Piscatawaytown, New Jersey

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Piscatawaytown, New Jersey
Unincorporated community
County Route 529 (Plainfield Avenue) in Piscatawaytown, facing north
County Route 529 (Plainfield Avenue) in Piscatawaytown, facing north
Piscatawaytown, New Jersey is located in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Piscatawaytown, New Jersey
Piscatawaytown, New Jersey
Piscataway in Middlesex County Inset: Location of county within the state of New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°30′06″N 74°23′45″W / 40.50167°N 74.39583°W / 40.50167; -74.39583
Country United States
State New Jersey
CountyMiddlesex
TownshipEdison
Elevation
[1]
115 ft (35 m)
GNIS feature ID880876[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]

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 the 1950s.

Historic area[]

St. James Episcopal Church

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][11] The village comprised a town hall, militia training ground, stockade, jail, church, burial ground and houses.[12] Saint James Church was established in 1704 and the original structure built in 1724.

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.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Stelton". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  2. ^ "NJDOT Graphic Information System Maps Middlesex" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  3. ^ 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."
  4. ^ a b "Revolutionary War Sites in Edison, New Jersey". revolutionarywarnewjersey.com. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  5. ^ Survey, Historic American Buildings. "St. James Episcopal Church, Piscataway, Middlesex County, NJ". www.loc.gov.
  6. ^ A guide to Edison (PDF). The Center for Community Renewal. 2001.
  7. ^ 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".
  8. ^ Wall, John P. (1921). History of Middlesex County, New Jersey.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "Piscatawaytown Burial Ground" (PDF).
  11. ^ Survey, Historic American Buildings. "St. James Episcopal Church, Piscataway, Middlesex County, NJ". www.loc.gov.
  12. ^ 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."
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