This golden-domed, mosaic-adorned church is St. Vladimir Memorial Church in Jackson Township.
St. Vladimir was the Grand Prince of Kiev who converted to Christianity in 988 and unified the region under one faith, Eastern Orthodoxy.
Our group of three arrived just after the weekly service had ended, so we were fortunate to get a look at the icons lining one wall (depictions of St. Vladimir and saints many will recognize) inside the church (but not the entire church). We also chatted with a church reader, dressed in a black cassock, or robe, and who lives about 40 minutes away. (The church attracts people from as far as Pennsylvania, which surprised us.) Services, we learned, are partly held in an ancient, sacred language called Church Slavonic, like some Catholics might switch to Latin in some parts of their Mass.
But why was this spot picked in New Jersey? Because Cassville, as this part of Jackson was then known, was home to ROVA Farms (ROVA stands for Russian Mutual Aid Society). In 1938, the 950th anniversary of the “Baptism of Rus” and when the decision to build the church was made, this was a cultural hub for Russian Orthodox immigrants. The church is just north of where ROVA Farms stood.
We find other signs of Russian culture within sight of the church.
Across Perrineville Road from the church is the “Park of Glory” filled with monuments to numerous Russian heroes, mostly from before the Russian Revolution. There’s Ivan the Great. Catherine the Great. Aleksandr Pushkin, one of Russia’s greatest poets. Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet hero of World War II (oh the Stalin and post-Stalin purges!). Author and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. And many more.
Just up the road is the church cemetery.
Look at this marker just inside the gate to the inventor of octane gasoline (thr man fled the USSR in 1930 and went to Chicago).
All this is a surprise to me and yet is another display of the amazing diversity that you find in New Jersey.
And there’s more. After about 40 miles on the bike, we start to think about food. Italian? Mexican? All too obvious. Indian? Ditto. I was in the mood for Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches, so that’s where we ended up.
Our route
This was a 40-mile bike ride from Cranbury in Middlesex County through Mercer and Monmouth counties and into Ocean County. It was inspired by a ride offered by a Princeton Free Wheeler a few Saturdays back that I couldn’t make. I modified it a bit to reflect roads I knew better near the start, and we’d have picked a different way to cross U.S. 130 on the way back (a traffic light!)
The route turned out to have more traffic and high-speed roads than I’d like, even on a Sunday morning. But the destination was a winner.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to modify the route?
More of what you can discover in New Jersey
Manti and samsa and caviar, oh my! Yet another foodie bike ride in New Jersey
A bike ride from Portugal to India without leaving New Jersey
OMG this global food tour from Newark to New Brunswick to home on our bikes
I biked to a guided tour of the ginormous Hindu temple in Robbinsville, N.J.
Exploring by bicycle 
To ride on quieter roads, I suggest staying off the 500 series county roads such as 571 and 527. From Federal Rd I would have taken Bergen Mills to MIllstone Rd, then Yellow Meeting House to Hawkin. In Jackson, Perrineville Rd is not paved but solid enough for most bikes and leads right to the church.
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike