Desrcription: Washington, NJ

Nicole Smith
February 9, 2009
Writing: Fiction
Town Description

The town of Washington has rarely been heard of. In fact, the county it resides in known as Warren County is not even well known in the popular state of New Jersey. The town is small and quiet, but most that live there never seem to leave. Not many like the town of Washington, yet even those who leave seem to come back. Most do not make it through high school, and even fewer make it through college. Half a mile of old stores and shops line both sides of the street that is considered “down town”. Many live in apartments and collect welfare, and their children run around town with runny noses and dirty jackets.

The town generally smells of cow manure and garbage, but on occasions the smell of a new season will carry through the air. For example, the first few cold days of winter most light the fireplaces in their homes and the sweet smell of burnt wood intoxicates the bitter air. Other than the small stretch of “down town” there exists a few elementary schools, and a regional high school that has been growing in size for the past several years since many development homes have been built over old farming fields. Nothing ever happens in the town I grew up in, and no one ever expects anything to happen. One event last spring however created one of the town’s biggest recognition in the news for the first time in years, and began rumors and gossip that still get around today.

One of the stores in town was an old store that had been the town’s hardware store since the earlier 1900s. A few years ago the old man who owned the store sold it to someone who turned it into an antique shop where people would both sell and buy antiques. The reality was that the antique store was an eyesore and made the town look even more run down than it had before. The building sat on a corner in between a parking lot and a branch of smaller stores. It was made of wood which was beginning to rot, and the numerous coats of white paint were dirty and chipped from years of neglect. Several pieces of antiques overcrowded the inside of the store and spilled out onto the curb. No one wanted someone else’s old junk, and even if they did, they probably didn’t have the money.

The town began renovations in the winter of 2007 in hopes of creating a more ascetically pleasing town. The need for business and money was dire, and this was also among the reasons for the renovations. One cold night in the beginning of spring 2008 every person in Washington heard the scream of sirens and fire trucks race to the old hardware store. The store was completely engulfed in flames, and within a few moments the entire town was coming out of their homes, warming their hands by the large fire, and catching up with each other. It was a funny sight to see the entire town of people huddling around the burning building, and having an excuse to talk to each other. The firemen worked around the people, and the crowd remained well into the early hours of the morning.

The next day the building was completely gone and the smell of burnt wood still hung in the air. A black charred pile of wood and what were once antiques lay scattered on the ground, and yellow police tape encased the area. Everyone was talking about the incident, and the newspaper shelves were bare. The widely believed rumor was that the fire was intentionally set by the owner, because the town was going to tear it down anyway due to the renovations. He refused to sell it to the town because of the price he was offered, but unfortunately he did not have much of a choice in the matter. It was reported that he waited until the perfect time and set the fire so that he could collect insurance on the building, which he did.

Many weeks later, my mom was running down town past the spot where the building used to stand when she passed an older gentleman standing by the still taped off area, and scratching his head. She asked him if she could help with anything and he held up a slip of paper with an address scribbled on it. He explained that he bought an antique chandelier from the store many months prior, and was given the address as to where he could pick it up. The man admitted to spending 1000$ on the chandelier before my mom explained to him that the place and everything in it had burned down several weeks before.