Born into a wealthy Massachusetts merchant family (his father Andrew Belcher was a tavern owner in Cambridge and grandfather who immigrated to Massachusetts Bay from England), Belcher attended Harvard College and then entered into the family business and local politics. He was instrumental in promoting Samuel Shute as governor of Massachusetts in 1715, and sat on the colony's council, but became disenchanted with Shute over time and eventually joined the populist faction of Elisha Cooke Jr. (Full article...)
... that eleven men survived a fire during construction of the North River Tunnels by breathing through a hacked air pipe 500 feet from the Shippen Street shaft?
... that the 2,000 American soldiers who fought in the Battle of Short Hills against 17,000 British men suffered only minor casualties and were able to inflict considerable damage on the enemy?
Image 14A fleet of naval forces being constructed in the Camden shipyards (1919) (from History of New Jersey)
Image 15New Brunswick, nicknamed the Hub city and the Healthcare City, is a focus city for academia, healthcare, and culture in New Jersey. (from New Jersey)
Image 22High-rise residential complexes in the borough of Fort Lee (from New Jersey)
Image 23The original provinces of West and East New Jersey are shown in yellow and green respectively. The Keith Line is shown in red, and the Coxe and Barclay Line is shown in orange. (from History of New Jersey)
Image 32Nassau Hall at Princeton University, an Ivy League university and one of the world's most prominent research institutions, served briefly as the U.S. Capitol in the 18th century. (from New Jersey)
Image 34Modern map which approximates the relative size and location of the settled areas of New Netherland and New Sweden. (from History of New Jersey)
Image 46The Atlantic City boardwalk, as seen from Caesars Atlantic City, opened in 1870, as the world's first boardwalk. At 5+1⁄2 miles (8.9 km) long, it is also the world's longest and busiest boardwalk. New Jersey is home to the world's highest concentration of boardwalks.
Image 48Paterson, sometimes known as Silk City, has become a prime destination for an internationally diverse pool of immigrants, with at least 52 distinct ethnic groups. (from New Jersey)