Ordinance can provide money for structural improvements to Dey Farm
By: Bill Greenwood
MONROE The Township Council has introduced an ordinance that if approved would provide more money for structural improvements at the Dey Farm on Federal and Old Church roads.
The ordinance, introduced June 6, would increase the amount to be spent for the project by $215,000 to $1,440,000. A public hearing is scheduled for June 25.
Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said the increase is meant to get work started on restoring a barn that has been standing on the property since the 1830s.
Township Historian and Historic Preservation Commission Chairman John Katerba said the barn has begun to lean and is "in dire need of restoration."
"The barn dates to the time when the town was created in 1838," Mr. Katerba said. "There’s not too many old barns in Monroe that date to that era."
Mr. Hamilton said the township is hoping to receive approval from the council June 25 to enter into a professional services agreement with HMR Architects, of Princeton. Under the agreement, the company would provide designs and specifications for the barn restoration project.
The Historic Preservation Commission wants to open the farm to the public to give people an example of what 19th-century farm life was like. The site currently is home to four buildings dating back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, among them the original Dey family farmhouse and barn and the transplanted England House, which was built in stages between 1760 and 1810.
The commission plans to transport several other historic buildings to the site, including two barns, a house and a one-room schoolhouse, Mr. Katerba said. The timber-frame buildings currently are in storage in pieces and will be reassembled later.
"We have them all tagged and numbered with a map, and when the time is right, you can put them back up," Mr. Katerba said.
However, he said work on the site is on hold at the moment while Township Engineer Ernie Feist creates a master plan for the site.
"It’s understandable," Mr. Katerba said. "History is not at the top of everyone’s list, but we’re happy to just be on the list."
Mr. Feist said the plan would most likely be ready within three months. It will include parking areas, handicapped access and other site improvements necessary to create a museum-type complex, Mr. Feist said.

