The Eagleswood Military Academy was a private military academy in Perth Amboy, New Jersey which served antebellum educational needs.

The Eagleswood Military Academy was started by Rebecca Spring (1812–1911) and Marcus Spring (1810–1874) in 1861 in the vicinity of the Route 35/Smith Street intersection.[1] The Springs initially started the Raritan Bay Union, as a utopian community in 1853, but the Union closed in 1860.[2]

George Inness House
Eagleswood Military Academy is located in New Jersey
Eagleswood Military Academy
Location313 Convery Blvd
Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Architectural styleSecond Empire
NRHP reference No.79003250[3]
NJRHP No.1893[4]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 10, 1979
Designated NJRHPJuly 21, 1979

The grounds, approximately 260 acres, were recorded in the largets survey conducted by Henry David Thoreau.[5] The Eagleswood Mansion was located on the grounds. The house was listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places as the The George Inness House and was demolished in 1993.[3][4] George Inness, the American painter, stayed at the home in 1860s.[6]

The start of the American Civil War caused many of the Academy's teachers to join the war effort and the school was forced to close, having inadequate staff and enrollment to continue its existence. Several years later, the site became the Eagleswood Park Hotel until 1888, when the Eagleswood estate was sold by the Mutual Benefit Insurance Company to Calvin Pardee. He built a ceramic tile company on the site. Rebecca had the bodies of A.D. Stevens and A.E. Hazlett, from John Brown's raid, buried on her property.[7]

Notable Students

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ http://books.google.nl/books?id=h-6WCBQPZdoC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Eagleswood+Academy+Thoreau&source=bl&ots=Xg-U4B4VMY&sig=Er1tyoegcz0rN0D_Ynd96x0ot7I&hl=nl&ei=HZUYTqHwC4Sc-wb_jOXXBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Eagleswood%20Academy%20Thoreau&f=false
  3. ^ a b "New Jersey - Middlesex County". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  4. ^ a b "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Middlesex County" (PDF). NJ DEP – Historic Preservation Office. June 2, 2011. p. 7. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  5. ^ http://thoreau.eserver.org/jersey.html
  6. ^ "The History of Perth Amboy". City of Perth Amboy. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  7. ^ "John Brown's Men Disinterred.". New York Times. August 29, 1899, Wednesday. ((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

40°30′45″N 74°17′11″W / 40.512576°N 74.286321°W / 40.512576; -74.286321