A Drive Around Central Jersey

When I was younger, I felt that it would be fascinating to discover some of the more historical parts of the Garden State that I lived in. One major advantage to living on the east coast here in the United States are those reminders of history, and the American Revolution was of particular fascination to me. In certain respects, it still is. It hearkens back to a time when the young nation, then just emerging, was seemingly ahead of it's time and punching harder than it's weight, getting the world to notice not only how it managed to thwart the dominant world empire of it's time, but how idealism could be put to practical use to promote a democracy that got more people involved than was traditionally the case.

These days, of course, the United States is the dominant world empire of it's time, at least for the time being (even if we seem to be doing everything possible to undermine this unique status), and we collectively seem to hold value in the antithesis of any kind of idealism, or even the notion of giving regular people greater power. After all, the United States now stands alone - and has for decades - remains as the only developed nation that fails to provide it's own citizens with some form of universal, affordable healthcare, and the only nation in the world that rejects the reality of climate change, the only major nation that stands in opposition to things like greater protection for girls against violence and banning landmines. There are more people behind bars here in the "land of the free" than any other nation in the world. We waste and pollute more per head than any other major nation in the world. And clearly, racism is a stubborn problem that the United States most certainly has not managed to cope with and, moreover, which seems almost to be getting worse, not better. Sometimes, it feels like the most racist nation on earth.

Couple that with the general stagnation in other areas, as we lag behind others in infrastructure, with our crumbling bridges and road, and our education system, once the top-rated education system in the world, now consistently falling farther and farther behind other industrialized nations, which means that we are basically failing to secure a brighter future for our kids, and the outlook for future generations looks and feels bleak. 

That was what I saw, and yet I saw so many Americans - particularly young people like myself at the time - seemingly indifferent to it all, and pleasantly distracted with the myriad distractions that were abundantly offered, and which gave the impression, to them, that everything was right with the world. So long as we had music that we liked to listen to, so long as we had movies and television shows and video games to keep us entertained, and so long as there were relatively cheap consumer goods to collect and accumulate, than everything was just fine and dandy, it seemed. At least, that was what it felt like the unstated message was.

Such a distracted society that fails to uphold it's traditional values is destined to encounter some hard times, and we can definitely make the argument that things have now fallen on hard times here in the United States. Everything feels stagnant, and the vast majority of our leaders hardly command basic respect, let alone the ability to inspire people, the way American leaders even decades ago were seemingly able to do. Let's face it: Trump does not command the universal respect that Eisenhower did, nor does he inspire like Kennedy did. He may talk the big game about himself, but he has not done anything remotely comparable to FDR lifting the nation from it's knees during the grinding poverty of the Great Depression, and then leading us through most of the deadliest war in human history, to boot. 

So, you might understand, then, why I was fascinated with the American Revolution, when this then young and small nation, still seen as a rural backwater, nevertheless produced some of the greatest leaders and thinkers that had ever been seen in human history. George Washington could have become king, but he opted to try and be a stable presence in promoting the democratic experiment instead. Robespierre and Napoleon could not do that in France, and Bolivar was unable to do that in South America. Despite some of their personal faults and/or limitations, great and inspiring minds like Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, and Adams, to name just some of the more famous ones. And the ideals emanating from it, and the democratic experiment and expansion of freedom - limited as it still was at the time - that the young democracy was attempting would serve to inspire other major historical movements in other parts of the world, particularly in France leading up to the revolution, Haiti, and Latin America. 

Of course, like with everything else, the generally greatly filtered and idealized version of history that you get when younger begins to look a lot different once you peel away at the surfaces. The hypocrisy of many of these leaders, such as Jefferson and Patrick Henry, who cried out for greater freedom while they themselves were slave owners, begins to be inescapable. The reality that the greater freedoms were relegated to white male property owners is another truth that was not so wonderful or idyllic as the more sanitized version of history had promoted. Women being excluded from participating in the democracy for more than a century afterwards was yet one more thing that took the shine off of the seemingly brilliant and inspiring revolution that changed the world. Before long, if you are not careful, these things can become depressing reminders of how limited some of these events, and the people behind them, actually were, and how it too often feels that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In any case, I digress....

This post was meant to be published a very long time ago. Meaning, literally years ago. These pictures were taken during the spring some years ago, as I recall, and it was meant simply to show another side to the area that I live in, which is more or less North-Central New Jersey. In my hometown of Hillsborough, away from Route 206 and the strips malls that dominate both sides of that stretch of road in the middle of town, there is another part that is much more charming. 

On that day a few years ago, I drove around this area a bit. It is wooded and hilly, and the homes here tend to be larger, properties more spaced out. There are also some farms and charming fields, even some places where you can get some food fresh from the farm. Every now and then, my girlfriend drives by these places on her way to or back from work, and will stop to pick up some fresh strawberries or eggs or some such thing. 

Also, as the pictures show, there are some historical places in and around town. John Hart's Cave (not sure why it's called that) is technically in the nearby town, I believe, of East Amwell. The Dirck Gulick House, meanwhile, is in neighboring Montgomery Township, the town in between Hillsborough and Princeton. Still, it was fascinating to see these places. Some of these places that date back hundreds of years, which is still quite old by the standards of North America. I had heard about them as a kid, but it is cool to see some other places that date back to the colonial era. The only homes that I can specifically remember dating back that far here in New Jersey during my childhood were the Ringwood Manor, Washington's Headquarters in Morristown, and Jockey Hollow. That was about it. These were cool to kind of accidentally stumble upon during my rather enjoyable afternoon drive.

Here are some pictures. Enjoy!