Thomas Obiedzinski, Fifth Grade, First Place - Dr



Thomas Obiedzinski, Fifth Grade, First Place - Dr. Kramer

Franklin Township, New Jersey’s Best Kept Secret

Often the first thing that comes to people’s minds when you mention that you are from New Jersey is cities and highways. However, if you have ever been to Franklin Township you would know why it is called the “Garden State.” What is it about Franklin Township that makes it so special? Is it its beautiful landscape, many farms, fun activities? It’s all these things and more. Come and explore the rural beauty of Franklin Township with me.

One of the reasons Franklin Township is a rural community is because of its vast open space and breathtaking sights that an artist would paint. You will find many different animals such as groundhogs, fox, deer, rabbits, and raccoons, just to name a few. You will also find one lane bridges that cover flowing creeks. Also, you can’t forget the beautiful plants, trees, bushes and flowers that grow everywhere.

Another reason why Franklin Township is a rural community is because we have so many farms. Many people earn a living farming here, growing many different crops such as strawberries, corn, pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes. There are also other kinds of farms in Franklin Township, such as horse farms and sod farms. One thing all the farmers have in common is that they are hard workers and take great pride in their farms.

Finally, my favorite part about living in Franklin Township is all the outdoor activities. For instance horseback riding, taking a ride in a hot air balloon or a helicopter or taking a bike ride or walk along a wooded trail. Not to mention all the open space to play ball and the many woods to hunt in. The township also holds special events like the annual fishing tournament and the yearly polo match.

Besides all the reasons I listed why the rural community of Franklin Township is such a special place to live there is one more thing, and that is the people that live here. It is the people that appreciate the beauty of our township and that make us a special community, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

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Jane Lundgren, Fifth Grade, Second Place - Dr. Kramer

Franklin Township - What Makes Our Rural Community Such a Special Place to Live?

There are many things that make Franklin Township a great place to live. A few are the community, farms, and the many historical places.

Farms: There are many farms in Franklin Township. Most of the owners are just members of the community. The best part about this is that it makes shopping at the farm stands a lot of fun.

Bonacorsi Family Farm: For example, whenever we shop at the Bonacorsi’s farm stand, instead of it taking 1 minute, like my mom always says it will, it takes 15 minutes.

Community: I got lucky enough to live in a great rural community that is full of people who value ruralness. They are also always looking for ways to help others or make our neighborhood better.

Good Neighbors: When my baby sister, Nora, was born, my mom didn’t have to cook for about a week. It was really nice to be able to play with her instead of making dinner.

Rural Community: People in my community try their best to keep Franklin rural. I feel indebted to them because I enjoy living in a rural community very much.

Historical Places: There are many historical places in my town. I love visiting and even just seeing them. I think that they are a part of what makes Franklin Township a wonderful place to live.

Quakertown Meeting House: Whenever I see the Quakertown Meeting House, I am always reminded of how pretty it is. For me, it is one of the highlights of living where I do.

Through my eyes, Franklin Township is a beautiful rural community that is easy to love because of its great people, historic places, and farms.

Sources of Information: Since I was lucky enough to live in a community that is rural, has great people, and has beautiful farms, I didn’t need to use any outside sources of information. I was able to use my own experience.

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Brittany Marcantuono, Fifth Grade, Honorable Mention - Dr. Kramer

Franklin Township: Filled with Farm-Fresh Fun!

Urban Areas Have Their Limitations: Some friends of mine that live in urban areas are lucky if they get to have a guinea pig or a hamster as a pet. Less space means more cages.

Perks of Living in a Rural Area: When you live in a rural area like Franklin Township and have more open land, you can raise many types of fun and interesting animals.

Fresh Food from Your Own Animals: My family and I are raising chickens. There is nothing better than eating eggs the same day that they were gathered from the coop. So fresh!

Convenient Farm Stands: Even if you do not have your own garden or farm animals, you can still get fresh food from many local farm stands. Buying local means you keep money flowing in your own community, and you get the freshest foods directly from people you trust.

A Safe and Honest Community: In Franklin Township there are many farm stands where we pay using the honor system. It is comforting to know we have trustworthy citizens in our township.

Farms: Farms also make Franklin Township special. Farming skills get passed from generation to generation. Farmers are proud people who really love and protect our land. I love Franklin Township because the community cares about preserving open space and guarding against overdevelopment.

It Is Fun to Pick-Your-Own: Through the “pick-your-own” option those who many never plant their own crops at least get the chance to have fun gathering fruits and vegetables to buy, eat, and share. Every year I pick apples, pumpkins, and strawberries locally with my family.

Plenty of Room to Play Outside: Breathe in the fresh air and . . . drive a quad, take a hike, mount a horse, ride a bike! Franklin Township offers unlimited ways to enjoy time outdoors.

