Journey Back in Time

Historic house tours, a pig roast and pasta dinner are just some of the enticements to the Crossroads Celebration of the Battle of Bound Brook.

By: Jillian Kalonick
   With 500 American soldiers facing 4,000 British Crown troops, the odds didn’t look very good for the small Colonial garrison.
   It was Palm Sunday, April 13, 1777, when the vastly outnumbered group of soldiers managed to put up a resistance against Hessian Jaeger scouts fighting for the British. The Battle of Bound Brook bought time for the American forces, who later regrouped in the area for the First and Second Middlebrook encampments.
   The battle will be re-enacted during the annual Crossroads Celebration of the Battle of Bound brook, held in Franklin Township, Bound Brook and South Bound Brook April 8 and 9. The weekend will kick off with a flag raising at Soldiers Encampment at Memorial Mark in South Bound Brook, a ceremony at the Old Stone Bridge, site of the battle, and then a march of the soldiers and a battle on South Bound Brook’s Main Street.
   Since 2001, when the first commemoration of the Battle of Bound Brook was held, the event has grown steadily, from a one-day event with several presenters to an entire weekend with Revolutionary War re-enactors coming from several states.
   Brian and Kathy Faulks of the Friends of the Abraham Staats House have been studying the history of the house since it was acquired by the borough of South Bound Brook in 1999.
   "We were going to school and learning how to protect it and get grants to pay for it," says Ms. Faulks, who earned a certificate in historic preservation from Drew University. "We realized we needed publicity, and the most pertinent fact connected to the house was the Revolutionary War."
   During the war, American patriots Abraham Staats hosted General Baron von Steuben, drillmaster of the American Revolutionary Army. The general used the house during the Second Middlebrook encampment from in the winter of 1778-1779. George Washington also made visits to the house, which is now on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
   Mr. and Ms. Faulks were involved in Civil War re-enactment before helping to organize the annual Battle of Bound Brook. Civil War battles are much more popular to re-enact, says Ms. Faulks, because there’s more material culture available. "Many more Civil War buildings remain than those in the Revolutionary War," she says. "It’s hard to find materials, and they cost more. The equipment used for Revolutionary War re-enactment is much more expensive."
   What helps bring re-enactors from Connecticut, New York and Maryland, says Ms. Faulks, is the food.
   "People in Bound Brook are very gracious — they have famous pig roasts for lunch," she says. "We’ve gone to many events where they don’t provide anything. For the Battle of Bound Brook, we feed them well. Saturday night they have a pasta dinner and Sunday there is a breakfast buffet. The soldiers definitely remember that."
   This year, the pig roast will be held at the Dutch Country Farmers Market in Bound Brook, where cakes, pies, breads and cookies will be for sale. A pasta dinner at the Reformed Church of Bound Brook Saturday at 4 p.m. and a pancake breakfast at Edgewood Terrace Firehouse in South Bound Brook will offer more opportunities to dine with the soldiers.
   A new event this year will be an Antiques Road Show with Douglas DeFreitas of Somerville Antique Center. On Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., Mr. DeFreitas will do appraisals at the Bound Brook Hotel for $5 per item.
   Visitors may tour the encampment at Memorial Park, where soldiers will be preparing food, going through military training and drills and engaging in artillery and small arms practice. The Abraham Staats house will be open for tours, as will the Hendrick Fisher Homestead on the grounds of the Orthodox Ukrainian Church of the U.S.A. Hendrick Fisher, a friend of Abraham Staats, was present at the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and brought a copy home to Bound Brook, where he read it to people gathered at the Frelinghuysen Tavern. Built in 1688, the house is believed to be the oldest historic structure in Somerset County.
   A re-enactment at the grounds of the Hendrick Fisher Homestead will close the weekend on Sunday at 1 p.m., complete with cannons, gunfire and authentic Revolutionary War battle works.
   Workers spend several weekends constructing earthen forts, which can be 60 square feet. "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has partnered with us for the last couple of years, helping by providing the ground and workers to help build those forts," says Ms. Faulks. "The re-enactors love it."
Crossroads Celebration 2006: The Annual Battle of Bound Brook will take place in Franklin, Bound Brook and South Bound Brook April 8, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and April 9, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. On the Web: www.battleofboundbrook.com. Abraham Staats House on the Web: www.staatshouse.com