Step Into NJ’s History At These 6 Independence Day Events

NEW JERSEY — Along with the fireworks, parades, and festivals around the state this Independence Day weekend are unique opportunities to experience New Jersey's strong influence on U.S. history in person.

Several of these historic spots are holding events for Independence Day in 2023, and if you take a look you can find more history right around the corner.

New Jersey has more than 600 sites commemorating where Revolutionary War history happened in the Garden State, and preserving the state's rich past.

North Jersey native Al Frazza visited all these historical sites as part of a seven-year project, compiling a massive amount of research for a website, RevolutionaryWarNewJersey.com, as well as a book published last February called "State of Revolution: My Seven-and-a-Half-Year Journey Through Revolutionary War New Jersey."

Frazza provided Patch with some important touchpoints to New Jersey's past that you and your family could explore this Independence Day holiday, near these July 4 events.

Related links

• NJ July 4 Guide 2023: Parades, Fireworks, Festivals Around The State
• July 4 History: The Declaration of Independence Comes To New Jersey
• New Jersey's Revolutionary War History Honored In Website, Book

Here are six July 4 events, and places nearby where you can follow the Founding Fathers and other influential people of the American Revolution who worked, fought, wrote, and lived here. Two of these places are not related to the Revolutionary War, but can also provide steps into the past: villages which keep the vestiges of New Jersey's rural and industrial history close enough to touch.

Ready to explore?

Historic Cold Spring Village, Cape May

• 735 Seashore Rd, Cape May, NJ 08204
  
• Event: The village in Cape May County has a celebration planned over July 1 and 2. The village's restored historic buildings will be open, "featuring demonstrations of Early American trades and crafts." Kids can also take part in the “Patriot Spy Game,” visiting Village buildings to look for clues using a real Revolutionary War cipher. Tickets begin at $12 for children 12 and under and can be purchased online or at the Seashore Road gatehouse.
• Historical note: This living history museum preserves the material culture, traditions, and heritage of southern New Jersey in early America.

• Also nearby:
  • Cold Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery, where Revolutionary War veteran Lt. Richard Wickes and several others are buried, has held services continuously since 1714 according to Frazza.

• Wickes died at The Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, to which there is a memorial in nearby Wildwood Crest.
• Frazza wrote that this battle "was an early look at the horrors of war" for New Jersey citizens: "Six months after the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, the British invaded New Jersey at Alpine, while the Continental (American) Army was at Fort Lee. From that point on, New Jersey would be at the center of many events throughout the rest of the war. Battles, skirmishes, raids, and military encampments would become a regular part of life in the state until the war ended."

Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown

• 30 Washington Place, Morristown NJ 07960
  
• Event: July 4 celebration beginning at noon on the 4th, free admission. Activities begin on the Washington’s Headquarters grounds "with a 'Warm-Up for the Declaration' including eighteenth-century stories, jokes and riddles followed by the reading of the Declaration at 1pm." The park has a variety of activities for "Red, White and You" from July 4-9 as they celebrate Independence Week.
• Historical note: The park commemorates where General George Washington's Continental Army stayed during a brutal winter in their second winter encampment in Morristown from 1779-80. Ford Mansion was used as Washington's headquarters. "The winter was an unbelievably brutal one, and conditions were very bad for the soldiers at Jockey Hollow," Frazza writes.

• Also nearby:
  • Soldier Huts in Jockey Hollow is part of Morristown National Historic Park, marking where at least 10,000 soldiers camped during the harsh months. Frazza has a chapter in his book called "The Hard Winter," detailing the extreme hunger and cold the soldiers experienced in a winter that saw 28 snowstorms. "The season was so continuously cold that, for the only time in recorded history, the waters around New York City froze over, and were closed to shipping for weeks at a time," he adds on the website.
  • The Washington Equestrian Statue is across the street from Ford Mansion. There are many other sites related to the Revolution in Morristown and around the county, highlighted on Frazza's site.

