About this project

1783 at Rockingham is a Franklin 250 project of Franklin Township, New Jersey, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. It accompanies a three-board exhibition and a lecture by Timothy Messer-Kruse at the Franklin Township Public Library on October 24, 2026.

The exhibition and this site start from Article VII of the Treaty of Paris and the people it was written to recover: Black men, women, and children from central New Jersey who had escaped slavery and sailed from New York as free people in 1783. They follow the same demand into the Constitution and back to Rockingham, the house in Franklin Township where Washington stayed that autumn.

Research and text: Randy Jones, Franklin 250 Committee.

Document images are reproduced courtesy of the archives and collections credited with each one. See Sources and Methods.

Acknowledgments: [TO COME]

Contact: [TO COME]

Do you know more? Descendants, families, churches, and local historians are invited to share names, stories, photographs, or documents connected to anyone on this site. With your permission, we will add them, with credit.

Corrections. If you know more about any person named here, or see an error, please get in touch. Several points are still being checked; they are listed on the Sources and Methods page.