Middlesex County History Tour

New Brunswick USS Maine Memorial

The USS Maine Memorial commemorates three New Brunswick residents killed in the U.S.S. Maine explosion on February 15, 1898 in Havana Harbor, Cuba. Fred Jermee, John Ziegler, and William Robinson were among 266 sailors killed in the explosion, which ultimately began the Spanish-American War of 1898. Originally located in front of the old Middlesex County Courthouse on Bayard Street, the monument was moved to Buccleuch Park when the new courthouse and administration building were constructed in the early 1960s.

John Ziegler’s story, though, does not end there. Following the USS Maine disaster, the Navy’s report listed Ziegler as “missing” and his place of burial was not located until 2009, by Ziegler's great-great-great nephew Billy Griffith. According to findagrave.com, Griffith’s research led him to “a cemetery in Key West, Florida that showed a record of having 27 Maine sailors interred within the grounds” and it confirmed Ziegler's remains were there. The family then petitioned the Veterans Administration to place a memorial headstone “within the Ziegler family's North Brunswick plot…and on February 20, 2010, a memorial service was held in honor of John Ziegler by the Manville VFW,” with the headstone next to John’s mother Louise’s grave. After 112 years, Ziegler received a personal memorial, in addition to New Brunswick’s tribute to its fallen soldiers.

 Directions to Stop #3 

Cuban Howitzer Memorial Cannon

The Cuban Howitzer Memorial Cannon was presented to the City of New Brunswick on May 25, 1899 by resident William Weigel. In 1898, Weigel was sent to Havana, Cuba as a disbursing agent in charge of railroad and transportation affairs. Weigel took Cuba’s Howitzer cannon from Cabanas Fortress at the entrance of Havana Harbor as a souvenir. After the war, he decided to give it to New Brunswick to serve as a memorial to the Spanish-American War.

 Directions to Stop #4 

Buccleuch Mansion

Buccleuch Mansion was originally the home of Anthony White, whose family had been living in the British colonies since 1590. White built the home between 1734 and 1739, and it features wooden clapboard siding and Georgian architecture, which is noted for its balance, proportion, and symmetry. Later construction on the building incorporated elements of the Federal and Greek Revival styles — both heavily influenced by the classical architecture in ancient Greece and Rome.

While White and his wife were loyal to the British crown, his son fought for American independence. During the Revolutionary War winter of 1776–77 the home was occupied by the British; later, Buccleuch Mansion received its name from 1800s resident Colonel Joseph Warren Scott, in honor of his family’s ancestral home in Scotland. Legend has it there are saber cuts and musket marks on the floor of the mansion. See if you can find them. Check with the  Jersey Blue Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution  for the Mansion’s current visitor policy.

 Directions to Stop #5 

Old Queens Building

Old Queens is the oldest building on Rutgers University’s campus, constructed in 1809 from local brownstone. A building committee selected a renowned architect of the time, John McComb, to design Old Queens. McComb’s work included New York City Hall (with collaborator J.F. Mangin), NYC’s St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery, and Alexander Hamilton's Manhattan country home, The Grange. Popular in the young United States from 1780–1830, Old Queens’ Federal architectural style is considered an adaptation of Georgian style and shares a focus on balance, proportion, and symmetry.

Old Queens originally provided classrooms and faculty housing to Queen’s College, later renamed Rutgers College after Colonel Henry Rutgers, who donated money to the institution. Rutgers could afford the donation due to his family’s history of (lucratively) brewing and selling beer, identified by a historian as the “most important consumer good in early America.” The business was so prominent in the British colonies the Rutgers family has been identified as the first brewing family in America. The national affinity for beer goes way back!

Henry Rutgers also donated $200 to pay for a bell, still in the tower and rung for special occasions.

Today, Old Queens houses administrative offices … and a ghost. According to alumni of the Rutgers University Historical Society, Old Queens is haunted by a “Gray Lady” or ghost of someone who died for love and forever awaits the return of her beloved. The “Gray Lady” who inhabits the bell tower of Old Queens — staring toward the Raritan River — is allegedly Catherine Livingston, rumored to have had an illicit affair with Alexander Hamilton while he was stationed in New Brunswick during the Revolutionary War.

