Ogdensburg Visitors!

One of the great things about the #ogdensburghistorymuseum is you never know who’s going to walk through the door!

“Wow, this is amazing,” said our visitors as they looked around. After a bit of conversation, it turns out that Tom Kuplin and his wife @annperkkuplin are from Ogdensburg – New Jersey! While the couple made the 10-hour drive to visit their sister city up north, they even prepped for the experience. “We’ve listened to four chapters of your podcast by Ogdensburg historian Julie Madlin,” said Tom, who then added some corroborating details about our city.

Even though the Kuplins have made their home in New Jersey’s “Burg” – population 2,200 – for 40 years, they’re not considered true “Burgers.” “But our children are Burgers,” said Tom, since they were born and raised in the Sussex County borough.

The couple explained their Burg is also in a river valley. “But, the Wallkill River is not exactly the St. Lawrence – it’s more like a stream,” Ann added. In their Burg, a mine was instrumental to the town, they said, adding with obvious pride that it produced the purest zinc in the world. There’s even a mineral named Ogdensburgite!

When asked for a photo, the couple stood under this sign titled “The Great Train Robbery,” because they saw another connection. When legendary, New Jersey-based inventor Thomas Edison produced his 1903 film of the same name, some of the train scenes were filmed in their little town. Ann and Tom next planned to visit the Frederic Remington Art Museum across the street and Boldt Castle, in Alexandria Bay, rounding out their North Country experience.

Even in light of our sister city’s stringent standards, we volunteers consider our terrific guests real Burgers. But we were stumped by Tom’s question for us: “What do you call yourselves?” #ogdensburgnj #Frederic Remington Art Museum #Boldt Castle - 1000 Islands, NY