New Jersey: Trenton's Quakers--Choose a Side!

In honor of our nation's 250th anniversary, Trenton celebrated Heritage Week. My impression was that Heritage Week was supposed to do what Patriots Week has done for years: celebrate hyper-local Revolutionary War history. Therefore it is not surprising that some of the topics are repeats. As much as I have complained about just how cold it always is during Patriots Week, this year I complained about just how hot it was during Heritage Week.

Fred at the Friends Meeting House in Trenton offered his talk Quaker--Choose a Side! four times during Heritage Week. I signed up for the last one at 2 pm on Tuesday. I failed to factor in how hard it would be to find parking in downtown Trenton. I'm glad to see life in Trenton.

Fred focused his talk on the Quakers who were influential in the era leading up to the Revolutionary War and during the war.

Quakers famously do not fight. However, as war is taking place literally in front of your home, or church, it is hard to stay neutral. Men were forced to either fight in the war, or pay to send someone in his place, which presents different ethical issues.

Let's get back to Fred's talk.

In 1640, 23 year old George Fox started the Quakers in England. They do not have worship leaders. Everyone in the congregation is encouraged to speak.

The next generation included William Penn Jr. who purchased lands in both East and West Jersey. Whenever people bring this up, it sounds so confusing because in the 21st century the debate is the North vs. South Jersey with Central Jersey tossed in to complicate the conversation. It is also confusing because they were united in 1702, 74 years before the Battle of Trenton.

William Penn Jr. was a Quaker, as was his friend Mahlon Stacy. In 1685 Stacy built his mill on the Assinpink Creek, thus forming Trenton. He was our first settler. He sold his land to William Trent Jr. back when Trenton was called Falls, NJ. I never heard about the earlier name for Trenton.

The Quakers have what are called Worship Groups, which are Preparative Meetings, Once a month they have a business meeting called Monthly Meetings. They meet four times a year in Quarterly Meetings with more Quakers. Annually the Quakers from several states gather in what is called Yearly Meetings. In the 19th century a group broke off from the traditional Quakers to become missionaries and travel internationally to spread the movement.

In 1739 the local Quakers built the Meeting House where we were talking on that hot afternoon. Before that they met in people's homes. By 1700 the locals were saying "we need a meeting house." 

In December 1776 James Pemberton (a leading Quaker in Trenton) wrote a letter to his brother, James Pemberton, in Philadelphia asking for advice about how to handle the uprising in Trenton as the Hessians moved in and took over people's homes. His brother's advice, dated December 20, 1776 (five days before the Battle of Trenton) was "don't fight." 

The Quakers have always been anti-violence. 

James was arrested in 1777 along with 40 other Philadelphia Quakers and restrained in Virginia. Seven or eight months later they were released without a trial.

John Dickenson, brother of Philemon Dickenson wrote to General George Washington before the battle of Trenton. They had been writing letters long before the war to say "we need independence, but we won't fight for it." 

Of the 56 delegates to the Second Constitutional Congress John Dickenson and Robert Livingston refused to sign the Declaration of Independence. Dickenson, a Quaker, felt reconciliation with Britain was still possible.

Another neat tidbit I learned from Fred's talk was that Stacy Potts was Mahlon Stacy's great-grandson. To many, that means nothing. But as a local history buff, I know that Mahlon Stacy founded Trenton in the 17th century, and over a hundred years later his great-grandson housed Colonel Rall, the head of the Hessians. The name Stacy jumped from being a last name to being a first name and is not a coincidence.

Isaac Collins, a Quaker printer, began in Philadelphia before moving to Burlington to start his business. He printed the Gazette, New Jersey's first newspaper. He paid a fee to send someone to fight in the war. He was excommunicated from the Quakers for ten years until he apologized and was let back into the meeting. He died in Burlington, and is buried behind the building we were in. He famously printed Sarah Grubb's journal in Trenton in 1795, and the 18 pence bill. He died in 1817. 

