BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
Millstone Township Historian Joann Kelty admired the old farmhouse on Conover Road for years before she actually owned it.
Kelty and her husband, Doug, would drive past it on their way to Showplace Farms, where they had racehorses. Finally, in 1995, when the house went up for sale, the couple bought it and moved in.
According to Kelty, the old cedar shingle farmhouse at 48 Conover Road is one of the oldest houses still in existence in the township. Kelty herself researched the history of the home.
“The house was built by David Cook, son of Nicholas, and Mary Dey Cook occupied the house in the mid-1780s,” Kelty said. “Legend has it that Mary — known as “Polly” — Cook conducted Sunday school there.”
Kelty said the original Cook, Thomas, lived in Middletown, which was then called Shrewsbury. He came from England by way of Plymouth, Mass., circa 1685, according to Kelty.
“One son settled in the area, and the other sons settled in what was then Upper Freehold, Millstone and now Jackson,” Kelty said.
Kelty said there is also a Cook house in Jackson at the intersection of Cooks Bridge Road and County Line Road. There is a graveyard as well, she said, on a small hill surrounded by a fence there.
PHOTOSBY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above, Douglas Kelty and Digger stand outside of their almost 220-year-old home on Conover Road in Millstone. Left, Kelty shows off the trotter horse collection inside of his home. Below, this signs stands alongside of the Kelty historical home. “Hovnanian is building a huge development on the farm there, and I’m uncertain if the house and cemetery were saved,” Kelty said.
David Cook, a Revolutionary War veteran who lived from 1753-1813, is buried in the Cook family cemetery in Millstone, which was recently preserved after subdivision approval was given to the tract on which it lies.
Kelty said the house in Millstone was in the Cook family until the 1850s.
Three other families owned it from the 1860s until the 1890s, when the Conover family bought it. It was then owned by descendants of the Conovers before the Keltys bought it 10 years ago.
Kelty describes her home as “a wonderful, old house, with two staircases, a huge brick fireplace in the kitchen and [another] one in the parlor.”
The oldest part of the house, the center, dates back to the 1780s and consists of a living room and dining room. The front portion of the home dates back to the early 1800s.
Kelty said that years ago, people did not waste anything. She said the front portion of the home is marked with Roman numerals so that it could be easily taken apart and put back together. She speculates that prior to becoming part of the main house, the addition may have been elsewhere on the property. She also said old maps indicate there used to be other small dwellings on the land.
“A portion of the basement still has a dirt floor, and I’ve uncovered several bits of pottery and glass there,” Kelty said. “The recently preserved Cook Cemetery on the west side of Conover Road is the resting place for the Cooks who built and lived in my house.”
The home’s roof beams are hand-hewn, and wooden pegs hold the beams together, Kelty said. Unlike many old houses, hers has a good deal of closet space, and many built-ins, Kelty said. The house still contains the original doors and hardware.
Kelty remembered having to remove five layers of wallpaper when she redecorated the house. She saved and documented pieces of the wall coverings for posterity.
When her family moved into the home, Kelty said the house needed a new roof, but was basically sound.
The basement has a dirt floor and a root cellar. An ancient tree trunk holds up the first floor of the establishment.
While the farm once consisted of 110 acres and extended into Manalapan, today only 7 acres remain, and they are surrounded by subdivisions. A tool shed and outhouse from the late 19th century, a tractor shed from 1900 and a barn built in 1889 all stand on the remainder of the farm. Kelty still plants the Conover family garden on the property.
In her role as township historian, Kelty documents and takes pictures of older structures in Millstone. The township completed its last inventory of old houses in the 1980s, and Kelty hopes to complete an updated list.
According to Kelty, the township’s Historical Commission would like to gather names and addresses of owners of old houses in the township and have a get-together, where they could discuss the risks and concerns surrounding old homes.
“A lot of old houses are being allowed to rot away, especially those owned by developers,” she said. “It would be nice if the developer could keep the [old] house in the development, make it a lot and market it as an old house.”
Of particular concern to Kelty is an 18th-century house on Burnt Tavern Road that is in disrepair, and a 19th-century house and barn on Sweetmans Lane that is also in poor shape.
Kelty said there are also remnants of an old mill — which burned down in the 1930s — on the west side of Perrineville Lake that dates from the 1860s. The land is now owned by the Monmouth County Park System, and she hopes the park will sponsor architectural digs at the site.
Kelty said her goal as township historian is to get kids interested in history. She still works full time, but once she retires, she hopes to give presentations in the school district.
Kelty is also starting to interview older township residents to collect their memories of Millstone as it was so that the town’s history may be passed on to future generations.