Two hundred years ago today, Rahway was at the center of American history when General Marquis de Lafayette made a stop at the Peace Tavern downtown.
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Lafayette — for anyone who isn’t a Hamilton: An American Musical fan — was a French military officer who was a close associate of President George Washington. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and went on to play a key role in the French Revolution.
His stop at the Peace Tavern on Sept. 24, 1824 was a part of his grand farewell tour of the United States after the war, after which he returned to France. Historians from The Lafayette Trail, a nonprofit organization dedicated to memorializing the tour, placed a marker to commemorate the visit near The Peace Tavern’s site in 2022.
Lafayette has further historical significance in Rahway as the namesake for Lafayette Lodge No. 27. Founded two months after his visit (it received its original charter at the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge on Nov. 9, 1824), the Brethern who started the Lodge named it after the American revolutionary and Masonite because of his Sept. 24 visit. The Lodge was just a few doors down from the Peace Tavern. More history of the building can be found on the Lafayette Lodge No. 27 website.
To celebrate the bicentennial of this historic visit, The American Friends of Lafayette planned a commemorative wreath placing at the Lodge this morning.
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