Uncovering History
We invite you to visit the preserved locations along the Liberty Trail and to immerse
yourself in the extraordinary events that determined the fate of a nation.
The Royal Governor's Mansion of New Jersey is the only remaining proprietary governor's mansion of the original Thirteen Colonies still standing today. Built in the 1760s, it served as the residence gubernatorial residence of William Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's Loyalist son.
Built in 1767, the Chowan County Courthouse is one of the oldest operating courthouses in the country and still serves the North Carolina Supreme Court to this day.
Once a thriving commercial hub, Bethabara was home to a Moravian settlement in Winston-Salem that witnessed the French and Indian War, the Regulator War, and the American Revolution.
During the Revolutionary War in 1781, Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson fled to Poplar Forest from Monticello to evade capture from British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.
Liberty Hall was home to trailblazing governors, congressmen, senators, assembly persons, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs. Inhabited by William Livingston, New Jersey’s first elected governor and a signer of the United States Constitution, the 14-room Georgian-style home evolved over time into a 50-room Victorian mansion.
On December 27, 1782, Patriot forces under Captain Richard Shreve and Captain Edward Thomas were surprised at a tavern by Loyalist raider Captain John Bacon, igniting a sharp skirmish. Though the militia gained the advantage, aid from local Loyalists allowed the wounded Bacon to escape, leaving casualties on both sides and marking what is believed to be the last land engagement of the American Revolution.
This 18th-century plantation home, on the grounds of the Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, served as a place of refuge for Francis Marion who hid here from when British troops.
Old Santee Canal Park hosts the Berkeley County Museum and Fort Fair Lawn, where in 1780, the British attacked the Patriot army stationed at Monck’s Corner.
The home of a prominent Philadelphia merchant, this was the largest home built in New Jersey during the Revolution. During the Continental Army's encampment at Middleburg, it served as George Washington's Headquarters.
Eighteenth-century Moncks Corner was a crossroads settlement of stores and taverns at the intersection of the Cherokee Path (the Indian traders’ path) and the road from Charleston to Santee. A powder magazine was established in 1760 and the village was occupied as a store depot by the British during the Revolutionary War.