Routes to Roots Heritage Trail
Slave Burial Site
Grave marker, at a cemetery just off Military Trail.
(Actual height about 12")
At Rest: Slave and Free
Military Road or the "Military Supply Road," evolved in 1756-57 to haul supplies 60 miles westward from Elizabeth, (then called Elizabeth Town) through today's sites of Newton and Walpack Center, to Fort Johns on the Delaware, for distribution to the other forts along the river. The road was the idea of Captain Jonathan Hampton, a New-Jersey-born surveyor and landowner, who served as quartermaster and paymaster at Fort Johns on Military Trail. Sections of the old route now lie under modern roadways, but the final mile is still a wide path through the woods from today's village of Walpack Center on Rt. NPS 615 to the original roadbed of Old Mine Road at Van Campen Inn. Here amid the brush of the forest, at signpost #4, is the final resting place of African American slaves. Deep in the woods across the trail are the remains of a cabin that may have been home to the slaves as well. Today, those foundations and austere grave markers are silent reminders of the women, men and children who endured a terrible chapter in our nation's history.
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Military Trail - Signpost #4
Walpack Center, NJ
Please access the following link for hiking information on how to visit the burial site.
National Park Service - Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area: Guide to Military Trail
http://home.nps.gov/dewa/planyourvisit/upload/sb4MT8x11.pdf
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County History and Resource Organizations
Sussex County
Dorothy Hartman
PO Box 1316
Montague, NJ 07827
Work: 973-293-3684
E-Mail: histrygirl@optonline.net
Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council
9 Moran Street
Newton, NJ 07860
(973) 383-0027; (973) 383-6603 FAX
arts-heritage@mercurylink.net
Sussex County Historical Society
82 Main Street
PO Box 913
Newton, NJ 07860
(973) 383-6010
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