PEOPLE AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE NY-NJ HIGHLANDS
by Jennifer Daniels
INTRODUCTION
The New York – New Jersey Highlands region has unique geology, topography, and geomorphology. These characteristics have shaped the cultural history of the Highlands in many ways. The people who have immigrated to the Highlands have also contributed to its cultural aspect. They brought their skills, traditions, food, and overall way of life to the area. Many of New Jersey’s counties have been molded by the “ethnic neighborhoods” started by its immigrants. These human communities in turn reflect the physical landscape. A glacial moraine divides the area into a mountainous northern section and a southern part that has rolling hills. The earliest colonial settlements were located south of the moraine where farming was possible. The north was settled once ore was discovered in the bedrock. Between Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, the Highlands are a component of approximately 110 municipalities. Some counties in New Jersey that are at least partially affected by this region are: Bergen, Morris, Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon.
Evidence
of prehistoric Indians have been found along the Delaware River in Sussex County
in the form of artifacts such as stone tools and weapons. They could not “leave
behind a history or other written records” (Kraft, p.6) about themselves because
they had no written language. The tribe usually linked to New Jersey, and therefore
the Highlands, is the Lenni Lenape. North of the Raritan River to the Delaware
Water Gap, the Lenape spoke the Munsee dialect of the Delaware language. The
Unami dialect was spoken south of the Raritan River. Smaller Lenape bands were
members of the Munsee dialect such as the Minnisinks, Hackensacks, and the Tappans.
They all lived in the Highlands, located north of the Raritan River. Rock shelters in Sussex County, which are still evident today, provided the Indians temporary homes while hunting and gathering. The Lenape hunted north of the moraine that divides New Jersey. The Indians “fished endlessly for shad in the Passaic, Raritan and Hudson Rivers” (Kraft, p.32). Lakes and large rivers provided them with freshwater mussels and crayfish. Plants, berries, mushrooms and other natural foods were also part of their diet. The Lenape practiced “slash and burn” farming to clear the land for agriculture as it was needed for a relocated camp or more fertile soil.
www.usgennet.org/usa/nj/state/Lenape.htm
European settlement in the region began in 1630 with the arrival of the Dutch, Swedes, and Finns. In 1664 the English conquered the Dutch and the Highlands became England’s along with New York. Irish and Scottish immigrants arrived in New Jersey next. Germans came to the area before the Revolutionary War “to farm fields in Hunterdon County or work in the iron mines of Passaic County” (Cunningham, p.4). In the nineteenth century Irish immigrants came in masses to escape the potato famine. They helped build the state railroads and also dug canals used to transport products. The mountainous country attracted ironmakers to Morris, Passaic, Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon. This is because the region had “rich iron mines plus fast running streams and seemingly endless forests” (Cunningham, p.4). Iron plantations, self- sustaining villages built around the furnaces, were the destinations of many immigrants to New Jersey in the eighteenth century. Though many had left their homelands to seek better opportunities in America, some settlers were avoiding persecution or even death. Yet, others came against their will because their lives were bought like property. Immigrants worked on the mining plantations for several reasons: because there was a need for labor, they were desperate to find employment, or they had no choice.
Dutch miners began exploring the area that is now Sussex County in search of gold, in 1640. Instead, they found copper deposits. One of the first commercial roads built in the colonies to transport ore was Old Mine Road. It still exists today, running through Sussex and Warren County. Zinc deposits were also economically important in the region. Though permanent colonists were in Warren around 1725, it remained part of Sussex until 1824. Established in the early 1700’s, “many of the earliest settlers fought in the French and Indian War” (Radko, p.3). This provided veterans for the Revolutionary forces.
Morris
County developed from a successful iron mining settlement. The ironworks were
used as an arsenal for the Continental Army. In 1685, ironworkers from New
and Old England built several furnaces and forges in the vicinity of Hanover
in Morris County. “General Washington estimated that the county had between
eighty and one hundred ironworks by 1776” (Vecoli, p.38). Workers for the mines
included many nationalities such as: English, German, Swedes, Irish, Welsh,
Native Whites, Blacks and some Native Americans. These people worked under
varied classes. They were free laborers, indentured servants, journeymen, apprentices,
or black slaves. Though the working conditions were harsh, there were few labor
disputes. The best escape from exploitation was to run.
During the mining era, there were some notable people living in Morris County. Peter Hasenclever, a Prussian entrepreneur, owned the ironworks at Charlotteburg, Ringwood, and Long Pond. In order to meet the manufacturing demands of the American Iron Company, he constructed the necessary additions between 1765 and 1766. These included “furnaces, forges, grist and sawmills, bridges, a canal, dam, and reservoir” (Vecoli, p.40). He built Ringwood Manor as his residence and it is now a historical landmark in Morris County. A Scottish engineer, Robert Erskine, became Ringwood Manor’s overseer. He was also the Surveyor General of the Continental Army and, as such, drafted military maps for General Washington. John Jacob Faesch, a Swiss native, operated the Old Boonton Works and Mount Hope Furnace. He was a strong supporter of the Revolutionary War. When a labor shortage occurred, Faesch put Hessian prisoners of war to work.
The Dutch settled in Bergen County in the seventeenth century. Traders and fur trappers first established the site because it was close to New Amsterdam, which they depended on for fur markets and military help. Agriculture became the way of life, for this area, in the 1800’s. Many black slaves worked in the Dutch fields of Bergen County. Strawberry crops were highly profitable at the time. Farm prosperity led to demands for road improvements and a northern railroad line from New Jersey to New York.
The area of Hunterdon County was first colonized in the early 1700s. The first settlers were Germans who had drifted up from Burlington County in search of land to farm. An Irishman, Robert Taylor, arrived in Hunterdon County in 1758. He was a schoolteacher and then the bookkeeper for the “Union Iron Works” in High Bridge. William Turner and Joseph Allan built the works around 1742 and defied British order to not supply the Continental Army. In 1912, Taylor became a co- owner of the new “Taylor- Wharton Iron and Steel Co.” When production began to slow, “the Jersey Central Railroad brought anthracite to feed these furnaces” (Cunningham, p.33) in High Bridge. This created an economic boost as iron mining intensified once again. The success of copper mining caused some people to sell their farms for a larger profit than they could have expected from agriculture.
Counties that exist today within the Highlands owe their existence to the regions’ characteristics. The rich amount of minerals and ore in the mountains brought ironworkers to the northern section. Immigrants who were farmers by trade enjoyed the rolling landscape of the southern area. The vast forests appealed to the entrepreneurs who wanted to build ironworks in the Highlands. The cultural history of the Highlands, and therefore New Jersey, began with the Lenape Indians and we are reminded of its effect in our daily lives. This heritage needs to be protected from over- development so that we do not forget our past.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kraft, Herbert C. The Lenape Indians of New Jersey. Seton Hall University Museum. South Orange, New Jersey, 1987.
Radko, Thomas R. Discovering New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. New Jersey, 1982.
Vecoli, Rudolph J. The Peoples of New Jersey. New Jersey Tercentenary Commission. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. New Jersey, 1965.
