The Old Barracks Museum in New Jersey’s capitol city of Trenton has enjoyed a unique history dating back to 1758, when it was built to house British soldiers during the French and Indian War. A remnant of the eighteenth-century town then in Hunterdon (now Mercer) county, this registered State and National Historic Landmark helps visitors in particular to understand two key military engagements that occurred during the “Ten Crucial Days” campaign of George Washington’s Continental army in the winter of 1776-1777: the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776 and the Battle of Assunpink Creek (also known as the Second Battle of Trenton) on January 2, 1777. More generally, the building now known as the Old Barracks offers visitors a singular perspective on the story of its surrounding area.

Its Past

The history of the Old Barracks is characterized by a diversity of uses and distinctions over the past three centuries:

• It is one of five such structures throughout New Jersey built to house British soldiers in the 1750s and the only one still standing.
• At the time it was constructed, this was the largest building in Trenton and the second largest public building in New Jersey after Princeton’s Nassau Hall.
• It is the only surviving and restored military structure left in New Jersey that is associated with the colonial wars predating the Revolution.
• The original structure was utilized for a variety of purposes during the Revolutionary struggle: holding British prisoners of war, raising four companies of the 2nd New Jersey Continental Regiment, and serving as an army hospital where smallpox inoculations were performed on Continental army soldiers—making this the site of the first mass medical treatment in the Western Hemisphere.
• After the Revolution, part of the building was demolished in order to extend Front Street to the newly erected State House; however, the building continued to meet a variety of community needs over time, as: The Indigent Widows’ and Single Women’s Home Society of Trenton, the residence of the first mayor of Trenton, and a boarding school.
• This site was the object of a joint campaign by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames at the beginning of the twentieth century, which organized the Old Barracks Association and orchestrated an effort to “Save the Old Barracks.”
• From 1985 to 1998, the structure underwent a multi-million dollar second restoration that resulted in its current appearance, which is thought to be a much more accurate representation of how it originally appeared.

Its Present 

Today, the Old Barracks Museum hosts an array of programs and activities designed to inform and entertain people of all ages. These include: onsite tours, virtual field trips for schoolchildren, digital exhibits, a History Summer Camp and Patriots Week events—including the annual Colonial Ball—each December (all subject to current public health considerations), and more.

But many of his soldiers did—that is, on its grounds or nearby. This historic treasure, known today as the Thompson-Neely farmstead (TN), is located in upper Bucks Country, Pennsylvania, and is a featured attraction of Washington Crossing Historic Park (WCHP).

A History-Laden Spot

In December 1776, a Continental army brigade commanded by General William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, encamped here (although Stirling himself stayed at another residence). Over 600 soldiers were posted on or near the grounds of TN in Solebury Township, two miles south of Coryell’s Ferry (New Hope today). During this time, the house was used to care for soldiers who were ill and served as a headquarters for several Continental officers, including: Captain William Washington, the commander-in-chief’s second cousin, once removed; and eighteen-year-old Lieutenant James Monroe, the future fifth President of the United States—both with the 3rd Virginia Regiment.

On Christmas Day 1776, the soldiers in the brigade who were physically able to do so marched four miles south to McConkey’s Ferry, which is in today’s lower section of WCHP. There they joined in the fabled Delaware River crossing that led to a dramatic victory over the German troops (known as Hessians) occupying Trenton, New Jersey—the first significant success enjoyed by George Washington’s army and the beginning of its legendary “Ten Crucial Days” campaign that changed the course of the war.

Kimberly McCarty, WCHP Museum Curator, describes TN’s historical significance as follows:

The Thompson-Neely property is one of the most meaningful spaces at Washington Crossing Historic Park. For sick and exhausted soldiers, this campsite served as a temporary home after an arduous retreat across New Jersey—and for some it became their permanent resting place. Here the beleaguered Continental army struggled to replenish itself before its daring crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776.

The House

TN is a stone structure built in three sections and characteristic of stone farmhouses constructed by early-eighteenth-century settlers of Bucks County, who typically replaced their log cabins or framed cottages with stone dwellings. The house is located near Pidcock Creek (named after the first European immigrant to live on this property), which provided power for the owner’s gristmill, and is surrounded by a barn and a cluster of small outbuildings that are restored examples of structures from an eighteenth-century farm complex. The stone house has undergone several stages of construction and restoration since its original section was built around 1740.

