Revolutionary Front Line
1763-1783

Everyday farm life was interrupted by skirmishes and battles between Colonial and British troops fighting for independence from England. While most people believed in the Patriot cause, others (Loyalists or Tories) supported the King. After 1776, active Loyalists went to Staten Island, which was held by the British.

Driven by their desire for freedom, many men left their families and farms to join the Continental Army. Numerous raids, battles and skirmishes occurred throughout the area. The Battle of Connecticut Farms (in what is now Union Township) and the Battle of Springfield, both in June 1780, marked the close of the war in New Jersey.

Abraham Clark, farmer and self-educated lawyer, was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, where he voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence demonstrating that leadership, even in Colonial America, did not depend on wealth or birth.

Learn about this troubled time in history by visiting the following sites: 

• Drake House Museum
• Abraham Clark House
• Osborn Cannonball House
• Cannon Ball House
• Caldwell Parsonage

Drake House Museum
602 West Front St.,
Plainfield

• 7'x9' Civil War painting
• The opulent Harberger library
• www.drakehousemuseum.org

Abraham Clark House
101 West Ninth Ave.,
Roselle

Features

• Granite boulder with a tablet honoring Clark

Osborn Cannonball House
1840 Front Street,
Scotch Plains

Features

• Formal gardens
• Changing exhibit of period clothing

Cannon Ball House
126 Morris Avenue,
Springfield

Features

• Cannonball that struck house
• Period rooms with antiques and artifacts
• Garden
• House has been repainted using historic colors

Caldwell Parsonage
909 Caldwell Ave.,
Union

Features

• Personal effects of Union's founding families
• Features two centuries of clothing, furniture and other materials