USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > History of Montclair township state of New Jersey; including the history of the families who have been identified with its growth and prosperity > Part 5
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OLD ROADS.
The first publie statute passed by the General Assembly of the Province of East Jersey, made provision for the laying out and improvement of roads. This was in November. 1675. A resolution was adopted by the Town Meeting, at Newark. on December 12. 1681. " That there shall be Surveyors chosen to lay out a Highway as far as the Mountain. if need be."
Apparently no further action was taken at the time, and the planters at the mountain were obliged to follow the Indian paths in passing to and from the river. for some years.
On the sth of October. 1705, the Commissioners for Newark. Andrew Hampton. Theopelus Pierson, and Jasper ('rane, laid out the several highways, which are described as follows:
" First a Road from the Town to the foot of the Mountain. or Wheeler's as the Path now runs as streight as the Ground will allow.
" An other road from -aid Road, South, by a line of mark'd trees to Joseph Riggs' House.
" An other Road from the said Riggs' to Town to run by a path as streight as may be, and by a Line of mark'd Trees, from first mentioned Road North, at Foot of said Mountain.
" An other Road running by a line of marked Trees unto Anthony Olieve's (Olitf) House.
" An other Road running from $'d Anthony's House to first mention'd Road, by a Line of mark'd Trees and path to the other Road running from i'd Anthony's Road to Caleb Ball's House, by path and mark'd Trees.
" An other Road, running N.E. from > d Road to Town, by a path and Nuttman's line.
" An other High-way from the way at the foot of the Mountain, running up to the top of the Mountain, beginning on the North side of Amos Williams Honse : thenee in the line between Amos and John Johnson as near as may be to Rocks. North to the Notch."
The "mark'd trees" referred to indicate the Indian paths or the paths of the planters through the forests. The system of " marking" or " blazing " trees consisted in cutting with the hatchet, trees at intervals through the forests to mark the way so that a person might be able to return by the same ronte. The planter- might have followed the Indian paths. or marked out new ones for themselves. When the surveyors first commenced laying out the road or roads to the mountain, instead of taking a direct line to the mountain, they evidently followed these beaten tracks or " paths." hence it is difficult at this late day to trace definitely the line of any of the old roads.
The first road described. viz., that " from Town to the Foot of the Mountain," was doubtless the one indicated on the early maps as the "Crane road." It began at the head of Market Street, near the
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
present Conrt-House in Newark, and passed the residence of Jasper Crane at High Street, and ran through the present Warren Street to Roseville. The oldest maps of Essex County show a continuous road to the mountain connecting with the " Crane road." The continuation of this road is the Swine- field Road ; it was said to have been used by the aborigines in their journeys from the Hudson to the Delaware Rivers. Originally a " path." it branehed from the present Main Street. Orange, at the Brick Church, and running through Tory Corner, crossed the mountain at Eagle Rock. From Tory Corner westward to the top of the mountain, it was laid ont as a common highway in 1705, and after- ward in 1733.
The seventh road seems to be the original Eagle Rock Road which was laid out anew in 1733. It was described in 1705 as " An other High-way from the way at the Foot of the Mountain, running up to the top of the Mountain."
The fifth road is referred to as " running from s'd Anthony's House to the first mention'd Road by a Line of mark'd Trees and path to the other Road running from s'd AAnthony's Road to Caleb Ball's House, by path and mark'd Trees." It is shown by the records that in 1704. Edward Ball conveyed to his son Caleb a traet of land containing fifty acres, and lying north of the lot of Azariah Crane. This doubtless refers to Mr. Crane's property in Cranetown, and the road probably began at Anthony Oliff's honse and ran thence in a northwardly direction to Caleb Ball's house in Cranetown.
What is now known in Montelair as Orange Road (but in Orange as North Park Street) begins at the Swinefield Road, near the house formerly owned by Samuel Condit. and, running northwardly. enters Montelair, near the town of Phineas Crane, now owned by Thomas Harrop, passes the house of Stephen W. Carey and Thomas Russell, and terminates at Bloomfield Avenue.