By 1830, the Quakers retreated from politics.

I was the only person at the talk. I hope Fred did not feel it was a waste of time. I know I left with a couple of new pieces of information making the Battle of Trenton puzzle in head a bit more complete. 

New Jersey: Trenton's Historic Churches Pivotal in Revolutionary War

This walk during Trenton's Heritage Week was a great companion to last year's Patriot's Week tour of Revolutionary Churches that was pivotal during the Revolutionary War. Today's tour started with Downtown Trenton before moving to St. Michael's Church were we all petered out from the heat. The plan had been to continue to First Presbyterian Church of Trenton and The Friends Meeting House, but with temperatures near 100 degrees, our group of eight each said "next time."

Harry from the Kiwanis Club handed us a faux parchment map from the era. It shows where the key buildings were during the Revolutionary War era, superimposed on a map of what the roads look like today.

Harry started off by saying the tour was meant for walking not for talking. Pierre, another one of our walkers, guided us to shade whenever it was time to do some talking. Every bit helped.

Standing in front of the bank on the corner of Warren and State Streets, Harry said this was where the French Arms Tavern was built in 1730 by John Dagworthy. In the beginning it was a large house with a stable that could house a dozen horses. The tavern was our US capitol for one month in the early days of our nation. George Washington ate here when he was in town.

We walked down Warren Street towards the Delaware River and paused at the former Blazing Star Tavern. Unlike the French Arms Tavern, this is still mostly standing. It has had many iterations during its life, including being a car repair shop in the 1970s. Until I stepped across the street and really looked at the building, I never noticed its shape. It still retains the look of an old tavern. The rear door says "Blazing Star." This is where Rev. John Rosbrugh was leaving when the Presbyterian minister was bayonetted to death, making him the first clergyman to die in the Revolutionary War. The Hessians were told to "take no prisoners," so when he crossed their path, he was murdered. 

The Presbyterians had a bad reputation in those days because they were part of the religious groups who left England in order to worship God the way they wanted to (vs. being forced to be good Anglicans). 

The Hessians decided to winter in Trenton. Meanwhile, their wives and families were staying closer to New Brunswick. The soldiers took over homes in Trenton, forcing the locals to move into the Barracks that were built during the French and Indian War between 1753 and 1760.

Harry explained the roots of our Revolutionary War date back to 1640 to 1650 when England fought their own Civil War when King Henry VII broke from the pope and formed his own church barely 15 years after Martin Luther (in 1533) broke from Catholicism barely a hundred years before that. The Bible was translated into English. The King James version of the bible had not yet been written. The Congregationalists were the first group to break free from the Anglicans. They became the Puritans who became the Presbyterians. The Quakers are another subset.

The English Civil War was bloody. It drained their resources (in simplest forms). 

The Hessians were brought to Trenton to train the soldiers.

Washington and some others replaced churches with lodges to teach morals and ethics. Everyone had to believe in God the watchmaker, God of entitlement, etc., but not the same God as the one worshiped by the Anglicans.

Pierre was on our tour. Pierre is an expert geologist. He reminds me of Keith from Newlin Grist Mill as both gentlemen see something in nature that looks ordinary, until they patiently explain it to us so we, too, can see what they see. In this case, it was the rocks used to build a wall next to the (Old) Barracks. Some of the fortuitous rocks are local, some were pre-used, others were shiny, or rounded (meaning they came out of the river), and further down are marble grave stones. Once seen, it is hard to unsee.

We admired the Statehouse and were encouraged to take a tour. The gold dome was regilded in 1999 through a school project. Once inside, check out the marble room.

For the second time in a couple of weeks, I heard about Daniel Coxe. His taking away land from people was a spark for the start of the Revolutionary War that was never covered in history class.

