Twixt Crosswicks Creek and Burlington Path … and Beyond
By: Joan Ruddiman
Note: This review ran in the fall of 2001. In celebration of the recent announcement of the Honadle farm entering into the Farmland Preservation Program, and in the spirit of Allentown’s 300th, we reprise, "Twixt Crosswicks Creek."
What begins as the story of local land and a local family has significance far beyond the meadow, the creek, the farm of the tale. Ruth Honadle’s simple memoir combines with George Honadle’s stories of wildlife and examination of nature’s importance to convey a message for us all.
"Twixt Crosswicks Creek and Burlington Path: Glimpses of Life, Nature and Change on a Cream Ridge Farm" is the result of combined efforts of mother and son Ruth Holmes and George Holmes Honadle. "Holmes" is Ruth’s family name, one of the oldest in the Upper Freehold region. Ruth’s lineage includes all the "old" names of the first settlers including K(C)onover, Waln, Meirs, Wygant, Rue, Imlay, among others.
The original Holmes farm, the "Holmes-stead" (now the Holmes Brothers farm) was acquired from a grant from the Duke of York and has been owned by the family since 1665. In 1873 Joseph Holmes, who lived on the Holmes-stead, acquired the farm a few miles away on Crosswicks Creek. His son, Joseph, Jr. moved on to it, thus beginning the Holmes presence from Burlington Path to Crosswicks Creek. Joseph, Jr. was Ruth’s grandfather. Throughout the book, the reader gets the sense of continuity of people to the land.
What the authors present as an appendix is a striking compendium of personal and local history. In this appendix, titled "Ancestral Tour of the Cream Ridge Area" Ruth, the narrator and George, the photographer, share a photo essay of homes and other buildings from Allentown, Imlaystown and Cream Ridge. This may be where readers should begin to appreciate the depth and extent of this family’s influence in this area.
That established, the reader can more fully appreciate the message in the memoir. Land is a precious gift, and we those who currently occupy the space are merely stewards of the land. What is the phrase attributed to a Native American chief? "No one can own Mother Earth." Ruth seems to understand this principle from the continuity of family and farm over centuries.
George, too, was raised on this land, and his respect is furthered enhanced and filtered through the lens of his profession. Dr. Honadle is currently a consultant and an adjunct professor of Environmental Health and Public Policy at Bowling Green State University. He has worked in 28 countries, taught in five universities and is a respected expert in the area of sustainable development. His most recent book is titled "How Context Matters: Linking Environmental Policy to People and Place."
This link of environmental policy to people and place is where we are right now, here in the remaining vestiges of the Garden State. People and policy are pressuring the land to be all things for all of us. We build houses, warehouses, then more roads and wider roads to ease access to and from the buildings. All of this, of course, means more people with their need for water and waste disposal.
How much the land can take needs to be at the fore of all policy and planning, not the afterthought when the people pour in.
The authors draw us into consideration of these huge issues only after sharing the tales of the red fox, the angry Angus bull, and stories from the meadow; after the memories of the farm and people navy balloons, farm kids on Bandstand, and growing up rural in the great Northeast Corridor. Then the authors put this place in a broader context.
The meadow is part of a great "natural system" that filters water, air and provides a habitat for biological diversity. "Human activity is the source of many of the contaminants that give us diseases and irritations, and it also has the power to destroy us entirely. But nature acts as a ‘sink,’ an absorber of our chemical, physical and biological offal, that protects us from ourselves."
The creek that borders the meadow is an even bigger story. Prehistoric fossils, and relics of the earliest settlers, pre-Columbian and Lenni Lenape, are evidence of the value of this watershed to support life within the meadow and miles beyond. Crosswicks Creek meanders over 23 miles, through four counties before it empties into the Delaware River.
What pressures are the current stewards of this land the people and policy makers putting on this land? The authors consider: "In 1960 the aquifer was penetrated by no more than 7 wells {on the 300+acre Holmes farm}. Forty years later there are 35 and there soon may be many more." More houses, more septic tanks, more cars, more run-off … "These changes affect the landscape, wildlife, noise level, surface water runoff, air quality and groundwater reserves …."
The issues, the competing agendas, are complex. The Honadles’ intent is not judgmental, or prescriptive. They, the historian mother and scientist son, are chroniclers and observers. But in their combined experience is a wisdom we all would be wise to heed. This land is amazingly resilient, serving its occupants very well for generations over centuries of time. But everything has limits and that is on threshold we approach at our risk.
Twixt Crosswicks Creek and Burlington Path lies a farm, with a meadow, and a creek runs through it. May life and nature flourish and survive whatever change may challenge it.