BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — Improvements at the Molly Pitcher Spring off Freehold-Englishtown Road are continuing with phase two construction of a wayside exhibit.
Phase one of the Molly Pitcher Woman’s Club of Freehold’s community improvement project, an overlook deck and a pathway, was dedicated in April at the site where Molly Pitcher is supposed to have carried water to the troops during the Battle of Monmouth 225 years ago.
Louise Smith, chairwoman of the improvement project, said the wayside exhibit will offer information about the Battle of Monmouth and the community project. It will consist of a low-profile base made entirely of welded aluminum with a frame that will not rust or corrode.
Smith said the material is in, but she did not know when work on the project will start.
The community improvement program is sponsored by the Shell Oil Company.
The site of the spring on Freehold-Englishtown Road about a quarter-mile east of Tennent Road is open to visitors and accessible to people with physical disabilities. School children are invited to visit the spring and encouraged to phone the Monmouth Battlefield State Park office for time with the park historian, Dr. Garry W. Stone.
Clubs may enter their community projects in competitions on the state and national levels. Smith said the Molly Pitcher Woman’s Club members are hoping to win an award for their efforts. The state Federation of Women’s Clubs convention will be held in May and the national convention will be held in June.
The Molly Pitcher Woman’s Club members had investigated the possibility of constructing a path to the spring on the Perrine farm — the spring from which Molly Pitcher may have carried water during the June 28, 1778 battle.
Because of the steep ravine, constructing a handicapped accessible path would have been very difficult, so the solution was to build on the east side of the spring where there is a high bank that provides a view of the spring, with a giant beech tree in the center.
According to Stone, no one really knows which of seven springs Hays took the water from during the battle.
"In the 19th century people couldn’t remember Molly Hays very well," he said.
"When this idea that there was a heroine that fought for American freedom was first suggested, people asked local farmers where she had gotten the water. Every one said she had gotten water from their well. There are seven different places where it’s been claimed that Molly Hays got water. The one that’s plausible is behind her husband’s gun position."
He explained that the gun position was east of old Tennent Church, off Spotswood North Brook, which runs along the north side of the park.