58 www.magazinevolume.com/DiscoverMiddlesex
Piscataway
Piscataway is one of the fifty
oldest towns in the nation
and the fifth oldest in New
Jersey. Founded in 1666
and officially incorporated
in 1798, Piscataway is one
of the links in the earliest
settlement of the Atlantic
seacoast that ultimately
led to the formation of the
United States. The name
Piscataway, derived from
the Lenni-Lenape tribe’s
language, interpreted as
“great deer river,” was given
by the earliest pioneers
from Piscataqua, New
Hampshire.
In 1997 the New Jersey and National Register
of Historic Places approved the Road UP
Raritan Historic District. Nine of the fourteen
existing historic homes in the River Road
area, including the oldest home (circa 1720)
in the county, constitute the township’s first
designated historic district.
Photo by Jenifer Rutherford