Historical Sites in New Jersey

Dr. Maxine N. Lurie
01/11/2006

This is a list, alphabetical by town, of historic sites in New Jersey.  There are undoubtedly others not noted.  For further information on a particular site consult one of several travel guides to places in the state, or call the site.  Some sites are run by the state or national government and are open on a regular basis, others are run by local historical societies of limited means and may only be open by appointment.  The League of Historical Societies of New Jersey has a list of some sites that provide information on programs that are available, especially for teachers who are interested in bringing their students.

Allaire.
Allaire Village in Allaire State Park.  1830 village and iron works. General store, blacksmith shop, and houses.

Alpine.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission.  Blackledge-Kearney House. Colonial house located at the foot of the Palisades near where the British climbed up to attack Fort Lee in 1776.

Atlantic City.
Atlantic City Historical Museum.

Atsion
Atsion Village.  Remains of 18th century community and gristmill.

Bergenfield
Bergenfield Museum. In an old barrack from Camp Merrit (WWI site).

Berkeley Heights.
Littel-Lord Farmhouse Museum.  Eighteenth and nineteenth century farmhouse.

Bridgeton.
Swedish Farmstead.
Nail Mill Museum. 1814. Bridgeton Antiquarian League. Displays on early iron and glass.
Historic district. Colonial, Federal, and Victorian houses.
George Woodruff Indian Museum.

Bridgewater.
Middlebrook Encampment.

Burlington.
James Fenimore Cooper Birthplace.
Hoskins House. 1797-1798. Artifacts displayed.
Friends Meeting House. 1785
Capt. John Lawrence House
Pearson-How House c.1705
St. Mary's Episcopal Church 1703
New St. Mary's 1854
Ulysses S. Grant House 1856. Grant took his family here in 1864 to keep them safe from the Civil War.

Caldwell.
Grover Cleveland Birthplace, 1832. State site.

Camden.
Walt Whitman House. State site.
Camden County Historical Society - Museum and Pomona Hall. 18th Century Georgian house.

Cape May.
Victorian Summer Houses and Hotels.
Emlen Physick House
Cape May Light House museum.

Chester.
Cooper Gristmill. Working stone mill with waterwheel.

Clark.
Dr. William Robinson Plantation and Museum. Restored farmhouse.

Clinton.
Clinton Historical Museum Village. Contains nineteenth century buildings.

Cold Spring
Historic Cold Spring Village.  Reconstructed 19th century farming community. Craft demonstrations.
Wildwood Naval Airstation. WWII hanger containing historic airplanes and artifacts.

Cranbury.
Cranbury Museum. c.1834

Cresskill.
Camp Merritt Memorial Monument.  County Historical Site. Location WWI troop training camp.

DELAWARE.
Ft. Delaware. On an island in the middle of the Delaware river.   Prison used during the Civil War for Confederate soldiers. To get there take ferry from Delaware City, Delaware.  Prisoners who died are buried at Ft. Mott, on the New Jersey shore.

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Millbrook Village. Contains late nineteenth century buildings.

Edison.
Thomas A. Edison Memorial Tower, 1937.

Elizabeth.
Boudinot Mansion. (Boxwood Hall). 1752 house. State site.
Belcher/Ogden House.  (Visits can be arranged).

Fairlawn.
Garretson Farm.  Bergen County Site. Farmstead c.1750. Dutch colonial house, carriage house, and barn.

Fort Dix.
Fort Dix Museum. WWI to Vietnam.

Fort Lee.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission. Fort Lee Historic Site. Revolutionary War site and museum.

Franklin Twsp.
Van Wickle House/The Meadows

Freehold
Monmouth Battlefield. State Park.
Monmouth County Historical Association. Museum, Library and Archives., Houses:
    Covenhoven House (1710)
    Marlpit Hall (1685) [in Middletown]
    Allen House (1750)
    Holmes-Hendrickson House (1754) [in Holmdel]

Greenwich.
Historic district.
Cumberland County Historical Society.
Gibbon House (1730).
Swedish Grainery.

Hackensack.
New Jersey State Naval Museum. U.S.S. Ling. WWII submarine.

Haddonfield
Indian King Tavern 1750. State site.
Haddon Fire Co. #1 1765. Small museum.
Haddonfield Historic District - federal houses.
John Gill House 1747. Haddonfield Historical Society.

Haledon.
American Labor Museum/ Botto House. Site of meetings during 1913 Paterson textile workers strike.

