The Water Highway
From 1683 until 1859, this site was Perth Amboy’s transportation hub. It was the maritime equivalent of our cloverleaf junction. At this interchange – known as “Long Ferry,” to distinguish it from the shorter ferry to Staten Island, travelers could leave by boats bound for South Amboy, Navesink, South River and New Brunswick via the river and the bay. Stagecoach passengers disembarked here for the trip across the Raritan on their longer trips to Burlington or Philadelphia. Passengers from the south could continue by coach or boat to New York City.
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Next to a sketch of a tavern, Illustration courtesy William Pavlovsky:
The Long Ferry Tavern, the first hotel and watering hole in Perth Amboy, circa 1684, stood here for almost 200 years. It was destroyed by fire in 1867 at which time it was named “Peace & Plenty.” Because of its location near the ferry, it housed Perth Amboy’s post office, one of the earliest in North America.
On his first trip to Philadelphia from Boston via New York, the young Benjamin Franklin took the “Long Ferry” across the Raritan and then walked the 60 miles to Burlington.
Marker is on Sadowsky Pkwy, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