To Sum It All Up, Franklin Township Is Special To Me Because . . . You can raise really interesting animals, you can buy the freshest foods from local farms, you can pick-your-own fruits and vegetables or grow your own, and you can enjoy outdoor activities in a safe, clean, and beautiful environment. Top it all off with colorful rainbows, beautiful sunsets, and the brightest star-filled night sky I’ve ever seen and you can easily see why Franklin Township is so special to me!

My Sources: All written information came from my personal thoughts and opinions. Family photographs were supplied courtesy of my mom. The remainder of the pictures were gathered from , and non-copyrighted Google images were used for the animal photos. (If needed, individual sites are available upon request.)

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John Erik Drwal, Fourth Grade, First Place and Grand Prize Winner - Mrs. Strysky

Rural Franklin Is the Best

Have you ever thought of how nice it is to live in a rural area? I know it’s very nice. There are advantages and disadvantages. Let’s think of some advantages. You can have an open place to play. You can see farms on the way to school. Almost anyone can raise plants and animals. These are some easily said things. The disadvantages are that most things are far apart so you need to drive to almost everything. There are possibilities of getting poison ivy or poison oak. There are not many more disadvantages.

Let’s talk about Franklin’s farms. We have many farms. Many rural places have farms! We grow pumpkins, apples, tomatoes, pears, peaches, and others. Our farmers grow many things.

Let’s have some fun! Have you ever watched a movie or read a book where some people are on a blanket watching clouds or on a roof counting stars? People can do that right here in Franklin. Here the skies are beautiful day and night. The trees and grass are also. In the spring my area is full of green and blue colors of nature. Red barns and flowers of every color can be found here. Even cross country skiing on a trail can be colorful and beautiful. You may see a fluffy, red fox with its winter coat or a little, bright red cardinal perched on a branch singing, “Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!” These are some good observations of Franklin’s nature.

Did you ever wonder why living creatures do what they do? Why does a butterfly go into a chrysalis? How does a leaf become brown? Do you know how crawfish are born? Have you ever seen plants grow from seeds or flowers bloom? Why do fish have scales? Franklin makes me question things. There are many questions about Franklin that science helps us to answer.

Franklin makes me who I am. Here I feel safest. Franklin is my community and what I call home. When I grow up and someone asks me abut my hometown, I’ll say “It’s the greatest place I could call home.” Franklin and my family are giving me my best memories.

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Logan DeCanio, Fourth Grade, Second Place - Mrs. Prassl

What Makes Franklin Township Special

Franklin Township is a very special place for many reasons. I live in Pittstown and go to Franklin Township School. I love it there. I have so many friends and the teachers are so nice. We learn a lot and realize that there are things we drive past every day that are of historical importance. The fact that we have to write this essay makes us look around and think of all the things we take for granted.

Everyday, we get dropped off at school right next to the original “one room” school house that was just recently restored. It is hard to imagine that as a school! I would really like to go in it one day and see it close up.

Not far down the road is the Quakertown “Meeting House” and several historical homes dating back to the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Soldiers probably walked past our school on the way to The Hoff’s Mill Inn! We learned about the fact that the “Quakers” were peaceful people and did not believe in war. They did not fight in the Revolutionary War, but sometime fed and clothed the American soldiers passing through, and sometimes even hid them!

Our township also was the home of the “original” settlers, the Lenape Indians. The rivers that wind through our township and sometimes flood were the places that the Indians would walk and fish. If you are lucky enough, you might even find an arrow head. I would really like to find one on a hike someday. Even at our Franklin Township Police station, there is a small stone mortar that was made by the Lenape Indians. There is an even bigger one…much bigger…on display at the Rutgers Research Building. It is 600 lbs and dates back to 4,000-2,000 B.C! It was found by Capoolong Creek. I want to see that! I probably will in June when they have a speaker talk about all the important “Indian trees” that are found in our town. These trees were used to mark trails and provide direction and perhaps some are symbolic.

The one place I always read about was the Pittstown train station, but I never knew we drove past it every day! That was until it gets covered every winter with a blue tarp! I learned that Jim Foran and the boy scouts help to protect it until there are enough funds to restore it. I really hope they do. I have seen old pictures of the crowds of people and horses that surrounded the train station back in the days when Pittstown was the number one producer of peaches in the country. It is hard to believe that it is the same place now. Hopefully they will fix it someday.

Another place that we go into a lot is the Old Grist Mill in the center of town. We go there to buy pool chemicals and horse feed! I read that at some point in the Revolutionary War, George Washington’s troop’s ammunition was sometimes hidden there! Pretty cool!

Franklin Township has so many special places and history that make up our town. That is why I am so glad I live here.

