Changing Tides - Rediscovering Woodbridge New Jersey 1665-1702

Donald J. Peck

Changing Tides - Rediscovering Woodbridge New Jersey 1665-1702 is an informative summary of the founding years of the oldest chartered township in the state of New Jersey. The southernmost extension of Puritan New England, it was explored by Dutch merchants, and was for centuries the home of peaceful native Americans.

In tidewater old Woodbridge, New England and Long Island families were drawn to a new frontier with an opportunity to experience freedom of religion, extensive participation in self-government, broad economic opportunity, and the rudiments of education.

From New Jersey's settlement as a proprietary partnership colony and later as a proprietary corporate colony administered primarily by Scots, the township included early courts, legislative assemblies, and the first tidal grist mill and tavern in New Jersey. Between 1665 and 1702 it operated as a theocracy. Its distinguished founding families included Jonathan Dunham, the eighth great-grandfather of President Barock Obama, and the first of his ancestors to be born in North America.

Endorsements

"Donald Johnstone Peck, a well-known preservation advocate and researcher, has written a complex and illuminating love letter to Woodbridge Township. Describing a unique cultural fabric hidden in plain sight, the author describes a formation of our American democratic vision with sophistication and insight." - Timothy G. Hart, Esq. (Retired), President of the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey.

"A remarkably readable book about the rich and little-known history of Woodbridge Township and New Jersey by a noted an accomplished historian." - Rev. Dr. Fred Mueller, President of the Raritan-Millstone Heritage Alliance

"Donald Peck's latest book sheds light on a fascinating and overlooked period in New Jersey's past. Through stories and vignettes he examines Woodbridge and vicinity's early colonial history. Peck is to be commended for his dedication to local history.- Richard Veit, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and Interim Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science at Monmouth University

Specifications

Format: 6" x 9" hardback on permanent paper, printed in the United States
Pages: 168
ISBN 10: 1-939995-35-3
ISBN 13: 978-1-939995-35-3
LCCN: 2021000300
Price: $28.95 (Bulk order rates are available upon request)

About the Author

Donald Johnstone Peck is a trustee for the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey; immediate past-president of the Raritan-Millstone Heritage Alliance, Inc., Somerset, New Jersey, and board member and contributing writer and editor for their quarterly publication, The Link. A member of the Board of Directors of the Historical Association of Woodbridge Township, he is past commissioner of the Woodbridge Township Preservation Committee, life member (since 1972) and president emeritus and past president for three non-consecutive terms of the Proprietary House Association, Perth Amboy, and founding member and past vice president of the Colts Neck Historical Society, Colts, Neck, New Jersey.