Union County Historical Site Bus Tour

On Saturday, March 12, the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey will sponsor a bus tour to historic sites in Union County, including the Woodruff House/Eaton Store Museum, Hillside; Liberty Hall, Union; and Boxwood Hall, and the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth. Explore your state with the first in a series of “Visit New Jersey” trips.

To sign up for this tour, send your check for $50, payable to the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey (or just LHSNJ), to Linda Barth, 214 North Bridge St., Somerville, NJ 08876. For more information, please contact Linda Barth at 908-722-7428 or barths@att.net. The trip will leave from Chatham. Specific directions will be mailed to all paid participants.

The Woodruff House and Eaton Store Museum, owned by the Hillside Historical Society, has been faithfully restored to its original grandeur. The house is unique in that it spans three centuries in one structure, from the original 1735 building, to the 1790 addition, to the 1890s kitchen all the way to the 1900s store. The society has also added a post- and-beam barn and a Phil Rizzuto and All Sports Museum honoring the Hillside legend, as well as an archive to house the many documents the society has obtained over the years.

Liberty Hall is the home of William Livingston, New Jersey’s first elected governor and signer of the Constitution. Built in 1772, on the eve of the American Revolution, Liberty Hall has been a silent witness to more than 200 years of American history. Over the last two centuries, the 14-room, Georgian-style home has grown into a 50-room Victorian-style mansion. The site houses extensive collections of antique furniture, ceramics, textiles, toys, and tools owned by seven generations of Livingston and Kean families. Ancestors of the Livingston/Kean families have included governors, U.S. congressmen and senators, business entrepreneurs, and pioneering women with vision and strength. The stories of their lives, passed down from generation to generation, tell how this family met the challenges of a changing nation.

Boxwood Hall in Elizabeth was the home, from 1772 to 1795, of Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution. Boudinot and others met George Washington here for a luncheon and then escorted him to Manhattan for his inauguration on April 30, 1789. Boudinot sold the home to Jonathan Dayton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who lived here until his death in 1824. In 1824, Dayton entertained Lafayette at this house.

First Presbyterian Church was organized on November 15, 1664, which makes it the oldest English-speaking congregation in the state. The first church on the site was probably erected in 1665 or shortly thereafter by Puritan settlers from Connecticut and Long Island; it served as the town’s meetinghouse and even hosted the initial sessions of the General Assembly. That building was replaced in 1724 by a building that much resembled this current one, although not nearly as large. British troops burned that structure in 1780 following their defeat at the Battle of Springfield, when they also burned Presbyterian churches in Connecticut Farms and Springfield. This large brick and sandstone building was built between 1783 and 1793, and the exterior is essentially unchanged since that date. A tornado in 1889 tore off the steeple, and the church suffered a disastrous fire in 1946, but the exterior walls were sound and the interior was reconstructed in a manner close to its Colonial original.