Road To Monmouth History Workshop II
Saturday, April 27, 2002
Hopewell Borough Train Station (first floor)
Railroad and Greenwood Avenues, Hopewell, NJ
9:30 AM to 2:30 PM O'Clock in two sessions (9:30 - Noon and 12:30 - 2:30)
Purpose:
This is a workshop for sharing information on the route
of the Continental Army as it raced across New Jersey during the heat wave
of June, 1778. The goal is to gather in one place the facts, rumors
and mysteries associated with the prelude to the Battle of Monmouth Court
House.
The reasons for this workshop are many, but it is
in support of the 225th Anniversary celebration of the battle, and of New
Jersey history celebration in general. It is simply an informal workshop,
not sponsored by any official body.
This workshop will deal with the Continental Army
only, concentrating on the main army column. As you may know, Lafayette,
Morgan and Dickinson followed their own routes, and those, and the British
routes, we will leave that for another day (we had to start somewhere!)
(see the workshop on April 20 for study of the
British routes.). The first workshop, held in January, clarified
much of the central portion of the route, from Rocky Hill to Cranbury,
and brought up many questions concerning the overall route.
This second workshop will refine the techniques
of the first workshop, and concentrate them on the western part of the
route, from Coryell's Ferry to Rocky Hill, especially the segment between
Lambertville and Hopewell [both modern names]. We encourage those
interested in the eastern part of the route, from Cranbury to Englishtown,
to attend anyway, as the techniques we apply to the west will also apply
to the east. A third workshop, on June 15, will concentrate on the
eastern part of the route.
Outline:
The Workshop will have two sessions. The morning
concentrating on history and research, and the afternoon concentrating
on celebration and remembrance.
I hope we will cover the following topics in the
morning session:
-
Colonial Era roads used by the main force. (Generals Washington and Charles
Lee)
-
Understanding of the timing of the march, including encampment sites and
the role of topography on the progress of the army.
-
Interesting places and facts about the route.
-
Surviving historic resources on the route.
I hope that we will cover the following topics in the
afternoon
session:
-
Ideas and plans for commemorating the 225th anniversary of the campaign.
-
Ideas and plans for marking the route, and explaining the history to the
casual motorist or pedestrian
-
Ideas and plans for heritage tourism for the route.
Note that this is a workshop, not a committee meeting.
We have no power other than suggestion and sharing, and decisions will
be made elsewhere. I'll moderate, but we all share responsibility
to stay on topic.
Who should attend:
The morning session is for those who have done
historical research, have historical data to share (including questionable
data) or are especially interested in the current state of knowledge of
the topics listed above. It is a workshop, and all are expected to
participate. It is my hope that someone from each of the eleven municipalities
(whether official or unofficial) attends. Historical Commission members,
Historical Society officers or honest-to-goodness historians are most welcome!
Findings of the workshop (including areas for future
research) will be made available, and will be summarized at lunch.
The afternoon session is for those who can
help with any of the afternoon topics, have creative ideas in these areas
or have the authority to make things happen. I hope our informal
discussions provide for development of new ideas, and refinement of ideas
already put forward. Those attending the afternoon session are encouraged
to be present at the lunchtime summary. There will be no formal product
of the afternoon session, but I hope groups will determine to work together
on various projects.
A list of attendees will be made available (so please
pre-register with your contact information).
Preparation:
Historians should review Robert Craig's article
in New Jersey History, (Spring/Summer 2001) Vol 119, Numbers 1-2,
entitled "In Search of Robins Tavern: A Long-Vanished Landmark on the
Road to the Battle of Monmouth", which describes the historical research
method used to find a site on the British march route (and Lafayette's
route too).
You may also want to surf thorough my website
http:www.nerc.com/~charlied to get an idea of what I know.
If you have data to share, you may do some combination
of these:
-
Send what you can to me, charlied@nerc.com, and I will put it on my website
-
Make 20 copies of it, or
-
Make 20 copies of a summary or abstract, with a web address for the full
document.
-
Bring a poster-board showing the information (bring an easel too, if you
have one), and 20 copies of a summary of the information with your name
and contact information.
