Hit the road with journalist Mark DiIonno as he takes you on a tour of New Jersey’s extraordinary Revolutionary War history. Listing more than 350 historic sites throughout the state, DiIonno has compiled the most complete guide ever to the Revolutionary War in the Garden State.

New Jersey’s role in the Revolutionary War is widely overlooked. Every school kid learns about the Boston Tea Party but not the Greenwich tea burning; and about the miserable winter at Valley Forge but not Jockey Hollow. Schools fund class trips to Philadelphia’s Independence Hall but not Princeton’s Nassau Hall. To find history in New Jersey, all you need is DiIonno’s book as your guide. His easy-to-read volume helps readers explore the cities and the countryside from Bergen to Cape May County to find out exactly what happened there during the Revolutionary War.

While previously published books center on the highlights — Fort Lee and Washington’s retreat across the state, victories at Trenton and Princeton, the brutal winter encampment at Jockey Hollow and the Battle of Monmouth —  DiIonno fills in the blanks. Battlefields, churches, homes of the famous and infamous, cemeteries, parks, taverns, liberty poles, bridges, creeks, hills, museums, encampment sites, lighthouses, historical societies, walking trails, monuments, plaques—if it played a part in or commemorates the Revolutionary War in New Jersey, DiIonno tells you what happened there, the personalities involved, and how to see it for yourself.

The sites are conveniently cataloged by county, with a helpful summary of the area’s war history beginning each chapter. Each entry lists the town and directions to each site, and where appropriate, a complete address, telephone numbers, and hours of operation. Both public and private sites are described, and DiIonno advises readers of which private sites tours can be arranged.

MARK DILONNO is an assistant managing editor at the Newark Star-Ledger and author of New Jersey's Coastal Heritage: A Guide (Rutgers University Press).

This is a book New Jersey has long needed. It opens our eyes to the rich Revolutionary War legacy that surrounds us.

A quite astonishing number of battlefields, houses, bridges, etc., which figured in the [Revolutionary War] struggle are extant, thanks to the U.S. Park service and preservation groups. DiIonno lists, with maps and particulars, hundreds of them in his 224-page softback, and includes an illuminating final chapter on his often frustrating research process. DiIonnoÆs point that New JerseyÆs glorious Revolutionary War history needs much more attention in the schools here is well taken.

This bookÆs appearance in the year 2000 is well timed to be in coordination with the NationÆs 225th anniversary of the American Revolution. DiIonno provides a basis for both New Jersey residents and out-of-state visitors to experience the full breadth and depth of New JerseyÆs unique role in the war. Every history teacher and school administrator should have a copy when they make plans for school field trips. Experiencing this crucial page of history by visiting the sites of the Revolution will make this period of American history more relevant, and better understood.

"A wonderful guide through New Jersey, the 'cockpiy' of the Revolution."