May 1 presentation will review 45 properties under consideration for inclusion on Hopewell Township’s local register of historic places.
A recent survey of some of Hopewell Township’s most historic properties will be presented at the May 1 meeting of the Township Committee.
The presentation by preservation consultant Robert J. Wise Jr. will review 45 properties under consideration for inclusion on Hopewell Township’s local register of historic places.
Mr. Wise’s survey, begun in 2001 and concluded earlier this year, is an intensive review of 22 individual properties and 23 more located within the historic districts of Pleasant Valley and Harbourton. All but 11 already are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Wise Preservation Planning, a Paoli, Pa. firm with experience in historic site survey work, was hired to revisit the properties, some of which had not been examined in detail since a township-wide survey in 1985-86, in order to provide current condition information and a professional opinion to the township Historic Preservation Commission.
The commission is charged with nominating sites to the local historic register, which was created in 2000 to recognize and protect historically significant elements of the Hopewell landscape. So far, five properties or structures have been named to the list: the circa-1860 Mount Rose Distillery, the 1882 Jacobs Creek bridge, the 1885 Mine Road bridge, the early 18th century Smith/Hunt/Hill Farm (also known as the Woodward Farm, on Marshalls Corner-Woodsville Road) and the 1744 Old Methodist Cemetery on Pennington-Titusville Road.
Commission members plan to use the Wise report as they consider additional listings to the register.
Mr. Wise’s report recommends minor reconfigurations of both the Pleasant Valley and Harbourton districts, changes designed to preserve historic settings by including more open space and removing properties severely compromised by modern changes.
In determining eligibility, Mr. Wise used criteria developed by the township Historic Preservation Commission and modeled on the four criteria used by the National Park Service when considering properties for the national register: an association with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; an association with the lives of persons significant in our past; the possession of distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, including the work of a master, or the possession of information important in prehistory or history.
Funded by a $28,120 grant from the National Park Service, the project was monitored by the New Jersey Office of Historic Preservation.
Copies of Mr. Wise’s report are available for public inspection during business hours at the township municipal building. Information is also available online at www.hopewelltwp.org.

