Bergen County Historical Society needs your help to build a museum

[Steenrapie]

Dear neighbor and fellow citizen,

To fully appreciate what it means to be an American, we invite you to experience History in one of the storied places where it was made.

The Bergen County Historical Society cares for the American Revolutionary War battleground at the Bridge That Saved A Nation, where General George Washington led the outnumbered garrison of Fort Lee to safety across an oak drawbridge over the Hackensack River on November 20, 1776. That nearly shoeless but unyielding line of citizen-soldiers carried the hopes and future of a young Nation. In admiration, eyewitness Thomas Paine spoke of the “times that try men’s souls,” believing every Patriot who stood by the cause of Liberty in its darkest hour “deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

We offer a unique opportunity to show abiding gratitude to all those who gave so much for the life of a free nation. Relying entirely upon volunteer contributions, the Bergen County Historical Society is raising $350,000 to construct a first-rate museum building and library on the Society’s property at Historic New Bridge Landing. This museum building will be built to replicate an eighteenth-century Dutch barn, so as to visually complement the landmark stone houses while providing a proper museum environment for thousands of irreplaceable artifacts and documents of our Past. Each object gives meaning to a memorable moment in Bergen County’s remarkable transition from colonial frontier to one of the America’s most diverse and prosperous suburban counties.

Better than any textbook, classroom exercise or computer, these artifacts uniquely speak to our national experience, allowing young and old to “touch” history in meaningful and memorable ways. The Society’s museum collections range from a white-oak Indian dugout canoe, unearthed in Hackensack in 1868, to the pickaxe used in breaking ground for the George Washington Memorial Bridge. Of special interest, military memorabilia—including a Revolutionary War musket fished from the Hackensack River in 1903 and musket balls flattened when they struck the stone façade of the Zabriskie-Steuben House—allow visitors to connect with a significant fragment of the Jersey Dutch countryside, which repeatedly served as a military headquarters, battleground and encampment ground throughout the war.

Doing our utmost to honor and teach what it truly means to enjoy Freedom, we ask your help. Join our efforts to preserve Historic New Bridge Landing as sacred ground where Americans fought and bled for the right of self-government.

As a 501(c)(3) volunteer non-profit organization, 100% of your donation is expended on the fulfillment of our mission! Your donation toward this cause will “deserve the love and thanks of man and women” for generations to come.

[peterzabriskie]

ARE YOU CONTACTING YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES? ARE YOU CONTACTING YOUR STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE? ARE YOU CONTACTING OTHER STATES WITH SUCCESSFUL VENTURES, I.E. MARYLAND, INDINANA, TENNESSEE, VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY ? ARE YOU CONTACTING THE MILITARY, US ARMY, US NAVY, MARINES, COAST GUARD? ARE YOU CONTACTING VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS? ARE YOU CONTACTING THE FREE MASONS? ARE YOU CONTACTING THE "ANIMAL" CLUBS, ELKS, MOOSE, ETC? ARE YOU CONTACTING NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, PUBLIC BROADCAST TV, ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION, THE ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, THE NATIONAL HISTORIC TRUST? ARE YOU CONTACTING MAJOR NEWS ORGANIZATIONS, WASHINGTON POST, NEW YORK TIMES, LA TIMES? ARE YOU CONTACTING THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK CITY? ARE YOU CONTACTING THE NEW YORK STATE/CITY HISTORIC SOCIETIES? ARE YOU ON FACEBOOK ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  IT WILL SOON BE THE QUARTER-MILLENIAL CELEBRATION OF THE USA SET YOUR GOALS HIGH. THE FIRST PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS HERE ~ AND THE BRITISH, WITH THEIR GAUDY WEDDING, ARE NOT ! ! ! !