Morven Museum and Garden, Princeton

• 55 Stockton Street, Princeton NJ 08540
• Event: Fourth of July Jubilee on the 4th from 12-3 p.m., with free admission (weather dependent). Live music, food, face painting, games, and a scavenger hunt accompany tours and exhibitions during this event for the whole family.
• Historical note: Morven hosted Congressional delegates in 1783 to celebrate Independence Day, according to the museum. Frazza adds that Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, lived at Morven. It was also used as the first New Jersey governor's mansion from 1945-1981. Stockton is buried at Princeton Friend's Meeting House Cemetery.

• Also nearby: The Princeton Battle Monument is right next to Morven, and depicts General Washington leading his troops into the battle. There are many other sites related to the Revolution in Princeton and around the county, highlighted on Frazza's site.

Middlebrook Encampment at North Branch Park, Bridgewater

• Off Middlebrook Road near Cedar Crest Road in Bridgewater, near the Bound Brook border.
  
• Event: Held by Washington Camp Ground Association on July 4 from 10:25-11:30 a.m. Admission is free.
• Historical note: Washington and the Continental Army spent several months encamped in Morristown after their victories at Trenton and Princeton, and then moved to this area according to Frazza's research. The army had encampments here from May 28-July 2, 1777 and again from Nov. 1778-June 3, 1779.

• Also nearby:
  • The fourth of 13 markers for the 1777 Washington Route is in Bridgewater, near the Middlebrook Encampment site. General Washington and his army passed through Bridgewater on their way through Morristown. The other twelve markers in this series can be found in Princeton, Kingston, Griggstown, Somerville, Bedminster, Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, Harding Township and Morris Township.
  • Other than Washington, several other American generals headquartered in various houses in the area. Five of the houses used by generals during the encampment still stand in Somerville, Bedminster, Bridgewater, and Bound Brook. Find them under the Second Middlebrook Encampment heading here.

Soldiers Memorial Field, Summit

• 5 Myrtle Avenue Summit, NJ 07901
  
• Event: The city's annual Fourth of July celebration is Tuesday, July 4. The celebration runs all day, beginning at noon and culminating with a fireworks display at 9 p.m.
• Historical note: Union County is home to a number of Revolutionary War sites, highlighted on Frazza's site.

• Also nearby: The "Old Sow" Cannon and Signal Beacon Monument Plaque, marking the site of a signal beacon and cannon that alerted local militiamen during the Revolutionary War, is in Summit two miles from Soldiers Memorial Field. The "Old Sow" cannon was also on this site; Frazza said they were placed on this particular hilly location so the beacon could be seen from a distance. "Both were used to alert local militiamen to action during times of attack and danger during the Revolutionary War, most notably during two important battles which occurred in this area in June 1780, the Battle of Connecticut Farms and the Battle of Springfield," he wrote.

Historic Longstreet Farm, Holmdel

• 44 Longstreet Rd, Holmdel, NJ 07733
  
• Event: The farm will celebrate Independence Day on July 4 from noon-3 p.m., and notes that this was "a festive time" in the 1890s. "Patriotism was celebrated with music and games. Join the staff at Longstreet Farm as they celebrate the holiday with games and contests."
• Historical note: The Longstreet Farm was "among the largest and most prosperous farms in Holmdel" in its time, and has been preserved as part of Monmouth County's rural past, opening to the public in 1972. The site recreates 1890s farm life, with interpreters in period dress demonstrating seasonal agricultural and domestic activities. There are also animals and crops on the farm that would have been common at the time.

• Also nearby:
  • Tenant House, across Longstreet Road, was home to the family that worked at Longstreet Farm.
  • Holmes-Hendrickson House, nearby the Longstreet Farm in Holmdel, was the home of Lt. Garrett Hendrickson, an officer in the Monmouth County Militia who spent much of wartime fighting British loyalists, according to Frazza. "Violence between Loyalists and those who supported Independence happened throughout many parts of New Jersey, but Monmouth County was a particular hotspot for this type of fighting," he wrote. "Raiding parties of Loyalists (also called Tories) attacked Monmouth County many times."

You can read more about Frazza's research in this Patch article, and find more stories of New Jersey's colonial past on his website and in his 2022 book, which he describes as “part memoir, part history, part travelogue, part love letter to the state of New Jersey."