Hamilton.
Kuser Farm Mansion in Kuser Farm Park. 1892 House. City Historic site.

Hammonton.
Batsto Village. Early iron and glass industry. State site.

Hancock's Bridge.
Hancock House, 1734. State site.

Hibernia.
Ford-Faesch House 1768. Historical Society of the Rockaways.

Highlands.
Twin Lights Lighthouse.  State site and museum.

Hillside.
Woodruff House and Eaton Store Museum. Hillside Historical Society. 1900s store.

Hoboken.
Hoboken Historical Museum. First floor of City Hall.  Exhibits on history of the city.

HoHoKus
The Hermitage. 1847 Gothic revival stone house. Programs and exhibits.

Holmdel
Longstreet Farm.  Living history farm from 1890's.
Holmes-Hendrickson House  18th century Dutch farmhouse

Jamesburg.
"Lakeview" Buckelew Mansion c.1690.

Jersey City
Liberty State Park  Ferry service to Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
Central Railroad Terminal. Restored and used for cultural events.
Afro-American Historical Society Museum in the Greenville Library.
Old County Courthouse. c.1910.

Lacey Township.
Lacey School House Museum. 1860.

Ledgewood.
Roxbury Township Historical Society.
Silas Riggs House. Saltbox house.
King Store 1815.

Long Beach Island.
Barnegat Lighthouse and Barnegat Light Museum. State site.
Long Beach Island Museum.

Lyndhurst.
Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission Environmental Museum.   Exhibit on history of the Meadowlands.
Little Red Schoolhouse.

Madison.
Museum of Early Trades and Crafts.  Eighteenth and nineteenth century tools.

Matawan
Burrows Mansion. Matawan Historical Society. Town site.

Middletown.
Marlpit Hall.  1684-1800 Dutch colonial building

Milltown.
Milltown Museum  c.1860 farm house.

Millville.
Wheaton Village.  Recreated glassmaking center of 1880's. Village and glass factory village with craft demonstrations, including glass blowing.
Museum of Glass. Illustrates history of glass making in New Jersey and elsewhere.
Millville Army Air Field Museum. WWII training center for pilots. Building A, Millville Municipal Airport.

Monmouth University.
Shadow Lawn.  1920s mansion now used as administration building.

Montclair.
Israel Crane House. Run by Montclair Historical Society.

Morristown.
Morristown National Historic Park, National Park Service.
    Jockey Hollow. Revolutionary War Encampment Site
    Wick House. Colonial farmhouse and garden.
    Ford Mansion. 1774 house. Washington's headquarters and museum.
Speedwell Village. Early industrial site where telegraph was developed. Programs for school children.
Acorn Hall.  1853 Italianate Victorian house and gardens. Run by the Morristown Historical Society.
Fosterfields. 19th century working farm. Morris county park site.
MacCulloch Hall.  Museum and gardens. Federal style house was the home of George P. MacCulloch the "father of the Morris Canal."

Mount Holly.
Old School House.  1759 school house.
Peachfield Plantation. 1725 farm house. Run by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America.
Burlington County Prison Museum.
John Woolman Memorial

Newark.
Newark Museum,  Ballantine House of 1885. Part of a Victorian mansion.
Ironbound district. Ethnic community.
New Jersey Historical Society.  Museum, library, and archives.

New Brunswick
Rutgers University.  Old Queens c.1812
Agricultural Museum, 1989.  Farm equipment. On grounds of Cook College.
Buccleuch Mansion, 1739. Eighteenth century mansion maintained by the city of New Brunswick. Tours by the DAR.

New Vernon.
Tunis Ellicks House. c.1800 farm house. Harding Township Historical Society runs programs.

North Plainfield.
Fleetwood Museum of Art and Photographica.
In Vermeule Community Center. Nineteenth century mansion with camera collection.

Ocean Grove.
Centennial Cottage. Museum run by Ocean Grove Historical Society in town established in 1869 for religious camp meetings.

Ogdensburg.
Sterling Hill Mining Museum. Nineteenth century zinc mine and museum. Tours go into the mine shafts and show exhibits of mining equipment.

Old Bridge.
Thomas Warne Historical Museum, 1885.  One room schoolhouse.

Paramus.
Bergen Museum of Art and Science. Exhibit on Lenape Indians.

Park Ridge.
Wortendyke Dutch Barn. Bergen County site. c.1750. Farm tools and demonstrations.

