We recently connected with Mark Neurohr-Pierpaoli and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I wear many hats. In addition to being a full time high school English and history teacher, I operate a small business leading guided walking tours of several historical downtowns in central and southern New Jersey. A few years ago, as we were looking to expand the business, I decided to look at developing one of our popular “Haunted History Tours” in a new city. I have a connection to New Brunswick, NJ: I graduated from Rutgers University, and then taught at New Brunswick High School for over a decade. One of my tour guides also lives closer to New Brunswick than our other city tours, so we decided to build the tour there. One of the first steps when designing a Haunted History Tour is to read the “ghost story” books about the place. You know the kind–the legends and lore passed down from one generation to the next that might include ghost stories, urban legends, and other bits of folklore that circulate around and around, over and over again. Well, I was surprised to discover that despite the depth of history in New Brunswick, and the fact that off the top of my head I could recall several stories I had heard that would qualify, there was never such a book written about New Brunswick! If we wanted to have a tour, I realized, then I’d just have to write the book first. I pitched the idea to Arcadia Publishing, the publishers whose History Press imprint produce a lot of titles in the local legends and lore genre. They loved the idea, and the rest, as they say, is history. Legends & Lore of New Brunswick was published in October 2024, and to promote the book, we launched the Legends & Lore Haunted History Tour of New Brunswick–or was the book a tool to promote the tour? Either way, writing a book and having it published has always been a dream of mine, and I am glad that I was able to work with the publisher to have my goal realized. Now, I’m working with Arcadia again on a follow up and totally unrelated book. The History of Hot Dogs in New Jersey will be completed and published by the Arcadia imprint American Palate very soon!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m first and foremost a teacher, but I have many creative interests and passions that I like to pursue. As I already mentioned, I operate fun, informative, and entertaining historical walking tours of several beautiful downtown locations throughout New Jersey. This supplements my income, of course, but it allows me to make meaning and find fulfillment in the world around me. I love that I get to share the history of these towns with my audiences! I already had some freelance writing experience, but when the opportunity to write and publish a book about New Brunswick, NJ presented itself, I felt so fortunate to take the seed of an idea that I had to build and create something that gets put into the world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

When the business end of operating a tour company gets to be a slog, I’m always revived by my engagement with the audience. To have groups of people pay good money to hear my stories and then leave positive reviews expressing how informative and entertaining the tour was is a real mood boost! When someone is excited to tell me, “I read your book!” it is one of the highest compliments I can receive, even if they didn’t like it! People’s time is so valuable, and for them to give a portion of it to engage with something I created is an honor.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My aim is to have one success be the staging ground for the next. Back in 2018 when I started my little walking tour company in the town where I lived, I had no idea we would eventually expand to four cities, providing multiple kinds of tours for different interest and age groups, or that one day I’d have a book published in support of the business. Now, through the connections I built in publishing the book, I am looking forward to having my next title published within a year. Who knows where that will take me next!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.localwalkingtours.com
• Instagram: @INeverSausageaHotDog
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/ineversausageahotdog
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marknp/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/ineversausageahotdog