On the morning of July 11, 1804 in Weehawken, the man who built our financial system lined up 10 paces from the man who had tied Thomas Jefferson in the vote for President. The only other witnesses disagreed on who fired first, but no one disputes that Alexander Hamilton's bullet missed, hitting a tree branch, while Aaron Burr's bullet hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen, tearing through internal organs before lodging in his spine.
History would be much kinder to Hamilton, as the former Treasury Secretary was rowed back across the Hudson to be eulogized by family and friends even before he slowly bled to death. Vice President Aaron Burr was destined to be vilified through the ages as the man who killed a founding father (even one who had become politically disgraced).
No doubt you were taught in school that Hamilton was a murdered hero while Burr was an evil traitor -- and although Lin Manuel Miranda has done much to redeem the record of fallen founder Aaron Burr, did you know:
- ...that Hamilton cheated the "dueling code," secretly using pistols rigged with hair triggers that were designed to go off early? (unfortunately for Alex, he squeezed too hard, and fired too early)
- ...that Burr was a Revolutionary War hero who personally tried to rescue his commander's body under fire at Quebec and also put down a mutiny at Valley Forge?
- ...that Hamilton betrayed his own party in the Election of 1800 as he lashed out at everyone, even slandering his former boss John Adams?
- ...that Burr was the first American politician to fight for equal rights for women?
- ...that Hamilton’s career was mainly destroyed by his relentless adultery that he paid blackmail to cover up?
- ...that Burr was a vocal opponent of slavery?
- ...that the depressive Hamilton may have been suicidal, choosing both the duel's location (the same spot his son Philip had been killed in a duel a few years before) and providing the pistols (the same ones that had killed his son)?
- ...that Burr, as he fled New York (and murder charges) after the duel -- eventually returning to Washington to finish out his VP term with such a rousing farewell speech that it brought many Senators to tears -- briefly hid out right here in West Orange?
Fleeing authorities after his duel with Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr stayed for a time at a house called Mountain Foot (because it stood at the foot of Orange Mountain), a Colonial brick mansion built and owned by his friend Caleb Harrison.
Although Burr wouldn't stay here long (he was fleeing murder charges, after all), he visited the Harrisons several times over the years -- the family would even end up in possession of Burr's baby cradle from 1756, now in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society.
Sadly, the story of the Harrison mansion of Mountain Foot (after family marriages also known as the Rollinson mansion, named after another prominent West Orange family) is almost as sad as the tragedy of Aaron Burr. The old family estate was subdivided and lots were sold off; eventually the route of Northfield Avenue had to be straightened out for car traffic up the hill, so by 1953 the stately mansion was left standing on an awkward triangle of land between Northfield Ave., Old Northfield, and Whittingham Place.
Efforts were made to preserve the house due to its historic importance, even putting it on the National Register of Historic Places (which documented the house in these photos and drawings now in the Library of Congress).
But by the mid-1900s the house had fallen into disrepair, and despite a brief attempt to turn it into a museum, backers couldn't find enough funding to preserve it. The house was finally torn down in 1969 to make room for the hexagonal dentist's office building and parking lot that now stands across from this cache at 100 Northfield Ave.
But not EVERYTHING was obliterated -- there is still a small reminder of the days of Harrison and Burr along the edge of Old Northfield and Whittingham Place in the form of a low stone wall that used to stand just in front of the mansion's front porch, as you can see in these historic photos.
The thousands of commuters who drive or ride past this spot every morning to merge onto I-280 have no idea of this 200-year-old connection to the aftermath of two Founding Fathers facing off in a tragic duel -- one that ended the life of one of them and the political career and historic legacy of the other.
Now for the cache: You're looking for a gray, circular magnetic container big enough to hold a few small trinkets or trackables (but not much else). Obviously this is a VERY high traffic area, so please practice extreme stealth and rehide the cache well!
Congrats to B2Pi for the FTF...