Early Aristocracy 1665 – 1812

The English Government encouraged settlement of the new country through the sale of land grants. Many families who had already emigrated from England moved from Long Island and Connecticut to establish settlements throughout New Jersey. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Elizabethtown had grown into a prosperous community of seven or eight hundred inhabitants. Statesmen and leaders of the emerging nation and their families enjoyed life on estates in large houses surrounded by gardens and apple and peach orchards. Get a glimpse of the birth of our nation and of the aristocratic way of life.

Boxwood Hall State Historic Site
1073 E. Jersey St., Elizabeth

• Outstanding collection of 18th and 19th century American furniture

Liberty Hall
1003 Morris Ave., Union www.kean.edu/libertyhall

• Outstanding collection of 18th and 19th century furniture
• Formal Gardens
• 1880s dollhouse
• Portraits of Kean and Livingston family members