- This event has passed.
Speaker Series Presentation – Tony DiGerolamo, Author, Historian – Piney Legends, Lore and Laughs
January 4, 2024 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
This month’s FREE-to-the-public Historical Society of Hammonton (HSH)’s Speaker Series will take place Thursday, January 4 at 7 PM at the Canoe Club, Hammonton Lake Park.
We’re starting the New Year with a BANG, as Tony DiGerolamo, author, screenwriter, comic book writer, game designer, comedian, …and historian, will speak to a number of FUN tales of the N.J. Pinelands! He’s worked on The Simpsons comics, written jokes for late night tv, been a screenwriter for Space Ghosts, and been a blogger for Comedy Central. He’s directed improv groups and has written for many other comedy websites. Tony has authored books and eBooks; dozens of them on Amazon, and he hosts a few blogs on various platforms, some with cohost, Joan of Arc, his dog.
Tony will break down the legend(s) of the Jersey Devil, including the intense rivalry between the ‘cursed’ Leeds family, Ben Franklin, and the Quakers. He’ll also talk about the mass hysteria and record sightings in 1909 caused by Norman Jeffries and the eventual ‘capture’ of the creature and display at the 9th and Arch Street Museum!
He will shift to modern day sightings, then segway into “Legends, Lore, and Lies” by William McMahon, an author familiar with Hammontonians. There’s the witch Peggy Clevenger, Sammy Buck, the Fiddler of the Pines, and more. And how can we forget some of the forgotten towns of South Jersey? Ghost stories too, like the Headless Pirate, Woman in White, and the Black Dog!
This promises to be one of the most entertaining events of the year! Tony will have some of his popular books available for purchase and signing too.
Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of Cultural Affairs within the Department of State, through funds administered by the Atlantic County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.