This stone obelisk was modeled after the Bunker Hill Monument. It commemorates New Jersey's veterans past and future. Built from 1928 to 1930, it stands 220 feet high. The Washington monument is 555 feet. It is built at the highest point (1803') in New Jersey and has commanding views.
The monument is located within High Point State Park. Who built it? It was privately funded ($500,000) in 1928 by Colonel Anthony R and Susie Dryden Kuser. "The Colonel" was a successful business man in New Jersey. He was quite well off but nothing compared to his wife Susie, daughter of Prudential Insurance founder John Dryden. The couple owned homes in nearby Branchville, West Palm Beach, South Carolina and more. They purchased an estate of over 10,000 acres here in 1910 and renovated a manor house which they rarely stayed in. The couple were the victims of a famous jewelry robbery in 1921 in which $20,000 of jewelry was taken and all 18 occupants of their home were knocked out in their sleep with chloroform.
In 1923 he couple donated the land to the state for a state park. One stipulation of the gift was the land not be used to shoot or trap birds. Several years later they offered to build the monument and state accepted.
Morrows Honeysuckle
Vipers Bugloss
Gold Moss Stonecrop
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