Mahwah Historian Penning Book on Township History

Mahwah township historian Carol Greene is fresh off the second edition of her book, The Ramapough Chronicles: A 300-Year History of Mahwah, New Jersey and Its Surrounds.

The 850-page book has more than 1,600 photos and maps, and goes into great detail about the township’s past.

This time around, the author says she is taking a different approach to telling Mahwah’s story.

Around January of this year, Greene says Mahwah’s Historical Preservation Commission was approached by the Arcadia, the publishers of the ‘Images of America’ book series, which aims at telling a photographic history of the country one town at a time. So far, the series has published thousands of editions, including books on local towns like Ramsey, Oakland, Wyckoff, and Waldwick.

The parameters for the book, Greene said, are very specific.

“It’s a formula book, so it can only be 128 pages, with 180-240 pictures, illustrations or maps, and a maximum of 18,000 words,” Greene said. “Everything has to be concise yet informative.”

Her timeline for this book is a bit condensed, as well. Greene said she took about 26 years to put together The Ramapough Chronicles. Her deadline for the Images book is the end of July.

“One of the reasons we don’t already have one of these books about Mahwah is because people felt that you can’t tell the history of the town in such a small space,” Greene said. “Mahwah really does have an extensive history, and we are unusually diverse, so each section of town has its own history.”

But, Greene said she feels the format of the Images book works for Mahwah.

“I think it’s a very good concept,” she said. “You can pick up one of these books, skim through it, and learn something. It reaches an entirely different audience than the hard core Mahwah history buff, and that’s a good thing.”

Once Greene gets her draft to the publisher next month, she said it plans to have the book published before next summer.

So far, she has drafts of every chapter written, and has combed through photos at the Mahwah Museum, FD, PD, town hall, and from friends in town. But, she said she is still collecting old photos for the book, and asking residents to help her compile them.

Greene is asking anyone with Mahwah photos from the first half of the 1900’s to share them. Photo contributors to the book will be credited.

“”Photos of people are great,” she said. “Sometimes, people don’t think they have good photos because there are people in them, but they end up being the most charming.”

Though she said she’ll take in any photos readers want to submit, specifically, Greene is looking for pictures of Mahwah’s one room school houses, old Girl Scout troops, businesses, old roads, restaurants and taverns, and photos that, “represent the histories of all of the different cultures in town,” she said.

Anyone with a photo to submit can contact Greene at 201-739-9255, or at carolwgreene@yahoo.com. 

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