What for many years was known as the " Old Road." started from the centre of Newark and passed through that part of Bloomfield subsequently known as the turnpike: leaving the turnpike near Moffit's Mills, it ran from that point now known as Glen Ridge Avenue to Bloomfield Avenue, near Philip Doremus' store in Montelair : thence across Bloomfield Avenne into what is now Church Street to the corner of Valley Road. thenee along Valley Road to the Stephen ('rane house, or " Washington's Headquarters." at the corner of what is now Clairmont Avenue, westerly along Clairmont Avenue, over the mountain to Horseneck, now Caldwell.
The present Valley Road was formerly known as the Speertown Road. It was laid ont May 13. 1768. and began or terminated at the Stephen Crane house ( Washington's Headquarters), running north to the road that leads from the house of Melville Seigler, over the mountain to Little Falls. That part of the Valley Road south of Stephen Crane's House. terminating at Church Street. was a part of the "Old Road." described as " running from the centre of Newark. through Bloomfield to Cranetown." Both CImreh Street and Glen Ridge Avenue then formed a part of the " Old Road."
There was another road laid out November 1. 1744, described as " Beginning at the highway that runs up to the Mountain, near the house of Amos Williams, bounded north upon his fence and a Chest- nnt Tree, thence running east ward over the brook on the land of Lewis Crane, by a line of marked trees, thenee northeast across the land of Lewis Crane and David Crane to a maple bush, marked on four sides. in the line of Levi Vincent ; thenee running eastward along the line, between David Crane and Levi Vincent to the highway that runs up to Nathaniel Crane's; thence eastward on the South of the Brook on the land of David Crane to a burch bush : thence turning over the brook and running by a line of marked trees, to the northeast corner of Johanes Cadmus, his land : thence running down said Johanes, his land to Tonces Brook ; thence running over the brook by a line of marked trees to the road that runs by Jonathan Davis."
This road began at Eagle Rock Road at that point now known as Harrison Avenue, ran through Cedar Avenue, continuing through Cedar Avenue to the Orange Road, near the house of Calvin Taylor, thence across the Orange Road, from that point known as Washington Street, continuing in an easterly direction to Bloomfield Avenue in Bloomfield ; thence across Bloomfield Avenue, through what is now known as Green Street to the Old Road, now known as Franklin Street. The Baptist Church of Bloom- field stands at the junction of these two streets.
Chapter VII.
CRANESTOWN DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
By Rev. Oliver Crane, D.D., LL. D.
( State of the I'nion was more continuously, or more annoyingly, subjected to the inci- dental effects of the Revolutionary War than was the State of New Jersey ; and no portion of the State was more exposed to its alarms, and their attendant inconveniences, than that portion lying between the Hudson River and the mountain ranges west of the lower Passaic valley. In fact, the whole section from the New York line on the north, to the Delaware, and extending back twenty or thirty miles into New Jersey, might be equally included : for, although the main army of patriots, when not in active service. was located to the west and north of this belt, still the suffering from deprivations by incursions of the enemy, and from plunderings by a set of freehooters styled refugees (consisting of what were called cowboys in the pay of the enemy), and skinners (who were even more dreaded because of their irresponsible rapacity, though nominally classed with patriots), was often exceedingly trying. This state of things existed almost from the outbreak to the close of the war. From the time of the disastron- battles of Brooklyn (August 27. 1776), and of White Plains (Sept. 15-16. 1776), and General Washington's consequent retreat into New Jersey, on to the end of hostilities, that whole section was harassed by the attendants of war, and by not a few of its actual devastations. The bloody struggle at Trenton ( Dec. 26, 1776), followed by the equally severely contested one at Princeton (Jan. 3, 1777), and the determined conflict of Monmouth (June 28, 1778). and that of Springfield (Inne 23, 1750), attest the horrors of war endured on New Jersey soil, not to say anything of the frequent minor skirmishe- along the same line of territory intervening between the two contending armies. But even where actual bloodshed did not occur, the feeling of insecurity was scarcely less than where the battle-roar was heard. This was especially true of the section lying between the Passaie (then called Second River, and the Watching (then Newark) Mountain, and of course including all the villages and towns between Paterson for Totowa as then known) and the plains of Somerville, Rahway and New Brunswick on the Raritan.
