All of that is interesting, but how is a Civil War submarine connected to New Jersey? In fact, it isn't the Alligator, but its prototype--nicknamed Alligator Junior--which has a connection to the Garden State. At the Society's July 2006 meeting, Alice M. Smith, archivist of the Riverside (New Jersey) Historical Society, gave us a presentation about the ongoing hunt for the submarine prototype. For a number of years, Ms. Smith and her colleagues have searched the Rancocas Creek area for Alligator Junior, which may well have sunk in that Burlington County waterway. They've made several trips into the marshes, armed with metal detectors and other equipment, to find the ship, but despite several promising leads as of yet have not found the resting place of the Alligator Junior.
The July meeting also saw the first presentation of the Local History Award, sponsored by the Haddon Heights Historical Society and Haddon Heights High School, which was given to a Heights High School student who wrote an essay on local history which was judged to be of the most merit. This year's winner was Britney Carmichael.
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