My Trip to Grover's Mill

My Trip to Grover's Mill


Now Hearing "The Eve of War" by Jeff Wayne

As all Sci-Fi maniacs know, the War of the Worlds radio broadcast by Orson Welles was set in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. During the summer of '99 (Ahh yes, back in the day), my dad and I decided to take a visit to this historic place. I am a major fan of The War of the Worlds and the related peraphanillia. I remeber watching the film as if it were yesterday, Martian machines tearing humanity apart with apparent ease.



As you may or may not know, New Jersey is my home state where I was born and raised. I arranged to go there during my summer break and vacation at NJ. I listened to the radio, mostly at the station, Jersey 101.5 and enjoyed listening to it. Well, we took advice from UFO USA for the directions and it gave us the info we needed. The book said: "Grover's Mill is located in West Windsor Township in Princeton, New Jersey. The "War of the Worlds" monument, which depicts a family listening to a radio while a flying saucer lands, is located in Van Nest Park on Cranberry Road in West Windsor." Sure helped us!! I searched the web night and day to find the location of Grover's Mill, and I never found it until I bought this book. Grover's Mill is not actually a town, but a small community.



We took the route described in the book and found Van Nest Park before you could say, "Ulla!" (That's something the Martians said in the book, in fact that's all they said!). We passed by a store and I took a photo of it.




Accross from us was Van Nest Park. Alright! We could see the monument from a distance and we parked in the parking lot. If you may remember, there was a large heat wave that summer, so dad and I got some "survival food", mainly just sodas and candy bars. I had some pretty good sneakers on, in case of a Martian attack, so I had nothing to worry about.




Well, no one was out at the park (for a good reason, but I chose cheap happiness over survival). I saw that beautiful monument and marveled at it's symbolism of Science Fiction. This monument deserves to be preserved because it is part of New Jersey's heritage.





War of the Worlds Links

The Complete War of the Worlds Web Page - This site has info on the book, radio broadcast, movie, and the little known TV Series!
The Grover's Mill War or the Worlds Web Site - This site's name speaks for itself! You can buy posters and blankets!
Jeff Wayne's Musical "The War of the Worlds" - Info about Jeff Wayne's famous musical CD!

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