HIGH BRIDGE RESIDENT A WOMAN OF MANY INTERESTS By LINDA SADLOUSKOS , Staff Writer 03/19/2003 HIGH BRIDGE - There may be no one else who knows as much about the history of chenille, from fabric styles to the details of its invention by a 15-year-old girl in Georgia in 1895. Perhaps she's the only one who's studied and lectured on the effect of diet on psychic abilities. And few people might have worked as hard to establish a museum in Solitude House in High Bridge - which is, incidentally, the setting for her first novel. Christina Lynn Whited is a true original. Sitting in the living room of her old house on Main Street - which has turned into a workroom for CoCo:Chenille since her shop was soaked along with two others in a major fire along Main Street last November - Whited wears a dress made of the tufted chenille that's her specialty and talks about her many activities. Whether by design or circumstance, Whited always has a lot happening in her life. Besides her more unusual ventures into the paranormal, Whited is also president of the High Bridge Business Alliance. In that role, she's busy opposing a county plan to restrict parking to one side of Main Street. "We like people to go slow on Main Street. We like our children to be safe, and secondarily, we like people to see what we (local stores) have to offer," she said. In preparing the circa-1725 Solitude House for its grand opening on May 3, Whited also used her talent to rid the old structure of its lingering ghosts. "A lot of people who lived there over the last 60 years mentioned the ghosts," she said. Whited said she uses a series of prayers to persuade spirits to move on. The longtime residents of Solitude House are now gone, she said, "and I have had independent verification by other psychics that the house is ghost-free." As a business owner, Whited sells vintage chenille and items such as baby toys and bathrobes that she makes out of the specialty fabric. The store has been operating in her home at 76 Main St., and via her Web site (www.cocochenille.com), since a devastating fire damaged the stores and apartments in the building at 15-19 Main Street last November. "The job was immense," Whited said of her hurried attempts to save her chenille goods the morning of the fire and the clean-up afterwards. She said local friends were really helpful, especially in the beginning. Customers called and said, 'Is there anything I can do?' I said, 'If you want to wash bedspreads, you can stop by.'" Whited has been a fixture on the High Bridge scene since shortly after moving to the borough in 1991. Originally from upstate New York, she was living in New York City when she learned about Hunterdon County from a friend who had relocated to the Oldwick section in Tewksbury Township. She said her first rental in High Bridge was virtually the only suitable place she could find. "I knew I was where I was supposed to be." Whited lived in local apartments before buying her 1880's house on Main Street in 1998. She had three children when she moved into the borough, and one remains at home. "People were very welcoming," she said of her High Bridge neighbors. Whited opened her shop, CoCo:Chenille, in 1994. A student of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, she was designing women's hats out of 1940s drapery material and needed something heavier for the winter. She came across chenille bedspreads, which were most popular in the 40s, at various yard sales. Her sources for her chenille spreads, which include some historic pieces, are "a trade secret," she says. Whited is busy writing a book about chenille, an American-born craft she said can be traced back to the creativity of a teenage girl in Dalton, Ga. The word chenille means caterpillar in French and the material has many raised tufts and dots of twisted threads. During the 1930s, Whited said the handmade fabric became mechanized, thanks mainly, she thinks, to the tinkering of some men unemployed during the Depression who may have resented their jobs of necessity doing piecework on chenille spreads alongside their wives. Through studies and traveling to Georgia, Whited said she became an expert in chenille. In addition to working on her book, she is also scheduled to teach a one-night course on the History of Chenille through the Hunterdon County adult education programs on Monday, April 7. Whited will be instructor for another class on the Esoteric Meaning and Use of Color slated for Monday, April 14, through the adult school. Whited's other book is the first in a planned series for young adults. The book is set at Solitude House in 1778, and involves time travel, she said. She is still searching for a publisher. Whited said she learned much about the history of Solitude House and the Union Forge Ironworks while researching the novel. It was that research that led her to begin the movement to set up the museum last August. The Union Forge Heritage Association, which she leads, presented the Borough Council last September with a petition signed by about 900 people in support of the project, she said. In the meantime, she continues the work closest to her heart of doing psychic readings for people which she said eliminate unseen negative influences and help them achieve clarity. Most important, she said, is "giving each person the tools they need to move ahead in their spiritual development." For the record, Whited said that green beans, snowpea pods and purple grapes inhibit psychic insights. Whited plans to continue her civic work, too. "I love it here in High Bridge," she said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be so involved in the community." ©Recorder Newspapers 2003 |
| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Please feel free to email me. I check it daily and will make every effort to reply in a timely fashion. Call me directly, at 908-638-4426, alternate number if busy: 908-638-9066, to place your order. I am available 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. EST. Please call during those hours only. CoCo:Chenille, Inc. 76 Main Street High Bridge, New Jersey 08829 Telephone: (908)638-4426 or (908)638-9066 Email: christina@cocochenille.com. Use a subject line that includes the word "chenille". Emails with no subject or without the word "chenille," will be deleted as SPAM. Web: www.cocochenille.com I will not make your email address available to anyone else and will maintain your privacy. Copyright 2008 / CoCo:Chenille, Inc./Christina Lynn Whited |