Newman: Hi.

I'm Darley Newman, and I'm here at Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

We are traveling throughout Southern New Jersey learning about the architecture of the American Revolution at the Greenwich Tea Burning Monument, where Brittney is spilling the tea on what happened at this site.

We think of the Boston Tea Party.

We think of them throwing the tea into the water, but here, they're burning the tea.

Brittney: Yeah.

Woman: This signals to the world that America can take on the British successfully.

Different woman: It's a chance to step back into time.

Man: There are a lot of untold stories.

[Singing in Native language] Different man: As opposed to just being slaves, they're human beings who were enslaved.

That's a huge difference.

Woman: People need to understand the fullness and richness of American history.

Newman: We're here to "Look Up."

♪ Southern New Jersey's long colonial heritage established small communities that would eventually be pulled into the conflict of the American Revolution, With British forces occupying Philadelphia, these towns often had to protect against threats to their cherished homes and buildings.

From Haddonfield's Indian King Tavern to the Greenwich Tea Burning in Cumberland County to Gloucester County's Red Bank Battlefield, the revolution left its mark, and historic places still remain.

We're starting in the City of Camden at Pomona Hall, a colonial-era mansion that's now home to the Camden County Historical Society.

Board President Chris Perks describes how the plantation house was later expanded upon to become a Georgian-style structure.

Perks: What's interesting about this house is, because it was built in two different time periods, you have one couple's initials and the date on one end of the house.

Newman: On the northern end of the house are the initials of Joseph Jr. and Mary Cooper, dated from 1726.

Perks: Then Marmaduke made this grand addition in 1788.

Newman: Is that kind of the line that I see delineating?

Perks: That is.

They actually moved the windows over at that time in order to get the symmetry around the front door to make it look like a grand manner.

Newman: For that Georgian architecture.

Perks: Exactly.

This is where you can see very well how the two different parts of the house were built.

On this side, the 1726 side, you'll see the floorboards are much wider, reflecting the native species.

Newman: We have this divide just as on the outside.

Perks: Exactly, so we like to tell the schoolchildren, when they stood here, they were a British citizen who reported to the King of England and lived in the colonies, but when they stand here, they're Americans who belong to the United States, and they belong to an independent country.

Newman: What would this area have looked like during the American Revolution?

Perks: When the British Army was resident in Philadelphia, they would cross over to this side at Cooper's Ferry in Camden and then march up what is now Haddon Avenue-- or they called it the Ferry Road-- to get to Haddonfield before they would then head south or head north.

Newman: So we think of New Jersey as a crossroads of the American Revolution, but Camden is definitely a crossroads.

Perks: It is.

Newman: Marmaduke Cooper's expanding agricultural trade relied on indentured servants as well as enslaved individuals.

In 1776, the Philadelphia Quakers required all their members to free all of the enslaved individuals, but Cooper refused.

Perks: In 1780, the meeting that he belonged to in Haddonfield... [Pop] kicked him out of the meeting.

They said, "No good, and you'll no longer be a member."

He did eventually free his enslaved persons before his death in 1795.

Newman: An art exhibition educates visitors about the enslaved individuals at Pomona Hall, thanks to the efforts of artists like Erik James Montgomery and Samir Nichols.

Montgomery: Researchers were looking into the lives of these people, these 17 names of formerly enslaved Africans who were owned by the Cooper family here in Camden, so when I had this opportunity, I knew I had the chance to actually use my photographic voice and tie it with my love of history.

I hired 17 people from the Camden City area to portray these enslaved Africans.

Now, with these photographs, it brings them to life, and it gives them a more human sense.

As opposed to just being slaves, they're human beings who were enslaved.

That's a huge difference.

Newman: Samir, you are one of the artists who participated in this project, and you were Luke.

Nichols: I had the privilege of portraying Luke as a part of the 17 enslaved persons of Pomona.

Newman: Why do you think it's important for people to visit places like this and also be able to contextualize history in a more personal way?

Nichols: This place is a home for many people, and for a long time, they've been largely left out of this home, and I think this project is going to open it back up for Black and Brown people to realize why they should go and visit museums that most people don't even realize is about them.