Harry offered us cold water, a bathroom, and air conditioning inside St. Michael's Church. We walked through the historic graveyard past Declaration of Independence signer David Brearley's grave. The church was on the path of the December 1776 First Battle of Trenton

All of these talks are helping to solidify in my head what happened during the Revolution. I've heard similar versions of the battles. This tour was the first time I heard that not only were locals displaced from their homes (which likely led to the third amendment prohibiting this), but the locals then needed a place to stay so they moved into the (Old) Barracks.

During Larry's cemetery tour I learned the part time soldiers were full-time farmers who had to walk to where they were stationed, and had to provide their own arms. Their wives and children had to take over the farms in their absence. 

Well, that puts a sharper focus on the events of the era.

The Battle Monument in Trenton was built to be the same height as Bowman's Tower in Bucks County, PA. Bowman's Tower was built that height so they could see the smoke from the ferries that signaled military action. From there, they could see ferries as far south as Burlington.

Washington stayed with his friend Alexander Douglass when he was in Trenton, rather than staying at the Eagle Tavern. The Douglass House has been moved a few times, but in its day it was close to the action. Mr. Douglass was a quartermaster, the man who supplied what was needed.  

The story of our Revolutionary War at its core is the story of the growth of religion. That is something that most definitely was not taught in my public school days.

New York: NYC Peace Museum

Wandering around New York City's Finance District we stumbled upon this bicycle:

As it was covered in fake flowers and attached to a street sign, it caught our attention.

On the front is a sign:

PEACE

Peace Museum NY

The world's smallest mobile museum

PEACE MUSEUM NY on Facebook @peacebike #peacebike on Instagram

Looking at the bright bicycle I couldn't help but think this is as good a symbol of peace in New York City as anything else. We haven't earned the right to have a brick and mortar museum dedicated to peace since it is fleeting and doesn't sit still. Nor is it very large.

New Jersey: Trenton Walks tour of Cadwalader Park

In June 2024 Becky and Tim started Trenton Walks as a way to better get to know our capital city. This was their 77th walk. Over 1,100 people have participated on these walks, walking a combination of 2,336 miles, or from Trenton, NJ to a small town in Nevada.

My first walk with them was their fiftieth: From City Hall to the State House.

Last summer I went on their Cadwalader Park to Stacy Park walk.

During Patriots Week I joined the Ten Crucial Days walk. It snowed!

In March, I attended their South Trenton Redevelopment walk led by Mercer County Executive Dan Benson.

Also in March was the Trenton Architectural Tour around the State House.

More recently I went on their Bordentown walk, and Don and I joined them for Two Bridges, Two States walk on our anniversary.

Talking to Becky I decided to move my travel posts to PillsburyTravel.blogspot.com in order to make it easier to direct friends and strangers to our travels.

Tonight's walk's focus was on cross country running. Though Becky and Tim have not stated this, I suspect it is more interesting for them if they come up with new twists to the walks. They are both insatiably curious about life. They like to bring in local experts to guide the walks.

Coach Jordan was our expert. In addition to other roles, he is one of three cross country coaches at Trenton Central High School. He wants to encourage more people to run and walk in Cadwalader Park. He is on the team of people creating a 5k cross country loop within the 100 acre historic park.

Cadwalader Park is the last great urban park designed by famous American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted in 1888. All three Olmsteds were involved with the design including his stepson John Charles Olmsted and his son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

As with his other parks (New York City's Central Park being perhaps the most famous), this park was designed with intentionality from the trees chosen, to the paths, to the placement of groves, ponds, meadows, and streams. Walking through the park it is hard to believe it is only 100 acres. It feels much larger.

Towards the end of our tour, Jordan brought out a map showing Olmsted's original intention before funding cuts stopped progress in 1892. There is a clear path where the cross country trail was to be. We learned there are two different styles of cross country courses: European and American.

European cross country came about first. It was started in the United Kingdom in the late 1800s, about the time the park was being built. It is more challenging, highly technical, a point to point course on trails using natural sight lines.

