A beautiful waterfront, way too much history to keep in book, too much culture to put into words.
Welcome to Perth Amboy.
Even though Perth Amboy is an ultra-amazing city which I consider my home town, when I tell people I’m from Perth Amboy their face turns to delight or disgust. A lot of people I talk to from other towns dislike Perth Amboy for some odd reason.
However, that’s them, I for one love this town, I’m proud to be a Perth Amboyan, Jersey loving, American girl. If it wasn’t for this town, I wouldn’t be half the person I am today, this town is a little oasis in our chaotic nation of today, I don’t think you can find a town like this anywhere else. Here, we have the culture, the history, the business; it doesn’t get better than this. Every time I walk home from school, the aromas of the many diverse restaurants waft through the streets making my mouth water. There’s so much culture and diversity, especially in food around here. You can practically eat whatever you desire, feel like having Jamaican food? You can go down Smith Street and get some,(Where George Washington had once marched.)
Feel like having Spanish, Italian, Chinese, New Yorker, or any other food you can think of, you can get whatever you want when you want it, that isn’t something you always get in other towns. And there are so many stores, you basically could fill most of your shopping needs right here, one thing I think we are missing is a major retailer to help pump bigger money into our town’s economy. People who grow up in this town and use its advantages have the opportunity to achieve great success. I have the upmost respect for those people in this town, there are so many good people in this town, it’s just amazing to me. The characters in this town are so unique they can inspire a Broadway play that tells of the perils and triumphs of the people of Perth Amboy. It’s like we’re a little United Nations, always finding new ways to celebrate diversity and going one step further in society, it’s so multicultural, it’s beyond my explanation.
The history of Perth Amboy is overwhelming, I may know a lot of it, but there is still so much to learn. Perth Amboy is very rich in history, so many things happened here, these are some of the examples. Perth Amboy was a loyalist town in the revolutionary war. At one point in history, Perth Amboy was the capital of East Jersey, due to the benefits of the river and our sheltered ports that gave safe harbor for trade (One of the Latin phrases on our official seal mean, “busy port”). Even though trade has calmed down, I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful the boats in the harbor look at night. Thomas Mundy Peterson was the first black man to vote under the passage of the fifteenth amendment and this happened in Perth Amboy, what other town can claim that? A year ago there was a memorial placed in front of the school named after him. When terracotta production started in America, immigration was sky high in Perth Amboy, perhaps this was when and where our diverse culture started. We were home to one of the first terracotta plants on the east coast. Originally named A. Hall and Son Fire Brick works, which originally produced porcelain goods and later made fire brick. As the new century started to unfold, the company made changes, and transitioned into the terracotta business.
After a while the company became known as Perth Amboy terracotta, they supplied the terracotta for the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. A lot of immigrants of European descent came to Perth Amboy at the turn of the last century looking for work and better a life for their families, originally this town was mostly Polish, Hispanics came later after the Europeans. A wave of European and Hispanic immigrants made their way to Perth Amboy, this group of people mixed with other groups of people that had immigrated to this town, that eventually developed into what I call the melting pot that is the Perth Amboy we have today. It’s a mix of diversity and understanding and respect, to me it seems that nobody cares about your gender, race or color. It seems that we all judge each other on who we are, what we do, what we did and who we want to be. Where do you find that in this world? I mean, I’m a white girl, but it does it matter? The Black and Spanish kids at school don’t care. The fact we all accept each other for our different cultures, makes me wonder why can’t everyone in the world just grow up? As you can see by this ongoing paragraph, our history affected our town’s heritage, and it makes us the people we are today.
There are so many voices to this town, and so many good people in this town, just look at the Perth Amboy High School’s hall of fame, it’s huge! And that is just people who went to that school, so imagine everyone else here. I’ve met so many great people, and it seems the older I get, the more of them I remember. Me and my best friends grew up here, we’re street kids looking forward to a fu- ture of prosperity, I can’t tell you how many times me and my friends fell off our bikes laughing on the summer nights we caught fireflies and chased ice cream trucks. There are so many adults I respect and look up to, it amazes me of all the sacrifices these people have made for the benefit of our town some go forgotten and unappreciated at times, but I won’t forget, as long as someone remembers,(Richard Piatkowski for example) their efforts are worth it. Now that I’m getting older, I keep remembering everything people taught me and what they said to me; I’m remember everything the town of Perth Amboy has given to me. You know, I think we’re all really lucky to be Perth Amboyans.
In conclusion, from the unbelievable history to the amazing culture, Perth Amboy proves to be a town unlike any other in New Jersey, in America, and in the WORLD. I guess people who just don’t know Amboy wouldn’t understand who we are, or what we’ve done, or what we stand for, but it doesn’t matter. The problem is that some people just don’t realize how unique our town is, or the history that surrounds us, so people who look down on us and don’t give a second glance at Perth Amboy’s true value don’t understand Perth Amboy, it’s their loss, not mine. Anyone who actually took the time to read this, will now know the true mean- ing of what it is to be a Perth Amboyan.
Perth Amboy strong,
Perth Amboy pride,
Natalia Dunyak, age 13,
Any one feel like having pernil tonight?
P.S. I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, especially my little sister Victoria whose always been there for me.
