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"Revolutionary New Jersey was a society with remarkably contemporary overtones. It was a diverse mix…"
Thomas Fleming

All told, New Jersey played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. Washington’s main army spent nearly six years on New Jersey soil, wintering three times in the Watchung Mountains, including important encampments at Morristown, Middlebrook and Pluckemin. The Continental Congress, which had been forced to flee Philadelphia, was meeting in Princeton when news reached it, in late 1783, that the Treaty of Paris had been signed, formally ending the war.

For many New Jerseyans conditions of life during the Revolution resembled a civil war. Important supply routes crossed the state, and there were hundreds of skirmishes as rival foraging parties scoured the countryside. While slightly more than one third of New Jersey’s population actively sympathized with the cause of the revolution, nearly another third sided with the loyalists. Some New Jerseyans changed sides mid conflict. A large group, mainly Quaker pacifists, strove to remain neutral.

New Jersey’s central place in the struggle for independence was recognized in 2006 when Congress and the President created the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area, one of 49 in the United States. Comprising 213 cites and towns within 14 counties, New Jersey’s heritage area stretches from the heights of the Palisades at Fort Lee in Bergen County to the shores of the Delaware River at Red Bank Battlefield in Gloucester County.

Many heritage areas work in collaboration with a National Park -- our Park Service partner is Morristown National Historical Park which was established in 1933 to mark our central place in the struggle for independence.

Our heritage area holds the promise of more than a way to preserve the historic and natural resources of New Jersey’s unique Revolutionary War era “outdoor classroom.” It also offers a unique opportunity to interpret the state’s rich history of that era. We are creating a network of partnerships--historic preservation and land conservation organizations, historical societies and heritage, schools, libraries and museums—to preserve the landscapes and buildings and to promote the stories of New Jersey in the American Revolution.

Crossroads of the American Revolution in New Jersey National Heritage Area Designated by the U. S. Congress

On September 29, 2006, the U.S. Congress officially designated the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area in New Jersey. When this legislation is signed by the President, New Jersey's pivotal role in the American Revolution will at last be nationally acknowledged.More>>