• Fred Morris   1978 Datona Beach Astros
• John (Freund) Forysthe  Actor

. .Penns Grove is a borough in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. In the year 2000, the borough population was just under 5000. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of just under one square mile, all of it land. Penns Grove borders Carneys Point Township and the Delaware River. In times past it was famous for its production of caviar. Plans are in the making for an exciting River Walk on the banks of the Delaware River.

Penns Grove Grove is known in many countries outside of the USA. For example, there is an interesting listing written in Italian on the Wikitravel Website. The Saint James Roman Catholic Church is located in Penns Grove. Over the years the church has had close ties with Madonna delle Grazie, a church in Teramo, a provincial capital in Italy’s Abruzzo’s Region. The statue of the Madonna in Saint James was brought to Penns Grove from Italy in 1925 and is an exact copy of statue in Teramo. Each year many travelers come to Penns Grove to worship and attend masses at Saint James.

People interested in the history of this lovely village on the banks of the Delaware River may want to visit the website by the name of Penns Grove History. Some visitors to enchanting Penns Grove head straight to the house where the TV and movie actor John Forsythe, born John Freund on 29 January 1918, was born. Others prefer to start their visit at he exact spot where Rome 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist and world record holder Don Bragg used do his pole vault training. Several famous movie stars have ties to this lovely southern New Jersey Community. W. C. Fields had relatives in the town and spent many holidays in the area. It is well know that the movie actor Bruce Willis comes from “The Grove.” A hardware store on West Main Street has for years carried the Willis name.

Virginia Avenue is known to some as “The Rodeo Drive of South Jersey.”  Others see it more as Fifth Avenue.  Whatever the appelation visitors to Penns Grove will not want to miss this vivacious venue.  Running into Bruce Willis at the local trattoria or outdoor coffee shop is a possibilty.

Walnut Street once hosted a good number of lovely private vegetable gardens.   Several powerful families from Corropoli in Abruzzo once lived here. In the early 1900s, many Italian immigrants from Valle San Giovanni and the surrounding province of Teramo came to work at the local E.I. DuPont de Nemours plant in Carneys Point. Among the first were members of the Montagnoli and Clemente families. In the early 1900’s many settled on Harmony and Pitman Streets in Penns Grove, especially those who came from the small village of Valle San Giovanni in the Italian Region of Abruzzo. An association called the Italian American Citizens League was formed to assist and support them in their new life in America. A website for Pitman Street has recently been initiated and is in the course of further development. Some of the immigrants arrived from Amatricia bringing a famous pasta dish with them. In the summer months festivities included meals featuring porchetta, fettucine, polpettine, and scrippelle.

The gourmand will be quite happy to find himself in Pennns Grove. The Garden Cafe, located in what was once the main bank building at the center of town, is soon to open to hungry customers. Perhaps the most popular eating establishment at this time is Di Paolo’s Italian Ristorante located on South Broad Street. Those looking for more casual fare will want to head east to the Roman Pantry, also owned and operated by a member of the dynastic Di Paolo family. Here you can see where Bruce Willis comes for his subs when he visits the Grove. It is not known if W.C. Fields also visited this popular eating establishment. The authentic food will delight your tastebuds until you finally can eat no more and shout out to the owners, “Basta…basta!” A bit further along this road and one comes across Cowtown, the oldest rodeo on the east coast located just before one arrives in Woodstown.

The Penns Grove Middle School is always open to young scholars from this village of studious learners.

The most exciting new project in planning is the Riverwalk located on the banks of the Delaware River.

The building housing a clothing store owned by the Leap family is scheduled to receive extensive rennovations. .

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