As J.L. Bell reminds us at Boston 1775, today is the 247th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. While the Boston patriots dumped East India Company tea into the waters of Boston Harbor, not all revolutionary-era tea protestors involved dumping....
I gave this lecture at the Cumberland County Historical Society in Greenwich on February 3, 2019:...
About a decade ago, I was working hard on a book titled “The Greenwich Tea Burning: History and Memory in an American Town.” I came close to signing a book contract, but I got distracted by other things and let...
Yesterday I returned to Greenwich, NJ, the hometown of eighteenth-century diarist Phililp Vickers Fithian and site of the Greenwich Tea Burning. I had not been to the area since April 2017 when I gave a eulogy for my good friend...
Check out my piece on the Greenwich Tea Burning at Uncommon Sense, the blog of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. The post accompanies “The Politics of Tea,” episode 160 of Ben Franklin’s World and part of the Doing History...
In the acknowledgements of my book The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America I wrote: “Jonathan Wood of the Cumberland County Historical Society first introduced me to Philip Vickers Fithian’s homeland. I enjoyed...
The Greenwich Tea Burning Monument, Greenwich, NJ It is always nice when a reporter from one of my hometown newspapers calls and wants to talk history. Last week I had a nice chat with Lisa Rose, a reporter for the...
As I have noted here before, I will be working with the good folks at America’s History, LLC to offer “Religion, Rebellion & the Founding Fathers,” a tour of colonial mid-Atlantic sites relevant to the founding fathers and their religious...
The Greenwich Tea Burning Project: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5doK6a6ojo]...
Greenwich Friends Meetinghouse I am hoping for a small revival of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project this summer. To learn more about this public history project click here. In addition to my work on another public history/consulting project this summer,...
Christ Church, Philadelphia NOTE: THIS TOUR HAS BEEN POSTPONED. STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS This Spring The Way of Improvement Leads Home is teaming up with America’s History, LLC to offer a three-day tour focused on religion and the American...
I first met Gregg Jones, a resident of Greenwich, New Jersey, while doing research on the 1774 Greenwich Tea Burning. He is a great guy who loves the history of his historic home town. I recently learned that Gregg been...
It looks like I will not be spending time in Greenwich, NJ this summer. As many longtime readers of “The Way of Improvement Leads Home” know, I have been leading a small public history project in this community for the...
I just got off the phone with Ralph DePalma, a 6th grader from Manalpan, New Jersey who has advanced to the state finals for the National History Day competition with an exhibit on the Greenwich Tea Burning. Ralph is a […]
We wrapped up the 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project with mixed emotions. After close to forty full hours of research in the Lummis Library of the Cumberland County Historical Society, most of us were tired and ready...
We got a lot accomplished today during our work at the Lummis Library. After a day of being quarantined to the attic, we once again returned to the main reading room. When we entered the library we were greeted by […]
Day 3 of the 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project is in the books. It was a productive, but tiring day. Fatigue is starting to set in and we are all hoping and praying that our proverbial “second […]
We are just about five days away from the 2011 edition of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project. The rooms are booked, the van is rented, and I think they are ready for us at the Lummis Library in historic Greenwich,...
The Fall 2010 issue of the Messiah College alumni magazine, The Bridge, is running a short piece on the Greenwich Tea Burning Project. As some of my readers know, last year I took three students to the tiny town of...
The current phase of the Greenwich Tea Burning Project came to a close last night and the team has returned safely to their respective homes to get on with the summer. Day 4 was bittersweet. We had a productive day […]