American style, by contrast, is faster, more open, and less technical. They rely on longer loops looking more like a track. It came about post World War II, I wonder if the soldiers learned about it during the war and brought it to the United States adding their own twists.

There should be a 2:1 ratio of uphills to downhills. Ouch! They are designed to be taxing even for the most experienced runners, but also fun! Jordan described it as a "roller coaster" style.

Cross country differs from track running in that cross country takes place on softer surfaces, such as grass, instead of pavement. The hills are a big difference, too.

Cadwalader Park is embracing this sport. From 1920-1999 they used to host races. These picked up again in 2024. The city has been filling in gaping holes and trying to make the course more runner-friendly. For races they use washable paint to paint arrow, and bring in flags identifying straight (blue), left turn (red), or right turn (yellow). There are hopes of adding permanent markings so others see the course. To me it just looks like mowed grass.

The city is sponsoring fun runs, walks, and runs every Wednesday in July and August. They want to build up a community of people who will use it and care for it. In addition to the cross country loop, there is a paved walking look, walking along the D&R Canal, and plenty of parking. 

I slacked off on taking pictures.

Massachusetts: Louisa May Alcott's Home in Concord

Before our trip I had no idea in addition to the Revolutionary battle, Concord, Massachusetts was home to Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. 

Nor did I know that they all knew each other. 

Small town. Same time period.

After decades of moving every couple of years, in September 1857 Bronson Alcott bought Orchard House in Concord, MA and made it the family home for him, his wife, and their four daughters for the next twenty years.

When purchased their home was "fit for pigs." Sitting on 20 acres of apple orchards, and helped by Thoreau, the home transformed into what we see it today. There were actually two house on the property that were joined together for the large family.

Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women" in this house. She based the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy on her sisters, Anna (Meg), Beth, and May (Amy), as well as herself as Jo, making them younger than she and her sisters were when they moved to Concord. Sadly, Louisa's real-life sister Beth died in 1858, just before they moved into the house.

One big difference was that instead of their father fighting in the Civil War, she served as a nurse in the war. Her father was too old to fight. 

Louisa's parents supported her desire to write. They built a desk in her bedroom. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, but I studied it longingly on the house tour. It is a semi circle attached to a post. There are pictures of it on their website. It is small, but she did not need to fit a computer on it, only paper, a pen, and an inkwell.

Her parents also supported her younger sister's desire to become an artist, as did Louisa. Louisa paid for May to travel to Europe to learn from the masters.

Liberty guided us inside the home. Though we started as the only people on the last tour of the day, we were joined by a family of six (including a daughter of about seven who asked the most insightful questions), and a gay couple who breezed through the house alone even though we were told to stay together.

Walking through the giftshop we entered the kitchen. Liberty tells us 80% of the home is original to the Alcott family. Along the tour, the little girl identifies many of the object not from the family (clothing, and perhaps some toys). The stove was also not original.

The home opened as a museum in 1911. The family had moved out in 1877. A family friend lived there for ten years, then it was abandoned. A woman set up a fund in 1911 to turn it into a museum. 

In the dining room we see a beam representing where the two houses were joined. The girls put on theatrical performances here, written by Louisa. They used the back stairs to sneak upstairs to change costumes. Some of the costumes are still on display.

The walls are covered in artwork by May (who most of us translate into Amy). An hour could be given just to studying how her talent evolved.

Anna and her husband were married in the parlor. The invitations were sent out in secret the morning of the wedding. Her wedding dress is on the bed where Louisa slept after Anna moved out.

May died soon after giving birth to Louisa May. The older Louisa May raised the younger, whom they called Lulu, for nine years until her death when she was sent to live with her father. Lulu lived until 1975 when she passed away at the age of 96. She visited the museum later in life.

A piece of Louisa May Alcott trivia: she taught herself to be ambidextrous so she could write twice as fast. She wrote for 12-14 hours each day. After serving in the Civil War, she wrote "Little Women" in this house, earning herself $5 million in her lifetime. She never married so she could retain her money.

