Historic Lantern Will Light Up Greenfield Hall Garden

Not everything got heaved into a Dumpster during the Tanner Street update that has tied the town into knots.

Borough officials rescued a large metal lantern that had marked the entrance to the street off Kings Highway. At Tuesday night’s commissioners meeting, the lantern was turned over to the custody of the Historical Society of Haddonfield. 

Lee Albright, president of the society, said the librarian at the society determined that it was created by Bob Shreve, whose family had a blacksmithing and metal- and tinsmithing business in town. 

Katherine Tassini reported the lantern originally was made for Lantern Lane but was moved when the Dewees building was constructed.

Shreve’s shop had been a favorite stop for years for third-graders taken on an annual walking tour of historic Haddonfield. He not only showed off his craft but told stories of his life as a boy in the town.

Shreve also made and donated a small tin candle that still lights the old winding stairway in the Mickle House, said Tassini. Mickle House, adjacent to Greenfield Hall at 343 Kings Highway East, holds the society’s library collection.

Albright said the society hasn’t decided exactly where the lantern will be displayed, but it most likely will have a spot of prominence in the rear garden of the society’s building.

Colombi said when lanterns were removed from Kings Court, 13 of them were sold to residents. “They have a little piece of Haddonfield history from our town,” she said. Colombi said her family purchased two of the lanterns for her home at that time.