Youths facing court in historic home damage Solomon house was target of vandals in May incident

Staff Writer

By mark rosman

Youths facing court in
historic home damage
Solomon house was
target of vandals
in May incident


Three juveniles accused of vandalizing the historic Solomon house at Route 537 and Wemrock Road, Freehold Township, are due in court to answer the charges next month.Three juveniles accused of vandalizing the historic Solomon house at Route 537 and Wemrock Road, Freehold Township, are due in court to answer the charges next month.

The historic late-18th-century Solomon house at Route 537 and Wemrock Road, Freehold Township, outlasted the British during the Revolution. It has withstood the forces of nature across the centuries, and it survived a move to a new location in the recent past.

What the historic home could not overcome was the destructive forces of a trio of young vandals who allegedly broke into the house in the late-afternoon hours of May 6 and did substantial damage to the interior.

In a few weeks, the three township residents accused of vandalism at the local landmark will answer the charges against them in state Superior Court, Freehold.

According to Kenneth Keller, deputy first assistant prosecutor with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, a 16-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl, all of Freehold Township, will come before Judge Anthony J. Mellaci on Aug. 13 for a plea conference. The youths will have a chance to enter their pleas at the hearing, Keller said. A guilty plea may be accepted from any or all of the youths. If any or all of the youths plead not guilty to the charges against them, a trial date could be set, he said.

The News Transcript reported the incident of vandalism at the Solomon house in the May 30 Police Beat column. According to police, each of the juveniles was charged with burglary, trespassing and criminal mischief. The juveniles were processed and released to their parents at police headquarters.

According to Keller, the juveniles have not been placed under house arrest and have no restrictions on their activities within the community.

The Solomon house and an adjacent barn formerly stood at the corner of Route 537 and Wemrock Road. In conjunction with the construction of the Mounts Corner shopping center which is under way at the corner, the house and barn were moved to the rear of the property by developer Bernard Hochberg, who owns the buildings.

During the planning phase for the retail center, Hochberg said the historic home and barn would become the centerpieces of a historic component of the project.

The vandalism to the Solomon house is a blow to people in the community who have championed the preservation of Freehold Township’s historic sites. One such person is township Committeeman David Salkin, a former member of the municipality’s Historic Preservation Commission and currently the Township Committee’s liaison to that panel.

"What I told the assistant prosecutor in a letter was that it’s a shame the Solomon house would be able to withstand the British invasion only to be wrecked by juveniles," Salkin told the News Transcript last week. "The house is important on several fronts. It was the first Jewish settlement in this area. It withstood, along with every other house in Freehold, efforts by the British to burn it down as they retreated from the Battle of Monmouth.

"Even if the kids were made to pay for the damage they caused, which I don’t think they are able to do, that could not replace the handmade items such as the banisters, stairways, doorways, closets and window frames that were destroyed. Historic elements were destroyed that cannot be replaced. It’s a shame," Salkin said. "For people who are involved in protecting historic sites in the township, this was a very painful occurrence."

Susan Winter, chairwoman of the township’s Historic Preservation Commission, echoed Salkin’s comments, asking of the juveniles, "How could they have done something like that? There has to be a lot of anger in kids to do something like that. They murdered that building. For people who have lived in this area their whole lives, or for many years, this is a part of our lives that has been destroyed."

According to information provided by the Monmouth County Historical Association, Freehold, the Solomon farm, a 19.7-acre parcel, "is one of the 18th century farms located at the periphery of the Battle of Monmouth, and which suffered damage by the British. Hannah Solomon, possibly the widow of Jonas Solomon, owned the farm at the time of the battle, in 1778, and reportedly had to rebuild part of the house after the British set fire to it.

"Although the property’s early history is undetermined, it can be verified that Levi Solomon owned and enlarged the farm in the 19th century. About 1820 he and Elisha Combs owned much of the land at or near the corner now known as West Freehold. In his recollections, T.A. Smith said of the place, ‘It is a grand old house with spacious rooms and a wide entrance hall. The land is considered as good as any in the township. The property now belongs to the Moore brothers. Every inch of the farm is the best of potato land.’ "