Weston NJ Grocer. Click Photo to Enlarge. It will enlarge twice.
So I kicked off my post-Independence Day weekend with a trip to the Somerset County Historical Society. I have to say that I was a bit intimidated. Being a man of meager educational background, I expected to be swallowed up by snoody intellectual types and promptly thrown out the back exit. Fortunately that didn’t happen, but I did find a handfull of great and welcoming folks who took a great interest in my Manville project, who were more than willing to help. I obnoxiously, showed up late in the day, and it only took about 4 minutes before I was comfortable, with 2 file boxes of Manville history at my disposal. I only had about 30 minutes, so I snapped up as many photos as I could get my hands on before the jig was up. Amongst the photos was this great one of a Manville Grocer. The photo has the inscription “Bellomo and Sair, Weston Grocer” Im not sure if Bellomo and Sair is the name of the photography firm or the actual store. There is also no date, but I found a similar grocery photo dated 1924, so I’m assuming this photo is in the same basic timeframe. Anyone out there know about this place?
Manville, NJ ... Revolution on the Millstone 
Is it the Camplain liquor store? Bellomo’s owned that originally
To help date the photo
There’s a calendar hanging on the wall. It’s not clear as to the exact year and month but you can see the month has 31 days and starts on a Tuesday. Of all the months with 31 days my guess would be the word before the year on this calendar is March. It’s already been said a similar photograph is dated 1924. During the 1920s March started on Tuesday in 1921 and 1927.
Would it be that much of a stretch to think this is the beginning of Bellomo’s Liquor Store?
Maybe it was the place that used to be on Main Street?