I have frequently, when a boy, heard my grandmother tell of the vexations alarms which were experienced by her parents and neighbors residing in what was then termed Wardsesson, or Watsessing, (Bloomfield), during the war times. She was at the time but a girl, still she well remembered how they were suddenly called, sometimes by day yet often by night, to hurry all their easily movable household goods into a farm wagon, and hasten away up over the mountains, leaving only a faithful old slave (for slavery existed in New Jersey in those days) to guard the house and premises, they returning only after all signs of danger were past. This, she stated, was no infrequent ocenrrence, especially after the British were in possession of New York.
During the Revolutionary war, and for a long series of years previously. Montelair (a name of scarcely 25 years' standing) was called Cranestown, shortened subsequently to Cranetown, and the pass
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
at Mount Prospect was called Crane's Gap, that being the main thoroughfare over the mountain north of Springfield, and consequently a very important point to be protected in such times. General Washington saw this and kept it, as well as every other avenne of ingress into the interior, well guarded by what were then styled Minute men, or militia ready for emergencies on call. Although General Washington's winter quarters (except when exigencies demanded, as at Valley Forge, Pa., 1777-8, and New Windsor, Ct .. 1780-1) were divided between Newburgh on the Hudson, and Morristown, N. J .; yet his summer quarters were less permanent, and were frequently changed to meet the varying necessities of the war.
That General Washington had his headquarters for abont three weeks at Cranestown, from near the middle of October on, is, as will be shown. a well-authenticated fact ; and that he occupied the orig- inal Crane mansion, still standing at the junction of Valley Road and the present Clairmont Avenue, leading to, and through, Crane's Gap, is substantiated by very strong traditional testimony. But before citing proofs, let us succinctly state the historie connections, with such circumstances as can be gathered, which led to the occupancy. At no time during the war was the mind of Washington more harassed with perturbing anxieties than at the very time he was stopping, with his army, at Cranestown : but, as it proved, the darkness which brooded over the eanse of freedom was the darkness just before the dawn ; for exactly one year afterward (Oct. 19, 1781) the surrender of Lord Cornwallis occurred, and the Inde- pendence of the United States of America was achieved.
The preceding year (1779) General Lafayette, who had fought bravely by Washington's side in many a hot engagement, had returned to France for the purpose of enlisting the sympathies of the French government and people in the eanse of freedom in America, and had so far succeeded as to secure a fleet of seven heavy ships of the line and thirty-two transports, with an armament of 6,000 well-equipped troops and as many more to follow. and funds and pledges of more, for a vigorous prosecution of the war. Lafayette reached Morristown on his return May 12, 1780, and Count Rochambeau, with the French fleet, arrived in Newport, R. I., July 11th succeeding. On the latter's arrival, Washington repaired at once to Newport to welcome and confer with Count Rochambeau, but did not remain long, his presence with his main army in New Jersey being important ; but early in the following September the two- Washington and Rochambean-held a more formal conference at Hartford, Ct., for the concentration of plans for future operations. In the meantime Major General Arnold, who had for eighteen months previously been in seeret correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of the British forees in New York, with a view of betraying the canse which he had hitherto been supposed to be honestly defending, had, in order to further his nefarious designs, at his own urgent request, been appointed Commander of the important stronghold of the IIndson. West Point. Washington, having completed his conference with the French Admiral at Hartford, was returning to his army, then stationed at Totowa (Paterson), N. J., and arrived at West Point on the very day. and even at the hour, when the treachery of Arnold was most opportunely discovered by the recent arrest of Major John Andre, Arnold escaping, ahnost under the eye of Washington, by precipitons flight to the British sloop of war, the " Vulture," then lying just below West Point. This occurred on the 25th of September (1780). Great was the consternation among the officers of the post and those accompanying General Washington on the discovery of the plot ; and it is no wonder that Washington exclaimed to Generals Lafayette and Knox, with eyes suffused, " Arnold is a traitor and has fled to the British ; whom can we trust now?" But, with his usual self-possession. he immediately issued orders for the thwarting of any attempt to carry ont Arnold's treacherous designs. He at onee appointed General Heath to the command of the post, and directed changes to be made in the fort so as to render it more seenre against attack. On the 2d of October (Tuesday) Major Andre was hung as a spy at Tappan ; and in the course of a few days General Washington proceeded to the army at Totowa, where it had been since its removal from winter quarters in Morristown the preceding spring.
In Gen. Washington's Revolutionary Orders issued during the years 1778-1782. and edited by Henry Whiting, Lt .- Col. U. S. A., New York, 1844, 1846, occurs the following order, viz. :
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
" HEADQUARTERS, TOTOWAY, October 23rd, 1780.
