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Phoebe Berner, left, and Dominique Van Gilst dressed in chicken costumes for Moorestown's first annual Hessian Fun Run. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
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When more than 7,000 Hessian soldiers beat a hasty retreat from Philadelphia in June 1778, they set up camp in the small village of “Moore’s Town,” New Jersey. There, they ransacked houses, stole food and goods, and even confiscated and roasted 40 chickens from a certain Mr. Smith.
On Saturday, dozens of Moorestown residents turned back time on Revolutionary War history and chased the interlopers out of town at the inaugural Hessian Fun Run.
Children and adults alike waved rubber chickens in the air as they walked or ran behind people dressed in colonial garb, playing the role of the Hessian mercenaries who fought for the British against the American revolutionaries. Participants returned potatoes, carrots, wooden coins and, yes, the chickens that had been stolen by the Hessians at drop-off points along the 1-mile course for the reverse scavenger hunt.
Saturday’s run to right the wrongs of history brought Eva Pocius, who currently lives in Cinnaminson Township, back to her hometown.
“As soon as they announced it, I was like, well, we have to do this, because I flashed back to 1976 when we did the Bicentennial,” said Pocius, who was dressed in a colonial-era gown and bonnet. “And I remember our class, we had gotten dressed up for this, and we were in the parade and everything. It was a lot of fun.”
Phoebe Berner, 24, of Moorestown, came to the run with her friend. Both got into the spirit with their own costumes.
“When we knew that there was a costume element to it, we were like we have to dress up as chickens and have fun,” she said. “I’ve grown up in Morrestown, and it’s a really beautiful community. Everyone is always willing to come together and have fun and not be too serious.”
Julie Maravich, president of Saving Historic Moorestown and a board member of the Historical Society of Moorestown, which together hosted Saturday’s event, said the fun run is just the start of the township’s plans to showcase its history in 2026.
“Moorestown started as a small village, and it’s one of the crossroads in New Jersey that was important to the American Revolution and to the foundation of our country,” Maravich said. “We are really trying to highlight, for the Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, the revolutionary history that still exists today.”
There are still 19 buildings constructed during or before the Revolutionary War in Moorestown, Maravich said, and her organization is working to save and preserve them.
“We’re advocating for all of them … [and] to give people pride of place and to to understand their history and to know where we came from and the hardships that the people in town really did go through,” she said.
The Revolutionary War was a “very divisive” time for the village, Maravich said. Even though many of the residents were Quaker, and impartial to the war, others were loyalists who supported the British Army and the Hessian mercenaries fighting for them.
“The Revolutionary War really was a civil war in the United States, with what was becoming the United States,” she said.
Quakers were picked on by both sides, Maravich said, and the two armies raided the town and farms at different points in the war.
“It was really hard for them,” she said. “People should honor that past, and not forget how hard our ancestors worked to become an independent country.”
Moorestown residents and visitors alike can learn more about the town’s past in upcoming “Moorestown Living History Ghost Walking Tours,” Maravich said. The haunted happenings kick off Oct. 10.