Hightstown, East Windsor and Lambertville showcase their finest painted ladies and historic houses.
By: Kristin Boyd
Joy Faxon stands at the edge of her living room, admiring the nuances that give her historic Hightstown home both character and rustic charm.
She tells how each room the study with built-in pine bookcases, the kitchen with barn-style cabinets, the guest bedroom where Pumpkin the cat likes to nap flows to the next.
Each window, with its original leaded glass and brass handles, reveals a picturesque scene: the more than 100-year-old Hightstown bridge to the left, an upside-down canoe resting near Peddie Lake to the right and an outdoor spa atop a brick patio in the back yard.
"The log-cabin look. The stone fireplace. The leaded-glass windows, hardwood floors. What is there not to be attracted to?" Ms. Faxon says in one breath. "I’ve always desired to live in a log cabin in the woods on a lake. It is the perfect home."
The Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society agrees. Members have marked Ms. Faxon’s dream-come-true home, built by the late Mayor David C. Lewis in 1928, as one of eight stops on the borough’s biennial house tour.
The "Town & Country" tour, slated for Oct. 15, will wind through six houses and two churches, including First Presbyterian Church, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
"It’s somewhat of a blessing to be able to live in a home that has some historic significance," says Ms. Faxon, who moved to the house in 2002 with her life partner, Michelle Foley. "We didn’t like townhouse living. We wanted a yard with plenty of trees. We wanted something with a more rustic environment, something more relaxed and casual, something with character."
The homes on the tour were selected for their sense of character, aptly blending modern luxuries like chrome refrigerators and sky lighting with older features such as swinging half doors, hidden bathrooms and back staircases, says tour chairwoman Shirley Olsen.
Ms. Olsen, a Hightstown real estate agent, used her familiarity with the area and reactions from previous house tours when she set out to find a new crop of contenders.
Tour-goers, she says, have always liked "the way the homes are decorated, and what the homeowners have done to still keep the old look but also make it look more like today’s way of life."
With that in mind, she honed in on the borough’s historic district, first looking at homes along Stockton Street, where her office is also located. Society members, she says, wanted to include downtown homes since the Stockton Street Historic District has been added to the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places this year.
Ms. Olsen later branched out, visiting homes throughout the borough and neighboring countryside until she found the top six, including Ms. Faxon’s lakeside East Ward Street home, also known as the Lewis House.
Other notable stops include: The Frank Allen House, built on Stockton Street in 1913; The Hulit House on Windsor-Perrineville Road built circa 1837; the Asay House built on Morrison Avenue circa 1871; and the First United Methodist Church, considered the cornerstone of the borough’s historic district.
Ms. Olsen says several historians spent the past year poring over old newspapers, books, real-estate listings and tax maps to cull interesting tidbits about the homes and their previous owners. Docents will relay the information to tour participants.
"It’s the tradition and the history of the homes that people enjoy," Ms. Olsen says, adding that the tour is an interesting way to learn about the Hightstown community and get to know its residents. "These (homes) really are must-sees."
Hightstown doesn’t have the only hold on Central Jersey history. About 30 miles away, the Lambertville Historical Society will hold its 25th Annual Autumn House Tour the following weekend on Oct. 22.
The tour will feature 12 properties, including "The Old Stone House," "The James Marshall House" and the First Baptist Church of Lambertville built in 1868. Participants can also take a tour along the Delaware & Raritan Canal.
Tour highlights, according to the historical society’s Web site, include a home with an 18th century well under the kitchen that was part of John Coryell’s Ferry Tavern and used by George Washington and his troops as they headed to the Battle of Monmouth.
The tour also stops at a 1847 grist mill converted into a residence and a home featured on the cover of House & Garden magazine in 1911. That home is now a popular bed-and-breakfast.
Back in Hightstown, the rooms in Ms. Faxon’s rancher all look like they were plucked from the pages of the Martha Stewart Living magazine peeking out from a wicker rack in the sunroom.
Knick-knacks and family mementos mingle with antique skeleton keys, worn shutters and a hard-carved wooden kitchen table that seats five. A white plate rail just above holds porcelain jugs, glass vases and crafts.
"I love to sit in this little corner here with the two big windows and read," she says, pointing to a fluffy beige chair in the living room. Then, she pauses.
For a few seconds, every inch of her home swallows her attention, and an I-can’t-believe-I-live-here smile stretches across her face.
"Oh my gosh," she says, still smiling like a wide-eyed child gazing at a shelf full of candy. "It’s a gorgeous view."
The Hightstown-East Windsor House Tour will be held Oct. 15, 1-5 p.m., rain or shine. Advance tickets cost $17 and are available at Perennial Homes, 119 W. Ward St.; Reed House Art Gallery, 200 N. Main St.; Hair by Sharon, 128 Stockton St.; and Old Hights Print Shop, 177 Mercer St., all in East Windsor. Day-of tickets cost $20 and will be available after 12:30 p.m. at Ely House, 164 N. Main St. For information, call (609) 443-3906.
The Lambertville 25th Annual Autumn House Tour will be held Oct. 22, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine. A list of businesses selling advance tickets for $15 is available at www.lambertvillehistoricalsociety.org or by calling (609) 397-0770. Day-of tickets cost $20 and will be available after 10:30 a.m. at the Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead on Route 29 and the James Marshall House Museum, 60 Bridge St., both in Lambertville.

