Historic Warwick Blog: In Preparation for George Washington Day Picnic, July 28, 6-8, Copy of George Washington Expense Account, July, 1782

Saturday, July 21, 2012

In Preparation for George Washington Day Picnic, July 28, 6-8, Copy of George Washington Expense Account, July, 1782

The following two copies of account entries date from July, 1782 and correspond with George Washington's own visit on July 27, 1782 to Francis Baird's Tavern which is preserved to this day by the Warwick Historical Society. Although there is a presentation of an 18th century period tavern room in the current building the original tavern which George Washington visited was housed in a wooden section of the quarried and dressed stone Dutch Colonial style building that dates from 1766. recently a circa 1760-1790 Mallet wine bottle fragment was found on the footprint of the former tavern section site, and it could date from that very summer of 1782. From George Washington's Expense Account, By General George Washington & Marvin Kitman, Pfc. (Ret.), Simon and Schuster, New York: "[page] 46...July...Col. Trumbull acc. of exp. 7.14.9...Maj. Walkers Dor 29.6.9...Dole [Total] 160,056...Lawful [Total] 608,514.10..."

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At our Summer History Camp this year kids will dig up crystals that fluoresce under a special black light. The crystals were actually discovered in the area as early as the 1820s and collectors from all over the United States and Europe came to the specifically places like Amity in the Town of Warwick to find these rare specimens for their museums, universities and their private collections. One of the largest off site exhibitions of these crystals is found in the Ecoles des Mines in Paris; there are over 150 samples of minerals specifically from Amity, NY in that collection which were discovered in large in the 1830s. What is interesting to imagine is that geologist and mineralogists from the greatest institutions of higher learning were traveling by horseback and carriage to the wilds of Warwick in the 1820s and 1830s to find rocks for their cabinets of curiosities.

Wawayanda Furnace ( 19th century ) the furnace that many of us remember seeing on our trips to the New Jersey State Park actually was integral to iron ore production supplied by Warwick mines. On a recent sojourn into the woods we visited some local iron ore mines that would have supplied the mid-nineteenth century Wawayanda Furnace. Of course, these operations were supplanted by the end of the nineteenth century when places with better quality ore that were closer to cheaper forms of transportation, like water and rail shut them down.

Ken Hamilton, "Woodlands Interpreter", will present the early 18th century life of Algonquin-speaking people, like the Minsi people of the Lenape tribe, of what was later named by Benjamin Aske as "Warwick." Here we see a trade camp with historially accurate artifact reproductions produced by Mr. Hamilton by hand; he an accomplished leatherworker, blacksmith and silversmith. As an "historical artifact artist", Mr. Hamilton produces props used in many living history scenarios and museums throughout the country. He will share some of his knowledge with campers at the Summer History Camp 2012. See further details.