Please don't bring a spoken story without something
written down. Please don't expect me to copy your stuff, I've got
enough to do, thanks. On the other hand, this isn't a science fair!
Feel free to use brown corrugated cardboard and crayons on a AAA map, if
that gets the point across.
Registration
Please send me an e-mail ( mailto:charlied@nerc.com
) or call me at 609-924-7375 to tell me that you are coming. Include
your e-mail, phone number and address, so I can make a list of attendees
for distribution. If you are preparing a poster or handout, describe
it briefly. If you can help me get ready on Friday evening or Saturday
morning, indicate that too. Please register by Thursday the 25th,
though earlier is better. You can change your mind, just call or
e-mail!
The workshop costs will be covered by a money jar.
The only real expenses are food and easel paper. Please expect to
throw a buck or two into the jar, and receive lunch, coffee, etc.
Directions
General: The Borough of Hopewell is a town within the
much larger Hopewell Township. The township extends from the Delaware
River to the Province Line, and includes Washington Crossing State Park,
Pennington Borough and Hopewell Borough, as well as many other smaller
places. Hopewell Borough is a true town. There are several
places to have breakfast in town, including Rose & Chubby's on Greenwood
Avenue.
From Lambertville and west: Go east on Route 518 to Hopewell
Borough. You will enter town on Louellen Street. Turn left
onto Model Avenue after crossing the railroad tracks, and go three blocks
to Greenwood Avenue. Cross Greenwood to see the station on your left.
(If you forget to turn on Model, bear left onto West Broad Street, and
follow "From Trenton and South" below.)
From Princeton (easy), Rocky Hill, and Somerville. Take
Route 206 to Route 518 (near Rocky Hill). Go west on Route 518 to
Hopewell. This will be East Broad Street. In the center of
town look for Greenwood Avenue, the Baptist Church and the "Dana
Building". At this light, turn right onto Greenwood Avenue, go two
blocks up the hill, turn right just before the railroad overpass.
The station is on the left. (There is a more difficult way to get
to Hopewell from Princeton, but that's for locals only!)
From New York and northern New Jersey: Get to Route I-287
in Somerville, take Route US 206 south toward Princeton. Follow directions
as above.
From Trenton and South: Take Route 95 or Route 295 to the
Trenton area. Take Route 95 South (continuation of Route 295 NORTH)
to Route 31 north. Follow Route 31 past (not through) Pennington.
After one or two miles, at "Pennytown" a.k.a. Marshall's Corner,
bear right onto Marshalls Corner-Hopewell Road (County Route 654, once
called 518-spur). This will bring you into Hopewell on West Broad
Street. After the Louellen Street light, go past the Old Baptist
Meeting House and Graveyard, then, at the Dana Building, turn left onto
Greenwood Avenue. Follow directions "From Princteon", above.
From Wertsville: Take Hopewell-Wertsville Road south (down)
to Hopewell. After crossing the railroad bridge, turn left on Railroad
Avenue/Model Avenue. Station is on your left.
Who am I?
I'm Charlie Dieterich, of Kingston, NJ.
Two Junes ago I convinced folks to put out signs using Garry Stone's map
as the "Road To Monmouth Battlefield Project". This past year
we put them out again, though I didn't do nearly as good a job coordinating
things. I'm president of the Kingston Greenways Association, though
that organization is only peripherally involved, and a member of the Kingston
Historical Society, which helped with the signs, and the Kingston Volunteer
Fire Company, and former co-chair of 'Kingston1999'.
I saw that there was interesting history in the
march to Monmouth, but felt challenged by the 11 municipalities and 5 counties.
I believe New Jersey's history is often overlooked due to regionalism,
and I take it as a personal challenge to fix that.
I'm trained as an electrical engineer, and work
at Sarnoff Corporation. I am very much an amateur historian, but
enjoy listening to those who actually know this stuff.
And thank yous to:
David Knights of Hopewell Borough, for letting us use
the Station.
Garry Stone, Rich Walling, and Bob Craig for advice!
3/31/02
http://www.nerc.com/~charlied/workshop2.html