Camden's Benjamin Cooper House is an 18th-century farm and ferry stop constructed in 1734.

By the time of the Revolution, Cooper's Point and the ferry to Philadelphia had already become well-established, and the building expanded to also serve as a tavern.

Man: The taverns served a lot of purposes.

Newman: Historic preservation architect John Hatch describes how the Cooper's Ferry Inn was a key spot in the region.

What made the architecture here in Southern New Jersey notable during that time period?

Hatch: When New Jersey was originally a Dutch colony, so there are definitely influences of Dutch architecture, but by this time, the English were well-established, so you get this kind of stylistic mix, and the Benjamin Cooper Tavern is, like, a nice example.

From this angle, you can really get a sense of the gambrel roof and how much space it provided on the top floor for folks staying at the inn and for storage.

Newman: Obviously, we've got some restoration work happening here.

Hatch: Yep.

This is the first phase of restoration that's happening.

Part of its purpose is to be an American Revolution Museum of this part of New Jersey.

It's also going to talk about the history of Camden, like when it was a tavern.

It's really intended to be a community center.

Newman: So what was once a gathering place for the community will be once again.

Hatch: Exactly.

♪ Newman: We have made our own literary pilgrimage to the home of Walt Whitman, the first and only home that he ever owned, and it's here in Camden, but so many people made pilgrimages to come visit Whitman here-- people like Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde.

It's said that Whitman used to talk to people out of his window.

He was very social, so it's almost, like, a sad and happy visit to come here and then head down the road to the cemetery where Whitman is buried.

Walt Whitman's tomb in Camden's Harleigh Cemetery is an imposing, grand monument.

Bill Bolger talks about why choosing Camden over Philadelphia seemed a surprising choice for such a famous poet of the day.

Bill, what was Walt Whitman's connection to Camden?

Bolger: Well, he moved here after the Civil War to be with his brother, and he stayed for the rest of his life.

He really fell in love with Camden, and he could have easily moved across to Philadelphia.

He was a celebrated figure, and he had many friends over there.

I think he liked the working-class hustle and bustle of Camden.

This was a home that he could really embrace.

Newman: And this massive tomb over here, this stone is no joke.

Bolger: It is extremely massive.

It's 18-inch-thick granite from Quincy, Massachusetts, and so he's clearly thinking of a monument and an enduring monument.

This will be here for 10,000 years.

The tomb, in a sense, is something that I would have thought would never have existed because in his famous poem "Song of Myself," he ends by saying, "When I die and you look for me, "look at the dust under your feet.

I'm just going to be dust," and he winds up building a monument.

He would bring people to visit in his last years.

They would take a carriage out from his house, and he would show them where he would be for the rest of eternity.

♪ Before leaving the City of Camden, I make a stop at Corinne's Place, where owner Corrine Bradley-Powers has been making award-winning soul food since 1989.

Bradley-Powers: This is a passion of mine.

Newman: A passion that you turned into a business... Bradley-Powers: How about that?

Newman: and you also studied social work... Bradley-Powers: Yeah, yeah.

Newman: and you're big on giving back to the community.

Bradley-Powers: Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

I went to Rutgers, and I graduated, and I worked with juvenile intake.

That's a passion of mine, dealing with juveniles, and we have quite a few of them that started here 14 years old, and we got them through school, and they a lot of them are doctors and lawyers and social workers coming from here.

Newman: So Corinne's is more than just soul food.

It is soul food that feeds the soul.

Bradley-Powers: Absolutely.

Newman: A food critic who frequented Corinne's Place was so taken by her consistent quality that he nominated her for the James Beard Award.

Mm.

Bradley-Powers: As my mother raised us.

I don't know anything about TV dinners, see?

All of our food was always fresh.

Newman: I'm from South Carolina.

I know a good fried chicken.

Bradley-Powers: Oh, so you know the real deal, right?

The real deal.

♪ Newman: There were many smaller waterways in this region along the Delaware River.

Camden County had other communities that flourished because they made the most out of this 18th-century transportation system.

In Gloucester Township, historic architect Margaret Westfield takes me to the Gabreil Daveis Tavern Museum.

