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Knowlton Township Historic Commission
Knowlton Township Municipal Building
628 Route 94
Columbia, New Jersey 07832
908-496-4816 Fax 908-496-8144
August 1, 2005
Contact: Emily Dobosh Telephone: (908) 475-5352
Annual Knowlton Township Historic Sites Tour to be held Sunday,September 25th, 2005 departing Columbia by bus at 1:30 PM, rain or shine.
The Sixth Annual Historic Sites Tour of Knowlton Township, presented by the Knowlton Township Historic Commission, will be held from 1 :30 to 4:00 on Sunday,
September 25th The tour coincides with the popular Art Across the River, an annual free outdoor arts event that bridges Columbia, NJ with Portland, PA. You are invited to spend an autumn afternoon discovering the agricultural and architectural history of one of New Jersey's most scenic rural communities! The bus tour, conducted rain or shine, will include narration by architectural historian Dennis Bertland, a Historic Preservation Consultant from Bloomsbury and author of Earlv Architecture of Warren County. The tour will also include complimentary seasonal
refreshments served at one of the sites.
New on the tour this year will be visits to several private homes. Among the sites featured this year will be English timber frame barns, gambrel roofed barns, and carriage
barns. The tour will also highlight a working historic farmstead, operated by a third generation dairy farmer. Situated upon picturesque rolling knolls and possessing a most outstanding view of the Delaware Water Gap, the farm retains much of its early historic character. Also featured will be the 18th century Ramsaysburg Tavern, recently listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places by the Knowlton Township Historic Commission.
The tour will depart from the Delaware River Footbridge in Columbia at 1 :30 sharp.
As participants walk to several sites from the bus, sturdy footwear is suggested.
Columbia may be reached via Exit 4 from Route 80 Westbound, and is located at the junction of State Route 46 and State Route 94 in Warren County.
Tickets are $10.00 and are available in advance. For reservations, contact Emily
Dobosh at 908-475-5352 or e-mail emilydb@earthlink.net. Reservations are only held
on receipt of payment. Make checks payable to: "Knowlton Township Historic Commission" and mail to: 628 Route 94, Columbia, NJ 07832. Remaining tickets will be sold the day of the tour from 12:00 t01 :15 at the Historic Commission table near the Delaware River Footbridge in Columbia.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
1. The tour will begin at the Hamway's handsome Queene Anne style Victorian Home, located at the corner of Washington Street and Columbia Street in Columbia. This beautiful and well manicured old home is situated on ground that is believed to have once possessed an earlier home from a previous era, and stands along the ancient road that leads to the 18th Century Delaware River ferry crossing. This home witnessed the catastrophic 1955 flood that destroyed the last covered bridge to span the Delaware, which had been built upon the stone pillars supporting the present day pedestrian bridge connecting Columbia to Portland.
Located next door to the right, is what is believed to be the oldest house in Columbia. Presumed built during the 1770's, local lore claims that an early resident grew yeast in a shed in her backyard and then sold it to local bread makers for pennies.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
3. Siroky Farmstead, drive by (Walnut Road). This wood frame home nestled in a hollow is believed to have been built in the early to mid 18th Century. Through time, it has been expanded, but has retained its earliest architecture both inside and out. The right hand one and a half story
section of the home is the earliest, and still includes the original walk in cooking hearth, as well as random width pumpkin pine flooring (some planks as wide as 16 inches), chair rail moldings, plaster, and horsehair, straw and mud nogging. In a later addition to the left, a red clay brick in the floor of the fireplace is etched with the date 1836. A stone springhouse across the road fed a cistern that was located in the cold cellar of the home. Investigation has revealed that the earliest color of the exterior was a cream colored tan. Amazingly, toilets were not installed until 1961, so up until that point, the outhouse continued to serve an important function. A hand hewn post and beam timber frame barn still exists to the back and left of the home. One large beam was marked bya previous owner, "Snyder Bellis 1876". Knowlton Township Committeeman Keith Siroky and his family have owned and lived in this charming old home for the past 15 years. The Knowlton
Township Historic Preservation Commission appreciates and commends Mr. Siroky for his valued and generous support, and for all his hard work to preserve this rare old farmstead.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
4. Overlake Farm, disembark (Walnut Road). This very quaint, handsome property harkens one back to an era of days gone by. The farmhouse, circa 1850, lends us a vision straight from Currier and Ives. Mr. Ken Kroll and Mr. David Livingstone are the fortunate owners who get to enjoy this home and its tranquil surroundings. The farmhouse still retains its rustic wide plank floors throughout, as well as a set of steep twister stairs in the back area of the home. Most unique is the old kitchen sink, constructed entirely of locally quarried slate. Below it, rough cupboards add to the charm. Rimming the kitchen walls, ancient wainscoting provides an attractive touch.
