Plaque Unveiling at the Five Corners Branch: Commemorating the Marquis de Lafayette's Return Visit to Jersey City

On September 23, 1824, the Marquis De Lafayettte passed through Jersey City as part of his triumphant return visit to the country he helped establish. After breakfasting in what was then Jersey City proper, he made a stop at the Bergen Hotel at the Five Corners, then part of Bergen Township, where he was presented with a ceremonial cane. The cane was made from a local apple tree, under which, it was said, LaFayette and George Washington met to discusss strategy during a difficult phase of the Revolutionary War. 

To commemorate the bicentennial of this event, a memorial sign will be dedicated at the Five Corners Library, the site of the former hotel. The plaque will be a part of the LaFaytte Trail, tracing the route of LaFayette's visit.

Join Mayor Fulop, the Friends of LaFayette and other officials and dignitaries for the ceremonial dedication of the plaque. Additional exhibit materials will be on view at the Museum of Jersey City History at the Apple Tree House, 298 Academy Street. The former Van Wagenen home is nicknamed the Apple Tree House for the association of the Van Wagenen family with the orchard where Washington's meeting with LaFayette was said to have taken place.