Paterson.
Lambert Castle 1892 house, now a museum. Replica of old English castle built by Catholina Lambert, 19th century silk manufacturer. Run by the Passaic County Historical Society.
Great Falls Historic District.  Great Falls and Raceways.   Old Mill Complex
Paterson Museum - Old Rogers Locomotive Works. Exhibits on industry in Paterson .
Dublin Area - Irish immigrant district

Perth Amboy.
Proprietary House, 1762.
Kearny Cottage, 1781.

Piscataway
East Jersey Old Town. Restored and recreated assorted buildings. Middlesex County Historical and Cultural Commission.
Cornelius Low House Museum, 1741. Changing exhibits and programs (some for schools). Middlesex County Historical and Cultural Commission.
Metlar House/Peter Bodine House.

Plainfield.
Drake House. Operated by the Historical Society of Plainfield. 1745 farm house.

Port Monmouth.
Spy House Museum Complex. Colonial house, part of Thomas Whitlock homestead, 1663-1703.
Shoal Harbor Marine Museum.

Princeton
Drumthwacket. Current governor's mansion.
Morven. 1701 Stockton house. Former governors mansion. State site.
Princeton University  Nassau Hall, 1756 building.
Bainbridge House.
Princeton Historical Society and museum.
Princeton Battlefield.  Includes Thomas Clark House, c.1770. State site.

Rahway.
Rahway Historical Society.  Merchants and Drovers Tavern. Eighteenth century stage coach stop. Terrill Tavern. Now gift shop.

Ramsey.
Old Stone House Museum  c.1740 house and inn.

Red Bank. Gloucester County.
Red Bank National Park. Mary Whithall House. House served as field hospital after 1777 battle.

Ridgewood.
Old Schoolhouse Museum. 1870's one room schoolhouse.

Ringwood.
Ringwood Manor in Ringwood State Park.  House contains collection of Americana from 1810-1930.

River Edge.
Steuben House. 1739 Dutch colonial house confiscated during American Revolution from Tory John Zabriskie and later given to Baron von Steuben.  State site.
Campbell-Christie House. Colonial house.
Demarest House. 1678 Dutch colonial house. Moved to site from New Milford.
Westervelt- Thomas Barn. 19th century

Rockaway.
Ford-Faesch House. Run by the Historical Society of the Rockaways. Home of early iron magnate.

Rocky Hill.
Rockingham. 1734 house used by George Washington in 1783. Site where he wrote his farewell address to the troops. State site.

Roselle.
Abraham Clark House. Replica of farmhouse and museum.

Scotch Plains.
Cannon Ball Museum (Osborne House). American revolutionary war house.

Shrewsbury
Allen House  18th century tavern

Somers Point.
Somers Mansion, 1725.  State historic site.

Somerville.
Old Dutch Parsonage. 1751 house. State site.
Wallace House, 1778.  Washington's Headquarters 1778-1779. State site.

Springfield.
Cannon Ball House (Abraham Hutchings House).  American revolutionary war house.

Stanhope.
Waterloo Village. Site of 19th century businesses and Morris Canal. Recreated Lenape Indian village.
Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum. Lock tender's house.

Teterboro.
Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey at Teterboro airport.

Titusville.
Washington Crossing State Park. Park and museum.
Ferry House- farm house/tavern.
Howell Living History Farm

Trenton.
Chambersburg. Italian Immigrant community.
Old Barracks. Built during French & Indian Wars. Museum and living history programs.
William Trent House. 1719.
New Jersey State Museum. Native American and History exhibits.
Capitol Building Complex. .Assembly and Senate chambers restored to resemble original Victorian decor.
Trenton Battle Monument.
Ellarslie. Trenton City Museum. In Cadwalader Park. 1848 Italianate villa built for Henry McCall of Philadelphia.

Union.
Caldwell Parsonage.
Union Township Historical Society Museum.

Upper Saddle River
Hopper-Goetschius House Museum  18th century house.

Warren.
Kirch Ford House. Run by the Warren Township Historical Sites Committee.

Wayne.
Dey Mansion.  1740's house.
William Paterson College.  Garrett Hobart House.
Van Riper Hopper House. 1786 Dutch colonial farmhouse. Run by Wayne Historical Commission.

Weehawken.
Monument on site of Hamilton-Burr duel.

Westfield.
Miller-Cory House  1740's house

West Orange.
Edison National Historic Site. National Park Service site - Thomas A. Edison's laboratories and office. Site of Edison Archives.
Glenmont. Edison's House.

West Trenton.
New Jersey State Police Museum.

Woodbury.
Red Bank Battlefield - Fort Mercer.