Marlpit Hall: a house full of history and intrigue


JERRY WOLKOWITZ Hope Jones of Rumson was on hand last week for the gala reopening of historic Marlpit Hall in Middletown, which her grandmother donated to the Monmouth County Historical Association in 1936.JERRY WOLKOWITZ Hope Jones of Rumson was on hand last week for the gala reopening of historic Marlpit Hall in Middletown, which her grandmother donated to the Monmouth County Historical Association in 1936.

Following lengthy restoration, museum house to reopen Aug. 4

By ELAINE VAN DEVELDE

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — Skeletons in the closet. Corn cobs and clam shells in the eaves. Intrigue to last a few lifetimes. So goes the history of Marlpit Hall — which will reopen its doors to the public soon.


JERRY WOLKOWITZ Guests line up in front of Marlpit Hall during a rededication ceremony July 10. The house has been closed since 1993 for extensive restoration.JERRY WOLKOWITZ Guests line up in front of Marlpit Hall during a rededication ceremony July 10. The house has been closed since 1993 for extensive restoration.

July 10 marked the official reopening ceremony of the historic house owned by the Monmouth County Historical Association and nestled at 137 Kings Highway near Route 35. Declaring the day Marlpit Hall Day, Monmouth County Freeholder Amy Handlin issued a proclamation from the county governing board.

Numerous state, county and township officials were on hand to commemorate the occasion that culminated in a ribbon-cutting, champagne-toast celebration.

Showing the ramifications of age through structural defects and failure of mechanical systems, the circa-1756 home has been closed to the public since 1993 while undergoing more than $800,000 worth of renovations, courtesy of a N.J. Historic Trust matching grant. The grant funds totaled about $390,000, and the matching funds came from individual contributions, the Monmouth County Historical Commission and donations from other foundations.

It will reopen to the public Saturday, Aug. 4, and will remain open through the month of October Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

To hear association Director Lee Ellen Griffith speak of the house, though, is to find out that walls do an awful lot of talking. The structure and the property it sits on tell the tale of a lifestyle that dates to the late 1600s.

"It’s just so wonderful to be able to open this bit of history up to the public after eight years of restorations. There is a rich history on this property and sharing it is a great gift," said Griffith.

There were even remnants of slavery that were tucked away "that are true educational tools. Not too many people realize that there was slavery in Middletown. We tend to think that it was confined to the South. What I find particularly interesting is that the evidence indicates that the slaves lived in the home with the owners, which was unusual for that era," said Middletown Mayor Joan Smith.

During the restoration of the home, clam shells and corn cobs were found hidden in the eaves and are believed to have been part of an African religious ritual.

Though there is evidence that part of the current structure dates back to 1686, wood-core analysis proved that no section of Marlpit Hall can be traced further back than 1756.

According to Griffith, as "part of a plan to encourage bringing people to the area in 1667, the historical English figure James Grover Sr. had the rights to the 10-acre property conferred upon him by English Governor Richard Nicholls as part of the Monmouth Patent. It was found out that in 1686, his son, James Grover Jr., built a one-and-a-half story home on the same Kings Highway property where he lived." There are no remaining records of that house.

After Grover Jr. died, the house was bought by John Wall in 1715 and by John Taylor in 1736. Paperwork on the property was missing for about 20 years, though the next deed holder, through some sort of debt acquisition in the 1750s, was a man named Barnabas Rider, according to the association.

Rider had ownership of what was the then-half-finished home that is now standing because Taylor had torn down the original 1686 homestead on the property on which he built a vernacular piece of architecture that reflected a blend of English and Dutch features, one of which was a showy Georgian-style center hall plan.

The original carpenter who started building the house under Taylor’s ownership did not complete the work, and it was completed by a less-skilled carpenter.

After Rider died, John Taylor’s brother Edward bought the house and lived there until his death in 1783. Edward Taylor was known to be a well-to-do farmer and miller; he was a slave-holder.

Because of his ties to the Loyalist party during the Revolutionary War, Edward Taylor was arrested and suffered the loss of wealth and the status that came with it in Monmouth County. In 1777, he passed on information to his son, George, who was a colonel and commander of a local Loyalist unit that raided his former neighbors.

Edward’s son, John, inherited Marlpit Hall from his father, and it remained in the family until 1930 with the death of Mary Holmes Taylor, who never married.

There were three women named Mary Holmes Taylor: John Taylor’s wife, who lived 1743-1819; their granddaughter (1814-1897), who married her first cousin, Joseph Dorset Taylor, and built Orchard House adjacent to Marlpit Hall; and Mary and Joseph’s daughter (?-1930), who saved the house from demolition in 1911 when the state decided to alter Kings Highway.

After Mary and Joseph moved to the new Orchard House (now the Taylor-Butler House, also owned by the association) in 1853, Marlpit was leased to a series of tenant farmers and was not maintained.

Upon the death of the third Mary Holmes Taylor, who eventually became the owner of both Marlpit Hall and Orchard House, Marlpit Hall was sold in 1930 to a well-known Monmouth County antiques dealer, Edna Netter, on behalf of Margaret Moore Riker Haskell, who in 1936 donated it to the Monmouth County Historical Association.

Mrs. Haskell was described by Griffith as "a well-respected figure in a historically significant trail of women who restore homes. Marlpit Hall was the MCHA’s first acquisition. Mrs. Haskell had it entirely rescued and restored and furnished with 18th century American furniture before it was handed over to her. She was a trustee at the time."

Guests at the reopening ceremony got a preview of what the tours will encompass. Traversing the house involves a bit of ducking and squeezing, emphasizing the basic fact that people tended to be much smaller centuries ago.

"What a wonderful place to have in Middletown," said Mayor Smith. "Walking through the house gives you a real sense of what life may have been like then. It’s almost like a doll house. At every turn, you can’t help but wonder what the original owners were thinking and what motivated them all those years ago.

"You tend to wonder ironically how similar their goals may have been. It’s especially interesting that the house was acquired in part by an effort to get people to settle here. Today we’re wrestling with a lack of space and traffic congestion from an influx of people that the people of that era wouldn’t have ever imagined," she concluded.

For more information about Marlpit Hall or the association’s other three house-museums, the Covenhoven House in Freehold, the Holmes-Hendrickson House in Holmdel or the Allen House in Shrewsbury, call (732) 462-1466.