As we prepare to commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, remember that history surrounds us. The next time you drive through Far Hills or Bedminster on Route 202 or other major roads, consider the important role that our area played during the Revolutionary War. At the time, troops were strategically positioned here to enable efficient troop movement along the Watchung Mountains.

The American Revolution’s start is recognized as the Battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775) and end recorded as the signing of the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783). Two years into the war, in the spring of 1777, the First Middlebrook Encampment was established by General Washington and placed under the command of General Anthony Wayne in the area of Bridgewater - Bound Brook. The surrounding Watchung mountains offered the encampment defensive protection. Moreover, the vantage point along the First Watchung Mountain allowed for monitoring of British troop movements during their occupation of New York City and cut off movement from their New Brunswick occupation. From this location, the Army was able to interrupt British supply lines. During the winters of the Revolution, Continental Army soldiers would establish a camp in order to rest, reorganize, and train. Between the two brutal winters encamped at Valley Forge (1777-78) and Morristown’s Jockey Hollow (1779-80), Washington, again set up camp at Middlebrook with about 8,000 troops.

If the Continental Army was to be successful against the British, General Washington understood that he needed to transform his troops of farmers and citizens into a well-trained military. At the start of the Second Middlebrook Encampment in 1778, he moved an additional 1,000 artillery unit troops and their equipment north to Pluckemin, along the road to Morristown, with the goal of establishing the army’s first military training academy in artillery and engineering. Under the leadership of General Henry Knox, the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment (a cantonment being a military installation, often with temporary barracks) consisted of multiple buildings in the shape of an E at the base of the Second Watchung Mountain in an area that is now known as Artillery Park in The Hills section of Bedminster. The cantonment consisted of barracks, an academy, storehouses, and repair facilities. To learn more about the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment of 1778-1779, check out thisYouTube video.

According to Bedminster Township 250 Years by Pritch Matthews, while the artillery units left the cantonment in June 1779, the “camp shelters later were used as a military hospital through 1780 and for probably militia gatherings through 1783.” Twenty-three years later, a permanent military academy was established which we now know as the United States Military Academy at West Point.

To learn more about the important role Bedminster Township and Far Hills Borough played in our nation’s history, please visit the Anne O’Brien room at the Clarence Dillon Library, which is dedicated to preserving the history of our local area.