Kate Aylesford / A Story of the Refugees

The book is fiction but the places are real The Aylesford House is really the Elijah Clark House and a historical landmark. The story was written in the 19th century and so is the language and women are ladies and men are gentlemen or rogues so be prepared to visit another era.

A popular romance story of its time. Not a classic but a nice read.

Set against a vivid Revolutionary War backdrop, the story begins with an orphaned Kate Aylesford and her aunt sailing home from England, and encountering a gale-force storm along the Jersey coast. In an exciting scene, Kate and her aunt are shipwrecked, then rescued by Major Gordon and a small band of valiant men. Other highlights of the novel include the Revolution’s Battle of Chestnut Neck, Kate’s kidnapping by a character based on the infamous South Jersey highwayman, Joe Mulliner, and her subsequent, harrowing escape through the Pine Barrens.