The Kingston Historical Society
Kingston, New Jersey
News or events in Kingston which we participate in or promote
You can view Markus McParland’s talk on our video page:
https://www.khsnj.org/community-collection-for-kingston-nj-2023-video/
Thanks to Markus for his work preparing this talk and his book “Community Collection for Kingston, NJ” (www.kingstonbook.com)
Local author Markus McParland spoke on his NEW BOOK: “Community Collection for Kingston, NJ” at the Kingston Historical Society Annual Meeting
Video of this presentation is now available HERE
10 -11:30 am Mapleton Preserve, 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston, NJ.
Join Karen Linder and FPNL for our annual Thanksgiving Day morning walk at the Mapleton Preserve.
On this easy, family-friendly walk, we will focus on nuts, seeds and berries that wildlife, including turkeys, use as food. Free and open to all. Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands (www.fpnl.org). Call 609-683-0483 for more information.
Turtles are the subject of the KGA Annual Meeting and Program: Thinking Outside the Box about Your Woods and Bogs: How Private Forestry Practices Can Protect Rare Turtles. Speaker: Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) biologist Christine Healy.
The video of this presentation is available here on YOUTUBE
https://kingstongreenways.org/
Kingston Ladies Auxiliary craft show- 9 AM to 2 PM at the Kingston Firehouse, Heathcote Road, Kingston, NJ. Huge variety. Vendor spaces already sold out! Come early for best selection. “Santa at Ten O’Clock!”.
1-3 PM. Mapleton Preserve, 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston, NJ.
Learn how to make your own wreath or garland. Limited to 20. Pre-registration is required [609-683-0483].
A $20 donation is requested to cover the cost of supplies. Greens, materials and tools will be available, or bring your own to incorporate into your design. Cookies, cocoa and holiday music will round out the event. Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands (www.fpnl.org).
Meet KHS members, friends and neighbor’s while enjoying holiday refreshments and the music of the Kingston Women’s Chorus outdoors.
The TreeLighting will be at 5:00 pm. The Chorus will sing before the Tree Lighting and then lead the traditional “sing-along” after the Tree Lighting.
UPDATE: See photos of the event HERE
“Home and Hearth- Songs for a peaceful and cozy holiday season”
Featuring our not-to-be-missed community choral singalong!
7 PM on Sunday, 10th December (celebrating World Choral Day)
Kingston United Methodist Church, 9 Church Street, Kingston NJ
Heather Robbins, director
Dottie Westgate, piano
Concert is free. Donations to benefit the Rare Kidney Disease Foundation
7 am-4 pm.
Join Kingston Greenways Association (https://kingstongreenways.org/) for their annual survey of the birds of Kingston as part of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) .
Experienced and novice birders are welcome to participate in the 124th anniversary of the CBC, where the goal is to identify and tally as many Kingston birds as we can on one day. We start at 7:30 am and bird until noon, break for lunch, and then go out again from 1 until dusk.
This is a great way to get to know your local open space and learn about your local birds while providing continent-wide population data. Please call Karen for more details [609-683-0483]
The Kingston Presbyterian Church completes their celebration of 300 years with a traditional candle light service in their sanctuary. 4565 Route 27, Kingston NJ 08528. www.kingstonpresbyterian.org
Noon – 2 pm. Mapleton Preserve, 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston, NJ
Start the New Year off right with an easy walk through the Mapleton Preserve. We know you want to sleep in a little, so the event begins at 12 noon. Dress for the weather, whatever it is. The walk is sponsored by Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands (www.fpnl.org) and will start at the Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park Headquarters at 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston. Socialize after the walk with hot drinks and cookies. It is FREE – all are welcome. Call 609-683-0483 for more information.
Noon-2 pm. Mapleton Preserve, 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston, NJ
Join Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands (FPNL) for a winter work session in the Mapleton Preserve! Honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s holiday by spending a winter afternoon outdoors with us and discover the special joys of stewardship!
Gloves and tools will be provided, or bring your own saws, clippers, loppers and rakes if you prefer. Work gloves, sturdy shoes, warm clothing and hats are a must. Call 609- 683-0483 for more information, or if you would like to involve a group. Service hours are available to those in need. FREE. Refreshments served.
Local folks with an interest in history meet to organize and catalogue the KHS collection. See THIS LINK to join them. Here’s one item we recently archived:
October 21, 2023 was South Brunswick Township’s History Day Scavenger Hunt. The goal was to explore South Brunswick’s historic buildings and sites in a family friendly way. Participants received a “Passport to local history” which would be stamped at five locations in the township
The event was sponsored by the South Brunswick Library and the South Brunswick Historical Society. The Township was celebrating 225 years.