 Directions to Stop #6 

Winants Hall

Winants Hall — Rutgers’ first dormitory — ­was built during 1889 and 1890, its basement and first floor made from Newark and Belleville, NJ brownstone. The construction was funded by a “completely unexpected and unsolicited” $80,000 donation from Garrett E. Winants, a “wealthy businessman from Bergen Point, NJ” (part of Bayonne), according to Rutgers’ student newspaper, “The Daily Targum.” Of Winants Hall’s design by architect and alum Benjamin Van Campen Taylor, Rutgers’ alumni magazine noted the intent to provide “hospitality and home likeness suggested by the American Mansions”; an alum also remembered the “gas lights in each room, except on the 1st floor” and that “winters were cold enough on the 4th floor to freeze the ink in the ink well.”

Winants Hall had a post office in the basement, too, and remained Rutgers College’s only dormitory until 1915. In 1990, Rutgers spent $9.4 million to restore and expand Winants Hall. Today, the building holds the University’s alumni and legal offices as well as the Rutgers University Foundation. 

 Directions to Stop #7 

Kirkpatrick Chapel

Built in 1873, Kirkpatrick Chapel was named after New Brunswick resident Sophia Kirkpatrick, whose will designated Rutgers College as the sole heir to her estate. Kirkpatrick’s $61,054.57 ($1.3 million in today’s dollars!) funded the chapel’s construction. New Brunswick-born architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (1847–1918) designed Kirkpatrick Chapel, his third building on Rutgers’ campus, in the Gothic Revival style. The inspiration, then, came from medieval architecture, rather than the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. Hardenbergh was also the great-great-grandson of Rutgers’ (then Queens College’s) first president, Jacob Rutsen Hardenburgh. Kirkpatrick Chapel was originally used as a chapel and a library; in 1904, the chapel portion was expanded when the library moved to newly built Voorhees Hall. Over the years, the Chapel has become less a place for worship and more for lectures, events, and classes. Today, it often hosts concerts and religious ceremonies.  Check the Chapel's website  for its current visitor policy and hours.

 Directions to Stop #8 

Alexander Hamilton Marker

This plaque on Rutgers’ Old Queens Campus, like others in New Jersey, commemorates a part of the Revolutionary War. Here, overlooking the Raritan River, Alexander Hamilton (as an artillery captain) and his troops delayed the advance of Britain’s General Cornwallis on December 1, 1776. Hamilton was specifically called upon to provide cover so Washington and the Continental Army could leave New Brunswick and continue their retreat through Princeton to Trenton, then across the Delaware River. In Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton ­— a key piece of source material for “Hamilton” the musical — Chernow says, “according to Washington’s adopted grandson, the commander ‘was charmed by the brilliant courage and admirable skill’ Hamilton displayed as he ‘directed a battery against the enemy’s advanced columns that pressed upon the Americans in their retreat.’” 

Hamilton was a hard-working, self-taught student of warfare. He painstakingly studied infantry strategy and tactics, gunnery, and pyrotechnics. Henry Knox, Artillery Chief of the Continental Army, said of Hamilton: “He came to us the rawest and most untutored human being I ever met with, but in less than twelve months he was equal in military knowledge to any general in the army.”

This was early in Hamilton’s involvement in the Revolution, but he was already on a mission to shape the new United States of America. “Hamilton” the musical’s writer Lin-Manuel Miranda may have written these words, but Alexander Hamilton was definitely thinking them: “I am not throwing away my shot.”

 Directions to Stop #9 

Daniel S. Schanck Observatory

This historic astronomical observatory is one of six surviving 19th-century buildings on Rutgers’ Queens Campus. It was named in honor of Daniel Schanck, a prominent man of the time who funded much of the facility. The small, two-story building (completed in 1866) was designed to resemble the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Greece. It was Rutgers’ first observatory, and a June 22, 1865 article in “The New Brunswick Fredonian” noted, while reporting on the laying of the cornerstone ceremony, “The location is so chosen that a clear horizon is obtained on nearly all sides, and the most interesting portions of the heavens are free from any obstruction.” A 1924 article in New Brunswick, NJ’s “The Sunday Times” added, “It is also fitting that an observatory, which is a building for the study of the unknown and the unknowable, should be modeled after an ancient temple in which reverence was expressed for the inscrutable forces of nature.”

