Give History a Spin
A working time machine may only exist in movies and books, but traveling the paths of New Jersey’s history just might be the next best thing.
The Rankokus Indian reservation brings Native American life to the Delaware River Region with its festivals and cultural events and Native American Indian heritage museum. From there, it is just a short hop to Trenton’s New Jersey State Museum, which houses Native American tools and silver, the handicrafts of the Cherokee, Ramapough, Nanticoke and Powhatan-Renape. In the Skylands you can view Native American life first-hand at Waterloo’s Lenape Indian Village.
Being the crossroads of the American Revolution is another of the Delaware River Region’s distinctions, with places like the Red Bank Battlefield and Princeton’s Battlefield State Park. It is also steeped in the American character at the Walt Whitman House and rife with glory at The Battleship Memorial and Museum, where visitors can step aboard the Battleship New Jersey, the nation’s most decorated battleship. Right nearby is the New Jersey State Aquarium and the Camden Children’s Garden, always enjoyed by kids of all ages.
Pre-Revolutionary War artifacts are found in the Skylands Region at The Boonton Historic District, which includes the New Jersey Firemen’s Home and Museum (1875) as well as a wealth of antique shops. This region also is known as the Military Capital of the Revolution, the perfect place to trace the movement of General George Washington and his troops, beginning at the Morristown National Historic Park.
The Gateway Region is the proud home of Liberty State Park, the Statue of Liberty and the nearby Ellis Island. New Jersey’s history also includes one of America’s greatest inventors, Thomas A. Edison and the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange opens its doors just for you. Visit Thomas Edison’s laboratory and library, and see enthralling exhibits of the first light bulb, the phonograph and the dawn of early movie-making.
The Shore Region has attracted visitors for more than 100 years, notably among them Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley and Benjamin Harrison. Lovers of the sea can tour lighthouses and revel in the recreated maritime village at Tuckerton Seaport. Monmouth Battlefield State Park features its annual reenactment of the Battle at Monmouth, while Allaire Village faithfully displays the trades and treasures of a 19th-century.
Ironworks Village
Travel back to the Victorian Age and walk the gas-lit streets of Cape May, where you can hop a horse drawn carriage on the way to some of the most beautiful inns anywhere. Antiques, seafood, boardwalks and specialty shops all add to the charm. There are lighthouses and seafaring museums galore, as well as an entire 1800s village populated with craftspeople and country shops at Historic Cold Spring Village.
For another journey back in time, the Howell Living History Farm in Titusville is a horse powered operation that recalls farms of the early 1900s. You can be on hand to help harvest vegetables in season, participate in crafts programs, and even make your own maple syrup in the fall.
Lovers of crafts and artifacts from different eras could spend day after day hunting down the riches in every region of New Jersey. Displaying everything from Oriental rugs to presidential china and the political cartoons of Thomas Nast, the Macculloch Hall
Historical Museum and Gardens in Morristown is a great place to start in the Skylands Region. Special exhibits of popular “Mission” furniture are the order of the day when you visit the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms in Parsippany. When in the Gateway Region, be sure to take in the Woodruff House/Eaton Store Museum for a look at hundreds of products from days gone by. While in the Osborn-Cannonball House Museum you can see a magnificent collection of antique clothing. The Gateway Region satisfies flying friends with the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey, housing carefully preserved aircraft, rare artifacts, documents and photographs.
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