The Atco Ghost Story Website and Blog

Archive for the ‘History’ Category

Halloween has a long history dating back some 2000 years to the Celtic days of old.  The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st and it was a day of celebrating the end of the summer harvest and the beginning of the long cold winter.  Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.  They build big bonfires and burned animals in a sacrificial ceremony as they dressed up in ghouly costumes.  When the Celtic people disappeared the Christian leaders replaced the holiday with All Saints day to honor saints and martyrs.  They still celebrated with bonfires and costumes.  As time passed it became the kids holiday we know today but most kids don’t know how it got started.  All they know is they get candy.    You can read more about Halloween at history.com and get some more details but that’s bout it.

http://www.history.com/content/halloween/real-story-of-halloween

Or if you go looking for the Atco Ghost (which seems to be a part of the holiday around here) maybe you can ask him what he knows about the story.

Basic Beliefs of Pagans and Wiccans

Believe it or not, it is exceptionally difficult to write a page on “basic beliefs” for pagans. The main reason is because there are such a wide variety of individual beliefs in paganism, and so many different paths, that it is difficult to write a page on specific beliefs. However there are a few certain universal pagan beliefs that I will attempt to cover on this page.

As far as diety is concerned, most pagans believe in A Goddess, and a God. Instead of the Christian belief where there is only ONE supreme being and that he is male, pagans choose to believe that everything in nature has a duality…a male and female side, and therefore so should Spirit. Although believing in both a Goddess and God are central to pagan beliefs, it should be noted that there are feminist pagan groups who only believe in a Goddess, and other groups that believe that there are many Gods and many Goddesses (representing different aspects of nature).

Another belief that is universal to paganism is called “The Wiccan Rede”, and it goes like this:

“Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
An’ it harm none,
Do what ye will.
Blessed Be to thee .”

That is actually the shortened version, however you can look up the full version on nearly any search engine. Since pagans do not have a long list of rules to live by like many other mainstream religions, this one rede is universally accepted by pagans as a “moral code”. In essence, it means “As long as you harm NO ONE (including yourself, other people, animals, plants, or anything living), then you may do what you like.” Pagans take this creed to heart. For instance, most pagans will not do love spells, because it intereferes with free will, which harms someone.

Read the rest of this entry »

Once Know As
Long-A-Coming

There are many stories of how Berlin, New Jersey, came to be. The following seems to be the accepted one.

The main travel route between the New Jersey shore and the Delaware River ran through what is now Berlin. It was a Native American trail called Lonaconing Trail. Travelers who walked the path would stop at a stream here. This stream was the head of the Great Egg Harbor River. The weary travelers knowing the trail name would refer to the spot as “long a coming”. The name stuck.

The first man settled here in 1714 and more followed, but the town grew slowly. By the early 1800′s there were several iron forges and glass works (Waterford and Jackson) built in the area and more people started to settle in here. Travel was increasing along the route and 3 taverns and 2 hotels were opened.

It was the Victorian era and folks started traveling for recreation.  Atlantic City, even then, was a popular spot. Long-A-Coming was about halfway between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, so it became a stopping point on the stagecoach routes.

Then,  in 1853, a rail line was laid. Three years later, the Long-A-Coming Railroad Station was built. In February of 1867, the station was renamed “Magnolia”. This caused some confusion because there was a town called Magnolia near by.  So, about three months later, the station’s name was changed to The Berlin Station and the town then became know as Berlin. Still a popular spot since there was the hotel within walking distance of the station.   It’s Funny but nobody knows why the name Berlin was chosen.

Today, the Lonaconing Trail is actually Route 30, or The White Horse Pike. It has shifted here and there but it is still basically the same route and it is still a main route between Philadelphia and Atlantic City. If you look at a map today you can see many roads come into and go through Berlin connecting it to many places.

DID YOU KNOW?

At one time, Waterford included all the land between the Cooper River and Pennsauken Creek, from the Delaware River to the current Atlantic County boundary. Boundaries have changed and other towns have been carved from Waterford since its founding in 1694.

Berlin, Cherry Hill, Voorhees and more use to all be shown on the map as Waterford. 

click map for full size

Atco is a 60 acre town within Waterford carved out in 1860 by Thomas Richards Jr and his brother Sam.  The owners of The Jackson Glass Works which was where Louden is now. It was promoted as a clean living town and invited people to come and enjoy good health.  Good Piney Air!!!

For some more about the now famous town of Atco check out our page “The Town“.