The Kingston Historical Society and Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands assisted in the “hunt” hosting three locations. Members of the Kingston Presbyterian Church, which celebrated its 300th birthday this year, opened their sanctuary as a scavenger hunt location.
Here are a few photos:
The Marker says:
The Titus Farm
For 53 years, Thomas Titus and his descendants farmed this plot of land. Once an enslaved person, his remains lie here in an unmarked grave, as if keeping watch over the old farmstead.
Gerardus Beekman, the slave holder, was a member of the prominent Beekman family of New York and New Jersey. In 1814, Beekman penned his final wishes, ” I will that my Negro man Thomas shall have freedom after serving my heirs, or any man he shall choose, so long as the time to make fifteen years from the first day of March eighteen hundred and two.”
Although not yet a free man, Thomas and his wife, Sarah TenBroeck, purchased a small farm for #50 from Ferdinand Van Dyke, in August 1817. On August 2rd 1818, the official manumission was written and filed at the County Clrek’s office in New Brunswick. Thomas farmed this land for the next 32 years. Oats, wheat, potatoes and corn were cultivated near an orchard of peach trees.
Thomas and his wife Sarah also raised twelve children, six of whom were born after the family’s manumission. On July 21st 1849, Thomas Titus died of the Plague at 64 years of age.
Kingston Presbyterian Church in celebration of its 300th Anniversary presented “Cemetery Tales” on October 14, 2023
On a rainy afternoon… Rev. Sharyl Dixon welcomed nine persons buried in the Kingston Presbyterian Church cemetery…
Dorothea “Jimmie” Potts, local business owner and investor talked about the development of US Route 1 and life in Kingston
Pastor David Comfort spoke of ministry in Kingston and beyond
Umeko Shimomura spoke of her life in Japan and as a farmer in 1920’s California, and then internment during World War II in Arizona.
William Van Tilburgh spoke of his time as Inn Keeper in Kingston
William Flemer Jr. spoke of founding Princeton Nurseries in Kingston, life in the army, and being a nurseryman
Lulu Briggs spoke of her love of Kingston and desire to help all Kingston children to further their education
Peter V. Shann spoke of life in the Union Army, and farming after the war.
Blanche Woolf, born Blanche Peebles, spoke of running Peebles General Store in Kingston
Senator Charles B. Moore spoke of life in Kingston and in the New Jersey Senate.
Reflections were based on research by George Luck Jr. and Peyton Dixon.
Although the event was planned for the cemetery itself, the rain that day caused us to move to the lower level of the Presbyterian Church, a location which allowed us to record the event for posterity. The video of the event (1 hour and 21 minutes long) is available HERE.
Community groups and historic sites are making Kingston a destination this fall. (click on event for details)
Rockingham State Historic Site tours resume, pre-registration is required. See https://www.rockingham.net/visitor-information for details. Rocky Hill Kingston Road.
“Memorable Places,” the Fall 2023 Art Show of the South Brunswick Arts Commission at Municipal Building 8:30AM- 4PM through November 24, 2023 Free and open to the public. (Monmouth Junction)
This show features the Princeton Nursery Lands as one of the township’s memorable places. More information at www.sbarts.org
New Date: Saturday, September 30, 2023, 2 to 4 PM (postponed from 9/23) Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands is celebrating National Public Lands Day with a cleanup at the Mapleton Preserve on Saturday Sept. 30 from 2 to 4 PM Pre-register at http://fpnl.org/
Join members of the Kingston Presbyterian Church at Kingston’s historic graveyard on Church St. for a Saturday, mid-day remembrance of those buried in Kingston. Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 2pm
NOTE: In event of rain, talks will be given at the Presbyterian Church on Main Street. (4565 Route 27, Kingston)
Meet some of Kingston’s ancestors, as they tell you their story, during an afternoon stroll through KPC’s historic cemetery. The event is free, but an RSVP is requested. call: (609) 921-8895 or email: kingstonpresnj@gmail.com
Sunday Morning- before or after church! It has been a few years since this many-decade old tradition was last offered. Come 8AM-1PM at the Kingston Fire House. Good food, good community, show our volunteers how much we support them. This year you can reserve tickets, or make a donation, at https://kvfc-breakfast.cheddarup.com
The Fire Company regularly provides space for KHS public meetings. We thank them for their part in community building. Learn more about the Kingston Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 (and directions and how to become a firefighter) at https://kingstonfireco.com/
Presented by the South Brunswick Township Historical Society. A Saturday “Scavenger Hunt” encourages groups to visit locations across the township over a three hour period from 11 AM to 2 PM, with a birthday cake at Woodlot Park at 2:30 PM.
