Bridge Tender's house, Blackwells Mills | |
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| Part of | Delaware and Raritan Canal (ID73001105) |
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| Designated CP | May 11, 1973 |
The Blackwells Mills Canal House is located at Blackwells Mills Road and Canal Road in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, on the Delaware and Raritan Canal. [1] Across the canal is Blackwells Mills, New Jersey.
The house was built c. 1830s, at the same time as the canal, to house the bridge tender. [2] The bridge tender would turn the swing bridge when boats came through, then turn it back to allow road traffic to cross over the canal. In 1932, the canal closed and the swing bridges were dismantled. The house and the canal were transferred to the state of New Jersey. In 1971 the Blackwells Mills Canal House Association was formed, and they leased the house from the state and began to restore it as a community center, museum, and library. The adjacent Delaware and Raritan Canal was made a state and national historic site and later became a New Jersey State Park. The house is currently maintained by the Blackwells Mills Canal House Association since 1971.
Sandor Fekete (1879-1970) was the last bridge tender. He was born in Hungary, emigrating via Antwerp, Belgium to New York City and joining the Hungarian community in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. His son Sandor Fekete II (1906-1983) lived in Princeton and worked as a bridge tender also. [3] [4] Fekete's first job was laying brick and breaking up rocks along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. Later he was promoted to a supervisor for work boats that made repairs along the canal. He was promoted to foreman of a twenty-eight-man work crew, living in an apartment on Conduct Street in New Brunswick. In 1916 he was promoted to locktender in Griggstown, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. [3] [5]
Route 18 is a 42.8-mile-long (68.9 km) state highway in the central part of the US state of New Jersey. It begins at an intersection with Route 138 in Wall Township, Monmouth County and ends at Interstate 287 (I-287) in Piscataway Township, Middlesex County. Route 18 is a major route through central New Jersey that connects the Jersey Shore to the Raritan Valley region, connecting the county seats of Monmouth (Freehold) and Middlesex respectively. The route runs through Ocean Township, Marlboro Township, and East Brunswick, as for much of the route is a freeway. The remainder of the route is an expressway with traffic lights in the East Brunswick and Old Bridge areas, and a boulevard in the remainder of Piscataway. Route 18 was designated in 1939 as a proposed freeway from Old Bridge to Eatontown. The section west of Old Bridge was formerly designated as part Route S28, a prefixed spur of State Highway Route 28 from Middlesex to Matawan. The designation, assigned in the 1927 renumbering, remained until a second renumbering in 1953. At that point, Route S28 was redesignated as Route 18, though the section from Old Bridge to Matawan was signed as TEMP 18, as this section would be decommissioned when the Route 18 freeway was built.
Franklin Township is a township in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 68,364, an increase of 6,064 (+9.7%) from the 2010 census count of 62,300, which in turn reflected an increase of 11,397 (+22.4%) from the 50,903 counted in the 2000 census. The township was the state's 19th most-populous municipality in 2020, after being ranked 22nd in 2010.
Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that connects the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, transporting anthracite coal from eastern Pennsylvania during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the existing route from the Pennsylvania Coal Region down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up the occasionally treacherous Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.
Central Jersey is the central region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation of Central New Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. While the State of New Jersey is often divided into North Jersey and South Jersey, many residents, including the governor, Phil Murphy, recognize Central Jersey as a distinct entity.
Blackwells Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Franklin Township in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the CDP's population was 803.
Titusville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Hopewell Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The area includes a post office with its own ZIP Code (08560), several restaurants, gas stations, a firehouse, and a small cluster of homes. The Washington Crossing State Park, dedicated to George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in 1776, is adjacent to the community.
The Millstone River is a 38.6-mile-long (62.1 km) tributary of the Raritan River in central New Jersey in the United States.
The Meadows Foundation of Somerset County, New Jersey is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1978. It oversaw the restoration of seven historic houses in Somerset.
The Six Mile Run Reservoir Site, part of the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, is located in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It is adjacent to the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It covers 3,037 acres (12.29 km2). The reservoir plan was to flood the Six Mile Run watershed. The Six Mile Run is a tributary of the Millstone River that, with its tributaries, drains a large area in central Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey and western portions of North Brunswick and South Brunswick Townships in Middlesex County, New Jersey. It derives its name, along with other streams, from the distance early surveyors estimated it was from the point where the historic King's Highway left the Raritan River at New Brunswick to the point the roadway crossed the stream. The estimates were not very accurate but the stream names have remained in use ever since.
Six Mile Run is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 3,184.
Griggstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Franklin Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 819. The area was first settled around 1733.
East Millstone is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Franklin Township in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Port Mercer Canal House is a historic house along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It is located at 4278 Quakerbridge Road in the Port Mercer section of Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, near the border of West Windsor Township and Princeton, New Jersey. The house was built in the 1830s as housing for bridgetender and his family. The bridgetender was needed to open the swing bridge when canal boats came through, then close it to allow traffic to cross over the canal. From approximately 1900 to 1934, the bridgetender was John Arrowsmith. He and his wife lived in the three-bedroom house with their eight children. The Arrowsmiths loved living at the house and their children enjoyed sleeping outside by the canal in the summer and skating on the frozen canal to Trenton in the winter. Around 1900, a first-floor kitchen was added. Prior to this addition, Mrs. Arrowsmith, who was known as a good cook, did all of the cooking for the large family and friends by the fireplace in the basement of the house.
The Raritan River Greenway is a proposed path in Somerset County, New Jersey that would link Branchburg Township to the East Coast Greenway with the Delaware and Raritan Canal trail in South Bound Brook. Raritan River Greenway is a priority park for Somerset County.
The D&R Canal trail is a recreational trail in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The 77-mile (124 km) trail is made up of three segments that transverse three counties: a canal towpath from New Brunswick to Trenton; a canal towpath/rail trail from Trenton to Bull's Island; and a rail trail from Bull's Island to Frenchtown. The three combined trails together form the largest completed trail in New Jersey. Much of the trail runs along the existing Delaware & Raritan Canal within the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park.
Weston is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 1,235.
Six Mile Run is a tributary of the Millstone River that drains a large area in central Franklin Township in Somerset County and as well western portions of North Brunswick and South Brunswick Townships in Middlesex County, New Jersey in the United States.
The King's Highway Historic District covers the portions of U.S. Route 206 and New Jersey Route 27 in New Jersey that connect Lawrenceville with Kingston through Princeton. This historic roadway dates to colonial times and was a portion of the King's Highway that was laid out by order of Charles II of England to connect Boston with Charleston. It is lined with many institutions and sites that have played an important role in the History of the United States, including Princeton University and the Princeton Theological Seminary.
