In 1713, Reid donated land to build the first courthouse.

One of the first Scots in the area was a man named John Reid, who had actually served as surveyor-general of the province at one time. in which all lands were purchased through treaties and land sales rather than conquest.

In fact, New Jersey is the only state in the U.S. Unlike the great Indian Wars that would follow in much of the United States, the relationship between the Lenni-Lenape and those first settlers was, for the most part, amicable. The Lenni-Lenape lived in scattered small family bands. As they arrived in this area, Lenni-Lenape Indians greeted them. The Dutch followed them into Freehold Township several years later. The first European settlers in Freehold Township were Scots who settled in about 1682-85. It was Hendrik Hudson and his crew aboard the Dutch vessel ‘Half Moon” who, in 1609, first spotted land in what is now Monmouth County (most likely off Sandy Hook).

The following historical narrative about Freehold was prepared by David Salkin, Township Committeeman, for the book, Town by Town: Impressions of Monmouth County (Freehold: Office of the Monmouth County Clerk, 2002):įreehold Township, founded in 1693 and one of the original three townships of Monmouth County, is rich in history.

Freehold township post office