What's a Drumthwacket?

By Casey Knox

You may ask how and why did our state's gubernatorial mansion get such a name. Knowing a little of New Jersey's early history, you might make a guess that it is some Native American name, particularly Lenni-Lenape in origin, since they were the original inhabitants of this area, and peacefully co-existed with the English settlers. You can see the evidence of Native American names in many of our townships. However, you would be mistaken. Maybe you would think it was a prestigious individual's name like "General Drumthwacket," a little known general from the revolutionary war or some such. But again, you would be wrong.