THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOS
Another long, cold winter gave way to a beautiful spring this year. To celebrate, I visited Branch Brook Park near Newark, NJ. The Park has the largest collection of cherry blossoms in the United States with more than 4,300 trees in fourteen different varieties. The Park was built in 1900 by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park. The famous cherry trees were the result of a 1927 gift from the Bamberger Family, of Bamberger's Department Store fame. The Cherry Blossom Festival at the Park attracts approximately 10,000 visitors each year. I was happy to break away from work one weekday at the end of April just in time to catch the blossoms at their most lovely. Sometimes the most beautiful scenes are close to home - and in this case, the legacy of a department store magnate.