Seconds With Steff

I beat my 4:30 alarm by 20 minutes this morning … Up and at ’em, we made it into Times Square at the crack of dawn. 

But… how do we park and take that all-important photo at the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway? Easy: you rope in Hunter’s dad. He comes along for the ride, and if we get lucky, he parks and takes the picture. If not, he does the slow “drive around the block” routine while we snap our shot.  Instead, Frank just decided to pull up onto the pedestrian only area of Times Square.  I fear the camera ticket coming my way!

PS: If you head down into the subway across the street from the Eastern Terminus, you’ll find New York City’s “door to nowhere.” We skipped it because it was 5 a.m. and we needed to get moving, but if you’re curious, look it up here.

Before we even reached the open stretches of the Lincoln Highway, the first few miles through New Jersey took us past two historic sites that were already standing when the highway first came through — places that grounded the road in early‑American history long before cars ever did.

And as my anxiety-riddled body predicted, getting out of New York never goes smoothly no matter what you’re trying to do… The 1913 route was completely blocked by construction. I had to do a three-point turn to get around it, and once we came out of the Lincoln Tunnel, I immediately went the wrong way in Jersey… turned around again… and finally made it to the Weehawken Dueling Ground, a bluff above the Hudson that was famous — or infamous — long before the Lincoln Highway existed. Political rivals and personal grudges were settled here in the 1700s and early 1800s, most famously in 1804 when Alexander Hamilton was mortally wounded in his duel with Aaron Burr. By the time the highway arrived, the dueling ground was already a historic curiosity, but it sat right along the early miles of the route, giving travelers a brush with one of America’s most dramatic footnotes. Very unimpressive…a bust of Hamilton on a pillar. But the park right next to it is lovely, with a gorgeous view of New York City, and we were there for a perfect sunrise

Shortly after that, Hunter got amazing pictures of our first Lincoln Highway sign… and the happiness ensued. We were super excited and knew that by the end of the trip we wouldn’t care at all about seeing another sign, but in that moment we were thrilled.

A few miles west, the road passed Grove Church Cemetery — a quiet, tucked‑away burial ground dating to the mid‑1800s. Generations of local families, Civil War veterans, and early North Jersey settlers rest here. For Lincoln Highway travelers, it was an early reminder that this road didn’t just connect places; it ran through communities with long memories.

Not long after another landmark, the highway slipped past a grand entertainment venue built about fifteen years after the first iteration of the route — not part of the earliest chapter of the Lincoln Highway, but absolutely part of the world it moved through.

The Stanley Theater opened in 1928 as one of New Jersey’s great movie palaces, with 4,300 seats — just shy of Radio City Music Hall’s capacity. Its chandelier came from the old Waldorf Astoria, and its ceiling was painted to resemble the night sky over the Rialto Bridge in Venice. Today, it’s a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Lincoln the Mystic, also known as the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, is a bronze statue by James Earle Fraser, best known for designing the Buffalo Nickel. It is located at Lincoln Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, near the beginning of the Lincoln Highway.

We headed to Newark where parking was more of a challenge. A very nice police officer told us we were fine to leave the car for a few minutes so we could get the photo of Seated Lincoln at the Essex County Courthouse. Sculpted in 1911 by Gutzon Borglum (who later carved Mount Rushmore), shows a more approachable Lincoln: seated casually on a bench, one hand resting and the other holding a document. Borglum intended him to feel conversational and accessible. Also known locally as The Children’s Lincoln, and by the time the Lincoln Highway came through, he was already a familiar landmark.

Super-fast stop right before Princeton – The Old Kings Highway Bridge, the Gristmill, and the Telegraph House sit along the Old Mine Road, a historic route now closed to through‑traffic. George Washington is documented to have traveled this corridor, and the stone bridge is one of the surviving structures from that era.

We took a short detour to see our first Lincoln Highway marker, a replica of the 1928 Boy Scout markers at Thomas Edison Park… super exciting. In 1928 the Boy Scouts placed markers across the country to memorialize the route as it was being decommissioned, and as a fun sidenote, they made this journey in an REO Speedwagon.

The Calhoun Street Bridge, built in 1884, marks the state line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania and holds the only remaining Lincoln Highway metal stateline sign still in its original location. I was super excited to see this.

Then we saw it! The easternmost 1928 Lincoln Highway marker!!!! It sits on private property, placed originally in someone’s yard where it still remains today.”

We continued south toward Philadelphia, missing turns about forty times. At one point I got completely turned around because I didn’t know there were two Oxford Circles. I couldn’t understand how I ended up south of Oxford Circle when I should’ve gone through it… i got turned around and we went through it only a few miles later to reach a second one making me realize that there are two. Apparently Oxford Circle is original to the 1913 alignment and was important for us to go through. Having gone through it… I still don’t know why it was important, nor is it a circle.

Driving into Philadelphia, Hunter noticed signs for the Lincoln Highway on some electric poles… they looked like someone printed them on a home computer and taped them up. We saw more on the way out. He did great spotting.

We came nose‑to‑nose with City Hall, looped around it quickly, made another wrong turn…

Then we headed to the Philadelphia Zoo where we met up with my high school best friend, Kina. As always, I say look up how long something will take and then add time if Hunter’s involved… we ran through the Philadelphia Zoo in about an hour and fifteen minutes. Even though it was fast, it was fantastic! Hunter was so happy, and I got to see my oldest bestie! And my kid’s timing is amazing, ’cause right as we finished, it started downpouring. So Kina saved us by sharing her tiny umbrella and walking us to our car. My thoughts on the zoo … it’s a really nice and well laid-out zoo with some gorgeous artwork sprinkled throughout. Many of the animals were tucked into their habitats because of the weather, but I could see going back and really enjoying it.

Right about then, I started losing steam… so I just had to suck it up and keep moving.

The one thing we did not expect on day one in Pennsylvania was a tornado warning. Suddenly, both our phones went bananas … alerting us to aggressive rain, warnings for fifty‑mile‑an‑hour winds, dark skies, and raindrops the size of matzoh balls. Because we were on the Lincoln Highway, which is basically a local road, we had no choice but to go twenty miles an hour… very safe… and then as quickly as it arrived, it disappeared. The clouds parted, blue peeked through, and the rain ended to a beautiful sky. PS – Turned out Long Island was hit with an actual tornado/water spout that touched down in Atantic Beach.

We continued toward Miller’s Smorgasbord for dinner. Miller’s Smorgasbord opened in 1929 as a small family‑run restaurant serving traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dishes to travelers along Route 30. Over the decades, it grew into one of Lancaster County’s most recognized dining landmarks, known for its smorgasbord and long‑standing place in local history.

We ready to stuff our bellies… and then the kid at the counter asked if we had a reservation. Ummmm….no. It’s a Thursday night and there was just a tirnado warning… Forty‑five‑minute wait! You have got to be kidding me… so we waited (24 minutes). It was as good as buffets usually are. I should have gotten the soup and salad only, but I didn’t…sigh.

Now, I’m tired, and I need to sleep… Tomorrow, we can sleep in a bit, Today was a big drive day, but tomorrow we have a lazy day and aren’t going very far.

Unreliable Summary ~ Times Square, Philly Zoo, & Tornado Warnings!