Rutgers alum Steven K. Korotky writes, in his “A Concise History of the Daniel S. Schanck Observatory”: “In December, 1929, John W. Mettler, an alumnus (RC 1899) and trustee of the College, purchases and donates a 150 mm (approx. 6”) refractor telescope by Georges Prin of Paris for the Observatory” and it becomes a celebrated scientific instrument at the University. While requiring some upkeep and replacements, the Prin telescope is used from that point through the late 1970s. However, “The Jaegers objective and the original focuser of the Prin telescope go missing sometime between 1979 and 1994.” Then ::crickets:: … until February 2016 when Korotky and his wife “propose and lead a team of volunteers to recover and restore the Prin telescope. The parts of the Prin telescope are retrieved from storage…but the original drive gearing including the worm screw are missing [Kor2016]. The restoration of the Prin telescope begins [in 2016]” and it’s still in process today. Soon, hopefully, the almost 91-year-old telescope will be able to function as it once did, in all its glory.

 Directions to Stop #10 

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum

The Zimmerli Art Museum, on Rutgers’ College Avenue Campus, was founded in 1966 as the Rutgers University Art Gallery. The museum was renamed in 1983 after expanding its permanent collection, which includes significant holdings in, its website notes, “French art of the nineteenth century, Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art, and American and European works on paper, including prints, drawings, photographs, and rare books.” The Zimmerli also features, among its 60,000+ works, “art inspired by Japan, ancient Greek and Roman art, and American illustrations for children’s books.”

 Directions to Stop #11 

Rutgers Geology Museum

You can find this museum on Rutgers’ Old Queens Campus, in the University’s Geology Hall. It “was founded in 1872 by State Geologist George H. Cook to exhibit the many specimens collected by the New Jersey Geological Survey, which he directed,” notes the Museum’s official website. The building, a Gothic brownstone, was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenburgh. In addition to housing, at one point, the geology, physics, and military science departments, Geology Hall also contained an armory for the Military Department in its basement!

Today, the Museum is well known for a 10,000-year-old mastodon skeleton from Salem County, NJ; an Egyptian sarcophagus; and a giant spider crab. When it “was founded in 1872, the word ‘geology’ meant what we consider to be ‘natural history’ today. Because of this, the Geology Museum houses specimens from a variety of natural science fields such as anthropology, paleontology, and biology, in addition to our rock and mineral collections.” NJ-specific pieces are another highlight of Rutgers Geology Museum: “A collection of 2,400 specimens of fluorescent minerals was donated to the museum in October 1940 by George Rowe, a mine captain with the New Jersey Zinc Company. This collection consists of rare minerals, many of which are found only in New Jersey, such as those discovered during nineteenth- and twentieth-century zinc mining operations in Franklin and Ogdensburg in Sussex County.”

 Directions to Stop #12 

St. Peter the Apostle Church

Listed in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, St. Peter the Apostle Church emulates Europe’s medieval cathedrals. Irish-American architect Patrick Charles Keely was commissioned for the project and designed the church in the Gothic Revival style. The Parish’s official website mentions the “New Brunswick Tornado of June 19, 1835 partially destroyed” the Parish’s first dedicated building, a simple brick church on Bayard Street. With construction from finely cut stone finishing in 1865, the cathedral on Somerset Street became the much-needed, grand new home of St. Peter’s Parish. Among other elements of note, the church’s chime of bells is “one of only three of its kind in New Jersey” and “still played on significant feasts and other special occasions,” says the Parish website.

 Directions to Stop #13 

Downtown New Brunswick Monument Square Buildings

Monument Square takes its name from the granite Civil War Monument placed there in 1893. Located at the heart of New Brunswick’s performing arts district, Monument Square serves as a centerpiece for the City Center area, framed by the modern and luxurious Heldrich Hotel (also a wedding venue), the vaudeville-era State Theatre New Jersey, the newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, and restaurants with cuisines from around the world. A short walk on Livingston Avenue will bring you to other historical sites: the New Brunswick Public Library (built in 1903) and Henry Guest House.

A directional signpost on a corner of Monument Square Park indicates the direction of and distances to New Brunswick’s global sister cities: Tsuruoka, Japan; Debercen, Hungary; Fukui, Japan; and Limerick County, Ireland. When New Brunswick’s holiday tree lighting, New Year's Eve fireworks, and the Central Jersey Jazz Festival aren’t happening downtown, this park, says the City of New Brunswick’s official website, simply serves as “a small oasis to take a break, meet a friend, or simply enjoy a coffee and people watch.”