A line of sugar maples, quite commonly endeared as a winter source of sugar on old farmsteads, shade the front of the home and stand like stately elders guarding the threshold. To the side toward the barn, the old well still exists, but is now covered over. The large, original thick stone steps have been reconstructed into a seat nearby.
The red barn to the rear of the property possesses a very unique architecture for an outbuilding. Constructed during the 1930's, the large barn was designed and used as a dairy. Atop the slate roof, multiple dormers were constructed to provide additional light. These are a very interesting feature.
To the left, the old hen house still exists. Off to the right, numerous foundations of several barns and silos can be seen.
In the 1870's, this farmstead was owned by J. DeWitt. Since then, the property has changed hands
many times throughout the years.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
5. Belles Bank Barn, disembark (Walnut Road). This well constructed Civil War era timber frame barn is unique in that it sports a cupola atop its slate roof. Acquired by the State Green Acres program, the property is managed by the NJ Department of Fish & Wldlife. The Knowlton Township Historic Commission is currently exploring possible adaptive re-use opportunities to preserve this barn. After the nearby farmstead on Delaware Lake was leased from the State - for use by an Heirloom Seed Company, the Historic Commission gained interest to begin seeking similar or compatible solutions to save the Belles Barn.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
9. James Ramsay 1S'h c. Homestead and 19'h c. English Barn, disembark (State Route 46). Before 1784, Protestant Episcopalians held meetings at the nearby home of Robert
Allison. In that year, the first church was built at the point of rocks near the river below Delaware Village. Allison donated the lot, also the school-house lot, and the burying lot (Ramsaysburg Cemetery). In 1841, a new church was built of stone, near where the old one stood. It was a
handsome structure of Gothic architecture with red doors. In 1866, it burned down after catching fire from a stray spark from a railroad locomotive.
At the onset of the Revolutionary War, Robert Allison, then a magistrate, and fellow Anglican and magistrate Nathaniel Pettit of Sussex Court House (Newton), who was at that time a member of the House of Assembly, were brought before the Provincial Committee of Safety in Princeton in early January 1776 for loyalist activity. They admitted their guilt and both were dismissed from their magistratures, fined £50 each, and allowed to return home on good behavior. Pettit left New Jersey in 1784 to settle in the Ontario Region of Canada. Allison stayed on, restoring his standing in the community. He was elected to the Township Committee in 1789, and Tax Collector in 1792.
Irish born James Ramsay (after whom the Hamlet was named) purchased his homestead property from Peter Appleman in 1795. It is known a tavern existed at this location prior to Ramsay's acquisition. Ramsay operated a store here, and eventually was appointed postmaster for the village. Beginning as early as 1801, he served numerous terms as Freeholder representing the township, and several terms on the Township Committee, beginning in 1806. The partnership of "Ramsay & Swayze" advertised the opening of their new lumberyard in 1851, "stocked with450,000 feet of lumber, mostly white pine, yellow pine and hemlocl<'. The majority of this stock
presumably was rafted down the Delaware to Ramsaysburg and processed at the sawmills nearby.
It is believed the barn dates to this period.
In 2001, the site was included on the Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission's
countywide 'Top 10 Most Endangered Sites Lisl, and in 2002, was listed by Preservation New Jersey as one of NJ's '10 Most Endangered Historic Sites'.
The property has since been purchased by the State through the Green Acres land acquisition program, and is now under the management of NJ Fish and Wildlife. Knowlton Township currently holds a use permit for the site, and is in negotiation with the State to lease the property. The
Knowlton Township Historic Commission plans to rehabilitate the historic buildings and establish a Museum and Cultural Center.
The Knowlton Township Historic Commission has succeeded in obtaining several important grants to save the historic buildings on the site. Through generous research funding made possible by the Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission, the Knowlton Township Historic Commission nominated the old 18th century riverfront tavern to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The tavern has recently been named to the State Register, and it is expected it will be added to the National Register very soon.
