Anderson’s Tavern

By in Amwell Twp, Anderson, Hunterdon, Larison Tags: , , ,

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the old John Anderson tavern on Route 31 south of Ringoes. The building is inconspicuous with its tall evergreen hedge along the road, but inside one can see it was once a fine 18th century building.

The owners (New Jersey Barn Co.) are lovingly and very carefully restoring it to the period of John Anderson’s tenure as innkeeper during the Revolutionary War. He did not build the house, however. There is reason to think it might have been built around 1740 or earlier.1

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Harmony School Rightly Named

By in E. T. Bush, Historians, Hunterdon, Kitchen, Raritan Twp, Robins Tags: , ,

Reunion Revives Interest in Old-Time Folks of That Neighborhood
Many Trimmers in Vicinity

by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
Hunterdon County Democrat, August 21, 1930

Note: In the summer of 1930, the former students of Harmony School in Raritan Township held a reunion. It was a great success and was written about at length in the Hunterdon Democrat. The school was located on Route 579, north of Harmony School Road, at the junction of 579 and Stone Signpost Road, and had been in existence since at least 1810, and probably earlier.

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Richard Bull, Surveyor

By in Bull, Families, Gloucester County, Green, Hunterdon, Reading, West New Jersey Tags: , , , ,

The second in the series Hunterdon’s First Settlers

Technically, I should not include Richard Bull in the series “First Settlers of Hunterdon County,” since he never actually lived in Hunterdon, but he certainly qualifies as one of the first landowners. And he surveyed many of the first proprietary tracts here and even further north in Warren and Sussex Counties.

Richard Bull was a land owner in Hunterdon County, well before the county was created. Surprisingly, by the 20th century, even an accomplished student of Hunterdon history like Egbert T. Bush did not know exactly who he was. Bush wrote:1

“. . .  “Bool’s Island” {was} the name of a famous long and narrow island opposite {Raven Rock}, which is said to have taken name from one Bool, who owned the island and much land ashore.”

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John Rake Jr. and The Evil Influence

By in Delaware Twp, Rake Tags:

Alcohol consumption in the 19th century is always an interesting subject because of how much alcohol was consumed back then. It is one of the ways we measure how much things have changed. We are far more aware now of the dangers of addiction, but in the 1820’s, the county coroner could tell you it was sometimes fatal. Here is the sad story of John Rake, a member of that same family I have written about in other posts.

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First Landowners of Hunterdon County

By in Families, Green, Hunterdon Tags: , , , ,

Edward Kemp

When I first began my blog in 2009, I thought I would use it as a way to discover more about the life of my ancestor Samuel Green. So I began hunting for traces of him in the earliest days of the Province of West New Jersey. But the history of that place became so interesting in itself, that I began to follow its development year by year, thinking that eventually I would get to 1695 when Samuel Green first shows up. (For an index of stories on West New Jersey, go to my About page.)

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Delilah Buchanan’s Tavern License Application

By in Hunterdon Tags: ,

I sometimes lose track of the information I have collected in my researches. Today I stumbled across these photographs I took of Delilah Buchanan’s 1829 tavern license application, on file at the Hunterdon County Archives. Delilah Buchanan got a lot of my attention while researching Buchanan’s Tavern. (The series of articles can be found by clicking on the topic in the right-hand column.)

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