Perth Amboy has many attributes officials and residents boast about, including a magnificent waterfront; a delicious, vibrant Latino culture;and the potential for economic development. But perhaps the most splendid jewel in its Bayshore crown is Colonial and Revolutionary War history.
Settled by Scots in 1683, Perth Amboy is one of the state’s oldest towns, which means its full of fascinating historic sites that often get overlooked compared to similar historic towns, such as Cape May, Trenton, Morristown, Freehold, Princeton, Bound Brook and Scotch Plains.
The reason it may get overlooked is because the city was Loyalist, with Colonists on the wrong side of the Revolutionary War, reasoned a city historian Anton Massopust, our guide, along with his childhood friend, local developer and history buff Barry Rosengarten, and the “Old Perth Amboy Walking Guide” by William S. Pavlovsky and the city Historic Preservation Commission.
Well, this walking guide to historic Perth Amboy aims to rectify that just in time for the city’s inaugural Celebrate Stars & Stripes Boat Parade(celebratestarsandstripes.com/boatparade.html — see related story at MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment) to accompany its annual joint fireworks display on July 3 with sister city, South Amboy.
Spend the holiday in Perth Amboy, where the oohs and aahs not only will be for the lights in the sky and on the boats, but also for these 13 worthwhile sites, several of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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1. Market Square, Market and High streets
Market Square was a bustling Colonial era outdoor marketplace that now is a park that forms a circle across from city hall. Market Square includes one of the 13 replicas of the Liberty Bell that France made for each of the original 13 colonies in 1950, an 1896 statue of George Washington, and the Bill of Rights Arch. The arch was commissioned by Rosengarten for the bicentennial of New Jersey being the first state to sign the Bill of Rights in in 1789 in city hall.
A plaque reads, “a person who gives his nation his labor as his love is a true patriot,” a phrase that Rosengarten coined for the arch. Made with the same clay and crushed oyster shellsof Colonial-era bricks, the arch is a reconstruction of the south portal of The Market House, a permanent structure for commerce that stood in the square from the 1740s until 1842, when the current circular park was built. The arch is expected to be named a state historic site by year's end, Rosengarten said.
“A lot of people don't realize that in the Revolutionary War, there were actually three sides,” said Massopust, a retired Perth Amboy High School teacher, a member of the city's Board of Education and trustee of Proprietary House and Kearny Cottage Historical associations.
"You had the British, the American Revolutionary Patriots, and you those who sided with England, the Loyalists," he added. "Some people call them Tories. In Perth Amboy, we call them Loyalists. They were along the lines of the British because the British had control. A lot of the people in Perth Amboy were loyalists, and they were very interested that the British would win. The Loyalists were heavily involved in the Revolutionary War but on that side. In Perth Amboy, you had a mix, but mostly Loyalists. They had more to gain if the British won."
2. City Hall, 260 High St.
Built in 1714, Perth Amboy City Hall is the oldest public building in continuous use in the United States and is one of the city’s seven sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure originally served as the capitol building for East Jersey until 1790 when the capitol was moved to Trenton and as the Middlesex County Courthouse until 1793 when the county seat was moved to New Brunswick. Both moves were made in reaction to Perth Amboy's Loyalist leanings, Massopust said.
In addition to being the site where the Bill of Rights first was signed, city hall also is where the first-ever black man voted in the United States on March 31, 1870, when Thomas Mundy Peterson cast his ballot under the 15th Amendment.
Outside city hall is a statue of James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth, a Scottish statesmen who partnered with William Penn in the settlement of East Jersey in 1681. In 1683, he and Penn were among the 12 Proprietors who established the city as a port, fishery and trading post. Perth Amboy is named in the Earl’s honor, Amboy being an Anglicizing of the Lenape word for valley, “ompoge.”
Inside city hall, is a hallway lined with portraits of mayors, including one from the Colonial era, and a council chambers that features a mural painted by school children in tribute to the veterans of every American war. There’s also a banner thatcommemoratesthe Bill of Rights bicentennial.
