Not many people are as passionate about a property as Lester Robbins Jr. and his wife, Barbara, are about the Robbins family’s old farmhouse.
By: Mark Moffa
The Robbins family’s old farmhouse, which as passed through five generations within the Robbins family and dates back to the early 19th century. Part of the addition that was built in the 1990s. Two old wood stoves in the basement of the house A bathroom that was part of the 1990s addition but designed to blend with the original building. The hot tub looks out over the farm. An upstairs bedroom whose original beams were exposed during the restoration of the house in the 1990s. The front-door transom Front hallway that shows original woodwork on the stairs and floor. Attic window framed by two brick chimneys. Staff
photos by Phil McAuliffe |
WASHINGTON Not many people are as passionate about a property as Lester Robbins Jr. and his wife, Barbara, are about the Robbins family’s old farmhouse.
Then again, not many people have a property as rich in history as the land now known as Hillcrest Farm, which sits off of Windsor Road near the New Jersey Turnpike.
The Robbins can trace the land back to the 1700s, when the King of England indentured about 120 acres, called the Milford Tract, to Moses Robins the name then was spelled with one "b."
The land was bought in 1818 by David Robbins, Dr. Robbins’ great-great grandfather. It is believed he built the house on that property a building that today is the last surviving early 19th century brick house in the township.
It has passed through five generations within the Robbins family, the namesake of Robbinsville, and last month was purchased by the township, with the help of Mercer County and the state Green Acres program.
A recent tour of the site, delivered by Cathy Lubbe, president of the Historic Preservation Subcommittee of the Planning Board, revealed a house too rich in history to be called historic, too old-fashioned to be called quaint, too unique to be called unusual.
Two wood stoves exist in the basement and fireplaces grace rooms of the house, reminiscent of a time before electricity was commonplace. Bathrooms were conspicuously absent from the original structure as well.
The doorknobs are porcelain, and doors are locked and opened with working skeleton keys. Original woodwork is aplenty, in the inside staircase, floors, and doors.
An original smokehouse remains a rarity. It is small and sits indiscreetly out back next to a piece of white picket fence and a tree that looks to be as old as the house. Ms. Lubbe said the inside still smells of smoked ham and bacon.
Artifacts are in a box in the old dining room. They were found under the room’s wooden floor when the Robbins had restoration work done in the 1990s. There are polished stones, tools, glass bottles, and fireplace equipment, some dating back at least hundreds of years.
Dr. Robbins recently spoke about the house’s history and its deep personal meaning.
"We wanted to see this house preserved," he said. "We have fond memories of this house."
In 1850, David Robbins passed the land onto his son, Elisha, who handed it down to his son, Milnor, in 1900. Dr. Robbins’ father obtained the land in 1945.
Dr. Robbins has all the paperwork to prove it. He sat at his present home in Princeton searching through old wills, bills, pictures, and newspaper articles.
One of the pictures shows the wooden beams supporting the dining room floor they are tree trunks from the early 1800s and they are as strong are they are old.
He found many handwritten records of work done to the house, dating to the 1800s. He has property tax receipts from as far back as 1874 and a will written by Daniel Robins in 1776. It mentions that the country was drafting a constitution at the time.
Dr. Robbins came across a tuition receipt from The Peddie School. Milnor Robbins attended the school in 1878 it cost $13 for a 13-week term (today, three 10-week terms cost almost $20,000 for a nonboarding student).
Dr. Robbins’ father did not live on the property after leaving for college. A brother took over, and eventually the house was rented out. Some tenants were prominent citizens, such as Henry Beck, author of "The Jersey Midlands." At least part of the book was written during Mr. Beck’s stay at the Robbins’ house, and the house is mentioned as an historic structure in the book.
Other tenants, however, were "somewhat less than optimal," Dr. Robbins said, and when his father died in 1986, leaving him the house, it was "in a terrible state of disrepair."
The Robbins were faced with a decision.
"The choice was to tear it down which we didn’t have the heart to do or renovate it," Dr. Robbins said. The renovation/restoration began a few years later.
During the restoration, the couple made sure to follow the guidelines that would allow the house to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Where bricks needed to be replaced in the house, for example, bricks were removed from the inside of an old water well so as to maintain authenticity.
After the restoration, the couple decided the house was so beautiful they would move there. Dr. Robbins, a retired vascular surgeon, and his wife lived in the house for several years in the mid-1990s.
Mrs. Robbins worked with an architect to design an addition modern enough to allow for up-to-date kitchen and bathroom facilities, but enchanting enough to blend with the original building. The result was a marvelous kitchen and living room, with lacquered brick heated from underneath.
A bathroom, also replete with lacquered brick, features a hot tub looking out over the farm, yet remains tactful and far from gaudy. A three-car garage blends surreptitiously into the farmhouse, with plumbing and a loft wired for electricity, telephone lines, and cable.
"I think it is in the interests of Washington Township to see that it is preserved," Dr. Robbins said. He and his wife moved out of the historic house a few years ago to be closer to friends in Princeton.
None of their children, Dr. Robbins said, were interested in moving there. The couple’s two daughters live in Maryland and Virginia. Their son is in San Francisco. All are in their 30s.
So, after about two years of talks, the township finally agreed last month to purchase the property for about $550,000, with more than $368,000 coming from the state Green Acres program and Mercer County. The property now totals approximately 23 acres.
The Township Committee was divided on whether to purchase the land, since it did not have a use planned for the house yet. But a majority of the committee agreed to the acquisition after a nonprofit group called the Friends of Washington Township led by former mayor Nancy Tindall and Tom Troy, senior vice president of Sharbell Development, agreed to shoulder the cost of maintaining the property.
Dr. Robbins said the Delaware and Raritan Greenway was instrumental in helping the township purchase the land as well.
The Friends have said they may turn one of the rooms into a museum to display the artifacts found on the land. Dr. Robbins, now 64, is hoping that happens so he can donate all his documents to the museum.
The Friends may hold a series of open houses to introduce township organizations and businesses to the house, and then rent it out for functions.
Other ideas mentioned by the Friends and township officials have included the possibility of allowing a nonprofit organization (other than the Friends) to rent, lease, or sublet the house for office space.
It would have been easy, Dr. Robbins said, to sell the land to a developer after his father died. And he could have received more money than he got from the deal with the township. But it meant too much to him.
"I’ve never talked to a developer," he said. "When it comes to something like this, I think money is of secondary importance."
Mrs. Robbins agreed.
"The house meant so much to us, it was a project of love," Mrs. Robbins said. "It does have many uses, they just need to be a little creative."