Pluckemin Artillery Encampment Receives Official Placement on the National Register of Historic Places
What’s New in Pluckemin Artillery Park State and National Register Nomination
October 28, 2008 Update
Pluckemin Continental Artillery Cantonment Site (ID#4769)
Near junction of US Routes 202-206 and Washington Valley Road
SR: 1/17/2008 (Approved to State Register)
NR: 3/14/2008 (NR Reference #: 08000180) (Approved to the National Register)
Artillery Park Wins Place on National Register
High on Schley Mountain in The Hills residential development, a little known slice of Revolutionary War history is now preserved for future generations. Pluckemin Artillery Park, which housed and trained the Continental Army during 1778 and 1779, is now on the state Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service voted in February and finally approved the Bedminster Township owned site for the National Register of Historic Places on March 14, 2008.
Here's what being on the Register gets:
THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
- RECOGNIZES Places Important in the Nation’s History
- MAKES Places Eligible for Federal Assistance (Crossroads of the American Revolution Heritage Area)
- REQUIRES Federal Agencies to take steps to protect Places from harmful
actions by Government
- DOES NOT Restrict actions of private owners
- DOES NOT require Public Access
The process was as follows:
1. Nomination Prepared
2. Reviewed by the State
3. Revisions if Necessary
4. Approved by State Historic Preservation Officer
(and also placed on the State Register)
5. Forwarded to National Park Service with recommendation
6. Approved by the Secretary of the Interior
7. Placed on the National Register
Grant Approval to Begin Work
In a related development, the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission awarded Bedminster a grant of $60,000 to catalogue and analyze artifacts and data from the architectural dig that went on at the Artillery Park site from 1979 to 1989. This means that many of the 190,000-plus artifacts collected during the dig and stored at a secure facility in New Jersey and at Washington College in Chestertown, MD, can be properly examined and catalogued. The best pieces will be on permanent exhibit at the Vanderveer House museum. Where the dig took place and the surrounding area are not accessible to visitors at this time, but some day there could be a road link between the Artillery Park site and the Vanderveer House.
While the National Park Service was making its decision, a group of academics and professionals was hard at work at the first phase of cataloguing dig items, thanks to the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission grant. Dr. Richard Veit, an associate professor of anthropology at Monmouth University, is a part of the team as is Dr. John Seidel, director of the Center for the Environment and Society at Washington College and associate professor there. While he was at Rutgers 30 years ago, Seidel headed the Pluckemin Archaeological Project along with historian Clifford Sekel.
The Pluckemin Artillery Park also added
to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places!
Being on the state Register means that the Artillery Park site, located in the middle of The Hills development, will be forever protected from any undertaking that would adversely affect the property. The actual site is owned by the Township of Bedminster.
The state Review Board for Historic Sites, meeting in Trenton, nominated the site for listing on Oct. 30 and will be forwarding the nomination to the National Park Service for its review so that the Artillery Park can get on the National Register of Historic Places. Listing on the state register does not guarantee listing on the National Register, although it increases an application’s chances for listing.
National Park Service officials will make their decision by the end of February. The application to the state and national Registers was made on behalf of Bedminster Township, with the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House taking an active interest. Dr. Ian Burrow of Hunter Research in Trenton, who has done extensive archeological work at the Jacobus Vanderveer House, defended the site application before the state Review Board. Before listing the Artillery Park site the state Review Board asked Dr. Burrow to make a few changes in the site application, which he did.
For additional information and details NJ Historic Preservation Office, please visit http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/ or http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/lists/somerset.pdf
For additional information, please visit the National Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/nr/
September 30, 2007 Press Release
What’s New in Pluckemin Artillery Park State and National Register Nomination
The state’s Historic Preservation Office has scheduled the review of the Pluckemin Artillery Park nomination for Oct. 30.
Speaking on behalf of the application will be Dr. Ian Burrow of Hunter Research in Trenton, who has done extensive archeological work at the Jacobus Vanderveer House and is very well acquainted with the Artillery Park site.
At that time, the state’s Historic Sites Committee will decide whether or not to recommend the site for listing on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. New Jersey will then send the nomination to the federal government for its review. Listing on the state register does not guarantee listing on the National Register, although it increases an application’s chances for listing.
If the site gets the state imprimatur, National Register officials will make their decision by the end of February 2008.
For additional information and details NJ Historic Preservation Office, please visit http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/
For additional information, please visit the National Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/nr/
Submitted: September 30, 2007
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