County part of all four Heritage Area concepts Federally funded area will reflect state’s part in the Revolutionary War

Staff Writer

By ruth calia stives

County part of all four Heritage Area concepts
Federally funded area will reflect state’s
part in the Revolutionary War


Sometime within the next two years, the U.S. Congress will make a determination about the National Heritage Area designation in the state of New Jersey. It will be based on recommendations by the National Park Service "Crossroads of the American Revolution" study, and contributions by the many people who attended meetings across New Jersey in the month of July.

Allentown Library hosted the July 25 meeting, where attendees were asked to write pertinent historical information about their region on self-adhesive note pads and affix them to maps of the state.

By compiling all the information gathered at each of the six meetings, the study team hopes to arrive at a decision about the boundary lines to be observed and to present that information, as part of its report, to Congress.

When approved, the boundary area will be considered a National Heritage Area and will receive federal funds of $1 million per year in matching funds for 10 years to establish administration and management of the area.

There are four working boundary concepts being considered, subject to change before the final report is submitted in January.

Concept No. 1 is comprised of nearly all of the state of New Jersey, with the exception of the lower fifth of the state where, apparently, there was no Revolutionary War activity.

According to Linda Mead, project leader, this concept would allow for all the "stories" to be told, but could be difficult to manage.

Concept No. 2 includes five Revolutionary War parks, representative march routes and some civilian sites, in about 40 towns in central New Jersey and extending slightly north.

Concept No. 3 encompasses the Philadelphia-New York link, which was traveled by Patriots and British troops throughout the war, and the Atlantic coast, where privateers were active in the movement of supplies. Fifteen counties are included in this concept.

Concept No. 4 is smaller than Concept No. 3, but larger than Concept No. 2, and shows a concentrated range of resources, including the Philadelphia-New York link, the area of Trenton which was vitally important and Monmouth Battlefield. The area extends to the Bayshore area of Monmouth County and, in total, involves about 100 towns.

According to Mead, Concept No. 4 comes closest to what they believe would be a manageable area, but the final plan may turn out to be an amalgam of all four concepts.

Anyone with information related to the Revolutionary War in New Jersey has been invited to contact project leader Linda Mead at (609) 924-4646 or e-mail to [email protected].

Michael Henderson, superintendent of Morristown National Historical Park, is also involved in the project and can be reached at (973) 539-2016 x201 or e-mail to michael_henderson @nps.gov.