Celebrate Zion History Fun Facts by Judy Formalarie

Last month I encouraged you all to look at the 'stars' that were given out at Advent Parish Night and to research the year you were given for 'fun facts' of the time. Here are a few new ones:

The frigate U.S.S. Philadelphia ran aground on the approaches to Tripoli harbor in today's Libya. It was burned in 1804 by a U.S. Navy raid to deny its use to the enemy. It was built of oak and hickory from Hunterdon County.

With early transportation incapable of rapidly hauling bulky, perishable cargo, the county's apple orchards turned to distilling the cider at home. Hunterdon became the late 1700s apple whiskey capital of the colonies.

Of the 3,141 counties in the U.S., Hunterdon is the only county of its name. It was named after Robert Hunter, the Scottish Royal Governor of New York and New Jersey in 1710-1720.

Starting in the 1720s, much of the northern part of Hunterdon was settled by Germans. But the World War I anti-German hysteria saw the town of New Germantown renamed Oldwick. To the north, German Valley became Long Valley.