Only briefly mentioned in history books, and virtually invisible on the landscape, the port community of Raritan Landing is about to reappear. In the Colonial period the town shared a thriving grain trade and import business with New Brunswick on the other side of the Raritan River. Located a mile or so above New Brunswick, Raritan Landing was the highest point on the river that ocean-going ships could reach.
In the Path of Route 18 Improvements
Archaeological excavations at 13 properties within the buried town of Raritan Landing began on August 7. The work is associated with pending highway construction by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
A Historic Community Reappears
The buried remains of the 18th/19th century port town lie beneath the grassy lawns of Johnson Park on the south side of River Road in Piscataway, New Jersey and beneath Rutgers University property on the north side of the road. The Raritan Landing archaeological district includes the remains of house foundations, commercial structures, and associated artifacts dating to the heyday of the community in the middle of the 18th century, to destruction during the Revolutionary War, and to the rebuilding of the community after the war.
British Regimental Button
Leaving More for Future Generations
Although 13 historic sites within the district are being excavated in the path of highway construction, the community originally included about 70 structures and most of their remains will be left untouched by the present project.
Sharing the Finds With the Public
In addition to this Web page—which will grow as the excavation progresses—the New Jersey Department of Transportation is sponsoring regular tours, school group presentations, temporary and permanent exhibits of artifacts recovered, and a non-technical final report. First person narratives included in the pages that follow were first developed for Voices from Raritan Landing, An Educational Guide to a Colonial Port Community. They are reprinted here with the permission of the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission.