The Families

When the Continental army arrived at their doorstep in December 1776, two families occupied TN. They included Robert Thompson and his wife Hannah (he being her second husband), their daughter Elizabeth and her husband William Neely, and the Neely’s two young children—Jane and Robert.

The families operated a thriving milling business. Their success reflected the importance of millers in the agricultural society of colonial Pennsylvania at a time when the grinding of grains such as wheat, corn, and barley was an essential life-sustaining activity and the prosperity of local wheat farmers derived from Philadelphia’s burgeoning export market for flour. In fact, Robert Thompson was one of the wealthier men listed in the Solebury township tax records for 1761, 1778, and 1783, all the while expanding the size of his stone house. A later version of the TN gristmill, built around 1870, is now accessible to the public (see below).

We’re (ahem) Neely at the End

Historic Rock Ford was the residence of Edward Hand (1744-1802), who may have been the most unsung Patriot military hero of the American Revolution. That conviction led me to dedicate my second book, The Road to Assunpink Creek, to Hand and the soldiers he led into battle on January 2, 1777—which was not, well, an offhand decision.

Hand’s Heroics

On that pivotal day in our struggle for independence from Great Britain, the Irish-born colonel of the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment led a remarkable defensive action along the road from Princeton to Trenton, New Jersey, against a British-Hessian force that outnumbered his contingent by more than six-to-one. In so doing, he may very well have forestalled the destruction of George Washington’s army and paved the way for one of the most remarkable military maneuvers in history. The rebel forces successfully parried the enemy thrust, then counterattacked the redcoats at Princeton in the climactic victory of the “Ten Crucial Days” campaign that reversed the course of the Revolutionary War.

You have to (ahem) hand it to those Pennsylvania riflemen, but especially their colonel who demonstrated inspiring leadership at a critical moment for young America’s fortunes. He went on to become a brigadier general, a breveted major general, and a steadfast associate of General Washington—perhaps best known for being the last adjutant general (chief administrative officer) of the Continental army. Shortly after the conflict ended, the commander-in-chief wrote his comrade-in-arms to express “my entire approbation for your public conduct.”

Hand’s House

With the war over, Hand returned home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he would build Rock Ford, a Georgian-style brick mansion on several hundred acres of land he had purchased. Here he lived from 1794 until his death, along with his family and their servants and laborers—both enslaved and free. Hand practiced medicine, served first as a member of the Congress of Confederation and then the Pennsylvania Assembly, and later as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. Tradition has it that he played host to Washington during the president’s 1791 visit to Lancaster.

Today, Historic Rock Ford consists of 33 acres at the southeastern edge of Lancaster City enveloped by Lancaster County Central Park. The street address is: 881 Rockford Road, Lancaster, PA 17602.

A registered National Historic Landmark, the mansion is recorded in the Historic American Building Survey. It’s widely considered one of the most important examples of Georgian domestic architecture in Pennsylvania and the most intact building in Lancaster County built before 1800. The mansion’s elegant rooms feature an exceptional display of period furnishings and decorative arts.

What is it?

Situated on the banks of White Clay Creek near Stanton, Delaware, the historic Hale-Byrnes House dates from circa 1750. Built by millwright Warwick Hale, who left it to his son Samuel, the house was purchased first by David Finney of New Castle who added the south wing, and then by Quaker Daniel Byrnes (1730-1797) in 1773. Byrnes, who became prosperous operating a grist mill on the creek, added the house’s service wing. The southern section has four fireplaces and is a fine example of Georgian brick architecture. This was the first building in Delaware to receive the State “Heritage Plaque” and is a registered National Historic Landmark.

Where is it?

The house is located on old Route 7 just south of Stanton, near the intersection of Route 4 East and Route 7 North. The street address is: 606 Stanton-Christiana Road, Newark, DE 19713.

What happened here?

On September 6, 1777, three days after the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, General George Washington held a council of war in the Hale-Byrnes House with other officers of the Continental army, including the Marquis de Lafayette who turned twenty that day. From there the American troops marched north to Chadds Ford in Pennsylvania, where they unsuccessfully engaged a British-Hessian army under General William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11.