LOST JERSEY:  WELCOME TO UTOPIA

Join WBGO’s Andrew Meyer and the WBGO news team as we take you around the state and back in time for glimpses of the New Jersey that’s mostly been forgotten but is not quite gone. The Garden State has a rich history, and the simple fact is that many of these fascinating parts of Jersey’s past still exist in some form or another, often, right in plain sight.

On his next stop in Lost Jersey, Andrew Meyer looks at various attempts to establish Utopian societies in New Jersey and travels one that still very much alive and strong nearly 100 years after its founding.  The story airs on the WBGO Journal, Friday, September 26th at 7:30pm.

We welcome your involvement in the series. If there’s a nearly forgotten element of Jerseyana you believe deserves to be included in our series, let us know by e-mailing us at lostjersey@wbgo.org.

In addition to these new stories, you’ll be able to find past stories here, many, of them previously unavailable since they first aired on the WBGO Journal:

Garden State Utopia 
Airdate: September 26, 2008
A look at some of New Jersey’s experiments with utopian communities including one that’s still going strong.

Newark's Synagogues 
Airdate: August 29, 2008
Newark once boasted a sizeable Jewish community, and while this community long ago moved out to the suburbs taking their houses of worship along with them, many of the building which once served as their temples still stand in Newark. Andrew Meyer criss-crosses the city to check out the city’s Jewish heritage and discovers one long-standing congregation still going strong.

Forgotten Ellis Island 
Airdate: August 1, 2008
A trip to Ellis Island is an opportunity to travel back in history, to a time when the 27-and-a-half acre island served as the gateway to America. Since re-opening in 1990, visitors have only been able to explore the immigration museum in the main building. However, progress is being made on restoring the vast hospital complex which occupies the rest of the island. In our latest expedition to Lost Jersey, Andrew Meyer makes a return trip to Ellis Island’s forgotten side to check on the progress.

Newark's Fading Art Of The Sale 
Airdate: June 27, 2008
We kick off the Summer of 2008 with a look at a changing of the guard in Newark. The last of the big furniture stores in Newark closes at the end of June. Andrew Meyer introduces you to the owner of the store, takes you back in time when Newark was the place to shop and looks at the new life that’s coming out of these old stores.

The Art of Wooden Boat Building 
Airdate: November 16, 2007
Not all that long ago, New Jersey had hundreds of wooden boat builders... a tradition dating back to the founding of the country. These days, there are just three professional boat yards which still specialize in wooden boats. In the next installment of his Lost Jersey series, Andrew Meyer introduces you to the craftsmen who build and maintain these boats and takes a look book at Jersey's rich maritime History.

Greystone Park 
Airdate: September 21, 2007
As the state proceeds with construction on a replacement for Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, Morris County is moving ahead with its own plans to create a new park on a good chunk of the property. In the latest installment in his "Lost Jersey" series, Andrew Meyer decided it was a good time to take a walk through the grounds of Greystone Park before all the vestiges of the old hospital disappear.

The Morris Canal 
Airdate: August 24, 2007
It was the canal that climbed a mountain. The Morris Canal, built in the first part of the 19th century, provided an essential means of transportation for coal and iron ore from Pennsylvania to Jersey. While it was decommissioned less than a hundred years ago, only traces of this unique waterway remain today. In this installment of Lost Jersey, Andrew Meyer takes you back in time to the Morris Canal.

The Deserted Village 
Airdate: July 27, 2007
There's a preconception held by many that New Jersey is a state of never-ending suburbs, shopping malls and highways. And while the Garden State was transformed during the 20th century into a place of sprawling 'burbs, much of its rich history was not paved over. It's just a matter of knowing where to look. The new series, Lost Jersey, begins with a trip to a place just about 15 miles from the heart of Newark but a world away from the modern world: the Deserted Village.

The Other Side of Ellis Island 
Original airdate: July 19, 2002
Only part of Ellis Island is open to the public. Here's a glimpse at a part of the island rarely seen. Original airdate: July 19, 2002

Black Tom Island 
Original airdate: October 5, 2001
The Jersey City waterfront is highly valued for its dramatic vistas of lower Manhattan, a view forever altered on September 11th. The terrorist attack was the worst on American soil, but not the first.

The Jersey Loews 
Original airdate: March 24, 2000
In the early days of cinema, the big movie studios didn't limit their showmanship to the silver screen. It could also be found in the opulent movie houses they built all across the country. While many have disappeared, one still stands in Jersey City.

The Nike Missile 
Original airdate: March 26, 1999
In 1998, Congress approved development of a missile defense system to protect against potential threats from rogue nations. The idea of an anti-ballistic missile system has its roots all the way back in the 1950's, but what may surprise a lot of people is the origins weren't too far from many people's back yards.

Waterloo Village 
Original airdate: January 15, 1999
In northwestern New Jersey, there exists a town which has stood against the creep of development. It's a place where you can hop in a time machine to view the garden state as it once was.