Four Centuries in a Weekend Celebrating New Jersey’s 350th Birthday 1664 - 2014 Saturday, October 18th: 10am - 5pm Sunday, October 19th: 12pm - 5pm UNION COUNTY A SERVICE OF THE BOARD OF We’re Connected to You! CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS Hiking Thru History County of Union Looking for another way to experience history this year. The NJ Freewalkers have organized a hike that will follow the route of the CHRISTOPHER HUDAK, Chairman Battle of the Short Hills from NJ Transit’s Metuchen train station to the Deserted Village in the Watchung Reservation. MOHAMED S. JALLOH, Vice Chairman BRUCE H. BERGEN Along the way, hikers will be able to stop at a special historic Battle exhibit at the Ash Brook Reservation, then continue through Scotch LINDA CARTER Plains, where the Osborn Cannonball House is located, and then up ANGEL G. ESTRADA into the Reservation, where they can overlook the Battle of Bloody SERGIO GRANADOS Gap and then join in the festivities at the Deserted Village. BETTE JANE KOWALSKI For more information, go to: ucnj.org/hike4C or http://freewalkers.org/ ALEXANDER MIRABELLA events/battle-of-short-hills-march VERNELL WRIGHT Train Thru Time ALFRED J. FAELLA, County Manager Whether it’s utilizing mass transit to visit Union County’s historic sites WILLIAM REYES, JR., Deputy County Manager this weekend, or just a family adventure riding the trains and visiting JAMES E. PELLETTIERE, Clerk of the Board local sites, consider the Train Thru Time. A number of communities along the Raritan Valley Line are offering RONALD ZUBER, Director shuttle bus service from their train stations to nearby historic sites. The service will be available in Plainfield, Fanwood-Scotch Plains, Westfield, Roselle and Union. The sites in Cranford and Roselle Park KATHY KAKALETRIS, Administrator are within walking distance of the train stations. ETHEL WASHINGTON, History Programs Coordinator Van service will also be provided by Berkeley Heights from the Gladstone Branch to the Deserted Village, where visitors may opt to 633 Pearl Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07202 take the Deserted Village shuttles down to the historic sites in 908-558-2550 NJ Relay 711 Mountainside and Westfield and connect with the Raritan line there. [email protected] www.ucnj.org/cultural Don’t forget, children ride free on weekends and monthly commuter passes are also valid. See njtransit.com for details. For more on the Train thru Time, go to: ucnj.org/TTT Funded in part by the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. Contents Celebrating NJ 350 1 PLAINFIELD Battle of Connecticut Farms 2 Drake House Museum 24 Battle of Springfield 3 RAHWAY Battle of Elizabeth 4 Merchants and Drovers Tavern 25 Union County Performing Arts Center 26 Let the Journey Begin 5 ROSELLE Thematic Clusters Abraham Clark Memorial House 27 Early Aristocracy 6 ROSELLE PARK Farm Life 7 Roselle Park Museum 28 Revolutionary Front Lines 8 SCOTCH PLAINS Commerce & Industry 9 Ash Brook Reservation 29 Victorian Resorts & Suburbs 10-11 Osborn Cannonball House 30 Four Centuries Map 43-44 SPRINGFIELD BERKELEY HEIGHTS Cannon Ball House 31 SUMMIT Deserted Village of Feltville-Glenside Park 12 Littell-Lord Farmstead 13 Carter House 32 CLARK Reeves-Reed Arboretum 33 Summit Playhouse 34 Dr. William Robinson Plantation-Museum 14 Twin Maples 35 CRANFORD UNION Crane-Phillips House Museum 15 Caldwell Parsonage 36 ELIZABETH Liberty Hall Museum 37 Boxwood Hall State Historic Site 16 WESTFIELD First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth 17 Miller-Cory House Museum 38 FANWOOD Reeve History & Cultural Resource Center 39 Historic Fanwood Train Station Museum 18 New Jersey 350 HILLSIDE Innovation 40 Evergreen Cemetery 19 Liberty 41 Woodruff House/Eaton Store Museum 20 Diversity 42 KENILWORTH Oswald J. Nitschke House 21 MOUNTAINSIDE Deacon Andrew Hetfield House 22 NEW PROVIDENCE Salt Box Museum 23 Welcome to FOUR CENTURIES iN a WEEKEND The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders proudly designates its annual 2014 th Welcome to Four Centuries in a Weekend and 350 years of Four Centuries in a Weekend to the celebration of New Jersey’s 350 Birthday. With this in mind, the following Resolution was unanimously adopted: New Jersey History! This year, Union County is proud to commemorate Four Centuries in a Weekend in celebration of Resolution: th the 350 Anniversary of the settlement of Elizabethtown and WHEREAS, October 28, 2014 marks the 350th anniversary of the date in the establishment of New Jersey. In addition to a weekend of which Mattano, Seuakheons and Warinanco, three Lenape Native Indian commemorative programs and activities taking place at the 27 th Sachems (“Chiefs”) signed the deed, later known as the Elizabethtown historic sites on tour, the Elizabethtown 350 Committee will Tract, for 500,000 acres of land located between the Passaic and Raritan present re-enactments of a historic scene at the Liberty Hall Museum and three River and the Arthur Kill, to a small group of English settlers