part 13 of The Route Not Taken
This article is part of my series on the Delaware Flemington Railroad Company and the rail line it had planned to build in 1873 to run from Prallsville to the Flemington Depot.
Sergeantsville
SERGEANTSVILLE is located in the heart of Delaware Township, and serves as its de facto capital. The tavern of former years is now the township municipal building. Except for Perth Amboy’s municipal building, Delaware Township’s is the longest continually used building for municipal government. Being located at the intersection of county routes 523 and 604, it is still a fairly busy place, but nothing like it was in the 19th century, when farmers would come to town to shop and collect their mail.
Hunterdon Divided
(Hunterdon’s Militias, part 2)
My previous article (Hunterdon’s Militia) included mention of the Locktown Volunteers and their Captain, John Bellis, who happened to be “an ardent Republican” in a neighborhood of equally ardent Democrats or Copperheads.1 How Bellis managed to get along with his neighbors is an interesting question.
Hunterdon’s Militia
Hunterdon County, like all the other counties in New Jersey, had a state militia system in place since before the Revolution. Gen. Washington relied on these volunteers as he fought the British in New Jersey, and they did their part during the War of 1812. But after that, there was little need for them—not until the mid 1850s, when they began to reorganize.
Pole Raising in the Days of Lincoln
This article was originally published in “The Delaware Township Post” on March 1, 2009. The Post went out of business, and the articles I published there have disappeared. It seems appropriate now to republish this article, greatly modified, here.
The East End of Sergeantsville
part six of Route Not Taken
Properties owned by Abbott, Parks & Cole
Continuing with the saga of the railroad that was never built. You can view the previous (and future) articles by going to the home page and clicking on the tag for railroads.
Moore, Maresca & Fulper
part five in the series, The Route Not Taken
Imagine what this peaceful area today was like in the 19th century with a tannery just south of a blacksmith shop—certainly noisy, and probably very smelly. Add a rail line passing through and you would have had a very different environment from today.
Tavernkeeper of Skunktown
Most of you, my dear readers, know that the famous Rockafellar family had its roots in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County. And we’re all familiar with one particular descendant of this German immigrant family, a man who prospered hugely from the opportunities afforded him in America—the famous John D. Rockafellar. Another descendant, although not a direct ancestor of John D., became the tavernkeeper at Skunktown (now known as Sergeantsville), and I am much more interested in him.
The Manual Labor Institute
This is the story of an unusual school in the 1830s run by an eccentric visionary, who sadly failed to make a success of it.
A Sergeantsville History
While working on a history of the Sergeantsville Inn, I realized that this would be a good time to publish Egbert T. Bush’s article about the places that made Sergeantsville such an interesting little town. Mr. Bush did not have the advantage of adding photographs the way I do. These pictures come from the postcard collection of Paul Kurzenberger. (Note that Mr. Bush’s article is in italics; my comments are not.)
