A re-enactor fires his musket during a presentation at Washington Crossing State Park. The state DEP is asking for $8 million for a new interpretive center. (Star-Ledger file photo)
By Mark Di Ionno | NJ Advance Media
America's 250th birthday is coming, and guess who isn't on the "A" list?
Us. New Jersey. The Crossroads of the Revolution. A state rich in Revolutionary War history -- and the poorest in promoting it.
The United States Semiquincentennial Commission formed earlier this year includes four senators, four members of the House, 16 private citizens, a chairman and an executive director. Thirteen states are represented, including eight of the original 13 colonies.
Nicole Basile, of Somerville, fires a rifle during training during Revolutionary War Days at the Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton in 2014. (Star-Ledger file photo)
Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia have a voice. Of course. We all learn about the Declaration of Independence, Saratoga, Bunker Hill and, ultimately, Yorktown. Fair enough.
New Jersey? We had the battles at Trenton and Princeton, which changed the course of the Revolution, the largest man-for-man battle at Monmouth, the hardest winter (Jockey Hollow), the iron industry put the muscle in the army, the first officers’ training school (Pluckemin), the place where Washington wrote his farewell to arms (Rockingham). And on and on.
What we don’t have is a voice on the national commission.
Revolutionary War re-enactments take place yearly at Monmouth Battlefield, Trenton and Jockey Hollow as well as other New Jersey history sites. (Star-Ledger file photo)
The one Jersey guy on the commission is executive director Frank Giordano, who came to South Jersey by way of South Philly and is a graduate of Rutgers-Camden. But he is still a Philadelphia guy; CEO and president of Philly POPS and, as his orchestra bio says, “a fixture in Philadelphia’s leadership circles (who) serves on the boards of many meaningful and impactful organizations.” In Philadelphia.
One of the galleries housing part of the Kels Swan collection of Revolutionary War items at the Washington Crossing State Park Visitor Center Museum, one of the richest private Revolutionary War collections in the world. (Star-Ledger file photo)
“These are appointed positions,” said Jim Campi of the American Battlefield Trust in Washington, which is helping administrate the commission’s work. He did not know if any of New Jersey’s people in Congress asked to be appointed.
This is always scary. One motto of the Revolution was, “No Taxation without Representation.” Flip that one around. Without representation, New Jersey might get the short end of the federal dollars stick.
Jim Gibson of Fallsington, Pennsylvania, portrays George Washington at the annual Christmas re-enactment of the crossing of the Delaware. (Star-Ledger file photo)
As that great Jerseyan Yogi Berra once said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.
Let’s flash back to the bicennential. Actually, 20 years before. That’s when the smart people of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, created a heritage tourism plan around Valley Forge. With a $1 million state investment, the Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau was formed. Long story short, 2.2 million people visited Valley Forge last year, spending $40.1 million. Lump in Philadelphia, and Revolutionary War tourism is a $1.5 billion business in southeast Pennsylvania.
Here in New Jersey, we prepared for 1976 by putting up a couple of dozen signs outside places of significance. They were tin, with some kind of plastic weathering.
You get what you pay for.
Morristown National Historical Park – the nation’s first history park – and equally relevant as Valley Forge, drew 268,000 annual visitors. Many are daily users. Joggers. Dog walkers.
The bust of George Washington at Morristown National Historical Park. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
In August, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation to establish an American Revolution program, with a $500,000 annual appropriation up until 2026.
It’s a good start. Except … the state Department of Environmental Protection is requesting $34.2 million for historic site repair and development over the next seven years, including $8 million alone for an interpretive center at Washington Crossing State Park.
Any ambitious tourism program will be undermined if the parks are a wreck.
Legendary re-enactor Bill Chemerka, of Barnegat,speaks to visitors during Revolutionary War Days at the Red Mill Museum Village. (Star-Ledger file photo)
A few weeks ago, on a Sunday, I went to Fort Lee state park, on the site overrun by the British, which began Washington’s retreat across New Jersey. Almost no one was there, even with the stunning views of the GWB and Manhattan. The restrooms in the picnic grove were closed. The wood exterior of main building was rotting. The inside was dated.
Revolutionary War field medicine tools displayed at Oxford during a celebration of New Jersey history. (Star-Ledger file photo)
I’ve been writing about the disrepair of our state Revolutionary War sites for 20 years. Nothing changes.
We have no heritage tourism infrastructure. Trenton has been paved over. Monmouth is underutilized. Princeton needs a real interpretive center.
And if it wasn’t for a $4 million infusion from the American Battlefield Trust, much of the Princeton Battlefield would have been plowed over.
“We see the story of Trenton and Princeton as critical,” Campi said. “And the Princeton Battlefield can be the jewel. We are working on an interpretive plan right now.”
Re-enactors line up for tourists at one of many New Jersey Revolutionary War sites. (Star-Ledger file photo)
There is nothing but a monument and two plaques in Ocean and Atlantic counties to commemorate the Jersey privateers’ attacks on British supply ships, making it impossible for them to sustain their army in Philadelphia.
As long as I’ve been writing this column, there have been studies, and promises, and funding schemes to boost heritage tourism. The gains are incremental, not monumental.
The 250th Anniversary of this nation is eight years away. It will go by quicker than you think and if the state doesn't act with a real plan and real money, another chance for a good investment in state pride and heritage tourism will be lost.
The state is leaving money on the table for other places. Pennsylvania and New York have representation on the new USA 250th Commission. We don't. In some ways, we haven't earned it.
READ MORE FROM MARK Di IONNO
How the Watchung Mountains won the Revolution
A shocking murder. A haunted house. All part of N.J. history
Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkDiIonno. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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