New Brunswick

First Reformed Church of New Brunswick

Church · 9 Bayard St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

One of the oldest Reformed congregations in New Jersey, with roots predating the Revolution. The church served as a focal point for the Dutch Reformed community of Middlesex County, many of whom were patriot supporters. During the British occupation of New Brunswick in late 1776 and 1777, the church and its surrounding neighborhood were subject to the foraging and property destruction that alienated much of the civilian population from the British cause. Its continuing presence anchors the colonial streetscape of downtown New Brunswick.

Joyce Kilmer Historic District

Landmark · Joyce Kilmer Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

The Joyce Kilmer neighborhood preserves some of the oldest surviving streetscape in New Brunswick, including properties that date to the colonial and early Federal periods. Continental Army encampments in 1776–1777 were spread across what is now the city's east side, with supply stores and artillery parks in the area near the river. The district provides the best surviving sense of New Brunswick's scale and layout during the Revolutionary period, when it was a mid-sized market town controlling the Raritan crossing on the main post road between New York and Philadelphia.

Old Queens Building, Rutgers University

Landmark · 83 Somerset St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

The oldest building on the Rutgers University campus, dating to 1809 but standing on the grounds of Queens College, chartered in 1766 as the colonial predecessor of Rutgers. Queens College was the eighth college founded in colonial America, established by the Dutch Reformed Church and intimately connected to the Bergen and Middlesex County communities that experienced the Revolution's full arc — occupation, forage wars, and liberation. The Rutgers campus preserves and interprets the colonial and Revolutionary history of New Brunswick through its library collections and Queens Campus.

Raritan River Crossing Site

Landmark · Albany Street Bridge, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

The Albany Street bridge over the Raritan River marks the approximate location of the colonial bridge that Washington ordered destroyed on December 1, 1776, to delay the British pursuit. The Raritan at New Brunswick was the most significant river crossing in the retreat corridor from Fort Lee to Trenton, wide enough to stop an army temporarily and forcing British commanders to pause before rebuilding the crossing. Washington crossed here multiple times in 1776 and 1777, and the river's crossing points shaped every phase of the campaign.