Westfield: There are other examples of taverns, but not ones that have maintained as much integrity as this one has.

This is pretty much what it looked like when Gabreil Daveis was here.

These are the original windows.

The panes of glass were small because manufacturing at that point, this was the size that they could make, and they're held by wood muntins, and then the shutters, when no one was here, they would, in fact, close these shutters.

They were functional.

Newman: And I noticed that we have these stones, and then there's brick on the other side.

Westfield: The other 3 elevations, which were the primary elevations, were executed in brick with glazed headers.

That's a decorative treatment that was used to indicate the date of construction, the initials of the builder, and that's all in the gable end.

We've done a lot of work over the years.

The first thing we did was reconstruct the pent roof, that little, projecting cornice on the front facade.

We've repointed the brickwork and the stonework.

We've replaced the wood shingle roof, and the changes that have occurred were to restore it back to its original appearance.

♪ Newman: Inside the Gabreil Daveis Tavern Museum, I meet guide Sharon Mickle.

Mickle: Gabreil Daveis was an enterprising businessman who lived on the property with his father and grandfather in the 1740s.

Mostly people traveled by boat, and travelers would come by the boatload, so the North Branch of Timber Creek, Gabreil Daveis built an earthen dam, and it made the boats have to stop, and it was quite convenient for the travelers to walk across the top of the dam and come right here to this tavern.

This house is showing what it was back in the 1700s, so I feel that it's really important.

It's a chance to step back into time.

♪ Newman: Close to the Delaware River at Red Bank Battlefield is another historic building-- the James and Ann Whitall House.

Margaret Westfield tells us what makes this structure unique.

The home is quite spacious.

What else is unusual about the design?

Westfield: The house dates to 1748, which, of course, is quite early during the Georgian period.

Typically, when we think about colonial-period houses, we think of, like, low ceilings and things like that.

That's clearly not the case here, and it was also very large.

It was 1,400 square feet.

For the time, people had entire homes that would fit into this one room, and here, they had two parlors off to the side.

Up above, there are 4 bedrooms, but what's particularly interesting about it is, we're standing right now in that family space, but right on the other side here is a doorway that leads to a business space, the office for James Whitall, and he had people come through a separate doorway to visit him in his office and maintain the family's privacy.

Newman: And that was unusual for homes and farm homes of this time period.

Westfield: Oh, totally.

In fact, within the whole United States, there are only 3 examples, and this is the most sophisticated of all of them.

James and Ann Whitall's property, unfortunately, appealed to revolutionary planners looking to build a fort over the Delaware River.

Jen Janofsky, a professor of public history at Rowan University, has been doing archeological research at the site.

Janofsky: Ann Whitall was the matriarch of the family.

Her husband James and her constructed this home in 1748.

They had 9 children here.

They were conservative Quakers, and they became one of the most affluent families in Gloucester County, but in 1777, in the spring, the American Patriot forces show up and say, "We would like to build a fort on your property," so you can imagine the reaction of conservative Quakers to that type of situation.

The American forces quickly seized the northern end of the property and cut down all of those fruit orchards that they had took generations to cultivate, and that becomes the raw material for what's known as Fort Mercer.

Defending the fort, you have the Rhode Island regiments under the command of Colonel Christopher Greene, and what makes those regiments so interesting is that they're fully integrated, so there are white soldiers fighting with African American soldiers, fighting with Indigenous soldiers.

It's this unique moment in Revolutionary War history where everybody is fighting for freedom, but how people define freedom varied individually.

The Battle of Red Bank occurs on October 22, 1777.

The property is 100% decimated by battle, and the family never financially recovered from the battle that took place in their backyard.

Newman: Red Bank Battle was a turning point in the American Revolution.

Janofsky: Absolutely.

In the Philadelphia campaign, you saw loss after loss after loss.

This is a victory.

The battle is over in under 45 minutes, and it's the biggest loss of life that the Hessians experience in the American Revolution.

This signals to the world that America can take on the British successfully.

Newman: Dr. Janofsky takes me out to explore the battlefield and to visit the site where the remains of Hessian soldiers were found in 2022.

We're standing up on this high hill overlooking the river and the water.

