The Grover’s Mill Coffee House & Roastery Origin Story
The story of Grover’s Mill Coffee House & Roastery begins on the evening of October 30, 1938...
Orson Welles, with the Mercury Theatre on the Air, produced and narrated a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’ classic science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds over the CBS Radio Network. The hour-long broadcast was written to sound like breaking news bulletins interwoven throughout a live musical radio show with realistic sound effects. The broadcast caused widespread panic among some of the six million listeners who believed that the fictional Martian invasion was actually happening right in their own backyard on a farm in Grover’s Mill in West Windsor Township, New Jersey.
The event was a landmark moment in radio history and the memory of the broadcast remains core to the DNA of the Grover’s Mill community. From the bronze Martian Landing Site monument in Van Nest Park and the water tower behind the mill house that a local farmer mistakenly shot, to the living history found in our Coffee House and Roastery – the War of the Worlds lives on.
Today, we welcome you to the site of one of the most famous radio broadcasts in history. Grover’s Mill Coffee House & Roastery pays homage to that fateful pre-Halloween night with artwork and historical memorabilia from Grover’s Mill and the broadcast.
Come visit us to experience The War of the Worlds for yourself and enjoy a fresh cup of coffee from our top secret, out of this world blends.