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Christina Faust, Fourth Grade, Honorable Mention - Mrs. Prassl

Franklin Speaks to Me

The reasons I love Franklin Township are because I get to go on the wild side, it has nice farms, and there are wonderful people in the community. Why wouldn’t anyone want to live here? It is such an amazing place to live.

I like to go on the wild side, and explore. Most days after school I play in the woods. Sometimes my neighbors and I take a little walk in the woods and play in our fort. If we want to take a longer walk we bring Nucky, our neighbor’s dog, and walk to the creek by our house. My Dad takes me hunting and fishing. We have so much land to enjoy. Franklin Township has a bunch of places where you can go on the wild side.

Another great reason I love Franklin Township is because I love to go strawberry picking at the Peterson Farm. Everyone is friendly at the Peterson Farm. When I go there, I like to see the horses and pet the dogs at the farm. I also like to go apple picking at Pleasant Valley Orchards. To me those are some of the beauties of Franklin.

What would the wonderful community of Franklin Township be without the nice people? Where ever you go, whether it be community events, school functions, or just out and about, everyone is friendly. It is hard not to want to show up for the community events. My favorite ones are Dogs Day Out and the Fun Fair at the Quakertown Firehouse. It’s also not hard to wake up to go to school in the morning because everyone at Franklin Township School is friendly. That’s what makes Franklin Township a wonderful place to live.

The reasons I love Franklin Township are because I get to go on the wild side, it has wonderful farms, and there are amazing people who live here. That’s what makes Franklin Franklin!

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Aaron Fisher, Third Grade, First Place - Mrs. Sharp

Franklin Township Is a Great Place to Live

The rural community of Franklin Township is such a special place to live because it is not very crowded and not very busy. Our school is small so you get to know all your friends. There are not that many stores so there is not too much traffic.

There are a lot of farms around the area. My mom works at a farm called Rutgers Snyder Research Farm. It’s right down the road. Rutgers also helps other farmers learn how to do things better on their farms. We can even get our food from some farms nearby. We got all of our vegetables and fruit from the Blew Farm last summer. We pick our own strawberries at the Bonacorsi Farm. The food tastes better from closer farms because it doesn’t have to travel in boats or trains or trucks.

Some farms in Franklin Township are preserved farms. They will stay farms forever and that will keep Franklin Township a beautiful place to live.

Farms are good because they don’t pollute like cities or factories, and they protect nature and wildlife and our water. We can see lots of animals like foxes, possums, and even a bald eagle. At night when I was camping out in my backyard with my friends, we heard coyotes. We also can hear the spring peepers. I like to see the fireflies over the fields at night. It is quiet at night and you can look at the stars in the sky.

Most people in Franklin Township can have their own farm animals if they want them. We would like to have chickens, goats, and sheep someday.

Another thing good about Franklin Township is that you have a yard you can play in unlike the city and there aren’t as many crimes as in the city. I feel safe living here.

There is a lot to do in Franklin too. Every year the school has a Fun Fair and near my house at Rutgers Farm there is a big tomato tasting festival. They also give wagon tours and let you taste peaches, apples, and honey. There are Easter egg hunts at the school and Elks Club. There is also a fishing derby. Franklin Township has good hiking trails too.

The people in Franklin Township are really nice. The families help each other. There is a food pantry that helps people in Franklin Township if they need it.

All of these things make Franklin Township a very special place to live.

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Tiago Costa, Third Grade, Second Place - Mrs. Sharp

Franklin Township - The Pure, the Healthy, and the Best Place to Live

Franklin Township is the best place to live in. The air we breathe is pure, the views are beautiful, and all the people that live and work here are friendly.

There is a lot you can do in Franklin. The trails are perfect for riding bikes, going for walks and also for riding horses. You can enjoy the rivers and all that nature offers us. If you love animals this is the place to live. You can have all the animals you like and would like to have as long as it is OK with your parents, and you need plenty of space for them to play and feed. It is the safest place, the police are always taking care of us and making it safe so we can play outside or go for walks with our parents and pets all the time.

I love it in the summer most, when some of the farms open up with all the organic fruits and vegetables that are grown here with all the hard work the farmers go through to give all of us here in Franklin and to other people in different towns and cities. Franklin has the most productive soils in the state, and a bounty of streams making it an agriculture place, which is also perfect for fishing and hunting.

All the trees and pastures are perfect for all the birds and animals that live in this town. I love driving with my mom in the car and looking out the window and seeing all the deer, cows, goats, alpacas, horses and other beautiful animals eating the grass and laying down enjoying the pure air and sun.

This is the best place to have friends and family over for outdoor fun, to have barbecues in the summer, also for taking them for all kinds of vegetable and fruit picking and for showing them what nature is all about and the wonderful things it gives us and all the people that live and work here to make Franklin Township the best place to grow up.

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