Indian King Tavern - Your Passport to Adventure - Haddonfield, NJ
N 39° 53.938 W 075° 01.820
18S E 497407 N 4416544
Indian King Tavern is NJ's most historic buildings, named for the local Lenape Indians. It is an example of 18th-century colonial tavern architecture as well as where NJ was legally created. In 1903, the facility became NJ's first historic site.
Waymark Code: WM8A45
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 02/26/2010
Views: 9
Passport Program Information
The NJ Parks and Forests Service came out with a passport book for collecting stamps for visiting a select sampling of our states parks, forests and historic sites. Many fine places did not make the list but many beautiful and culturally important sites did make the list so I suppose it all evens out in the end. The passport book is divided into 3 sections, north, central and south Jersey. This stamp and Indian King Tavern page represent the eighth listing for the Southern N.J. section. If it was not for the release of a puzzle cache a few years ago and my obsession at the time for first to finds, I would never have visited all 24 sites of central and southern NJ. The puzzle cache is called Passport To Adventure (South Jersey Challenge) and can be found HERE. The stamp and the passport books are free. To find out more about our fabulous passport program please visit HERE. The stamp for this park features an inside look of the tavern, notably a table and the tavern bar. Perhaps it is fitting the bar is shown; one might have to be very drunk to decide to consider and sign such an an act of treason, that of formally breaking away from England and announcing the independence of your land.
The coordinates are for the three-and-one-half story brick building/tavern . This is where one would get the stamp for the Passport to Adventure booklet. The left page, opposite the stamp reads "The Indian King Tavern represents the time in history when New Jersey grew up, stopped being a "teenager" and became a legal state. New Jersey broke free of its "parent", Great Britain. It was here that New Jersey declared itself a state in all of the public writs and commissions. It was also here that the Declaration of Independence was officially read into the minutes of the New Jersey Assembly and the Great Seal of New Jersey was adopted."
Each page has fast facts beneath the narrative (see accompanying picture). Fast facts for this historic site include -- 1) Tavern keepers had to post a list of rates not only for customers, but for their customers' horses as well. 2) Common fare offered at the Indian King was porridge for breakfast, stew for lunch and locally brewed beer. 3) The common sleeping arrangements were just spots on the floor; rooms were for the more wealthy clients.
Indian King Tavern Information
There is a plaque which tells about this FIRST and of this history of this historic site. It reads Within this building a tavern house the council for safety of the state of New Jersey was organized on March 18, 1777. Herein also in September in the same year the legislature unanimously decided resolved that after the word "state" should be substited "colony" in all public writes and commissions.
This NJ Historic site is where it was decided New Jersey would be changed from a 'Colony' to a 'State' in 1777. Finished in 1750, the Indian King Tavern has been a central landmark in Haddonfield, New Jersey, for 255 years. This is also one of a slew of history museums along historic Kings Highway in the NRHP historic district of Haddonfield, NJ.
The Indian King Tavern was built in 1750. It is a crucial component of the Revolutionary War Period. In 1745, Mathias Aspden purchased this lot of land which was then filled w/ brewery buildings which he soon cleared for the tavern's construction.