36. Buccleuch Mansion Traditional Cache

1739 - 1773

Buccleuch Mansion was built circa 1739 by a wealthy Englishman, Anthony White, upon his marriage to Elizabeth Morris, daughter of Lewis Morris, royal governor of New York and New Jersey. To reflect his new bride's social status, the home was named White House Farm and included a working farm and formal garden, ideally situated on a hill overlooking the busy colonial port of Raritan Landing.

Anthony and Elizabeth's son, Brigadier General Anthony Walton White, was born here in the family's home in 1750. He remained in New Brunswick until the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Despite his family's loyalty to the English crown, General White served initially as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army, fighting under General Lafayette, and was later sent to Pennsylvania by Secretary of War Anthony Wayne to help disperse the Whiskey Rebels.

​During a period of ration shortages, General White used his personal wealth to feed and equip his soldiers. As a consequence of this generosity and as a result of failed investments, he lost his inheritance and died bankrupt in New Brunswick in 1803.

1774 - 1820

Around 1774, the home was sold to an English army officer, General William Burton, a nephew of Bartholomew Burton, governor of the Bank of England. Scant details of his stay at the house remain, save from an advertisement by the Commissioners for Forfeited Estates in 1783 describing "The Famous House and Lands, late the property of William Burton, formerly in the occupancy of Anthony White."

During the American Revolution, New Brunswick was situated directly in the path of the British and American armies as they traversed the state. During the winter of 1776-1777, the city was occupied for six months by the British field army under General Charles Cornwallis. It was during this period that the home was surrendered to the British, and where signs of saber and musket marks from the occupation can still be seen on Buccleuch's floors and bannisters today.

Reports describe General George Washington visiting New Brunswick during the course of the war and after on at least five occasions. Stories have been told by the families who inhabited the house, of visits to the home by America's foremost dignitaries including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, General Horatio Gates, John Hancock and Brigadier General Thaddeus Kosciusko. Later residents recall British General James Grant who also used the home as his headquarters during the British occupation.

In 1783, the house was then sold to John Bergen who immediately sold it to Colonel Charles Stewart. An outstanding patriot, Stewart was a member of the First Provincial Congress of 1776, Colonel of the First Regiment of Minute Men in 1776, Commissary of General Washington's staff and a member of the Continental Congress from 1784-1785.

Stewart kept the home until 1798, when he sold it to John Garnett, who held the property until his death in 1820. Garnett was a native of England and a reputable man of science. Among the many mathematics and scientific articles he authored, he edited and published in New Brunswick the Nautical Almanac and the Astronomical Ephemeris.

1821 - 1911

In 1821, the fifth owner of the mansion, Colonel Joseph Warren Scott (b. 1778), purchased the home and renamed it Buccleuch Mansion in honor of his family's ancestral home. The mansion became home to his extended family for the next 90 years. An accomplished and eloquent lawyer, he conducted his large law practice from the house, and his office is preserved much as he left it.

Colonel Scott's father, Moses Scott (b. 1738), moved to New Brunswick before the Revolutionary War and practiced medicine in the area for many years. A close friend of George Washington, he held several commissions as surgeon for the Continental Army. Of his eight children, Joseph Warren Scott was his only son. As the sole male heir, he was appointed to the New Jersey Society of the Society of Cincinnati as the representative of his father.

The Scott family lived in the home until 1911 when it was deeded to the city of New Brunswick, along with 79 acres of parkland, by Joseph Warren Scott's grandson, Anthony Dey, as a memorial to his grandfather. Dey stipulated that the grounds would be used by the city in perpetuity for a public park, specifically "a resting place for the weary, a life giving, healthy resort for all." Dey and his wife were the last residents to occupy Buccleuch Mansion as a private home; Dey died in October 1912.

This cache is one of "The American Revolution Geo~Trail" caches throughout New Jersey. These program geocaches are hidden at historic locations which have a connection to important New Jersey's American Revolutionary War history. To participate in the optional Geo-Trail, after you find the geocache, locate the secret code and record it into your passport which you will print from the Geo~Trail website. Information at njpatriots.org

The Northern New Jersey Cachers, NNJC is about promoting a quality caching experience in New Jersey. For information on The Northern New Jersey Cachers group you can visit: www.nnjc.org.