You may have noticed that this month I took a break from my sequence of posts on the persistence of “the Deserted Village” as a name for the village which has been known as Feltville and Glenside Park (and of course, Peter’s Hill, before it was a village). I love the way the work on individual posts for the website is taking me into directions I didn’t anticipate—including the two smaller posts for this month, instead of one long one. I hope that my attempts to tie each post back to the summary of the site’s entire history is keeping you grounded.
The website has allowed me to indulge my curiosity about the whole life of every character who came into contact with the village. Each person was an individual and a product of his or her times; the stories of how they came to the village and what they took from it, what they left, are fascinating in their own right, but also illuminate history in a way I never learned in school.
So this month, we have visited with Tim Bernier, a current reenactor at the Village, and now we will visit with Virginia Lois Dennis Greene, a former resident of the site. She appears here in a video done by her nephew, Donald C. Dennis, on July 29, 2001. Also appearing in the video are Virginia’s son William Greene (dark shorts) and Donald’s partner Kurt Ludwig (white shorts). Donald’s brother, Brian Dennis, sent me the video after we met at this year’s Four Centuries in a weekend.
It is researching Virginia (which is not finished yet) that made me realize that one of the aspects of the place being a “Deserted Village” was the way in which a community of people, all considering themselves lucky to be renting a cottage from Union County, created a new deserted village of their own—a place totally removed from the world around it, with its own culture, its own events, and, wonderfully, its own newsletter. So, after one more post on the persistence of the name, I will launch into a series on the residents from the date of the County taking ownership (1927) to the present.
For now you have this video. I know it won’t be possible to interpret everything Virginia says in the video, but I myself haven’t had a chance to really fully understand the Dennis Family part in the village. But that family was one of the first county families, and that family was a crucial piece in the creation of the culture there. Click HERE to see the summary of county ownership.
I leave you with the video, and with the pictures below of Virginia’s wonderful mother, Verna (“Grandma,” referred to in the video), along with a hand drawn one referencing a little informal village business that Virginia’s twin brothers had—at the same tennis court where we see Verna. Stay tuned for more.
NOTE: IF YOU ARE ONE OF THESE RESIDENTS SINCE COUNTY OWNERSHIP OR RELATED TO ONE, AND I HAVE NOT YET TALKED TO YOU, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT feltvillefeatures@gmail.com.
 Ginny’s mom Verna |
 Ginny’s mom Verna |
 Drawing of “Drink Cart” |
| (Written notes on the original drawing and pictures) Our Verna has gone away but don’t worry you will soon see her back… Venus de Milo, no arms n’everything.(If the photographer had had his eye on the camera instead of on Verna he would probably have gotten the tennis racket in the picture.) |
During the absence of “Dennis & Dennis Cold Drinks Dispensary”, Virginia Dennis will take over the stand and supply you with the much needed cold drinks. Boys, if this by any chance is meant as an adv. we must charge you for space. | |