Piscatawaytown, New Jersey
Piscatawaytown, New Jersey | |
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_just_north_of_Middlesex_County_Route_514_(Woodbridge_Avenue)_in_Edison_Township,_Middlesex_County,_New_Jersey.jpg) County Route 529 (Plainfield Avenue) in Piscatawaytown, facing north | |
  Piscatawaytown, New Jersey Piscataway in Middlesex County Inset: Location of county within the state of New Jersey  Piscatawaytown, New Jersey Piscatawaytown, New Jersey (New Jersey)  Piscatawaytown, New Jersey Piscatawaytown, New Jersey (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 40°30′06″N 74°23′45″W / 40.50167°N 74.39583°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New Jersey |
| County | Middlesex |
| Township | Edison |
| Elevation | 115 ft (35 m) |
| GNIS feature ID | 880876[1] |
Piscatawaytown is the oldest neighborhood in Edison Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. It was established in the 1660s as the original village in what was then within Piscataway Township. Piscatawaytown is centered around St. James Church and the Piscatawaytown Common, near the intersection of Plainfield and Woodbridge Avenues.[2][3][4][5] The Piscatawaytown Burial Ground is one of the oldest recorded cemeteries in Middlesex County and is currently maintained by the Township of Edison.
Lenape and European contact
The Raritan were bands of the Lenape people living around the Raritan River and its bay, in what is now central New Jersey and Staten Island, New York.
Establishment and naming
Edison was settled New Englanders in the 17th century. In 1666, additional settlers from the Piscataqua River, the state boundary of New Hampshire and Maine moved to region, bringing the name.[6][7] Other settlements included Quibbletown and Raritan Landing.
Municipal boundaries
In 1870 portions of adjacent Piscataway and Woodbridge were used to form Raritan Township on March 17, 1870.[8][9] It was renamed Edison in the 1950s.
Historic area
The Proprietors of the Province of East New Jersey granted a tract of land for a burial ground and a town common on March 5, 1695. There had been earlier burials at the location, with one readable gravestone dating from 1693. [10][4][5] The oldest readable gravestone is that of the Hoopar brothers, aged 10 and 12, who died of mushroom poisoning. The brothers were buried in 1693.The village comprised a town hall, militia training ground, stockade, jail, church, burial ground and houses.[11] Saint James Church was established in 1704 and the original structure built in 1724. The existing building is from 1836.[12]
Considerable military activity and battles known as the Forage War took place during the Revolutionary War in the Piscatawaytown area in 1776 and 1777. The Post Road (now Woodbridge Avenue) was a main land artery for British communications and movement of supplies and troops. The British army used St. James Church as a barracks and a hospital from December 1776 to June 1777.
In total, there have been 1,815 burials identified as of 2015, with 1,494 of those burials having gravestones. A tornado that occurred in June of 1835 causing damage to many of the gravestones as well as Saint James Church.
There are many veterans from various wars buried in the grounds. This includes British soldiers that had died in the Revolutionary War and were buried in a common grave in 1777 . The highest ranking veteran buried in the grounds is Brevet Major General Thomas Swords, a veteran of the Mexican War and Civil War, buried in 1886.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Stelton". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "NJDOT Graphic Information System Maps Middlesex" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
- ^ Middlesex COunty Office of Culture and Heritage. "History Revealed In Piscatawaytown and Edison", TAP into Piscataway, September 9, 2015. Accessed December 22, 2019. "The remnants of the Piscataway village and town commons can still be seen in modern Edison Township. Settled in the late 1600s by New Englanders, this historic site once consisted of a town hall, militia training ground, stockade, jail, church, burial ground and houses."
- ^ a b "Revolutionary War Sites in Edison, New Jersey". revolutionarywarnewjersey.com. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ a b Survey, Historic American Buildings. "St. James Episcopal Church, Piscataway, Middlesex County, NJ". www.loc.gov.
- ^ A guide to Edison (PDF). The Center for Community Renewal. 2001.
- ^ Gordon, Thomas Francis (1834). "A Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey: Comprehending a General View of Its Physical and Moral Condition, Together with a Topographical and Statistical Account of Its Counties, Towns, Villages, Canals, Rail Roads, &c., Accompanied by a Map".
- ^ Wall, John P. (1921). History of Middlesex County, New Jersey.
- ^ Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography, Trenton, New Jersey, 1969. p. 170 re Edison Township, p. 173 re Raritan Township.
- ^ "Piscatawaytown Burial Ground" (PDF).
- ^ Middlesex County Office of Culture and Heritage. "History Revealed In Piscatawaytown and Edison", TAP into Piscataway, September 9, 2015. Accessed December 22, 2019. "The remnants of the Piscataway village and town commons can still be seen in modern Edison Township. Settled in the late 1600s by New Englanders, this historic site once consisted of a town hall, militia training ground, stockade, jail, church, burial ground and houses."
- ^ "St. James Episcopal Church Piscataway" (PDF). Historic American Buildings Survey. 1936. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
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