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<\/a>Raven Rock was once known as Saxtonville, also as Saxtonsville or Sextonville. Just like the village of Headquarters whose name was changed to Grover and then back to Headquarters, Raven Rock was changed to Saxtonville, before reverting back to its original name. But even before Raven Rock, there was a Lenape name.<\/p>\n
The earliest documentary notice of the place was in 1708 when the township of Amwell was created by the state legislature. The boundary description began “at a place called Mauanissing.\u201d This was the point on the Delaware River where the dividing line between today’s Kingwood and Delaware townships begins, which is just north of Raven Rock. Mauanissing is obviously a Lenape name, but the meaning of the name is obscure.<\/p>\n
The first time the name “Raven Rock” appears in documents is in the will of John Ladd in 1731. That is a very early date, and makes me think that Raven Rock might be a translation of the Lenape’s Mauanissing. But that is just a guess.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, with a name that poetic, there are lots of theories for its origin. Egbert T. Bush, my favorite Hunterdon historian, thought it might be a corruption of \u201criven rock\u201d which aptly describes \u201cthe great rock which is the distinguishing figure of the village.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> As you approach the cliff, Bush wrote, the \u201cperpendicular rock . . . seems to become overhanging . . . There it stands from 90 to 100 feet high, with a dwelling house so close that it appears to be at its foot.\u201d That house is the Saxtonville tavern.<\/p>\n Some have written that the name Raven Rock is derived from hawks that were observed riding the thermal air currents to rise up the cliff face. But hawks and ravens are very different birds. Perhaps at one time ravens were seen circling around at the top of the cliff.<\/p>\n Another theory comes from former resident and local historian B. A. Sorby who wrote several articles on the Raven Rock neighborhood in 1959 when the State of New Jersey was paving Route 29 from Raven Rock to Byram. Sorby wrote that red shale and sandstone was blasted away near Byram to make way for the road, and that the site was<\/p>\n \u201clocated a short distance from New Jersey\u2019s \u201cGreat Stone Face\u201d which towers over the river at this point from the rock which gives the village its name.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Although the \u201cGreat Stone Face\u201d probably did \u201cgive the village its name,\u201d it should be noted that that \u2018Stone Face\u2019 was made of argillite, not red shale and sandstone. It is the tip of the Hunterdon Plateau, a massive outcropping of sedimentary rock that resists erosion, unlike the sandstone and shale.<\/p>\n Needless to say, no one will ever be able to explain the name with absolute certainty.<\/p>\n Bull\u2019s Island is another ancient neighborhood name, frequently written in old documents as “Bool\u2019s Island.” It was originally known as Ponnacussing or Paunacussing. This was probably a European guess at the real Lenape name, which is supposed to mean \u201cplace where the powder was given us.\u201d I rather doubt that meaning. Sounds to me like someone\u2019s fantasy of Lenape history.<\/p>\n The name \u201cBull\u2019s Island\u201d comes from an early surveyor, Richard Bull of Gloucester County (c.1675-c.1722), who made many surveys in early Amwell Township on behalf of the West Jersey proprietors. Most of his surveys date back to 1710-1720. \u00a0\u201cBool\u201d is probably the way his name was pronounced. Many people wrote words phonetically in the 18th century, creating a baffling but charming variety of spellings.<\/p>\n It was Richard Bull who surveyed a 625-acre property on November 11, 1712 for himself and his partner, the will-writing John Ladd, also of Gloucester.3<\/a><\/sup> About ten years later, Bull and Ladd decided to divide the property between them, and on February 18, 1721, shortly before his death, Richard Bull quit claimed his rights in 300 acres to John Ladd, retaining his rights in the balance. Oddly enough, Bull\u2019s Island and the area of Raven Rock went to Ladd rather than to Bull.<\/p>\n Even though the name Raven Rock was in use since 1731, it was not always the preferred name. When Moses Quinby advertised for return of a stray horse in 1794, he identified himself as \u201cliving at a noted place called Bull\u2019s Island in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup> But Quinby was not living on the island; his home was in the village of Raven Rock, before it was a village.<\/p>\n This is just the beginning of the history of Raven Rock, Bull\u2019s Island and the Saxtonville Tavern.<\/p>\n