REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITES IN BERNARDSVILLE, NEW JERSEY

JOHN PARKER TAVERN (also known as the VEALTOWN TAVERN)

John Parker Tavern
2 Morristown Rd. (Rte. 202)
Map / Directions to the John Parker Tavern & Washington Route Marker

During the time of the Revolutionary War, this was a tavern owned by Captain John Parker of the 1st Battalion of Somerset County. Troops traveling from Pluckemin (Bedminster) to Morristown regularly stopped here during the Winter 1779/1780 Morristown Winter Encampment. General "Mad" Anthony Wayne stayed overnight at the tavern several times.

Parker Tavern continued to operate as a tavern until 1840, when it became a private residence. In 1903, it became the Bernardsville Library, which it remained for nearly a century until 2000 when the library moved to a new building around the corner on Anderson Hill road. The John Parker Tavern building now houses several businesses.

The building had two additions put onto the rear of the building during the twentieth century. However, the original tavern section is visible from the front. [1]

WASHINGTON ROUTE MARKER
Route From Princeton to Morristown, January 1777

Washington Route Marker, Bernardsville, NJ

Washington Route Marker
2 Morristown Rd. (Rte. 202)
Map / Directions to the John Parker Tavern & Washington Route Marker

In front of the building is a Washington Route Marker. It is the ninth of a series of thirteen markers tracing Washington's January 1777 route to Morristown after the victory at the Battle of Princeton. [2] The other markers in this series can be found in Princeton, Kingston, Griggstown, Bridgewater, Somerville, Bedminster, Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, Harding Township and Morris Township.

For a map tracing the route of all thirteen markers from Princeton to Morristown, click here.

Source Notes:

1. ^ Information about the tavern's history, both during and after the Revolutionary War, was drawn from the National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form submitted for the John Parker Tavern to the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service.
This document can be read as a PDF on the National Park Service website here

2. ^ Marker erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution