New Jersey’s National Guard Militia Museum is a Draw for All Ages

BY STEVE SEARS STAFF WRITER

AREA - New Jersey’s National Guard Militia Museum has two locations. The main location is in Sea Girt, and the second is in Lawrenceville.

The museum is an offshoot of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Staff Sgt. Andrew Walker is the Director/Curator of the 501 c 3 non-profit organization that (courtesy of the museum website), “supports the collections, exhibitions and educational programs of the museum through volunteerism, advocacy, and fundraising.”

Walker, who is in Sea Girt (LTC (Ret) William Kale is Volunteer Co-Curator in Lawrenceville), is an informative, eager guide. He has a wealth of knowledge of military history. When you visit the Sea Girt location which is located a shell’s toss from the beach, you can visit display cases and see artifacts throughout the one-room facility. The museum details the Garden State’s Militia and National Guard history starting with the Dutch and Swedish, who arrived in the late 15th century, up through the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, World Wars I and II, to the present day. “We’re basically tracing the citizen soldier really since New Jersey’s inception,” Walker says. “There are different players at that point. We do trace our lineage and our heritage through the British colonization, but we do rec-