3.Surveyor Generals Office, next door to City Hall
The Surveyor Generals Office was not built until 1852, but it is now a museum filled with Colonial-era documents and images of the city and its founding Proprietors. It too is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The Proprietors were a group of men who actually owned the City of Perth Amboy,"Massopust said. "They were very political and very, very powerful. This was starting with the foundation of the city in 1683. Their names are all over the city: Gordon, Lewis, Smith. They had control of everything from Massachusetts to the Carolinas. They were very entailed with England, completely. So then comes the war ..."
4. Thomas Bartow House, 83-85 Market St.
The 1730 home of prominent early resident Thomas Bartow is also where he taught art and literature to Perth Amboy native 19th century playwright and art historian William Dunlap.
5. Site of the King’s Arms Tavern, Smith and High streets
The King's Arms Tavern was the city's most popular tavern before and after the Revolutionary War. After the war, it was renamed City Tavern, which remained the center of social, political and business activity.
6. Ferry Slip Museum, foot of Smith Street
This home to the city’s maritime history includes Colonial and Revolutionary War eras. During that period, the ferry slip was located a block over at the foot Fayette Street, then South Dock Street, and began operation in 1684. The current site then was known as the Public Wharf, which jutted out into the Arthur Kill during Colonial times. From 1863 to 1963, the Perth Amboy-Tottenville Ferry Slip offered service. In 1978, the Ferry Slip was added to the National Register of Historic Places and restored into a museum 20 years later.
7. George Willocks House, 228 Water St.
Perth Amboy’s oldest dwelling was built in 1720 by Willocks, an East Jersey proprietor from Scotland who helped settle the city in the 17th century. Willocks was a controversial colonist until his death in 1729.
8. The Raritan Bay/Arthur Kill, Water and Gordon streets
This spot on the Arthur Kill, a river that flows into the bay, offers a great view to the Conference House, the site of short-lived Revolutionary War peace talks on Sept. 11, 1776 in Staten Island. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge were ferried by royal barge from Perth Amboy’s river shore to meet with Admiral Lord Richard Howe, whose idea it was to meet days after the British capture of Long Island and the narrow escape of Gen. George Washington and Continental troops.
“The British underestimated the Americans ... misunderstood them,” Massopust said.
"The conferred over the resolution of the revolution, and they left empty-handed because they resolved nothing," Rosengarten added. "It took seven more years before the revolution was resolved."
The Bayshore attracted the city’s founding fathers, hesaid. Despite being on the losing side of the war and no longer being the state capitol or county seat, Perth Amboy remained vital and thriving because of the Raritan Bay, he said.
“The war had a devastating effect on Perth Amboy, but it had one thing," he said. "The Arthur Kill, the Raritan Bay and the ocean ... made a very good bed for shellfish. Perth Amboy had clams, oysters and fishing. A person could be a Bayman and survive on the bay. They became a fairly big seaport and a sea resort until the Civil War."
9. Site of the Truxton House, 129 Water St.
This former house was built in 1710 by Deputy Postmaster John Hamilton and later owned by naval hero Commodore Thomas Truxton, who entertained third Vice President Aaron Burr there in 1804, shortly after the duel in which he killed first U.S. Treasurer Alexander Hamilton. Three years later, Truxton sold the house to Capt. Jacob Lewis, a hero in the War of 1812 and then a diplomat. His most famous guest was Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon.
"Truxton and Burr were buddies, and he married part of the Truxton family," Massopust said. "When he hid out at first, he supposedly sat on Truxton's boat in the bay after he shot Hamilton."
10. Kearny Cottage, 63 Catalpa Ave.
Now the home of the Perth Amboy Historical Society, Kearny Cottage was built in 1784 by Loyalist Michael Kearny, the patriarch of a prominent Perth Amboy family who helped lead the city for 200 years. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the cottage is the 1789 birthplace of American naval hero and U.S. diplomat Commodore Lawrence Kearny, as well as his lifelong residence. Inside, a museum is dedicated to Kearny and city history. The backyard features a beautiful garden and gazebo that faces the Raritan Bay and is a perfect spot for a picnic. You can view the interior at kearnycottage.org/archives/or in person 2 to 4 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays and last Sundays.
