Frenchtown Walking Tour to Benefit HCHS: Sat, July 13

A walking tour of downtown Frenchtown on Saturday, July 13, at 10 a.m. will benefit the Hunterdon County Historical Society. It will be conducted by borough historian Rick Epstein, author of “Frenchtown; Fires, Floods, Fads & Felonies” and an HCHS trustee.

The tour will cover the Great Fire of 1878, Inky the Wonder Dog, Senator Martin’s alligators, secret societies, how Fred Sipes created buzz for his silent-movie theater, how the guillotine inspired Frenchtown’s founder to come here and do some founding, and why Aaron Burr wanted to visit Frenchtown (but didn’t).

The tour costs $20 but is free for teenagers. Dogs are wonderful creatures, especially yours, but please keep them home. If you are interested, please register by emailing Rick at rickepstein@yahoo.com and he’ll tell you where to meet up. Please pay at the event.

If the tour creates a demand for Rick’s book, you can buy at the Frenchtown Bookshop, Frenchtown Home & Hardware, Sublime, Perfect Day Café, Country Chic, ArtYard, or Heart of the Home. It is in hardcover, weighs 2 pounds, 5 ounces, and contains 75 photos and 200,000 well-chosen words (about the same as “Moby Dick,” but if you are a friend to whales, “Frenchtown” is the better book for you by far).