February 15, 2021 at 6:21 PM
JERSEY CITY, NJ - While not quite as cold as Valley Forge was the winter when Gen. George Washington camped out there during the American Revolution, a chilly Presidents Day paired with COVID-19 pandemic to keep the number of participants at Jersey City’s annual commemoration Monday.
Local legend has long claimed that George Washington, while general of the Colonial Army, met with French Major Gen. Marquis de Lafayette in 1779 under an apple tree in front of a house owned by Harman Van Wagenen, a Jersey City Farmer.
Located at 298 Academy Street, the house, renamed “The Apple Tree House”, has since served as a gathering place for commemorating Presidents Day each year.