NJCAR State Project 2013-2014

NJCAR President, Vittoria Marie Flick

NJCAR Senior President, Ms. Heather Smith

              Progress Digs Up the Past

            State President Vittoria Marie Flick is pleased to announce the New Jersey Society Children of the American Revolution State Project for 2013-2014. The project is to raise money for the East Jersey Olde Town Village in Piscataway, New Jersey. The money raised during this project will be used for the preserving and interpretation of Revolutionary War artifacts, which were found during the excavation of the Route 18 Widening Project in New Brunswick in what was the port town called Raritan Landing.

           The Raritan Landing archaeological findings include the remains of house foundations, commercial structures, and associated artifacts dating to the heyday of the community in the middle of the 18th century, to the destruction during the Revolutionary War, and to the rebuilding of the community after the war.

          East Jersey Olde Towne Village is located on River Road on a 12-acre showcase in Johnson Park. The collection includes original, reconstructed, and replicated 18th and 19th century of architecture typical of farm and merchant communities of central New Jersey.

          The money for this project will be raised through donations and by selling voices on a hand-made quilt and a framed Norman Rockwell print. We hope you will support this project.

Here are some links so out of state members can see the East Jersey Olde Town Village in Piscataway, NJ

http://www.lincolnbittner.com/east_jersey_olde_towne.html  
 http://www.co.middlesex.nj.us/culturalheritage/village2.asp

Washington Elm Society American Revolutionary War Patriots

          

		Washington Elm Members
		Patriot List
Washington Elm Society Families				Patriots
Amiaga				Thomas Chapman
Bantel				Timothy Meeker Sr.
Beck				Moses Harriman
Beck				Englehart Wormsley
Cunningham				Richard Van Riper
Demes				Benjamin Randall Jr.
Egner				William Demarest
Gallo				John Willison Sr.
Haines				Aaron Haynes Sr.
Higgins				William Wilson
Highley				Solomon Peirce
Hoover				Thomas Hopkins
Jorgensen Masarwe				Jotham Stuart John Cox Jr.
Matson				James Croft
Mills				Jacob Mills
Nguyen				Elijah Gardner
Oursler				Benjamin Randall Jr.
Pallien				Timothy Meeker Sr.
Parsekian				George Hartzell
Schwenker				Walter Burnside
Seifer				Benjamin Randall Jr.
Senanayake				Samuel Turner
Skriloff				William Stewart
Sullivan				George Weisel Sr.
Taylor				William Stewart
Tobias				Joseph Stonecipher
Travers				James Croft
Valdes				Moses Moore

History of the Washington Elm Society's Name

A Note About “The Washington Elm”

From its location on modern day Franklin Turnpike, near the historic HoHoKus Inn in HoHoKus, NJ, a famous landmark has now vanished from the scene, but it is remembered in picture and history. That is the Washington Elm.

Legend has it that General George Washington and his officers are thought to have stopped under the spreading branches of this great elm tree as they traveled from Fort Lee to the Ramapough Mountains during the American Revolution. 

Even during the Revolutionary War, this famous elm was a majestic tree over sixty years old and in the prime of its beauty. By 1830 it had passed its first century of life.

About 1917, when the state widened Franklin Turnpike, some of the roots of the elm had to be cut away. This damage so weakened the tree that it fell prey to Dutch Elm disease. Many attempts were made to save the tree, and some of the large branches were braced, but to no avail. This historic old tree, whose falling branches had become a menace to pedestrians and automobiles, had to be taken down in 1937. As of that date, the tree measured seventeen feet in circumference, and its age was estimated as 225 years.

Though the noble elm is gone, its memory remains green. Some interesting facts about the Washington Elm:

·        The gavel used by the HoHoKus Woman’s Club was made from a piece of wood from the tree

·        The Veterans of Foreign Wars of HoHoKus chose the name Washington Elm Post 192

·        The Washington Elm is pictured on the bookplates used in the HoHoKus Public School Library

·        A mural of George Washington and his officers under the Washington Elm was depicted for many years in the lobby of the Warner Theater in Ridgewood, NJ

The Washington Elm Society, Children of the American Revolution is as well proud to bear the name of this grand historic symbol. Just as the Washington Elm spread its branches over key figures and events during the birth of our nation, its legacy presides over our society and its endeavors during the dawning of this new millennium. 

Link:
Memorial Park, 2 Franklin Tpke, HoHoKus, NJ where the Ramapo Valley Chapter DAR moved the monument

           

HoHoKus Inn, NJ was where the tree originally stood