Clinton, NJ

This time around, we visit historic Clinton (NJ) making sure we don’t forget our cameras. What better fun for parents than to take pictures of the children with arguably the most photographed building in New Jersey for a backdrop! The building in question here is the Red Mill, in the heart of Hunterdon County, on the banks of the south branch of the Raritan River. There are plenty of restaurants, coffee shops, antique shops and boutiques just across the river, squeezed into the town’s mere one and a half square miles. Each one of them would happily sell you some artistic rendering of the Red Mill, most typically on canvas, cloth, poster or photo paper, or even on stoneware.

Walking leisurely across the (one-way) historic truss bridge, which crosses the Raritan just a few steps south of the Red Mill and leads directly into the heart of the old town, affords one a lovely view of a sparkling white waterfall with two mills, one on either bank. Dappled ducks and Canada Geese, floating peacefully on their own fractured reflections, complete this idyllic scene straight out of a Currier and Ives print.

The 19th century stone mill on the town side of the river is the home of the Hunterdon Museum of Art, a landmark regional art center since 1952, which features rotating exhibits by both established and emerging artists. The day I happened to be there, they were featuring an exhibit of corrugated box art; that is, the stamped panels (usually lids) cut out and arranged in a variety of patterns. The resulting collages were then framed and hung. They looked quite arresting (as anything framed can generally be regarded as interesting) on the spare walls of this old mill. At the same time, I stood before its various windows and studied what could be seen outside. I have always considered windows as being similar to paintings, photographs, books, magazines or TV’s for that matter, as all these exist within the confines of some specific context that isolates the chosen subject from all that’s around it, allowing the artist to highlight, classify, and manipulate variously selected aspects of reality within the illusion of a separate laboratory.

I do not expect that this particular (box) exhibit would now still be around. But the same could be said of any exhibit one would wish to display on the proverbial (mill) walls. In any case, the windows would still be there through one of which I happened to capture on film the red canoes - in storage - awaiting someone’s Raritan River adventure. For directions, schedules, fees and current offerings, please consult the museum’s website: www.hunterdonartmuseum.org The museum also has a gift shop.

Directly across the river from the art museum is the Red Mill Museum Village which also houses a museum with an emphasis on traditional American handicrafts such as quilting and lace. Its ten tranquil acres offer Civil and Revolutionary War Reenactments and Big Band and Blue Grass concerts. For a listing of scheduled events visit their website www.theredmill.org

If by chance your picture of the family with the Red Mill in the background happens not to turn out just the way you wanted, you can always go to any convenience store in the State, buy a post card, scan it and cut and paste anyone you would wish to appear in the foreground (just as I just did it with my daughter, Ivy).