Dear Editor:
On Tuesday October 21st at 11 a.m., the City of Hoboken and the Hoboken Historical Museum cordially invite you to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Sybil’s Cave located on Sinatra Drive and the Hoboken Waterfront.
As many of you know, Sybil’s Cave was excavated in the 1830’s on the site of a natural spring and became a major attraction for the thousands of weekend visitors who took the ferry from New York to Hoboken for a convenient day trip. Visitors came to enjoy the refreshing natural spring water (at the site), fresh air and to walk along Elysian Fields, which continued north of Sybil’s Cave.
The newly re-built Gothic portal and the protective ironwork at the site reflect the way the Cave looked to visitors in the 1830’s. It’s very unusual for a historic city landmark to be excavated and yet found in such good condition. We, at the Hoboken Historical Museum, are enormously excited about the re-opening of this historic site.
Many individuals and organizations worked hard to bring this project to its conclusion. Most notably, Mayor David Roberts along with the Hoboken City Council, Stevens Institute of Technology, Daniel Gans & George Vallone, Richard Grubb & Associates, Dean Marchetto, the Hoboken Historical Museum, John Lindner/Union Stone, Valerie Hufnagel and Cassandra Wilday contributed greatly to the re-opening of Sybil’s Cave. A special thank you must also be given to Capital One Bank for its contribution to the project.
The Hoboken Historical Museum is very excited about the return of Sybil’s Cave and will be raising funds to create interpretive signage, an education program suitable for Hoboken school children and weekend public events on the site.
And please join us on Tuesday, October 21st at 11:00 a.m. to celebrate the re-opening of Sybil’s Cave.
Bob Foster, Executive Director
Hoboken Historical Museum