Join us for the latest in our series of guest lectures for the exhibition, “Greetings from Hudson County,” on Sunday, July 28, at 4 pm. Town historian, North Bergen native and teacher Michael Maring will lead a virtual tour of turn-of-the-20th-century North Bergen. Using digitized copies of images from the Golden Age of Postcards (1900-1920), he will show an array of historic locations across the town, from the long-gone Columbia Park and Little Coney Island amusement park to postcards from the opening of North Hudson County Park, and a castle that once graced Kennedy Boulevard.

Did you know that North Bergen is more that just one town? It’s really a combination of several distinct towns. Michael Maring will discuss each postcard in detail, offering stories about residents, places and events featured in each scene.

Michael Maring is the North Bergen Town Historian as well as a Social Studies teacher at North Bergen High School. Prior to teaching, he worked with the American Family Immigration Center on Ellis Island, where he researched documents regarding immigration from the early 20th century. He has recently worked with ARTE TV,  a television network that promotes cultural programming, on a project highlighting lesser-known facts about the Brooklyn Bridge. Did you know that the bridge had wine cellars built into it and that P.T. Barnum once crossed it with 21 elephants.

He received a BA in American History through Fairleigh Dickinson University and is currently working on an MA in Urban Education at NJCU. More of his research into the history of North Bergen can be found on The North Bergen Time Machine website.