A Tavern & A Courthouse The history of a hotel that once stood on the west side of Flemington’s Main Street has quickly turned into something much more. Part One began with Flemington’s first European property owners and ended with the Revolution. This article goes on from there, but only as far as the 1790s, […]
This is one of my favorite photographs.1 The building is Mount’s Hotel on Flemington’s Main Street, across from and a little north of the Union Hotel. It was replaced in the 1970s by the group of shops called ‘New Market,’ built by Don Shuman.
Following the Revolution, Moore Furman moved back to Trenton and left his Pittstown properties to son John & Benj. Guild, until it was time to build anew.
While studying some properties on Main Street Flemington, it dawned on me that many of them have an arch in the middle of their front rooflines. This seemed like such a distinctive feature in town that it merited a closer look.
otherwise known as Kendall School, District No. 109
Not too long ago, I received an email from one of my readers whose parents had lived in the old schoolhouse in Sergeantsville after it had been retrofitted as a residence. She sent me a charming photograph of the school building with her parents’ Volkswagon in front.
The Wilsons of Hunterdon County were multitudinous, just as were many other families of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is just one of the Wilson clans. There were others completely unrelated. As usual, I’ve tried to begin with the first of the family to settle in Hunterdon County. Children of married daughters are included, but not grandchildren. It’s quite possible there are mistakes; I am happy to receive corrections and additions, either through comments or email.
Postscript to Flemington’s First Bank, parts one & two
It was a challenge to decide what to include in my previous article and what to leave out. I now find I left out quite a lot and am compelled to add a part three to the bank’s history.
This article is my somewhat-delayed return to the subject of the grand old building on Flemington’s Main Street built by John C. Hopewell for Flemington’s first bank, the Hunterdon County National Bank. (See Flemington’s First Bank.)
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.”
While going through my files I came upon an article about the Inn by Hunterdon historian Egbert T. Bush. It tells us much about how popular and important the Inn was, not just to Stockton but also to the surrounding towns.
(1) Tunis Hontis Case (1691 – 1772) & Eva Catharine Dubraucke (1695 – after 1774)
My apologies. On May 25, 2021, I found too many mistakes on this tree to let it stand any longer. Making corrections is going to take a lot of work, but I hope to be able to restore the tree before too long.
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.”
My last article described the political turmoil in Hunterdon County in the 1850s. There was another kind of turmoil going on at the same time, an economic one. For Hunterdon that meant a local bank was needed.