In part one of Summit School, Mr. Bush talked about “the meanest hill that old-timers had to travel on their way to Flemington.” Actually, going TO Flemington wasn’t so bad since it was all downhill. But returning UP the hill was no picnic. In fact, it was a “hard scrabble.”
Raritan Township
Summit School
Raritan Township was in the news not long ago for its effort to acquire and preserve a 48-acre farm to the west of Flemington. It is located near an area that has long been known as “Hardscrabble.”
Choosing Sides
My previous article discussed the evolution of political parties in the early 1850s, both nationally and in Hunterdon County. The Democratic party was still going strong, while the Whig party was fading away and two new parties had come on the scene: the Republican party and the American party, better known as the Know Nothings.
Coming into the Station
part 15, and last chapter, of The Route Not Taken
This is the last of my series on the route planned for the Delaware Flemington Railroad Company, a rail line that was never built. In the survey, the train is finally approaching the station. But to get there it must traverse the properties of John C. Hopewell and William Hill, two prominent gentlemen who probably were not supporters of the railroad company.
Sergeant & Hastings
part 14 of The Route Not Taken
This article comes in two parts. Part one describes the life and property of Gershom C. Sergeant, the brother and neighbor of John P. Sergeant who was featured in my last article. Part two describes the owners of the next property along the route of the railroad that was never built—at different times owned by Baptist ministers and a mining company.
The Sergeants of Raritan Twp.
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.
Hoagland’s Road, part 2
part 12 of The Route Not Taken
My last post (A Rockafellar Homestead Divided) concerned the farm of Jacob B. Rockafellar who died without a will in 1813. His farm was divided into 28 lots in 1820 and distributed among the heirs. A division map was drawn that showed the bordering owner on the north to be our old friend, Elijah Carman.
A Rockafellar Homestead Divided
Some time ago, I began to write about a road in Raritan Township that originated as a private lane used by the Carman and Hoagland families to get from their farms to the main road from Flemington to Ringoes. That private road eventually became Johanna Farms Road. In my previous article, I had gotten to the point where the farm on the south side of Johanna Farms Road was owned by Cornelius Voorhees in 1852 (see Hoagland’s Road, part one). Voorhees bought the farm in 1840 from the assignees of John S. Rockafellow.
Hill’s Mills at Copper Hill
Here is an article by Egbert T. Bush about the Copper Hill neighborhood I have been writing about recently, with additional comments from me.
Hoagland’s Road, part 1
I recently concluded the history of the old Carman homestead farm, the 18th century farmstead that ended up being owned by a Hollywood movie star in the 1930s (The Carman Farm). There was one important fact connected with the Carman farm that I left out and will describe in today’s post: the Carmans owned a road.