Featured Union County Historic Sites
Union County has a deep Revolutionary War and colonial history, with landmark homes, churches, taverns, and civic sites that connect local communities to the founding years of New Jersey and the United States.
Union County Historic Snapshot
Revolutionary War Landmarks
Caldwell's Home, Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church, Cannonball House, Liberty Hall, and Frazee Homestead connect Union County towns to 18th-century conflict and local patriot history.
Elizabeth Heritage
Belcher-Ogden Mansion, Boxwood Hall, Elizabeth Presbyterian Church, and the first site of Princeton University highlight Elizabeth's colonial and early national importance.
Historic Taverns & Inns
Merchants and Drovers Tavern, Stage House Inn, and Terrill Tavern preserve the story of travel, commerce, and roadways between Philadelphia, Elizabethtown, and New York.
Churches & Civic Places
Westfield Church, First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, and Summit Opera House add religious, civic, and cultural history to the countywide historic directory.
Union County Historic Places Directory
Use this directory to explore historic places and heritage attractions across Union County. Original image references from the uploaded page have been preserved.
Abraham Clark House
West Ninth Avenue and Chestnut Street
Roselle, NJ 07203
Home of Abraham Clark, 1726 - 1794, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey. He lived on this site during the formative period of the republic.
Belcher-Ogden Mansion
East Jersey Street and Catherine Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
The Belcher Ogden Mansion was the 1750s residence of Governor Jonathan Belcher of New Jersey, who brought the royal colony’s government to this house. Belcher also sponsored the College of New Jersey, which became Princeton University, and gave his library of over 400 books to that institution. Subsequent owners entertained George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette here. In 1812, resident owner Aaron Ogden was elected New Jersey Governor.
Boxwood Hall
East Jersey Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
Samuel Woodruff, Elizabethtown mayor, built Boxwood Hall about 1750. From 1772 to 1795 it was the home of Elias Boudinot, who served as president of the Continental Congress after the colonies signed a peace treaty with England, ending the Revolutionary War. In 1789, George Washington took lunch here on his way to Manhattan to be sworn in as the United States’ first president. Jonathan Dayton, a signer of the Constitution and later a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, lived here from 1795 to 1824.
Caldwell’s Home
Caldwell Avenue
Union, NJ 07083
Site of the parsonage used by the James Caldwell family. The home was burned by the British in 1780. Mrs. Caldwell was killed by a British soldier. Reverend James Caldwell and his wife Hannah moved to this site after his church in Elizabethtown was burned by the British army on January 25, 1780. Caldwell was Chaplain of the New Jersey Brigade.
Cannonball House - Hutching House
Morris Avenue
Springfield, NJ 07081
The Hutching House is called the Cannonball House because it was hit by cannon fire during the Battle of Springfield. It was one of only four houses in Springfield not burned by the retreating British. The farmstead and dwelling were built about 1740, and a cannonball pierced the west wall during the Battle of Springfield on June 23, 1780.
Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church
Stuyvesant Avenue and Chestnut Street
Union, NJ 07083
Here stood the Presbyterian Church, and here was fought the battle of June 7, 1780, between American forces under General Maxwell and Colonel Dayton and the British army on its advance to Springfield. The church and village were burned by the British during their retreat. On June 23, 1780, the British second advance here formed into two columns and moved to Springfield, where they were repulsed.
Elizabeth Presbyterian Church
Broad Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
This church was organized about 1664. The edifice that stood on this spot was burned by the British on January 25, 1780, during the pastorate of Reverend James Caldwell, Chaplain in the New Jersey Brigade under Washington. This building was completed in 1789. Thirty-six commissioned officers and many non-commissioned officers and privates from the congregation fought during the Revolution for American Independence.
First Presbyterian Church of Springfield
Morris Avenue and Church Mall
Springfield, NJ 07081
Site of a church used as a storehouse in the Revolution and destroyed by the British in the Battle of Springfield. The present church was built in 1791.
First Site of Princeton University
Broad Street and Caldwell Place
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
The first site of Princeton University, incorporated October 22, 1746.
Frazee Homestead
Raritan Road
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
Circa 1750, the Frazee Homestead is remembered for Betty Frazee’s famous response to British General Cornwallis during the Battle of Short Hills on June 26, 1777. When he stopped to ask for bread, she is remembered for saying, “I give you this in fear, not in love.”
Liberty Hall
Morris Avenue
Union, NJ 07083
Built in 1772 by William Livingston, later a patriot leader, Governor of New Jersey from 1776 to 1790, and member of the Constitutional Convention. On June 7, 1780, about 5,000 British and Hessian troops invaded Connecticut Farms, now Union Township, and stopped at Governor Livingston’s home located at this site.
Merchants and Drovers Tavern
St Georges Avenue
Rahway, NJ 07065
This tavern, built in 1780, also served as an inn and a stagecoach stop. George Washington passed through Rahway on April 23, 1789, on his way to his inauguration in New York. While here, he was entertained in this tavern by gentlemen of the town.
Stage House Inn
Front Street
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
The center section was built in 1737 and became an inn during stagecoach days. It was enlarged in the early 19th century for summer boarders.
Summit Opera House
2 Kent Blvd
Summit, NJ 07901
The building on this site was designed in 1893 for the Women’s Temperance Union by architect Theodore Mead, Jr. In return for title to the property, Civil War veteran Joel G. Van Cise completed the construction and provided the W.C.T.U. with a local headquarters. He also used the site as a rostrum when he ran for U.S. President on the Prohibition Party ticket.
Terrill Tavern
Westfield Avenue and St Georges Avenue
Rahway, NJ 07065
The Abraham Terrill Tavern served travelers in colonial times. At that time, St Georges Avenue was known as the King’s Highway or County Road to Elizabethtown and was along a primary route between Philadelphia and New York.
Westfield Church
East Broad Street
Westfield, NJ 07090
The congregation was organized in 1727. The second church was the site of the trial of Parson Caldwell’s killer. The present church was dedicated in 1862.
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