September 8, 2018

We had a day in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a city which is larger than St. John’s, Newfoundland, where we left yesterday. The city lies across Newark Bay from Bayonne, New Jersey where the Cape Liberty Cruise Port is located.

The morning temperature was 69°F (about 20.5°C) a gentle wind and cloudy with rain in the area.

The weather experts are watching the course of Hurricane Florence which is predicted to arrive in North or South Carolina in four or five days. The Norwegian Dawn cruise ship with an itinerary to go to Bermuda had its itinerary changed to visit Nova Scotia to avoid the hurricane’s passage of Bermuda. There are two more tropical storms that have formed off the coast of Africa and are heading toward North America.

After breakfast, we went for a walk to the historical center of Elizabeth. Google maps listed the distance to the public library at the south (furthest) end of the area at 3.2 kilometers. As we walked we heard snatches of conversations in Spanish and posters in Spanish. We walked along residential streets with most homes converted to up/down duplexes. We arrived on E. Jersey Street and saw the Ritz Theater. Most of the buildings are from the late 1800s and early 1900s. We saw the 1909 Union County Trust Company, then noticed the steeple of the old railway station and wondered over to find it. Back on Broad Street, at the corner of Grand and Broad, there was a striking grey building, the Hersch Tower built in 1931 that is being converted into luxury apartment units. Further along Broad we saw St. John’s Episcopal Church, consecrated in 1860 with a 30 meter Gothic style tower which was completed in 1864. Next was the 1917 building of Snyder Academy which was founded in 1664 situated on the site of the old academy where Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, 3^rdvice-president of the USA attended school. The Presbyterian Church & 1708 Burial Grounds were next, on the site of the original 1665 meeting house, where in 1668 the first General Assembly of Elizabethtown was held. In the Burial Grounds there are 75 veterans of the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), also known as the War of Independence. The first church was burned on January 25, 1780 by the British during the Revolutionary War, then rebuilt from 1789 to 1793. Next door was the site of the old Borough Court House also burned by the British in 1780. Now the Union County Court House of 1903 stands. Across the street is the Elizabeth Public Library, built in 1912, which was one of thousands funded by American industrialist Andrew Carnegie during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1789 the Red Lion Inn stood on the site. It was here that George Washington stayed on April 23 of that year, on his way to his inauguration as first president of the United State of America, in New York. He needed to take a ferry across the Hudson River to get to New York. We continued along Broad Street to St. John’s Episcopal Church built in 1860 at busy intersection with Elizabeth Avenue. It was established in 1706 and nearby is the unmarked grave of U.S. Senator Jonathan Dayton, one of four signers of the United States Constitution from the state of New Jersey.

Then we turned onto Pearl Street to find the original 1697 Parsonage of St. John’s Episcopal Church. It is a red brick house which has a stone from 1696 identifying it and another stone on the side of the house with the names of the first minister, Andrew Hamilton, and his wife, Margaret. We walked over to Winfield Scott Plaza,to see Elizabeth City Hall which was built in 1939. We noticed an interesting stone church on East Jersey Street and found that it was built in 1899 and is the former home of the Central Baptist Church.

Then we continued along East Jersey Street to find three historic buildings. The first building was Boxwood Hall, which was built by an Elizabethtown mayor, Samuel Woodruff, in 1750. It was later the home of Elias Boudinot from 1772 to 1795. Boudinot was president of the Continental Congress after the New England colonies signed a peace treaty with Britain ending the Revolutionary War. On his way to his New York inauguration, George Washington met with the members of the Continental Congress in Boxwood Hall. This was also the home of a U.S. Senator for New Jersey, Jonathan Dayton, from 1795 to his death in 1824. Dayton was a wealthy person who made his fortune young investing in Ohio territory. The city of Dayton is named after him.

Down the street was the Nathaniel Bonnell House built in 1682 and the oldest house in Elizabeth and possibly New Jersey. We spoke to a man named Tracy who came out to talk to us about the house. Across the street was the Belcher-Ogden Mansion built in 1750 as the residence of the Royal Governor of New Jersey colony,Jonathan Belcher. Nathaniel Bonnell’s neighbour Elias Boudinot’s brother, Elisha was married to Catherine Peartree Smith in 1778 in the house. The wedding master of ceremonies was Alexander Hamilton. Some of the invited guests were Revolutionary War commanders, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. This was unfortunate, because the British army realized that they missed an opportunity to capture George Washington and shortly after sacked the house, burning all the valuables. The house was later owned by Aaron Ogden from 1797 to 1824, who governor of New Jersey . Ogden was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1812. He, too, entertained the Marquis de Lafayette of France in 1823 and they discussed their Revolutionary War adventures which included the victory over the British at the battle of Yorktown, Virginia, on September 28 to October 17, 1781.

We had finished our walk and tour of the historical district and returned to the hotel on a slightly different route, stopping to buy some wine to take on the ship tomorrow. We had been gone about three and half hours and covered 10 kilometers. Steps 15,804

We spent the afternoon relaxing while a few rain showers passed through the area. We had found a four pack of 187 ml Sutter Home Merlot wine and enjoyed a bottle each and snacked on granola bars.

We walked to the Renaissance Hotel on the other side of our hotel for dinner tonight. There was a light rain so we used our umbrellas. The temperature had dropped to 63°F about 17°C and it was good to get inside. The restaurant was a nicely decorated sports bar that had pizza, salads and sandwiches on the menu.

The rain was a tiny bit heavier as we walked the 300 meters back to our hotel.

We finished the other bottles of Merlot and played the card game Five Crowns.

Final steps. 17,422