Half Moon Sailor John Colman May Be Buried in Keansburg

The Bayshore area of the Jersey Shore has been the backdrop for some fascinating — and bloody — episodes of New Jersey and American history. Maybe it’s the proximity to New York harbor and the massive Hudson River farther north. If you were jockeying for land during the Revolutionary War, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse was a critical spot to hold.

And if you were an early 17th Century explorer searching for the elusive Northwest Passage to China, you’d find yourself exploring the nooks and crannies of the Raritan Bay before sailing up the Hudson.

It wasn’t the Hudson River in 1609, of course. That was the year Henry Hudson arrived with a crew on his ship the Half Moon and sailed the river that would eventually bear his name.

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The Half Moon…