To forestall any additional deterioration of the historic structures, the Knowlton Township Historic
Commission sought and received a grant from the visionary Delaware River Greenway Partnership to perform emergency stabilization. The Knowlton Township Historic Commission very recently was granted additional funds to complete the stabilization effort. These cherished funds are being made possible through the generosity and foresight of the Warren County Department of Land
Preservation - Municipal and Charitable Conservancy Trust Fund Committee, and the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
11. Strom-Aiello English Barn and Wagon House, disembark (Polkville Road). This attractive, well-kept farmstead is identified on Beers' 1874 Atlas of Warren County as belonging to Jonathon Howell. The English Barn continues to be used for its original agricultural purposes, while the Wagon House now provides a very unique office for the present owners.
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
12. Maple Shade, was constructed as Andrew Smith's "Mansion House" in 1828, disembark (Mount Pleasant Road). Samuel Green, Deputy Surveyor of West Jersey,
surveyed the one thousand acre John Hyndshaw tract in 1729. This parcel included lands that would later become the Village of Hainesburg. In 1816, Andrew Smith purchased the land upon which present day Hainesburg Village is situated, and built his "Mansion House" in 1828. The pioneer tavern was kept by Mr. Ridgeway in this building. The old road now known as Mount Pleasant, formerly ran immediately in front of the older portion of the house, parallel to the outside edge of the ancient sugar maples that line the home. The present owner related that about one year ago one of these gigantic maples toppled over in a storm. When it was cut up to be removed,
he estimated the tree's age to be 260 years. Andrew Smith sold what is now the village property to Jacob M. Blair in 1843, who in turn sold the property to the Beck brothers, who divided the land into lots. John Beck was living in this home in 1881. Since that time Maple Shade continued as a working farmstead. In the 20th century, pigs were raised here until the operation was transitioned over to a working dairy. In the 1960's, tragedy unfortunately struck when the main barn caught fire. All 135 cows were killed in the blaze.
June Benore Gleason, in an early 1950's pamphlet entitled Historical Paulinskill Valley, published by the Blairstown Press, claims that according to local tradition, General George Washington once stopped at this house. Although clearly unsubstantiated, it can be verified that Washington did pass through this area in July of 1782 ..
Mr. Gerry Manger, President, Broker of Record, and owner of the very successful Wyndemere Real Estate Company (having offices in Blairstown, Hope, and Sparta), purchased the property about 10 years ago and has worked hard to transform it into the picturesque, idyllic setting you see today. The Knowlton Township Historic Commission is truly indebted to Mr. Manger and Wyndemere for their gracious generosity and special support. Mr. Manger can be contacted at Wyndemere on
telephone number: 1 8007884042 - or - via the Wyndemere website:
http://WN.N.YNndemererealestate.com/
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2005 HISTORIC HOUSE AND BARN TOUR
13. Hainesburg Inn, disembark (Polkville Road). According to Snell's History of Warren County, "this locality for many years bore the name of Sodam. Whether to warn the dwellers therein of the fate that befell its ancient namesake, or for other and better reasons, we cannot say." The name eventually was changed to Hainesburg - in honor of the village Post Master John Haines, after he
made a liberal donation to the local school. A stone grist mill built on the South side of the Paulins Kill prior to the Revolutionary War, no longer survives. In the hey-day of railroading, the Hainesburg Station was the junction of the Susquehanna and the Lehigh and New England Railroads. The Paulins Kill Viaduct at Hainesburg was constructed in 1909 as part of the Lackawanna owned Hopatcong-Slateford cutoff. Engineered by George J. Rays, the seven arch span is 1,100 feet long and 117 feet high. Another bridge at the end of the line crosses the
Delaware River and merges with the old line at Slateford Junction. This section, carried by nine arches, is 64 feet above water level and stretches for 1,140 feet. These awe inspiring structures, which opened to train traffic in the winter of 1911, continue to impress as engineering marvels. The beautiful Hainesburg Inn, which dominates the ancient looking village as a stately, expansive
Victorian Mansion-house, was built upon and incorporated into earlier buildings that have been traced back to as early as 1790. Previous owners have speculated that elements of the older portion of the house date back to 1802. Wealthy railroad tycoon Jacob Andress purchased the building in 1873, and substantially expanded the house by adding the third floor and the impressive twin towers that make this mansion so unique. The home has been regularly featured in the publication Weird New Jersey, mainly to claim that the spirit of Andress' young son Gilbert, who died while a child, continues to frolic and play harmless tricks on visitors to the house. Through the
years, this wonderful old home has been a disco, bar, Antique Shop, Restaurant, and Ice Cream Parlor. In the early 1990's the grand old building had fallen into disrepair, but thanks to the foresight and efforts of Paul Mikalionas, the Mansion was carefully and tastefully restored.
