[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined by Sara Cureton, who's Executive Director of the New Jersey Historical Commission.

Their website's up right now.

Sara, great to have you with us.

- My pleasure.

Thanks for the invitation.

- You got it.

We're big into history, which is why people should check out our series, "Remember Them," with my colleague, our executive producer, Jacqui Tricarico, and co-anchor.

The website will be up.

Check out "Remember Them," and thank you to the Historical Commission for helping us to produce that program with great content.

Let folks know what the Historical Commission is because it's really important, particularly in this 250th anniversary of these United States.

Please, Sara.

- That's correct, the Semiquincentennial.

Yes, the New Jersey Historical Commission is a state agency.

We're located in the New Jersey Department of State, and we are dedicated to the preservation, advancement, and enjoyment of state history, so that's what we do.

- And again, check out the interview we did with the Secretary of State, the Lieutenant Governor, Dr.

Dale Caldwell, because Sara and her team are part of the Historical Commission reporting up to the Secretary of State, so that's an important discussion.

Sara, let me ask you, what is RevolutionNJ?

- Well, RevolutionNJ is the state's official initiative for planning for this 250th anniversary of the nation.

We were created by law in 2018, and we are a public-private partnership.

So we are the state part of it, the public part of it, and we have a nonprofit partner, which is Crossroads of the American Revolution.

So we've been working over the last, oh, seven or eight years to get ready for this big anniversary, so we're pretty excited to finally, finally be here.

- The history teacher Nick Ferroni.

He produced the series all about the Revolutionary War and New Jersey connection as well.

He's fabulous.

Check out the interview we just did with him.

Why is Ferroni, Nick Ferroni, and others who are doing this kind of work, why is that work so important?

'Cause it falls under that umbrella of the grant that you you folks have, right?

- Well, it is important work for many, many reasons.

I mean, history, obviously, I've spent my life working with history, and it's a continuing joy to me.

We think it's absolutely critical that people understand the past.

It's that foundation that we can build on together when we understand the full story to build that better future together.

But the other part about history that I think sometimes people overlook is it's so much fun.

And I think Nick really highlights that in his videos that he's been producing.

It's fascinating.

There are no more fascinating stories out there than the stories from our past.

So this is a great year to really invite everyone to dig into that, not only for the way it can help us understand where we wanna go, but it's just a whole lot of fun too.

- Hey, speaking of fun and what's fascinating, I'm a student of history and realize how much I don't know, New Jersey played an absolutely critical role in the Revolution, the Revolutionary War, and George Washington spent 25% of his time in the Garden state, which was not called the Garden State then.

Sara, pick that up.

- Well, and I think we have been underappreciated for 250 years (laughs) in terms of the critical role that New Jersey played, and more military engagements unfolded here in New Jersey.

But when you just think about the geography and our placement between New York and Philadelphia, you know, the two armies were crisscrossing New Jersey throughout the war.

The war was a long one.

It it goes on about eight years.

So, so many stories unfolded here, so many critical moments.

So we, over the next, you know, eight years or so are gonna have so much to unpack and explore as New Jerseyans.

- Your funding comes exclusively from the state of New Jersey?

- It does at the moment, yes.

We are very grateful that we've had an appropriation that began with that legislation in 2018.

That has enabled us to do a lot of great work to get ready for this, so that has been a critical key in the progress we've made.

I also wanna point out that the state also allocated $25 million to capital preservation work at 10 state-owned Revolutionary War sites.

So that's another huge project that- - Hold on, sorry, for interrupting.

What does that mean, capital?

You're talking about restoring?

- Yes, I am.

- Like what?

Like what?

- Well, actually, these particular projects have been focused on making improvements at 10 of these sites to really make them more visitor-ready, because that's a huge goal of ours, and that is to get more people out to New Jersey to explore our historic sites.

So a lot of that money has gone into improvements that are gonna make these sites better, be able to serve visitors from both in-state and out of state, so new signage, new walkways, accessible bathrooms, new visitor welcoming areas, and one of the really big projects, probably the biggest, is a brand new visitor center for Washington Crossing State Park.

- I was just gonna ask you about the Washington.

- Yeah.

- Sorry for interrupting again.

It's Washington Crossing State Park?

- Correct, so there's a park on the Pennsylvania side, but there's also a park, a beautiful park, on the New Jersey side.

And maybe a little known fact is that the old visitor center over there was actually created for the Bicentennial and was intended to be temporary.

So just look at that, 50 years later, we are so excited that a brand new visitor center is gonna be finished this year at Washington Crossing State Park with new exhibits.

Beautiful new location, so you can really look over the Delaware and see from the center where Washington crossed on that fateful night in 1776.

- We'll continue to do our programming celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country.

- Great.

- Let folks know why it's important to do that, Sara, to celebrate.

- Well, I think, these anniversaries are, in a way, arbitrary, but they give us an opportunity to both reflect on the past and reconnect with those ideals of the Revolution, and then think about how we wanna take those ideals into our future.

So it's a great opportunity that we don't want to miss to do that exploration and thinking and reconnection to each other, into those principles that started this country.

But as I, as I mentioned before, I'm a child of the Bicentennial, it's also creating some wonderful memories for our children and for our visitors that they're gonna carry forward and know that New Jersey history is something to be cherished, preserved, and enjoyed for many, many more years to come.

- Sara, we look forward to working with you and your team at the New Jersey Historical Commission and celebrating our 250th anniversary and also continuing our work on "Remember Them."

Thank you so much, Sara.

All the best.

- My pleasure.

Thanks so much.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by in support of the Adler Aphasia Center.

NJM Insurance Group.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

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Seton Hall University.

PSE&G.

The Fund for New Jersey.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

And by New Jersey Sharing Network.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by NJBIZ.

Hi, I'm Naomi Gwartz from the Adler Aphasia Center.

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