Shelly Drive

New Jersey · USA · Execution site

A New Jersey housing estate stands on woods that sheltered troops from both sides of the Revolutionary War, and on ground where a spy named William.

The woods that once stood where Shelly Drive now runs, at New Monmouth, New Jersey, gave cover and refuge to troops from both sides during the Revolutionary War. Local tradition holds that where the street ends into the newer part of the subdivision there was a battle between Patriot and British forces, and that it was severe enough to leave scores dead on both sides.

One figure is named in every telling. William Champlain fought on the Patriot side and was passing information to the British. When Washington's troops established that he was a spy, they did not let him know that they knew, and what followed is the part of the story the street has kept.

Revolutionary War ground is thick on the ground in Monmouth County, and much of what is told about it locally has drifted a long way from the record. What is documented is the military use of these woods. What is passed along Shelly Drive is a single name and the manner of one man's death, which is how these things usually survive two hundred and fifty years.

FAQ

Wo befindet sich Shelly Drive?

Shelly Drive liegt in New Jersey, USA.