Annual Fundraiser 2025
Dear Friend:
As 2025 draws to a close, I'd like to take time during this busy season to recap some of the past year's highlights at the Merchants and Drovers, and to share some of what we have planned for 2026 and beyond.
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First, I am happy to report that the long-anticipated exterior restoration of the main building is finally completed as of early this year! We can now turn our attention to the interior and, with the help of a new grant from Union County, we will soon be commissioning the architectural plans for an interior restoration. In addition to installing a new HVAC system, this project will include electrical and structural upgrades, and full restoration of the wood floors and plaster walls throughout the building. The interior project certainly won’t be completed next year, but with the support of our institutional funders, as well as the generous support of members like you, we are on our way to having the entire main building – both inside and out – fully restored. Once the interior work is done, we will finally be able to install our long-anticipated new exhibit, “Feels Like Home: The Girl Scout House, 1933-1969,” and to implement the results of a recent consultant’s report to refresh and update the existing 2nd floor exhibit. That is a lot of progress to report – and I haven’t even mentioned this year's installation of a brand-new cedar-shake roof on the Terrill Tavern!
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In addition to this important preservation and interpretation work, we are continuing to offer diverse programs – both old favorites and new ones alike – and I have had the pleasure of seeing many of you at these events and fundraisers over the last year. Our popular cemetery tours and tavern nights continue to welcome sold-out audiences, and we are excited about some new programs we are looking to add next year, including activities that will focus on the 250th Anniversary of the United States. And, under the guidance of some new board members, we are also making an active effort to expand our youth programing.
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None of this would have been possible without your engagement, and the Merchants can continue to move forward only as far and as fast as the support from our membership allows. I hope that you will remember the Merchants and Drovers in your end-of-year charitable giving. Every dollar of support is vitally important, not only to preserving our historic structures, but also to expanding our focus of keeping Rahway’s diverse and fascinating history alive and sharing it with the world.
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On behalf of the Board and Staff of the Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum, I offer my most sincere appreciation for all your past support of our site and its programs, and my very warmest wishes for a happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday season.
Forward into 2026!
Richard A. Zdan
President, Board of Trustees
The Merchants and Drovers Tavern is organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Tax Code. Contributions to the MDTMA are fully deductible under section 170 of the Code.