Is this what we would have seen back during that time period?

Is this sort of the topography?

Janofsky: Essentially, yes.

The reason why the Patriot forces wanted to put a fort here is because we're standing on a 30-foot bluff overlooking the river, so it's an ideal spot for a river fortification.

Newman: I read about your work here.

You were on what you thought would be a routine dig, and you found human remains.

Janofsky: Yes, so where we were working was not a documented burial site.

It ended up that we had the remains of 15 individuals, Hessian soldiers, who were lost on October 22, 1777.

Newman: Research related to this incredible archeological discovery continues, including DNA analysis of bone fragments.

In addition to ammunition, rare coins, and other artifacts from the American Revolution, there have also been numerous finds related to the Lenni Lenape Nation.

Bringing more of this history into the mainstream is an important mission for Ty "Dancing Wolf" Ellis Jr. of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation.

Ellis: The Lenape, we were included in a way that we knew the lay of the land.

This was the land of our ancestors.

This is the land of our ancestors.

They were the keepers of this land so that they knew the layout of the land, what was where, the resources, and so that kind of played a part as far as having supplies and things like that.

We also gave passage through the Delaware River because Delaware River is right in the middle of Lenape territory.

Newman: Why is it important to share this history now?

Ellis: There are a lot of untold stories of minorities, including Indigenous people, as well as those of African descent.

Up until the last 15, 20 years, our stories have been told by people who aren't our people.

[Singing in Native language] We need to be a part of telling our story, the true story, when it comes to talking about Lenapehoking.

[Singing continues] I think we're now in a time where people are sharing who they are.

They're sharing their belief systems openly and, in most cases, are accepted.

[Singing continues] ♪ Newman: In nearby Woodbury, Gerald O'Connor of the Gloucester County Historical Society points out historic spots located along Main Street.

O'Connor: So, of course, we have the Hunter-Lawrence house here.

Up ahead, we have one of Ben Franklin's relatives, the Franklin House.

Further down the street is the Friends Meeting House that dates back to 1715 and is still in continuous use.

Newman: It's thought that the bricks left over from the Friends Meeting House were also used to build the Wilkin's Inn.

Gerald was instrumental in saving and restoring this New Jersey and national landmark inn, now known as Charlie Brown's Fresh Grill.

O'Connor: So during the 1700s, this area was predominantly Quaker, so one thing that is important about Woodbury is that when 1776 hit, Quakers of both New Jersey and Pennsylvania all agreed that they must go against slavery, and anyone part of the community had to release their slaves.

♪ Newman: Further inland but still in Camden County, the Borough of Haddonfield and its bustling Quaker community also experienced the challenges of being so close to Philadelphia during the Revolution.

Historian Doug Rauschenberger points out the Indian King Tavern and a few other buildings that still survive.

Haddonfield during the American Revolution, small village, but a lot of activity happening here.

Rauschenberger: A lot of activity, actually, most of it unwanted by the Quakers here.

This was a Quaker town.

Haddonfield was really the business center for all of South Jersey.

It also served as the militia center.

Again, they didn't want the militia to be here, but here they were, a lot of foraging by troops.

Some buildings were burned down, so it was a time of great stress for the Quakers here, and the guard house across the street from the Indian King Tavern housed people who were on trial for various offenses against the Revolutionary government.

♪ Newman: The Indian King Tavern served as a key meeting place during the American Revolution and later was New Jersey's first state-owned historic site.

Michelle Hughes talks about the day-to-day life at this busy tavern.

Michelle, it looks like we've just had someone eating their eggs and leaving this tavern.

Hughes: Yes, indeed.

We try to make it look like everyone just got up and left.

This is the public dining room.

This is a space for boys and men only, for both travelers and locals to enjoy a nice meal, so now we're heading into the taproom or bar room.

This is everyone's favorite room.

This is where the heavy drinking in the tavern is going to happen, boys and men.

You see me leaning on the bar here.

This is a caged bar because this tavern offered lodging, so the tavern keeper has the ability to put that gate down and lock up the open alcohol through the overnight hours when strangers are sleeping in the building.

Newman: Taverns were a big part of life during the American Revolution.