from Eastern significant American Revolutionary battles fought in Elizabethtown and its Long Island; and outlying settlements. th Elizabethtown became the first English-speaking settlement in New Jersey WHEREAS, the year 2014 marks the 350 anniversary of the charter when Captain Philip Carteret founded the settlement in 1664. It was one of the conveying all the lands between the Connecticut River and the east side of crucial events that marked the beginning of New Jersey’s history as a colony. the Delaware River from King Charles II to his brother James, Duke of York, and later King James II of England; and Union County was officially established in 1857 when it became the last coun- ty to form in New Jersey. It originally consisted of the municipalities of Eliza- WHEREAS, the land was given to Sir George Carteret and John Lord beth, Rahway, Westfield, Plainfield, New Providence, Springfield and Union. Berkeley by James, Duke of York, in payment of debts; and However, the historical roots of our area can be traced generations earlier. WHEREAS, Captain Phillip Carteret arrived with 30 persons at the little Travel through time on these historical tours and explore the primary source of settlement on the Arthur Kill in August 1665, and named it Elizabethtown rich history that has been preserved throughout Union County. Put yourselves for his cousin, Lady Elizabeth Carteret, wife of Sir George Carteret ; and in the shoes of the colonial settlers during the Early Aristocracy by visiting WHEREAS, Elizabethtown was the first English-speaking settlement in Elizabeth’s Boxwood Hall and First Presbyterian Church, feel the spirit of the New Jersey; and American Revolution during a trip to Rahway’s Merchants and Drovers Tav- ern, and experience the luxury and grandeur of the Victorian Age with a stop WHEREAS, the Elizabethtown settlers built a Meeting House (1664-65) in at Summit’s Twin Maples estate. which the first Colonial Assembly met on May 26, 1668; and I would like to use this opportunity to thank the many volunteers from all over WHEREAS, the foregoing events mark the beginning of the separate Union County who have dedicated their time to preserving these irreplaceable history of New Jersey as a colony; and sites. They work year in and year out to ensure that each new generation can WHEREAS, it is fitting and desirable that we commemorate the 1664 connect with our shared past. Because of their efforts, we also have another beginnings of Elizabethtown/Union County of the State of New Jersey milestone to recognize. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Four Centuries during the annual Four Centuries in a Weekend,. in a Weekend, which became the first event of its kind in New Jersey when it launched in 1994. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we designate the annual Four Centuries in a Weekend, October 18 – October 19, 2014, to the Thank you for exploring, sharing, and helping to preserve our history as we th celebrate the 350th Anniversary of the settlement of Elizabethtown and the celebration of the 350 Anniversary of the settlement of Elizabethtown and the establishment of New Jersey; and establishment of New Jersey. Sincerely, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we welcome and urge all of its citizens to reflect upon the significance of this Four Centuries in a Weekend and the role that our County/State and its citizens have played in the history and development of our nation and to participate in this important Christopher Hudak, Chairman Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders celebration. The Elizabethtown 350th Anniversary Committee Elizabethtown at the Crossroads th The Elizabethtown 350 Anniversary Committee will put the past into An original painting by Township of Union artist Larry Felder the present as 200 Revolutionary War re-enactors from The Brigade of depicting the Battle of Connecticut Farms on June 7, 1780. the American Revolution, a non-profit living history association, restage events. Between 1776 and 1782 Elizabethtown experienced some seventy-five raids, skirmishes, or battles crucial to the struggle for Battle of Connecticut Farms democracy. June 7, 1780 SATURDAY, October 18th: At the Battle of Connecticut Farms, General Knyphausen with a 10:30 a.m. - Battle of Springfield – Meisel Avenue Park, Springfield, force of 5,000 landed at De Hart’s Point near Elizabethtown and NJ - See the crucial stand at Revolutionary/First Bridge where rebel marched toward Morristown on June 7, 1780, meeting resistance from forces of the Continental Army against British and Hessian forces regulars and militia under Colonel Elias Dayton and General Lafayette battled. A granite Monument marks the location where a major part of at Connecticut Farms, 2 ½ miles southeast of Springfield. the battle was fought. 2:30 p.m. - Battle of Connecticut Farms – Connecticut Farms Colonel Dayton’s Regiments were joined by the rest of the New Presbyterian Church, 888 Stuyvesant Avenue, Union– See a two city- Jersey Brigade and General Maxwell.