SOMERS POINT — A couple of historic displays are coming to the city as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America.
Levi Fox, a member of the Patriots for Somers Mansion, told City Council on May 21 that the group had met the prior week with a representative from the state “about some of the exciting ongoing developments at the site.”
The nonprofit group is dedicated to reviving the original home of the city’s founder and its fantastic grounds.
Somers Mansion was built at what is now the junction of Shore Road, MacArthur Boulevard/Route 52 and Somers Point-Mays Landing Road, but must have commanded a sweeping, unobstructed view of the bay across unspoiled meadows when city founder Richard Somers built it, which was between 1720 and 1726, according to visitsomerspoint.com.
The mansion remained in the Somers family until 1937 when it was deeded to the Atlantic County Historical Society, according to the site, and was transferred to the state in 1941. The home now is recognized as a State Historic Site and the State Park Service is charged with its upkeep and operation.
Built in the Colonial style, the home later was converted into a Victorian-style structure, according to somersmansionpatriots.org. In the early 1940s, a project of the Works Progress Administration returned it to its classic appearance.
Fox said the group has secured a traveling exhibit from the New Jersey Historical Commission called Revolutionary Lives: Living the American Experiment Then and Now.
The exhibit highlights the often-overlooked stories of everyday New Jerseyans whose lives, labor and choices shaped the Revolutionary era and continue to inspire civic engagement today, according to NJ.gov.
“Revolutionary Lives gives people the opportunity to see how ordinary people who, through their everyday experiences, were caught up in making history — and ultimately contributed to creating our nation’s future,” said Carrie Fellows, executive director of Crossroads of the American Revolution.
The exhibit will be on display through a partnership with the Atlantic County Historical Society, which has a museum adjacent to the mansion site, from July 10-24.
The other exhibit will display artifacts from an archeological dig at the property.
In March 2023, a team of archaeologists from University of Monmouth started uncovering the past — shovelful by shovelful — on the grounds of the historic mansion.
Rich Veit, a professional historical archaeologist, said the work should shed some light on the interaction between the Lenni Lenape, who spent summers in the area, and early settlers such as the Somers family.
“We’re going to be getting the artifacts cleaned and cataloged and ready for hopefully an exhibit in one of the back rooms of the mansion, which we also hope to have at that same time,” Fox said.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff