The father of the country was at home in this state
I'm a George Washington guy.
No disrespect to Abraham Lincoln, FDR or JFK, or the other 40 chief execs, but President's Day started out as Washington's Birthday and should have stayed that way.
In fact, it still is, officially. The federal government never changed the name from Washington's Birthday. Car dealers, mattress stores and PC state government's did that.
So the holiday we celebrated last week has devolved from its original intent, to honor "The Father of Our Country," the man who won the Revolutionary War and then shaped a stable government from the political chaos that followed.
MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns
Tomorrow, Feb. 22, is the real Washington's Birthday, mandated by Congress in 1879, the 100th anniversary of his inauguration. At first, it was a holiday only for federal workers in the nation's capital. It was expanded nationally in 1885.
Then, in 1971, the holiday got tinkered with. Instead of separate holidays for Washington and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12), a three-day weekend on "the third Monday of February" was legislated. Since the third Monday can only fall as late as Feb. 21 in the 28-day month, Washington's Birthday can never be celebrated on Washington's birthday. (Side note to nitpickers: Yes, Washington was actually born on Feb. 11, 1731, according to the ancient calendar of Julius Caesar, but when Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Washington's birthdate became what it is today.)
Washington once wrote, "A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty (is) more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?"
In that spirit, here is a primer on George Washington in New Jersey. His legacy here should be a source of state pride. Our Revolutionary War battlefields and historic sites should be national tourist destinations, not afterthoughts sinking to the bottom of the state budget. The war was fought and won here, as much as anywhere.
Much of Washington's legacy was made in this state, from the Hudson to the Delaware, and most everywhere in between.
The George Washington Bridge spans the place where two Hudson River forts fell, beginning the Continental Army's miserable retreat across New Jersey. Washington Crossing State Park marks the area where he re-crossed into the state before the victories at Trenton and Princeton, which re-ignited the dying embers of the Revolution.
Monmouth was the biggest troop-on-troop battle of the war. New Jersey privateers, sailing out of the tidal rivers through sand bars of Barnegat Bay and Egg Harbor, disrupted British supply ships. The Watchung Mountains provided impassable cover for the Continental Army for almost half the war. The first officer's training camp was there, in Pluckemin.
That's why in New Jersey, we have six Washington Townships and a Washington Borough and another half-dozen Washington-named sections or villages. He was here.
We have two Washington Rocks. One in the South Mountain Reservation and one in Green Brook, both high up on Watchung Mountain ridges. The South Mountain rock looks east, toward where the British were ensconced in New York and Staten Island. The Green Brook rock looks southwest, toward New Brunswick. From these lookouts, Washington and his officers kept an eye on significant British troop movement.
From his headquarters in Morristown, he entertained Lafayette and won the help of the French.
From his headquarters in Somerville, he plotted "Sullivan's March," the war in the west against hostile Native Americans.
He wrote his farewell to arms at Rockingham.
The Morristown site, called the Ford Mansion, and the wooded Jockey Hollow, where the troops stayed during the hardest winter of the war, became the nation's first historic national park in 1933.
The Dey Estate in Wayne and the Wallace House in Somerville are state historic sites. There are more than 20 other colonial homes still standing in New Jersey where Washington stayed, including a private home in Hopewell where he held the largest war council of the Revolution before the Battle of Monmouth.
This is our history. George Washington's footprints are all over the state and our road maps tell the story.
Washington Street, in Newark, is where he camped during the retreat and where Thomas Paine wrote the opening words of "The Crisis."
Washington Street, in Lambertville, is near Coryell's Landing, the ferry docks at which Washington crossed the Delaware twice.
Washington Avenue, in Bound Brook, is the battle site the British tried to attack at the base of the Watchung Mountains.
These are just a few examples.
There are sculptures and monuments to him in many places. He looks over Broad Street in Newark and Ford Avenue in Morristown.
On Freehold's Battle of Monmouth monument, he strategizes in one relief panel and rallies troops in another. On the Princeton monument, Lady Liberty urges him on.
This is our history, our state and country, and it remains right in front of us to discover and explore. And to learn about the man and read his words, which still apply today. Especially today.
Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.
