[Double Lab]

When I was a kid, I remember going to my great aunts home in Raritan, NJ. and on the wall in their basement hung a copy of the Declaration in a frame. It was old, aged and cracked but in fairly good shape. It was found in the walls of a grand old home from that era which belonged to my fathers family which was torn down to make room for a new home in which they lived. They also found a musket from that era which also hung on the wall. The old home sat on a canal which lead to the Raritan River and there was a tunnel underneath the home. It turns out that Lafayette and George Washington had stayed there during the revolutionary war, the document was a copy of the Declaration of Independence and now resides in the Smithsonian in Washington. It hung in their basement for 40 years until my uncle could convince them that it may be valuable and had it authenticated. I can still remember every time I went there I would head for the basement to see the musket, as I was always fascinated with guns , and there hung the Declaration. Little did I know the significance of that document at the time. The area around Raritan, NJ. was a hotbed of activity during the revolution and as it turns out the tunnel under the house was for escape if the British had discovered who inhabited the house. My uncle has the musket and someday I hope to inherit it.