Mendham dig yields Revolutionary War artifacts, Buttons commemorating Washington's inauguration

star ledger ^ | sept. 9, 2009 | rick everett

[Coleus]

Rick Pressl burst into the board of trustees meeting, a boyish exuberance overcoming his normally reserved temperament. The retired fire chief pulled aside Tanya Sulikowski, the executive director of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust, to show off a rusty, barely recognizable object. It was a Revolutionary War era stirrup, Pressl said, his first major find while excavating the nature preserve.

He would soon have much more to show the board. This summer, he and a few students from Ridge High School, unearthed spoons, tongs, nails, horseshoes and several other historic artifacts.

The group also discovered a set of four brass buttons celebrating the inauguration of George Washington, the find of a lifetime. "In the metal detecting world, guys find buttons daily, but you don't see George Washington buttons." Pressl said. The buttons are worth tens of thousands of dollars but money is not what motivated Pressl. He was interested in the history.

"I wanted to prove there was a Revolutionary outpost on this property," said Pressl, who had heard that soldiers had stayed there in the winter of 1789. Pressl first asked permission to search the Schiff Nature Preserve in December 2007 and was awarded exclusive rights. "I know metal detecting is a hobby for lots of folks," Sulikowski said, "What impressed us was the goal for his survey was to piece together local history rather than treasure hunting."

The board, though, was skeptical of what the dig would yield. The land had been a Boy Scouts' training camp from 1933 until 1979 and had been dug up and combed over for decades. "Our initial thought was that he'd come up with some old Boy Scout artifacts," Sulikowski said. "We thought it was kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack." It was.

[Coleus]

   

Rick Pressl, a retired fire chief, and students from Ridge High School have unearthed Revolutionary War era memorabilia in Mendham, including a set of buttons celebrating the inauguration of President George Washington. Left to right, Dylan Klimek, Rick Pressl, Dan Breen, Christina Totten, Taylor Klimek work at the dig site in Mendham.

Buttons commemorating George Washington's inauguration were discovered at the site.

[NonValueAdded]

ping

[Parley Baer]

Pretty neat. I know I would be beaming if I had found those items.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

/mark

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for the ping, but had been here.

Best, PB

[Coleus]

thanks, what’s going on with the FR search? This is the 2nd article I posted that didn’t come up in the search.