Tales of rumrunners and speakeasies; arrowheads and pottery shards; Oberlin Smith, Charlie Seabrook and Sylvia Beach; circuit-riding priests; Quaker social activism; Klansmen wearing telltale shoes; and a napping editor all fueled Sharron Morita's fascination with Bridgeton history. She began to hear such stories when she arrived in Bridgeton to work as a reporter and editor after graduation from Syracuse University with a degree in journalism and political science. Later work as a freelance writer added to her supply of tales about the town. She contributed to New Jersey: Spotlight on Government, a publication of the New Jersey League of Women Voters, and wrote Bridgeton Impressions: 1686-1986 for Bridgeton's 300th anniversary celebration. In 1995, she received the Lloyd P. Burns Memorial Award for responsible journalism from the New Jersey Press Association.