Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainSite of the last documented skirmish of the Revolutionary War — December 27, 1782 — where Loyalist raiders ambushed Continental militia at a Pine Barrens bridge
200 Old Halfway Road, Barnegat Township, NJ 08005
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Grounds free to visit. Annual reenactment events may have admission; check Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission website.
Access
Limited Access
Unpaved grounds and trails in Pine Barrens woodland setting; some uneven terrain around the tavern ruins.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1816 · Site of the Affair at Cedar Bridge — last documented land skirmish of the Revolutionary War (December 27, 1782) · Loyalist John Bacon's final major raid before his death in April 1783 · Ocean County-restored living-history museum with annual reenactment · Pine Barrens post-road tavern on the colonial Tuckerton Road
The Peace of Paris ending the Revolutionary War would not be signed until September 1783, but organized fighting had largely stopped after Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in October 1781. In the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, however, a residual conflict simmered. Loyalist privateers operating in the coastal zone continued raiding patriot settlements and militia supply lines well into 1782.
John Bacon was among the most persistent of these raiders. A former resident of Monmouth County, Bacon had aligned with the Crown early in the war and spent years leading a small band of Loyalist fighters in hit-and-run operations along the Jersey Shore. By late 1782, Continental militia commanders had made suppressing Bacon a priority. Their efforts converged at Cedar Bridge on the Tuckerton Road.
On December 27, 1782 — more than fourteen months after Yorktown — Bacon and his men ambushed a Continental militia detachment at the bridge crossing. One Patriot militiaman was killed and several were wounded. Bacon's force broke contact and withdrew into the surrounding Pine Barrens, where the dense cedar swamps made pursuit nearly impossible. The confrontation was brief but documented in contemporary militia records; it stands today as the last acknowledged land engagement of the Revolutionary War.
John Bacon was killed in a subsequent militia action the following April 1783, before the formal peace treaty was signed. The tavern structure on the site dates to circa 1816, built after the bridge crossing had become a post-road waypoint. Ocean County acquired the property and undertook restoration, opening it as a living-history site with annual reenactments of the 1782 affair. Interpretive signage and a reconstructed bridge now mark the location where the final shots of the Revolution were fired on American soil.
Sources
Cedar Bridge Tavern sits in the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a landscape that has generated its own dense folklore for three centuries — from the Jersey Devil to the ghost towns of the interior. The December 1782 skirmish left at least one militiaman dead at the crossing, and the remote, heavily wooded setting has made the site a subject of paranormal interest since the county took over restoration.
Accounts collected from visitors and investigators describe shadow figures in the tree line near the reconstructed bridge, most commonly reported at dusk. Some accounts mention the sound of footfalls on the wooden bridge when no one is visibly present. The specificity of the battle — a documented ambush with recorded casualties — gives the location the kind of grounded violent history that anchors haunting traditions at other New Jersey Revolutionary War sites, including Monmouth Battlefield.
The annual December reenactment draws participants who have reported unsettling experiences during evening setup near the tavern structure. The combination of accurate period dress, low light, and the isolated Pine Barrens environment makes it difficult to distinguish atmospheric suggestion from genuine reports, but the accounts have circulated in South Jersey paranormal circles consistently enough to establish Cedar Bridge as a recognized dark-tourism stop.
Notable Entities
Where this legend is told
Walk the preserved grounds around the circa-1816 tavern structure, the reconstructed cedar bridge, and interpretive signage documenting the Affair at Cedar Bridge — the last land skirmish of the Revolutionary War, fought December 27, 1782. The site includes hiking trails through the surrounding Pine Barrens.
Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission hosts an annual reenactment of the 1782 Affair at Cedar Bridge each December, with living-history demonstrations and period programming at the tavern site.
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