The families who appear most often in my posts. Please use the search window for families not listed here.
A follow-up to Egbert T. Bush’s article, “Boarshead Tavern One of the Earliest to be Established”
In 1896, Egbert T. Bush presented a paper to the Hunterdon County Historical Society titled “Croton and Vicinity.”1 As part of his survey, Mr. Bush gave a brief history of the Boarshead Tavern.
Boarshead Tavern One of the Earliest to be Established
Efforts to Find How Long It Has Stood Have Been In Vain
Dr. Pyatt’s Varied Career
By Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
For the first part of this story, please visit Samuel G. Opdycke Esq.
Samuel G. Opdycke was a young man of promise. Thanks to the Opdycke Genealogy, we have a description of what he looked like, and, even better, we have a portrait:
“Ascending!
FINDING the room on the first floor of the Court House rather too much confined for an office, and the passage too much obstructed by lockage for the free ingress and egress of clients, I have selected, for a summer office, a beautiful airy chamber in the extreme front of the building. This pleasant apartment is situated immediately over the portico of this lofty edifice, and overlooks the main street of the village; After rising three inclined planes, clients will arrive at the summit level of my office; the door opens toward the east between two windows; No toll demanded until they arrive at the summit. – Passage back, free of expense; Samuel G. Opdycke, Flemington, May 19, 1830.”1
First published in 2013, revised and greatly expanded in 2025.
This house is just about gone. It won’t be long. This past March, I wandered through the honeysuckle and multiflora to try to get some decent pictures, but wasn’t very successful. Sleeping Beauty would never be wakened in that place, it so well guarded by weeds and fallen trees. Sadly, what is probably the oldest part of the house has already caved in. If I could have gotten closer, I might have been able to see some of the old woodwork inside, but that just wasn’t possible.
Also known as the Rosemont School, and the Raven Rock School
This article is about one of Delaware Township’s most secretive burying grounds, and is part of a series on Delaware Township cemeteries. It is also a follow-up to my series of articles on Buchanan’s Tavern, since Archibald Buchanan was buried here.1
In 2009, I published an article about this interesting cemetery on the website The Delaware Township Post. This coming June, this cemetery will be the focus of a celebration; most of the original Williamson farm has been purchased from Bryce Thompson by the N. J. Conservation Foundation in partnership with the State of New Jersey, Hunterdon County and Delaware Township. The cemetery is part of this new addition to preserved lands in our town. I am delighted! Here is the article:
At the first town meeting, the Township Committee voted that $1,000 was to be raised for making and repairing roads. Municipalities were responsible for their roads, while the county took responsibility for the bridges. Generally, it was the landowners along the roads who maintained them, so you can imagine what condition they were in: dust in the summer, mud in the spring and downright impassible in the winter, unless you had a sleigh. The township named many people to be Overseers of Roads. It’s hard to say exactly what their responsibilities were. Most likely, they managed the work that was ordered by the Surveyors of Highways.
In response to Egbert T. Bush’s article on Buchanan’s Tavern
Where was Buchanan’s Tavern? Recently,1 I found the first tavern where I didn’t expect it, on the west side of Route 579 near the intersection with Route 523. Most people think it was on the east side of the road, where the Miceks now have a small farm. They are right—there was a Buchanan’s tavern there, but it was the second Buchanan’s Tavern, and here is the rest of the story.