" The Corps of Light Infantry will remove from their present Encampment, and take post on the most convenient ground, to the Cranetown Gap and the Notch, for the more effectnal security of our Right .- Gen. St. Clair will take care of the approaches on the Left, Col. Mayland's Regiment will furnish the necessary Patrols, and will take a new Position for that purpose. The Officers of the Army are to be furnished with two rations per day until further Orders."
This fixes the precise date of march from Totowa for the ocenpaney of what Gen. Lafayette calls " our Station at Crane'stown." but Gen. Washington " Cranetown Gap." The order. it will be noticed. is sufficiently definite for marching, but does not reveal the design of the movement : and for the obvions reason that it was not Gen. Washington's intention to do so. Jest, by any unforeseen accident, the order be conveyed to the enemy, and so the secret aim- Gen. Lafayette's night attack on Staten Island-be known and thwarted. But it settles the point. that " the Post" orenpied was " Cranetown Gap," or "('rane'stown Station," directly at the foot of Crane's Gap.
The forced inactivity of the army for six long months, made all the more unendurable by the Arnold, whose re- ed the ranks prior the Commander- ed both officers reedingly eager hostilities ; espe- true of General impetuous spirit brook delay, and opportunity to son which had moment to stain noble cause which espoused. He cdl General Washı- mitted to strike a successful, would enemy. by scouts that Sir had at this time a
recent treason of port had pervad- to the return of in-Chief. render- and soldiers ex- for a renewal of cially was this Lafayette, whose could hardly he panted for an avenge the trea- ... seemed for the the honor of the he had so ardently therefore entreat- ington to be per- blow, which, if be felt by the It was known Henry Clinton THE OLD CRANE MANSION (WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS). large amount of military stores on Staten Island, guarded mainly by Hessians. Lafayette proposed to secure these by a night attack: and sneh was his importunity that the Commander-in-Chief yielded: and in order to be in nearer proximity to aid, if needed, the endeavor, he gave orders for the main divisions of the army to move southward. This was done, and the station selected, in which to await the result of the movement under Lafayette, was at Cranestown. The position was well chosen, commanding as it did the pass aeross the mountain, and at the junction of the roads both from Newark and Orange to that point. Washington appropriated the largest house in the town, and one best located, the old Crane mansion, then owned by my great-grandfather, William Crane, himself at the time in the ranks. Washington took possession of the two lower rooms on the west side of the main hall, while members of his staff occupied the other side and all the second story rooms. Just back of the rear and smaller room, was an old-fashioned leun-to which had been, and was then, the kitchen. I myself well remember that old lean-to, with its large open fire-place, but it has long since disappeared. On the evening of his Excellency's arrival, my great-grand- mother, Merey Crane, then in charge of the house, as she was having her slaves prepare supper for her distinguished guest, came to the General and apologetically explained to him her deep regret that she
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
had no tea to serve to her guests. "Never mind. my good lady." replied his Excellency unperturbed, " please have a ernst of bread toasted, and use it for tea. That is good enough tea for me." Her anxieties thus allaved, she hastened to furnish the best that her house afforded for the supper of her worthy guests. After supper another difficulty caused no slight solicitude in the mind of the patriotie hostess. Owing to the unusual demand for beds. none was left for Generals Washington and Lafayette in the lower back room, which had been chosen by them, but which had been hitherto used as a dining- room. This deficiency was made known to his Excellency by the hostess with even deeper regret than the fact of her having no tea. "But there is plenty of straw in the barn. is there not ?" rejoined her courteous guest. " Abundance." was the quick response. Immediately Washington had several bundles ordered and spread in a corner of the room ; and there on it. wrapped in their army blankets, that night slept two of the noblest Generals whose names are on the scroll of fame. Doubtless better accommoda- tions were devised for their convenience while they remained in ocenpaney thereafter.