11. Propriety House, 149 Kearny Ave.
Originally the Royal Governor’s Mansion built in 1762, Propriety House is where William Franklin, the Loyalist son of Benjamin Franklin and the 13th Colonial Governor of East Jersey lived from 1774 to 1776. He served as the final Royal Governor starting in 1763, but initially served in Burlington, the capitol of West Jersey.
“They wanted to entice the royal governor here, so they built the Proprietary House,” Massopust said.
Benjamin Franklin visited Proprietary House several times. On the last occasion, Franklin tried to convince his son to switch sides, which led them to being estranged for the rest of their lives.
"William Franklin was a man of honor," Massopust said. "He said he gave his word to the King of England."
Franklin was placed under house arrest in January 1776 by Patriot forces and then in June, removed and imprisoned in Connecticut. Two years later, he was part of a prisoner exchange with the British and built a Loyalist regiment in New York. Eventually, he moved to England, where he died and was buried in 1813.
During the Revolution, Proprietary House was used as a British military headquarters. Shortly after the war in 1784, most of the property was damaged in a fire and eventually restored as an early 19th century hotel. From 1817 to 1846, Proprietary House was the home of Matthias Bruen, one of the wealthiest merchants in America at the time. He turned it into his family estate, entertaining the likes of fellow millionaire John Jacob Astor and 10th U.S. President John Tyler.
Rooms are dedicated to Franklin and Bruen, the two most famous residents of the property, which the state purchased in 1967, a year after the Propriety House Association was established. The association operates the national historic site as a museum that often hosts special events, such as an annual re-enactment of Franklin’s arrest, as well as a 1 p.m. tea party and tours on Wednesdays and Sundays. More volunteers and restoration are needed. Visit proprietaryhouse.org.
12. Provincial Records Office, 53-55 Gordon St.
Formerly a public building built in 1761, this structure also served as a general store and St. Peter’s Sunday School before being made into a residence in 1856.
13. St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Rector and Gordon streets
Organized in 1698, St. Peter’s is the state’s oldest Episcopal church and one of the city’s national historic sites. The sign above the door of the church says 1685, but that is believed to be from a previous building on the site. The church was built in 1722.
The churchyard contains the tombstones of many early settlers and prominent citizens. They include the previously mentioned William Dunlap (1766-1839), who is considered the "Father of American Drama," and first-ever black voter Thomas Mundy Peterson (1824-1904), who now has an elementary school named after him that Massopust and Rosengarten attended and where years earlier, he had served as custodian. (A 40-by-58-inch bronze plaque in recognition of the historic vote was unveiled at the church on Friday, June 29.) The 1733 gravestone of Gertrude Hay has a hole in it from a misfireof a British ship in 1776. The top of Capt. William Bryant's 1772 marker was broken off by a cannonball fired by the same ship.
Original graves date back to 1722 with Thomas Gordon, a Scottish Proprietorand one of the donors of the church land. His first wife Helen's slab is even older, dated 1687 and moved next to Gordon in 1875 from the city's Old Burying Ground, which was built in 1684on State Street.
Other famousgraves include Dr. Robert McKean, rector from 1761 until his death in 1767 and founder of the New Jersey Medical Society, the country's oldest medical association. His brother, Thomas McKean, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Delaware. Perth Amboy Mayor and magazine editor Samuel Nevill (1697-1764) and New Jersey's first known artist John Watson (1685-1768) also are buried at St. Peter's.
“St. Peter's, besides being a magnificent structure, is seen from quite a distance from Staten Island and South Amboy," Rosengarten said. "The steeple stands out beautifully ... and is a point of navigation for the ships that are going through the Outerbridge Crossing."
What you can do
There are seven national historic sites and 46 local historic sites in the free “Old Perth Amboy Walking Guide” that also chronicles the 19th and 20th centuries. You can pick one up at City Hall, 260 High St., and start your tour there. They also are available at The Proprietary House, 149 Kearny Ave. For more about Perth Amboy history, visit theproprietaryhouse.org/, kearnycottage.org/ and ci.perthamboy.nj.us/the-history-of-perth-amboy.html.
Staff Writer Bob Makin: 732-565-7319; bmakin@gannett.com
