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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.