 Directions to Stop #14 

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors Monument  

New Brunswick’s Civil War Monument is known as the Soldiers & Sailors Monument and honors the thousands of lives lost in the American Civil War. Its inscription reads: “Erected by the people of New Brunswick in memory of the brave soldiers and sailors who fought in defense of the Union during the War of the Rebellion/Williamsburg – Antietam – Fredericksburg – New Bern – Atlanta – Gettysburg – Winchester – Appomattox/Erected 1893.”

Prominent merchant P.P. Runyon proposed the monument, suggesting the State use a $500 surplus from the Centennial Anniversary Committee to construct it. At the monument’s grand unveiling, a large parade and forty-four-gun salute celebrated its construction, according to archival documents from the New Brunswick Public Library. Today, the monument stands tall as a reminder of our country’s history, how far we’ve come, and how far we have left to go.

 Directions to Stop #15 

State Theatre New Jersey  

The State Theatre first opened its doors on December 26, 1921, as a venue for vaudeville acts and silent films. Thomas W. Lamb (1871–1942), one of the 20th century’s foremost theater architects, designed a brick façade decorated with terra cotta ornamentation. In 1929, the theater began showing movies with sound. The State Theatre’s first manager, Walter Reade, Sr. (1884–1952) was popularly known as the “Showman of the Shore,” eventually managing over 40 theaters in the tri-state area. The 1950s saw the rise of rock and roll performances at the theater, and films were shown through the 1960s until the emergence of multiplex theaters. By the 1970s, the building had fallen into disrepair. But in 1988, the New Brunswick Cultural Center stepped in and renovated the State Theatre into a space for live performances, receiving critical acclaim for the theater’s excellent acoustics and restored Art Deco style. In 2003, it was further restored and outfitted with upgraded sound and lighting systems. State Theatre New Jersey reopened in 2014 and is now recognized as one of New Jersey’s premier arts venues, hosting concerts, musicals, and annual screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Middlesex County is an active partner of State Theatre New Jersey, helping fund facility improvement and programming for students.

 Directions to Stop #16 

Henry Guest House

Henry Guest House is one of the last surviving colonial structures in New Brunswick, described in its 1976 National Register Nomination as “a good relatively unaltered example of 18th-century colonial architecture representative of the County.” A sandstone house built in 1760 in the Georgian style, it was originally located on the corner of Livingston Avenue and Carroll Place (known today as New Street). Henry Guest was a tanner and served as an alderman during the Second Colonial Charter of New Brunswick in 1763. Guest and his five sons were ardent patriots during the Revolutionary War, but ironically, it’s likely the house was used by the British Army while New Brunswick was occupied from December 1, 1776 through June 20, 1777.

Before then, though, some stuff went down. An 18th-century physician in New Brunswick, Dr. Jacob Dunham, recounted this funny story: There was a British encampment on Highland Park’s side of the Raritan River. The troops encamped there were expecting Continental soldiers to appear in New Brunswick. Henry Guest’s tannery, on the New Brunswick side of the Raritan, hung tanned hides to dry on a fence. The next morning, the British awoke to the sight of what they thought were Continental soldiers and fired a cannon. And on they went for hours … Finally, a spyglass was used to check the damage, and the British learned they’d been firing at hides, not people. New Brunswick residents spread this story around and laughed about it.

And how about this: a very lengthy letter written from John Adams to Henry Guest was found among Guest family papers. Guest also corresponded with Thomas Paine. After Henry Guest’s death in 1815, the home was put up for sale; the advertisement called it “one of the best stone houses in the State of New Jersey.” To save it from demolition in 1925, the house was moved up Livingston Avenue, where it now sits next to the New Brunswick Free Public Library.

 Directions to Stop #17 

New Brunswick Free Public Library

The New Brunswick Free Public Library began in 1796 as the Union Library Company, which initially housed a collection of just 16 books and charged $5 for a share in the library. Access to the library was limited to those wealthy enough to pay a membership fee as well as annual dues. We have Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to thank for essentially putting the FREE in New Brunswick Free Public Library “when he began offering funds to municipalities that might otherwise have been unable to raise the money to erect library buildings…with services accessible by all,” writes Eleonora Dubicki in her article, “Carnegie Libraries in New Jersey: 1900-1923.”