Another piece of trivia, she grew her hair to her ankles. Unfortunately it was cut off when she had typhoid in an attempt to cure her. She wore wigs and caps the rest of her life. She died at age 55 from mercury poisoning.

Bronston, her father, built a school on the property: the Concord School of Philosophy. For years he taught children and had to move every few years. Here he taught up to 30 adults per lesson in his parlor before shifting to the other building when he was 80 years old.

Louisa and her father died on the same day in 1886. Her at the age of 55, him at 88.

As we left we noticed drawings on plexiglass covering the walls. For many years these drawings by May were hidden under the wallpaper. They were discovered following a 1980s era article referencing them. The drawings have faded over time, so what they could identify, they copied onto the plexiglass. Yes, May's parents allowed her to draw on the walls, so long as they were done well.

Massachusetts: Concord's North Bridge

Our tour of the battlefields of Lexington and Concord ended in the middle: at Concord's North Bridge. The bridge was so small, we barely noticed it as we crossed it on our way uphill. After pausing to talk to John, the local Thinking Citizen, we went into the brick home at the top.

By the time the British army reached Concord on April 19, 1775 the Colonials grew to 400 men, including some Black slaves, to protect the North Bridge.

From the movie we gathered that Major John Buttrick is famous for saying "Fire! For God's sake!" as a way of starting the battle. More militia join the minute men of Lexington to protect the stash of arms and ammunition. This was a battle of British citizens fighting the British army, as they were all British subjects at this time.

The arms stayed hidden. 

The North Bridge

In the main room we met Caitlin, a National Park employee sketching a British soldier's uniform. In addition to working in Concord, she is a Revolutionary War reenactor. Her dream is to have a uniform as precise as the one in the glass case. She has been following the semiquincentennial one battle at a time as it moves from last year's battle in Lexington to Washington Crossing the Delaware and beyond. Last year she "fought" at the battle of Princeton (the January 3, 1777 battle) by moving a cannon for the patriot's around the battlefield. Her hat flew off and she spent much time chasing after it, something people told her added realism to the event. I suspect she'll return next January as that is the BIG year. I should go, even though it is always so cold that day and I suspect parking is a mess. It is close to home, but not that close.

Don had reached his limit of the Battle of Lexington and Concord as I was absorbing the details and matching them with lessons I have learned at Red Bank National Park (NJ) and other sites. We time traveled a hundred years to our next to our next stop: Louise May Alcott's home.

Massachusetts: Minute Man National Park

We continued our tour of Lexington and Concord, in a geographic order, but not in the correct timeline. Minute Man National Park is where the final battle took place on April 19, 1775. We already visited the Lexington Green (where the day started), but had not yet been to the North Bridge (where the biggest battle took place in-between). 

The highlight of this stop is a movie describing what happened that day. Rather than simply showing a movie, the space is set up to look like a home. There is a doorway where a soldier stands talking to an invisible person at the table. There are two more screens, one at the top showing an evolving timeline, and another screen showing more scenes to the right.

Also in the museum are musket balls and other archaeological finds. 

I did not bring my notebook, and even worse I nodded off in the comfort of the voices on the hard wooden bench. A shame since this is the part of the story that most likely contains my relative Noah Wiswall who walked 28 miles from Newton, MA at the age of 76 to see what his boys were up to. He was shot in the hand, wrapped it up with his handkerchief and went home where he lived for another decade. 

We walked the long way back to the car following the path where the soldiers, possibly including Noah, hid in ambush while waiting for the British soldiers. The British soldiers were exhausted, and the Patriot reinforcements were ready to exact revenge. By the end of the night (more than twelve hours after the morning's first battle, and about 20 hours after their day began in Boston) the British have 73 dead, and 174 wounded soldiers. The Colonials have 49 dead, and 41 wounded. 

War has begun and will continue for EIGHT years.

Love the shout out
to archaeologists!