The Tea Burner 5K and 1 Mile Run/Walk is named for the 1774 tea burning by the citizens of historic Greenwich, Cumberland County, NJ in an act of defiance against tea taxation. On the night of December 22, 1774, the patriots of Greenwich revolted against the British Tea Tax. More than 40 citizens of Greenwich and a few neighboring towns gathered together at the house of Richard Howell, rode four miles to the house of Philip Vickers Fithian, and dressed up as Native Americans. From there, they broke into the house of Daniel Bowen where a shipment of tea was being held. The patriots removed the tea from Daniel Bowen's cellar and burned it in Market Square. Greenwich is one of the five tea tax rebellion towns in America, the others being Charleston, Annapolis, Princeton, and Boston.

In 2011, the race will benefit 19 year old Megan Daddario and her family as Megan fights Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Megan was the 2010 recipient of the C. Wallis Goodwin Scholarship and is the niece of Wally Goodwin in whose memory the race was founded.  Until Megan got sick in early 2011, she attended Eastern University and was a nursing major.

The Tea Burner Race was started to honor the memory of longtime Greenwich Mayor, Wally Goodwin. Wally, a fourth generation of the Goodwin family to live in Greenwich, served as Mayor for twenty-three years and held one of the longest tenures in New Jersey. He truly loved Greenwich Township and dedicated his adult life to serving its residents in both official and unofficial capacities. It was not unusual to find Wally shoveling snow from residents' driveways. Wally, an avid jogger and weightlifter, supported many local club, high school and college sports programs. He passed away, unexpectedly, on December 17, 2005 while on his way to ring the Christmas bell for the Salvation Army Red Kettle drive at the local Greenwich Country Store. In Wally's memory, the Goodwin family established the C. Wallis Goodwin Scholarship Fund to honor a college bound senior at Cumberland Regional High School who has provided voluntary service to his or her community.

To An Athlete Dying Young
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
                                A. E. Housman