In 1902, New Brunswick received $50,000 to construct the current Library building, which opened in 1903. Local architect George K. Parsell designed it in the Neoclassical style (especially popular for educational and civic buildings since the ancient Greeks and Romans valued those arenas). The Library’s façade includes a triangular pediment supported by four Ionic columns, and its interior remains virtually unaltered since the building’s construction, with “distinctive fan-shaped stacks to accommodate the collection. In 1909, an additional $2,500 was received [from Carnegie] to double the capacity by putting a glass floor over the stacks and duplicating the stacks on a second level.” The main hall of the library also features paneled Doric piers, round arches, and a vaulted coffered ceiling lit by stained glass skylights.

 Directions to Stop #18 

Carpender Hall

This 1880 home now holds faculty offices on the Douglass Campus of Rutgers University (founded as the Rutgers-associated New Jersey College for Women). It was acquired a few decades after the College opened in 1918. In its early days, Carpender Hall was home to Edwin R. and Elovine Carpender; Edwin was actually the nephew of John N. Carpender, whose estate became the College’s very first building. Rutgers University was clearly a fan of Carpender family properties!

Carpender Hall, whose façade is a mixture of wooden shingles and brick, is influenced by two late-Victorian era architectural styles. A hallmark of Queen Anne-style structures is an asymmetrical façade and a front-facing gable. Shingle style, which became popular around the time of the Centennial, emulates Colonial structures which were sided with shingles.

The home’s design isn’t the only intriguing thing; Elovine Carpender was a founder of the Urban League of New Brunswick and the first female member of the Federal Housing Authority. Prominent among Republican women in New Jersey, she was also elected a delegate to the convention that repealed the U.S. Constitution’s 18th Amendment. So let’s raise a glass to Elovine for her part in ending Prohibition! Seems fitting that the home of such a trailblazing woman plays a part in creating more female leaders: students of today’s Douglass Residential College.

 Directions to Stop #19 

College Hall

College Hall, a centerpiece of Rutgers University’s Douglass Campus, was originally constructed in 1855 as a private residence for Levi D. Jarrad, a local merchant and politician. The building is in the Italianate architectural style and includes common elements like a variety of roof and window shapes as well as its own tower. The home was built using brown sandstone, a frequently used material for important buildings in and around New Brunswick. How the building ended up in the hands of Rutgers University is quite the story: Levi Jarrad, the home’s original owner, was one of New Brunswick’s most influential citizens. His many job titles included NJ General Assemblyman, State Senator, chairman of railroads, chairman of municipal corporations, New Brunswick Alderman, postmaster of New Brunswick, and the Middlesex County Collector. But then, in the unfortunate grand tradition of politics, he had a fall from grace. When there was a party change in County government, staff changed as well. As the outgoing County Collector, Jarrad was called to meet with the Finance Committee to turn over the books of the bank account containing a presumed $10,000. Jarrad, in today’s terms, completely ghosted the Committee and was nowhere to be found. Turned out Jarrad fled to Canada, “had been living under various assumed names” (“The New York Times,” Aug. 7, 1883), and had to be extradited in order to be put on trial in New Brunswick: He’d stolen $39,000 of public funds.

John N. Carpender, a trustee and graduate of Rutgers, acquired the home during the 1880s, and in 1918, the Carpender family leased it to the newly established New Jersey College for Women. Initially, the building was used for classroom instruction and as a residence and dining hall for some students. Eventually Rutgers purchased the mansion and it became known as College Hall. Today, College Hall is used for Douglass Campus administrative offices and stands as a reminder of where it all began.

 Directions to Stop #20 

Elizabeth Rodman Voorhees Chapel

This chapel was named after Elizabeth Rodman Voorhees (1841–1924). She and her husband were philanthropists, and Voorhees bequeathed much of her estate to the New Jersey College for Women (today’s Douglass Residential College at Rutgers), funding the chapel’s 1925 construction on campus as well as maintenance. The chapel, an example of Colonial Revival architecture (popular from 1900–1920), is primarily made of brick; Colonial Revival style incorporates Neoclassical elements, visible in the front portico supported by Corinthian columns and topped by a triangular pediment. A fun fact from Douglass Residential College’s official website: “Although architecturally designed in the historic floor plan of a church, Voorhees is most unusual in that it has a working fireplace—normally behind doors—that is used once a year for the traditional Douglass College Yule Log Ceremony.” Today, Voorhees Chapel “is the college’s central location for ceremonies, plenaries, and concerts.”  

