By Ethan Mannello in MyCentralJersey.com on June 13, 2024
The Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission and the county commissioners announced the winners of the Historic Preservation and History Awards.
Davie-Lyn Jones-Evans, a fifth grade teacher at Somerville’s Van Derveer Elementary School and a local historian, won the history publication award.
The award is given to publications that increase public knowledge of Somerset County history and Jones-Evans was rewarded for her project “At home with history.”
The project explores the history of African Americans in Somerville and looks back through historical documents and events during their time living in town.
The Robert Morris School in South Bound Brook in partnership with the Witness Stones Project and the Friends of The Abraham Staats House took home the history education award for their program “We Were Here ~ The Enslaved People of Colonial America.”
This award, like the publication award, is given to programs that increase public knowledge of Somerset County history.
The “We Were Here” program allowed eighth graders at Robert Morris School, the Friends of the Abraham Staats House and the Witness Stones Project to come together and learn about the stories of slaves on the Staats farmstead.
The Staats house, which was built in 1740, was where the Staats family lived for almost 200 years. The house is full of rich history showing New Jersey’s evolution through the revolutionary war and slavery and was bought by the borough of South Bound Brook in 1999.
It is persevered by the Friends of the Abraham Staats House.
The Witness Stones Project, on the other hand, is dedicated to restoring and honoring the history of slaves who helped build communities.
Both groups do preservation and historical work around Somerset County and that is why they have received recognition.
The historic preservation and history awards were created to promote preservation and foster historical awareness in the county.
“The extensive history of Somerset County is not just a list of names, places, and events,” said Commissioner Director Shanel Y. Robinson at the award ceremony. “We must remember that those names have legacies, these places tell stories, and those events offer insights. That’s why we honor and celebrate these great people and organizations that work to preserve Somerset County’s history.”
Winners of the awards are selected by a committee who is appointed by the Cultural and Heritage Commission. New winners are selected yearly, and one must be nominated to win.