Tell me about what would have been happening on a day-to-day basis in these taverns.

Hughes: So you were going to have a lot of political talk, also have business deals.

Maybe you need to buy a pig and I have a pig for sale, although when I say "us," I don't mean us because we're females.

Newman: We would not be in this room.

Hughes: No, not at all.

To serve, yes, but as customers, not, not OK, so this room is the private dining room, and this is where mixed company gets to be in the tavern, so you can see it's a little bit fancier because the behavior and the decorum in here is hopefully better than it is through the rest of the tavern.

Newman: "The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey."

It is the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.

It was adopted here in March of 1777 while the New Jersey legislature was convening here.

It isn't safe for the legislature to convene at Princeton University anymore, then the College of New Jersey, so they wind up traveling down here to Haddonfield to meet between January and September of 1777.

Newman: So they head down to Haddonfield, and there's momentous meetings here.

Hughes: They meet in this room in joint session led by Governor William Livingston and make many decisions about our state government.

Newman: A lot has happened in this Indian King Tavern here in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

♪ Camden County's Borough of Lawnside was selected for a sign commemorating African American contributions related to the Revolutionary War.

Linda Shockley, President of the Lawnside Historical Society, shares the story.

Shockley: It's significant that people understand the role that African Americans played in the Revolutionary War.

We've heard of Crispus Attucks over and over again and Salem Poor, but there are so many others, people in Burlington County, like Oliver Cromwell, fighting with the revolutionary cause.

The 1st Rhode Island Regiment and the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment were comprised primarily of African Americans and Native Americans who thought it was important to support the cause for liberty.

Newman: Lawnside has a rich history related to African Americans escaping to freedom in the 19th century, including the Peter Mott House, a renovated station along the Underground Railroad that now houses a museum.

Shockley: Peter Mont House is a special architectural monument as far as we're concerned in Lawnside.

It's a two-story house.

It was unique for an African American to have a house of that size in an African American community that also served as a way station on the Underground Railroad.

Newman: So members of the community here, some of them can trace their roots back to the Underground Railroad.

Shockley: It's really inspiring to have people with that connection and who still know their family history.

People need to understand the fullness and richness of American history, and if you eliminate certain members of the community, you don't understand the full breadth of what America is and how it became what it is today.

♪ Newman: While many people know about the Boston Tea Party, Brittney Ingersoll of the Cumberland County Historical Society tells us that there were other tea protests, including a tea burning that took place in Greenwich, New Jersey, about an hour's drive from Philadelphia.

We visit the monument to this important but lesser-known event.

Ingersoll: Here's our monument for the tea burning that occurred here on December 22, 1774.

On the monument is the names of the people who either have documentation of burning the tea or who were associated with it and named later.

This is one of the last tea incidents that occurred up and down the East Coast.

Newman: So this is one of several tea parties.

We think of the Boston Tea Party.

We think of them throwing the tea into the water, but here, they're burning the tea.

Ingersoll: Yeah.

Even though the destruction of the tea was very different, the people who were involved here did the same things that the Sons of Liberty did in terms of dressing as Indigenous people while burning the tea.

Newman: Patriots were standing up to government regulations and the East India Company in a fight for independence.

What happened in Greenwich is just another example of the small and large events that touched communities throughout Southern New Jersey during the Revolutionary War.

We started this adventure in Southern New Jersey thinking that we were going to learn about the architecture here related to the American Revolution, but it turns out, we have learned so much more related to history, culture, and the modern-day men and women who are stewards, preserving the history here and passing it on to the next generation.

I'm Darley Newman.

Thanks for joining me.

Man: OK. Quick clap.

Newman: Ha ha!

Thank you for your support.

See some beautiful fake food out.

Hughes: Nope.

Sorry.

Newman: Ha ha ha!

O'Connor: Hi.

Newman: Is that your-- O'Connor: It's one of my fans.

♪ Newman: OK. Ha ha!

Mickle: They could rent out-- Newman: Teeter totter back to their boats.

Thanks for joining me.

Let's go.

♪ Ha ha ha!

Woman: Hip hip... Newman and Hughes: Huzzah.