 Directions to Stop #21 

Wood Lawn Mansion

Wood Lawn Mansion was built in 1830 by Colonel James Neilson, a third-generation member of the Neilson family of New Brunswick. Neilson, a successful businessman and member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees, established the property as a “gentleman’s farm,” with land that is farmed for pleasure rather than profit. Wood Lawn Mansion's basement held a kitchen and food cellars, and its first two floors feature clapboard siding. The third floor consists of a mansard roof with dormers, which replaced the original hipped roof. Due to a series of additions and alterations during the 19th century, the Mansion’s architecture includes elements of Neoclassical, Second Empire, and Colonial Revival styles. In 1905, the famous New York City architectural firm McKim, Mead & White made changes as well. These projects all contributed to the Mansion’s stylistic diversity, and it has since been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The last of James Neilson’s sons was the final family member to live in the Mansion, and upon his death, left the house to Rutgers University. Today, Wood Lawn Mansion is home to Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics, a collaborative center for political research and education.

 Directions to Stop #22 

New Brunswick Waterfront - Boyd Park and Rutgers Boathouse

This 20-acre, award-winning park offers beautiful views of the Raritan River as well as New Brunswick’s skyline.

THEN: The waterfront was the heart of the City during the 18th and 19th centuries. Wharfs and warehouses stretched along the banks, helping the area import and export goods. The Delaware and Raritan Canal was completed by 1834 and provided even more trading opportunities. By the early 1900s, factories, homes, and businesses dominated this section of the city. Most of these structures succumbed to post-World War II urban redevelopment.

NOW: The Farley Blacksmith Shop is one of the few remaining structures from a now-gone waterfront neighborhood near where you are; the Shop was moved, but not too far away! You can find the Farley Blacksmith Shop in Piscataway’s East Jersey Old Town Village, part of our County parks system. The Rutgers Boathouse’s first incarnation was built in 1870 but destroyed by flooding. The current boathouse was built in 1950, with an addition in 1961; today it can hold about 20 boats.

Boyd Park reopened in 1999 as part of New Brunswick’s riverfront redevelopment. It’s home to many festivals and special events including the Raritan River Festival, Hispanic Festival, and the City’s 4th of July Celebration. The park also features a 3/4-mile-long tow path with lights as well as a historical swing bridge, canal, and locks.

 Directions to Stop #23 

Highland Park - Livingston Manor Historic District

The Livingston Manor Historic District contains over 230 private homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is based around an early subdivision envisioned by real estate developer Watson Whittlesey (1863–1914). Most of the homes were built between 1906 and 1925, many in the then-popular American Craftsman style. All the land on which this neighborhood was constructed, reaching down to the Raritan River, belonged to the prominent Livingston family. The anchor of the neighborhood is the Livingston Homestead, at 81 Harrison Avenue, built in the early 1840s. The home’s architecture originally reflected the Greek Revival style, but it was changed somewhat in the early 1900s to reflect the Neoclassical Revival style. The District homes built in the early 20th century feature a greater variety of architectural styles, including Colonial Revival, American Foursquare, and bungalow style, all common in that era.

 Directions to Stop #24 

Piscataway - Raritan Landing

This area, now part of Middlesex County’s Johnson Park, marks the former site of Raritan Landing, a once-thriving port community. The center of Raritan Landing was where Landing Lane in Piscataway sits today — though that’s officially been a road since 1738!

