Woodbury Train Station Part I

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My first encounter with Woodbury, NJ was while I was employed by Theo. Nickles, Construction, doing the exterior rehabilitation of the Hunter-Lawrence House, which serves as the museum for the Gloucester County Historical Society.

The Hunter-Lawrence House, Woodbury

(One of its former inhabitants was James Lawrence, who famously cried "Don't give up the ship" from the deck of the U.S.S. Chesapeake in the War of 1812). We repaired the cornice brackets, the gingerbread around the 3rd floor window, the shutters, etc, and while working there, I started to fall in love with this little town; a year or so later, Judy and Travis and I moved moved here. Our other two kids were born here.
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Six years later, I took a job with Restoration Carpentry, Co. and by total coincidence, one of the first jobs I did for them was the rehabilitation of the Woodbury train station. For the duration of the job there, I had a 3 minute commute, which is as good as it gets, when you hate commuting.

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G.G. Green is a major figure in Woodbury history, and he commuted from coast to coast at one point, by rail.

He had moved to Woodbury in 1872, at the age of 30, and bottled and sold Patented medicines such as Green's August Flower" and "Dr. Boschee's German Syrup," becoming a millionaire in a few short years. In an attempt to bring culture to the humble residents of Woodbury, he built them an Opera house. The opera never caught on here, however, the Opera house itself still stands on Broad St. Having been through various incarnations, it awaits redemption and restoration through some miracle of public funding, barely staving off the forces of reclamation and redevelopment. Just this week, there were some developments, but the danger in turning the rights over to a private entity is the danger of expense overruns leading to eventual condemnation Stay tuned:

http://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1249966515228950.xml&coll=8
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G.G. Green travelled to California, and fell in love with the young culture there, as well as with the native architecture. His son built a house on the lakes in Woodbury, that, if not designed by the famous Arts and Crafts architects Greene and Greene (Coincidental names, eh?) was certainly heavily influenced by them, the closest approximation I've seen on the East Coast.

Green's son's house

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G.G. himself built the Hotel Green in Pasadena.

The Hotel Green
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So G.G. began going back and forth between Cali and Woodbury, and to make the travel as comfortable as possible, he had a private railroad car constructed, fully appointed with the comforts of home. Local legend is that when G.G.was in Woodbury, local residents were welcome to board the railcar, and marvel at its luxuries, while it was parked at a siding of the Woodbury Train Staion. The gatehouse to Green's Woodbury home is within spitting distance of the station, and although big enough and ornate enough for a large, pretentious family, merely guarded the driveway.

G.G. Green's carriage house

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What remains of the original mansion is rumored to be in the center of the Catholic school built on the site, swallowed up, but preservred, although I haven't been able to confirm that.
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When we arrived to work on the station, it had been out of service as a staion for 20 years or so, and had been minimally maintained by Conrail, whose workers had once used it as a yard office and break room, but had stopped using it even in that diminished capacity. The roof sagged and leaked, windows were broken and long painted shut, and the structure on the first floor was in danger of collapse from fatigue, rot, and water damage. The roof line of the platform aprom was as wavy as spagetti. Its condition only hinted at the glory days when G.G. Green parked his car there, or when it was one of the quaint stops of the Cape May line, carrying Philadelphians and others to the shore every summer.

To Be Continued