2007-0425 NY NJ DE Trip

On 04/25/2007 we stayed 1 night at Gettysburg Farm Resort in Dover, PA. Then on 04/26/2007 we drove to Shangri-La on the Creek in Milton, PA for 2 days. On to SDB Camp Harley Sutton in Alfred Station, NY for 23 days to build a dorm for the camp. First Picture is the start of day 1 and the second picture is the last day as we clean up to leave.

After completing the building shell, we left for Leisure Livin’ Camping & Resort in Nichols, NY on 05/21/2007 for 3 days. Then on 05/23/2007 we stayed for a week at ODW Scotrun Resort in Scotrun, PA.

We arrived at Fla-Net Park in Flanders, NJ on 05/30/2007 for a week. On 05/30/2007 we visited Morristown NHP Jockey Hollow in Morristown, NJ. Morristown National Historical Park was established in 1933 under the auspices of President Herbert Hoover and the sixty-fifth Congress. When soldiers first arrived in Jockey Hollow for their winter encampment, they had no choice but to sleep out in the open in the snow. Wagons with tents arrived a few days later than did the soldiers. Soldiers remained in the tents until the completion of the wooden huts. The soldier huts used at Jockey Hollow were fourteen feet by sixteen feet and housed twelve men. General Washington ordered that enlisted men’s huts were to be built first. Therefore, Officers’ huts were not built and completed until all the enlisted men were settled in huts. It took most of the soldiers about two to three weeks to build their huts. The 1779-1780 winter at Jockey Hollow was the worst winter in over 100 years. Military camp conditions were so deplorable that many soldiers stole regularly just to eat, deserted or mutinied. Picture is of Jockey Hollow PA Line Huts.

Then on 06/03/2007 we visited Morristown NHP Washington HDQRT and Fort Nonsense. Both sites are in Morristown, NJ. This massive Georgian style mansion was built between 1772-1774 for Jacob Ford Jr. Mr. Ford was involved in a number of business ventures including an iron mine, iron forges, a grist mill, a hemp-mill, a gun powder mill and farms. Mrs. Jacob Ford Jr. and her four young children continued to reside in this house after Mr. Ford’s death on January 11, 1777. Through the hospitality of Mrs. Ford, General Washington rented this home for the winter of 1779-1780. Consequently, the Ford Mansion, one of the finest homes in Morristown, became General Washington’s military headquarters during the winter of 1779-1780. The Ford family was crowded into two rooms of their home during General Washington’s stay. Picture is of the Ford Mansion – Washington HDQTR.

After the victories at Trenton and Princeton, the Continental Army under General George Washington arrived in Morristown on January 6, 1777. Before breaking camp in late May, Washington decided to secure Morristown as a supply base. On May 14, 1777, he ordered the construction of a fortification with a redoubt on a hill bordering Morristown so “…that it may serve as a retreat in case of necessity.” It was common for a small fortification to be built for the protection of military encampments and strategic military depots. Picture is of a canon at Fort Nonsense.

Then on 06/06/2007 we moved to Indian Rock Resort in Jackson, NJ for 1 week. While there we visited Washington Crossing State Historical Park in PA and Washington Crossing State Historical Park in Titusville, NJ on 06/07/2007. There are two parks on this subject. Beginning in 1912 as a 100-acre park including an overlook to the place where the Continental Army landed in New Jersey. The Park has grown today to an 841-acre historic site and recreation area. The Johnson Ferry House is believed to be where Washington and his officers discussed military strategy while the Army continued crossing the Delaware River. Picture is of the Ferry House in NJ Washington Crossing SHP.

From Washington Crossing State Historical Park in PA, General George Washington and his men of the Continental Army and militia crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 and marched to Trenton, New Jersey. There they attacked and defeated Hessian troops quartered in and around the village. This surprise attack and victory set the stage for Washington’s following victories at the Second Battle of Trenton and Princeton. Picture is of the Boat House in PA Washington Crossing SHP.

We visited the NJ Capitol and the Old Barracks in Trenton, NJ on 06/10/2007. For two hundred years, the New Jersey State House has proudly served as the seat of the NJ state government. The original state house, designed by Jonathan Doane, was constructed in 1792, shortly after New Jersey joined the Union as the third state in the US. When New Jersey ratified the Constitution, the two provinces known as East and West Jersey each had their own capital, Perth Amboy and Burlington, respectively. The unified Legislature voted to establish Trenton as the permanent capitol, and construction of the State House began. Picture is of the NJ Capitol North Side. 

In 1758, the Barracks was the biggest building in Trenton. About 300 British and Irish soldiers were the first to live here. The building was made of stone and had dark red woodwork. There were about 20 soldiers’ rooms, each with two windows, a door and a fireplace. Twelve soldiers were housed in each room, with two men sleeping in each wooden bunk. When the Revolutionary War started, the Barracks was used by American troops. British prisoners of war from St. John and Chambly, Canada, were imprisoned in the Officers House while four companies of the Second New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line were stationed here. British and Hessian troops stayed in Trenton in December, 1776; some of them, though, stayed in the Barracks. Colonists loyal to the English king also arrived so that they could be protected by the soldiers. General Washington captured many of the Hessians during the First Battle of Trenton on Dec. 26 in a successful morning raid. The Americans returned to Trenton and used the Barracks. In 1777, the Barracks became an army hospital under Dr. Bodo Otto. Many soldiers and supplies passed through Trenton until the end of the war. The last soldiers in the Barracks may have been sick and wounded soldiers from the siege of Yorktown in 1781. Picture is of the Old Barracks. 

Safe Travels