Between its founding in 1720 and the 1800s, the Landing served as an important shipping hub because of its location at the head of navigable water on the Raritan River (therefore the farthest upriver larger ships could travel). Early on, Raritan Landing’s founder, Dutch merchant Adolphus Hardenbrook, held products for export and distribution, mainly grain, timber, molasses, rum, ceramics, and textiles brought in from New York and possibly abroad. In its prime, the Landing received goods and exported goods (mostly wheat, flour, beef, corn, and pork) from and to the deep-water port in Perth Amboy, where they would travel on to New York, New England, southern British Colonies, and the Caribbean. One of the Landing’s prominent merchants, Cornelius Low, arrived at the Landing in 1730. Later, during the Revolutionary War, the British occupied homes at the Landing; some Loyalist residents might have been ok with that, but other residents were Patriots. Trade resumed after the Revolution, but the Landing never recovered the bulk of its pre-Revolution population. Raritan Landing declined during the second half of the 19th century since its main source of business was agriculture, which “was less and less the key to the area's economic future,” notes Rebecca Yamin, in “Rediscovering Raritan Landing: An Adventure in New Jersey Archaeology.” Instead, industry was gradually taking over the local economy. By the end of the 19th century, the Landing, as a trade community, ceased to exist, and over time nearly all the buildings eroded away due to neglect. The Low House is one the few surviving structures from the Landing. See it in person as Stop 26 on this tour!

The fact that no industrial developments were attempted at the Landing make it a valuable archaeological site. The first major excavation at the Landing occurred in 1979 and uncovered three building foundations, two associated with pre-Revolutionary War occupation and one associated with post-war occupation. You can learn more about the Landing’s archaeological digs at an exhibit hosted by the County’s own East Jersey Old Town Village.

 Directions to Stop #25 

Landing Lane Bridge

You’re now at the site of both the current and original Landing Lane Bridge. The original one, built in 1772, was one of the first covered bridges in New Jersey. Its construction was organized by Charles Suydam and John Duyckinck, both from families well established in the Raritan Valley. These local entrepreneurs knew the river was essential to the local economy and a bridge would be important for transportation of goods, residents, and travelers. How did Suydam and Duyckinck fund the project? Some 18th-century crowdfunding, of course! But in this case the contributors were like modern-day stockholders. Individuals purchased “subscriptions” to the bridge, paying by cash or barter, and then gained part-ownership. Landing Lane Bridge was crossed many times during the Revolutionary War, and partially burnt during that time as well. After being destroyed by fire in 1894, it was replaced with a steel trestle bridge. The steel trestle bridge itself was replaced in 1991 with the one you see today, a haunched deck girder bridge. 

 Directions to Stop #26 

Cornelius Low House

The Cornelius Low House has stood on this very spot since 1741. Its first owner and resident, Cornelius Low, was a fixture at Raritan Landing, where he had a warehouse for grain he purchased from local farmers then shipped to New York. His first home was in that same area, close to the water, but it was prone to flooding. To avoid that, Low decided to build this house on the hilltop, which also enabled him to monitor his warehouse below. We have a unique primary source that confirms details: the Low family bible. In an entry from October 1741, Low states his son William was born “in my new house on the mountain.” Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the Low House is a classic example of Georgian architecture, a style guided by balance, proportion, and symmetry. The home is built from more than 350 tons of local sandstone. The side facing River Road features more finely cut stone while the other sides and rear are made of far less expensive rubble stone. There was originally a 1.5-story kitchen wing attached to the left side of the structure. 

Low and his wife Johanna had 11 children. Sadly, only four of the children lived past the age of 36: Isaac, Nicholas, Gertrude, and Sarah. Isaac Low, a former member of the Continental Congress, and his brothers-in-law Hugh Wallace and Alexander Wallace were Loyalists; Nicholas Low was a Patriot. It is believed Cornelius Low was a Loyalist, and that is why his house remained untouched by British soldiers, who otherwise occupied the Landing area from December 1776 through June 1777. Cornelius passed away in in April 1777, leaving Nicholas to manage the family’s properties. Ownership of the Low House is attributed to six other families from 1793 until 1979, when Middlesex County acquired the property. The building now holds the Middlesex County Museum with award-winning exhibits about New Jersey history. It’s open to the public with free admission! 

 Visitor Policy and Operating Hours 

 Directions to Stop #27 

Metlar-Bodine House

Metlar-Bodine House was initially constructed as a simple, single-room, one-and-a-half story home in 1728 by Peter Bodine, a merchant who lived at Raritan Landing. The home was enlarged with Greek Revival-style additions in the 1850s by then-owner George Knapp; it was remodeled again about two decades later under the ownership of George W. Metlar. The Metlar-Bodine House is one of only two surviving buildings in what was the Raritan Landing community. The building now houses a museum covering the historical development of the Raritan Valley.

 Directions to Stop #28