Close your eyes and imagine it’s 1793 in Deptford Township.
The mall area, regularly crowded with car, is acres upon acres of farmland. Of course, cars aren’t even around – Ford’s first Model T automobile wasn’t produced for more than 100 more years.
So you’re a farmer going about your daily chores when suddenly, out of the clear blue sky, without any kind of warning, a man comes sailing your way on some kind of flying contraption. It’d be completely understandable if you dropped your rake and passed out.
“I tell kids it was the first UFO sighting,” Deptford Township Mayor Paul Medany said recently over the phone, back in good old 2019.
If you know the significance of all of the black and yellow hot air balloons around town – on the signage, the water tower, in parks and publications and township buildings – then you’re probably aware of the story of the stunned farmers looking skyward on that afternoon 226 years ago today.
If you do not know the significance and Deptford’s unique place in aviation history: On Jan. 9, 1793, a French inventor named Jean-Pierre Blanchard took off from a prison site on Walnut Street in Philadelphia and landed his hot-air balloon 15 miles away, near a giant oak tree in New Jersey. The oak tree still calls the historical site home – just behind the Super Walmart on Clements’ Bridge Road, in the woods that run along Big Timber Creek – as does the plaque signifying Blanchard’s ride, the first manned balloon flight in North American history.
Deptford Township will celebrate the 226th anniversary of the event tonight (Jan. 9 at 6 p.m.) at its “Come Fly With Us” event at the Recreation Center on Montague Lane. All of the township’s schools are asked to participate, with a hot air balloon coloring contest (pre-K through first grade), an original drawing that best describes the meaning of the “Come Fly with Us” theme (second through sixth grade), and an essay on the significance of the same theme (seventh through 12th grade); one winner chosen from each participating classroom in each of the three contests will be honored.
“It’s interesting, as children growing up here we didn’t hear anything about it, so one of my goals was to get it taught in the schools,” Medany said. “Back in the ‘70s through the ‘90s, everyone used to go to (the landing site), but it was always cold and no one would show up. That’s when we decided to do something different, and so for the last 10 years we’ve got students and schoolteachers involved.”
Medany said he believes most people began to first hear about Deptford’s place in hot air balloon history within the last half century, perhaps around the time “Journey to Deptford,” Alan Drattell and Jeanne O’Neill’s 50-page paperback book, was published in 1976. In the decades since, the murals and signs around town have quickly multiplied, including the recent introduction of a mini-hot air balloon fixture on the playground equipment at First Flight Park, across from Auletto’s Caterers and less than a quarter mile from Filomena’s Lakeview, which many believe is the place Blanchard (who came bearing a letter from George Washington) was taken by local farmers for dinner before he made his way back to Philadelphia.
“It was a stagecoach stop, a tavern, pretty much the only tavern around,” Medany said.
On a recent afternoon, three generations of the Moylan family, led by former longtime police officer Stephen R. Moylan, visited Blanchard’s landing site with their own balloon gear in tow. Moylan’s son, Steven, was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a hot air balloon pilot in 1998 and is the current pilot of the “First and Finest,” Deptford Township Police Department’s own hot air balloon.
Used for community relations within the township and charitable endeavors, the “First and Finest” was the brainchild of the elder Moylan in 1995, when he was still on the police force a couple years after the bicentennial of Blanchard’s flight.
“We did a lot of research, what we found out was there weren’t any other police balloons in the country,” Moylan said. “There’s a D.A.R.E. balloon, a POW balloon, a Red Cross balloon, there’s the Energizer Bunny … and that’s when I said I was going to do it.”
Moylan laughed at his “light bulb” moment and trying to convince the township about his venture, which would be manned by volunteers and free of township tax money, too.
“I said I wanted to launch a full-size, passenger-carrying hot air balloon with the Deptford Police logo on it for community relations,” Moylan said. “I stopped and they looked at me like ‘he’s freaking nuts.’ But I said Deptford was first before, so why not again?”
Weather permitting – and it’s been an issue in recent years, as conditions have to be just right for propane-fueled hot air balloon flight – the “First and Finest” makes between two dozen and 30 flights each year. Moylan estimates that about 70 percent of the flights are for charities (Make-A-Wish, The Ronald McDonald House, etc.) while the rest help pay the bills.
The second iteration of the “First and Finest” was purchased, thanks to donations from local business and the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association, among others, in 2005 from a company in Michigan. In addition to the nearly 100-foot tall balloon, the Deptford Township Police Department also has a “junior,” 20-foot model, which is operational by remote control and will be flying inside the Rec Center tonight.
Last year, for the 225th anniversary, the “First and Finest” was joined by nine other full-sized hot air balloons outside the Rec Center to the surprise of residents.
“This is a legacy to me,” said Moylan, who is passing on the knowledge and enthusiasm to his son and two of his grandchildren, Steven Jr. and Chloe.
Similarly, Medany is helping to keep his town’s place in history alive, too.
“I think it’s extremely important,” Deptford’s mayor said. “Not only is it important history in Deptford but it’s important in the history of America. Literally George Washington gave Blanchard a letter (to take on the flight) and five other future presidents were there to see him take off. This was a scientific experiment going on.
It’s a part of the history of the country that landed right here in our backyard in Deptford Township. The whole story is fascinating.”
For more information on the Deptford Township Police Department’s “First and Finest” hot air balloon, visit www.firstandfinest.org, or call (856) 686-2204 ext:1100 or email
[email protected].
