Somerset County - Kingston - AN INVITATION TO TEA
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Saturday, June 9 – Somerset County
AN INVITATION TO TEA
In late June of 1778, General George Washington visited Rockingham at the invitation of Mrs. Margaret Berrien as the main Continental army was marching east through the area. In two days, the army would engage the British near Monmouth Courthouse in a major battle where the Continentals held their own. While the rest of the army stopped nearby and "broke fast" around noon (had breakfast), Washington took tea with Mrs. Berrien. Perhaps Mrs. Berrien wanted to put in a good word for her son Major John Berrien who was serving with Washington.
On Saturday, June 9, 2018, Rockingham will welcome Stacy Roth of History-on-the-Hoof who will be occupying the Dutch barn from 1 pm to 4 pm to discuss 18th-century tea and its "furnishings." She will have a tea table with typical 18th-century accouterments, varieties of teas that were available to American colonists prior to the revolution, herbs that were substituted for tea when colonists rejected it in the wake of British taxes and regulatory acts, examples of teaware and assorted illustrations relating to pre-revolutionary tea consumption.
This event is still evolving and we hope to add more activities, so keep checking the Rockingham website EVENTS page through May for more information.
Our presentation is a lead into the reenactment of the 240th anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth, being held Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17 at Monmouth Battlefield State Park near Freehold, NJ. See their website for details.http://friendsofmonmouth.org/schedule18.html
