit. But when you know that the entrance used to be there and the two cornerstones.
So we were discussing this with the architects the other day and they were kind of a little bit mystified by what do you mean? They’re thinking this is just a column or a big boulder or something that we have to move out of the way. And we’re saying, no, this is sacred territory.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Exactly.
Sue Lanza:
We have to be very careful with what we do with it and how we integrate it into the design. And I forget exactly how it’s going to be, but we have it preserved so that we’ll be able to I’m sure look at what is in the time capsule, find that, but make sure that it’s very safely moved because it’s so important to the history of this building.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Yeah. Most people don’t realize that the building was oriented very differently back in 1965 when it was first built because most of us know it coming in the other end of the building as the front entrance where the little circle is and the flag pole. But the original entrance to the building was what we think of as the back of the building.
Sue Lanza:
It was by the river.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Exactly. And one of the ways you can see this is if you come down the driveway that takes you into Stephens State Park, that was the original entrance. So you would come down that driveway and then turn right. And as you turn right and look at that corner of the building, it’s still there.
It’s one of the last remnants of it. But there’s a large metal cross on that corner of the building. And I remember at one point when I first started serving here as chaplain walking outside and thinking, why would they put the cross on the back of the building?
Sue Lanza:
Where nobody is going to see it.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Nobody is going to see it, right?
Sue Lanza:
Yeah.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
But there it is. And I will tell you, and this is, again, unfortunately in podcast you can’t show the pictures, but there are some amazing pictures of what it looked like when it was first constructed. And I think the total value is $1.3 million at the time.
And it’s all this what we would now think of as classic mid-century modern furnished architecture and lamps and lighting fixtures and all those kinds of things, which I think were quite popular a few years ago. I mean, more recently people were trying to copy that style. But here it was back in 1965.
Sue Lanza:
No. And it’s funny, I have kind of an interesting little piece on that back entrance too. So it was years ago. It had to be 25 years ago maybe because I’ve been an administrator now for 35 years. So probably it was earlier part of my career.
I came for a job here. I think it was an assistant administrator job. I came and I remember coming in Riverside. I didn’t remember coming Stephens State Park, but I came in when I must have come in where the dining room for the lodge is now and coming by the cornerstone or something.
So when I came to meet with the board for this position, which is so interesting that it’s like, here I am again, but I was so discombobulated because I hadn’t been here since then. I had some phone interviews and other things and then I came onto the property for the first time.
I was so mixed up about where I was because I kept looking for where’s that entrance that I came in because now it’s nowhere near the river. Although we have some great spots still out by the river and can enjoy it. It’s really changed around.
That, again, was another big decision they had to make to change that orientation. But it made sense because it was better for parking and moving of traffic and people. So it’s just so funny how we both have sort of a different take on how the old entrance was special back then.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I have people ask me sometimes, why is the chapel at the back corner of the building? Because it really does feel like it’s out of the way.
Sue Lanza:
It does.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
It’s at the Northeastern corner of the building when everybody enters on the south end of the building. But when you think about it, that would’ve been near the front entrance back in 1965 when they constructed the building.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, you would’ve come in and actually it would’ve been one of the first things you’d come to. You make a right and there you are. And you make a left to go to see everything else. So it made perfect sense. Now it is in a kind of a strange position, but it’s tucked away and it’s a jewel that you can find if you travel far enough.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And occasionally, people do find it.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. Once in a while we do find it back there. So anything else in your little ramblings over there that you have?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, there’s plenty more that can be shared, but I think we’ll keep it at that, no surprise. But we do have some other things in store for our next episode.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, we do. So let’s tease everybody because obviously, this is going to be Part 3. The history is going to go on and on and on until we get to the bottom of all of it. So I know there was something you were telling me about some people who had some interesting origins that were associated with the house. So tease us.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
We do. We had a couple of residents over the years who had some connections to rather important literary figures. And we can learn more about that at the next episode. And then there’s also an interesting connection with Stephens State Park and our residents here at the house over the years.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, it’s something to look forward to. And I know we are going to also talk at some future time about there’s so much that went on when they did get here, but also about some of the people who’ve been so generous to us and given to the house in terms of time, money, things that have sustained us over the years.
As I’ve been doing some research, there’s some amazing people that are involved. So we want to make sure that we mention them and honor them as we go forward.
And we are, just so you know, going to try to gather all these pieces of information into something that’s more user friendly so that we can get some of this out there because it’s really some great stuff that we’re uncovering and we’d like to share it with everybody.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, and especially to be able to share some of the pictures that we’ve got because a picture really does tell a story.
Sue Lanza:
It does. So we want to preserve everything. So, Shawn, it’s been a pleasure once again. I’ve enjoyed chatting with you. You always have some interesting little nuggets to share with me. So thank you so much.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure to be with you and look forward to more history down the road.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. So thanks everybody for this edition of House Guest. We’ll see you next time. I’m signing off as Sue.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And I’m Shawn.
Sue Lanza:
Thanks so much for joining us. Bye-bye. Thank you for joining us for this episode of House Guest. To learn more about the House of the Good Shepherd community in Hackettstown, New Jersey, please visit us at www.hotgs.org. See you next time.