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1783 - George Washington and Thomas Paine burn the Millstone River
Thomas Paine was visiting General Washington at Rockingham. The conversation got around to the local tradition that water in the Millstone River could be set on fire when mud at the bottom was disturbed. Two of Washington's officers argued that the fire was due to "bituminous matter" that rose to the surface, whereas Paine argued instead that it was due "inflammable air" that got loose from the mud. To settle the matter, on November 5, 1783, Washington, Paine, and others took a scow out on the river. Some soldiers stirred up the mud with poles, while Paine and Washington held lighted paper close to the surface. The gas that bubbled up ignited, which Paine said confirmed his "inflammable air" hypothesis.

According to Professor Doug Eveleigh of Cook College, this experiment duplicated the discovery seven years earlier in 1776 by the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta that methane was a biologically formed gas. In a letter to the American Society of Microbiology, Professor Eveleigh claimed that since Washington was probably not aware of Volta's finding, the Millstone episode was an important independent discovery. Eveleigh comments: "We hope that subsequent American presidents will maintain the keen interest in science expressed in this first major scientific experiment of the young Republic."

On November 5, 2008, at dusk, Professor Eveleigh and a local team of enthusiasts re-created this moment in New Jersey history. On-lookers viewed the action from the Route 518 bridge over the Millstone River in Rocky Hill.