The Kingston Historical Society will be participating in this Saturday mid-day event. Tours and docents will at the Kingston Bridge, the D&R Canal Locktender’s House on the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and the State Park Headquarters at the Princeton Nursery Lands on Mapleton Road, as well as the home of Kingston’s 300 year old church community, the Presbyterian Church on Main Street.
See more information and download a “passport” at https://sbpl.info/history-day-scavenger-hunt/
“Seeds, Nuts, & Whirlygigs” Kingston Greenways is hosting a 1.5 mile family-friendly Saturday afternoon stroll admiring fall colors and exploring methods that trees use to spread into new territories.
Meet at the D&R Canal State Park Headquarters 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston at 3 PM.
See kingstongreenways.org for more details
Local author Markus McParland will speak on his new book about Kingston at 7:30 Tuesday Nov 14 at the Kingston Fire House on Heathcote Brook Road.
“Community Collection for Kingston, NJ” is a book compiled by Markus McParland for the benefit of the Kingston Historical Society.
We plan to have the talk available online as well as in person at the Kingston Fire House.
Join the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands for a mid-morning all-ages “ramble” around the Mapleton Preserve. Check fpnl.org for details as the day approaches (and photos from last year!)
Come down to the Locktender’s House! The Kingston Historical Society, with help from the Kingston Womens Chorus will brighten the canal at our traditional tree lighting. Event will be at 4:30 PM. Dress warmly!
An edited video of the June 3, 2023 presentation at the Kingston NJ Presbyterian Church is now available:
Reflections of Our Past, 1723-2023, https://youtu.be/0LLbYYpNJ7E
Speakers are Rev Sharyl M Dixon, pastor
and George Luck, Jr.
introduced by Robert von Zumbusch, president of the Kingston Historical Society.
With presentations by leaders of our three townships.
Taverns of Kingston, A Saturday Afternoon walk led by George Luck, Jr. on May 6, 2023
Half way between New York and Philadelphia, Kingston, New Jersey was a natural place for inns and taverns for travelers. The first inn/tavern was established by Henry Greenland in 1683 on the west side of the Millstone River; subsequent taverns/inns were all on the east side.
The two hour walk was led by lifetime Kingston resident (and KHS Vice President) George Luck, Jr. George is frequent speaker on Kingston history, both in character as a historical figure, or as himself.
We started at the Kingston Presbyterian Church parking lot (4565 NJ Route 27), then proceeded down Main Street (Route 27) toward the D&R Canal. On the way George points out the sites of the various former inns and taverns that once made Kingston an important and busy stopping place for travelers as well as a gathering place for locals from colonial times, through the Revolutionary War, the early republic, the Lincoln Highway and today.
The talk ends at Eno Terra Restaurant, formerly “The Kings Inn” and then “The Winepress” The video is 70 minutes. Video and Audio by Charlie Dieterich, Post-Production by Doug Miller.
Maps at the end of the video are from the Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/
and The Story Of New Jerseys Civil Boundaries 1608–1968; John F. Snyder, 1969 reprinted by New Jersey Geological Survey 2004.
https://archive.org/details/The-Story-of-New-Jerseys-Civil-Boundaries-1608-1968-Snyder
Images are from various Kingston Historical Society collections.
The Kingston Historical Society thanks Archive.org for hosting our community video. The video can be downloaded from their website https://archive.org/details/@khsnj
Video File rights: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
The Spring 2023 edition of the Kingston Historian is now available as a .pdf for download and viewing HERE.
Topics include
The Kingston Historical Society’s walking tour of Main Street will be held Saturday, April 29th. George Luck, Jr will share his knowledge of the history of Kingston’s Inns and Taverns.
For more Information on the walk, which begins at 1 PM, see this “Event” HERE
Preregistration is required. To Register, go directly to the registration page HERE
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Village of Kingston has celebrated with a community gathering at the end of the summer.
It is a chance for folks in our community organizations to show off, and for neighbor to meet neighbor. We usually have some music, and maybe some games.
The Kingston Historical Society and the Kingston Village Advisory Committee are looking for other organizations and individuals who are willing to help make the Kingston picnic an annual event open to the entire community.
So far we are looking for volunteers… by mid-summer we hope to have a general invite for everyone in the greater Kingston community.
Want to learn more and volunteer? Fill out our form HERE
