Rockingham Historic Site is a little-known place with a big history.It was the home of John Berrien I (1712–1772) and George Washington's final headquarters during the Revolutionary War, located in the Rockingham section of Franklin Township in Somerset County, New Jersey. The house has been moved within southern Franklin Township several times and is now closer to the Franklin portion of Kingston than to Rocky Hill.
While the Continental Congress convened in Princeton, Rockingham served as General George Washington's final Revolutionary War headquarters for over two months in 1783. On October 31, 1783, Washington and Congress received fantastic news -- the final version of the Treaty of Paris had finally been signed and the thirteen colonies were now independent of Great Britain.
For eight years, Washington had served his country in the American Revolution. He wrote the Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States at Rockingham in late October, which were then delivered to the remaining Continental Army at West Point, New York.
First known as the Berrien Mansion, the original two rooms and lean-to of the farmhouse were built around 1710. Expanded into a grander home in the 1760s by Judge John Berrien, the house is preserved as the temporary residence of George and Martha Washington. Physically relocated threes times since 1896, Rockingham Historic Site boasts a broad array of 18th-century furnishings and Washington military reproductions, a Colonial kitchen garden, and children's museum.
Would you ever pay Rockingham Historic Site a visit?
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