During the three weeks of Washington's remaining in headquarters at Cranestown, the troops were encamped directly to the south of the old mansion, their tents standing thick all along the meadows. then wholly unobstructed, from Valley Road to what is now Mountain Avenue, and guarding the inter- section of the old Newark Road (now Church Street) with the road leading to Orange and thence to Elizabethtown and beyond. As Washington had brought his army there for a purpose, preparations were immediately set on foot to further the designs of the enthusiastic leader, Lafayette, in his plan of attack on Staten Island. Boat> were ordered brought down the Passaie River to a point where the erossing of the Kill was to be effected ; while others were hastily constructed on wagons to be conveyed overland to the required place of embarkation. All things seemed at length in readiness for the attempt which promised success. Lafayette, with his command, repaired to the designated spot with all seerecy on the evening of October 26th, not doubting but that the boats ordered would be there to convey his command over the narrow stream. All night long he and his splendidly equipped corps waited impa- tiently to hail the sight of the wished-for boats, but they came not. From some unaccountable cause they were delayed, until the dawn warned the disappointed watchers that their so much coveted oppor- tunity was past, and that they had nothing now to do but to return to their quarters. But happily just at this point we are supplied with very important data respecting the faet of the occupancy of Cranes- town by Washington at this juncture.
Soon after General Lafayette had fairly started on his return to headquarters, he dispatched a courier with a letter to the Commander-in-Chief, stating the unfortunate outcome of the attempt; and this letter we find in " The Memoirs of Lafayette." by his son, George Washington Lafayette, and pub- lished in English in New York, 1837. The letter is dated at Elizabethtown, October 27, 1780, and is found on pages 481-2 of the first volume. It reads as follows : "I have taken my position between Elizabeth- town and Connectieut Farms. General Clinton has not the time of making any disposition against us. Tomorrow, at nine or ten, I will march to our position of Crane'stown. and the day after tomorrow to Totowa, unless I receive contrary orders. Newark Mountain (Orange) was rather too far to march it this night, and too near for tomorrow ; because our men, being in want of blankets, will like better to join their tents again. If your Excellency approves of this arrangement. I beg you will order our baggage to wait for us on our position of Crane'stown : if you dislike the disposition. your orders may reach us on the road." This fixes exactly the date of the occupancy of Cranestown as temporary headquarters, and also supplies the specifie object ; while distinctly stating that the troops were there in tents.
Meanwhile, probably during the absence of General Lafayette on the abortive expedition referred to above, an alarm, as had often occurred before. but now of sufficient importance to awaken solicitude. came late one afternoon, that the British were about to make an attempt on the American lines in their somewhat insecure position at Cranestown. At all events Washington considered it of sufficient weight to cause him to be in readiness to meet it, if true ; but in the emergency he did not deem it advisable to
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
spare even a single man from the ranks to be sent to warn out the Minute men living beyond the so-called " first and second mountains." He called, therefore, for a volunteer out of the service. One of the sons of his hostess, who had been lame from his boyhood, and hence disabled from active military duty, and vet able to ride on horseback, and who knew every road and lane of the country to be visited, came forward and offered to undertake the somewhat hazardous and wearisome night journey : for he was to go. if possible, to every hamlet and home where Minute men resided between the Second Mountain and the Passaic River, and this meant to Horseneck, Pine Brook. Swinefield, and all the intervening inhabited region. The offer was accepted. and Zadoe Crane, then but little, if any, rising twenty years of age, mounted his own spirited horse, and with a long. heavy cutlass as his only weapon. started. under the General's special orders, just after the sun had gone down behind the darkening mountains, on his journey. Nothing of note occurred until he reached the lonely space of woods then covering all the Second Mountain: when, as he entered the shadows, he saw, or thought he saw, some refugees in the road ready to intercept his passage. Drawing his long entlass he, with -tentorian voice, cried out : " Come on, men, we will take them if there are tive thousand of them," and at once put spurs to his willing -teed. and dashed through the dark and lonely pass, hearing, as I have often, as he rehearsed the adventure, heard him say. " a terrible crackling in the underbrush in the woods" as he speeded through. On he went, calling at every house, as far as in his power : and just after daylight he drew up his squad of Minute men in line in front of the mansion doorstep, on which already General Washington stood in waiting to inspect them. No fence at that time, nor for many years afterward, obstructed the lawn in front of the house, and hence the parade of the squad was easy. " Well done, my man," was the salute of his Excellency. " now come in and take a horn of whisky, for you must need it." As it proved, the alarm was a false one. No British soldiers had made their appearance during the night, but the hervie act was remembered, and often told a> a reminiscence of the war in after times none the less.
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