HOPEWELL: Township plans to give five properties historic status

Enos Titus property to be headquarters for Lucash Montgomery Builders

By Ruth Luse, Managing Editor
   Those who use Old Mill Road and/or Pennington-Rocky Hill Road pass by a project-in-progress at 340 Pennington-Rocky Hill Road.
   Buildings that have stood there for years are undergoing dramatic changes and additions are being made to the property, which will be the headquarters of Lucash Montgomery Builders.
   ”It is going to be known as the ‘Enos Titus Farmstead’ when it is officially designated by Hopewell Township as an historic landmark,” said Maximillian Hayden, project architect.
   The Hopewell Township Committee is expected to introduce an ordinance Nov. 10 designating the site as an historic landmark. “The designation would protect the buildings from insensitive renovations and keep this iconic farmstead as a permanent fixture in the Hopewell landscape,” said Mr. Hayden.
   This property is one of five that may soon become historic landmarks, if enabling ordinances are OK’d by the township officials. The measures are expected to be introduced Monday. The other four properties are:
   — The “Titusville Store,” located at 34 River Drive, Titusville. The store predates the start of the village that became Titusville. It became the first Post Office in 1834 upon completion of the canal and thereafter became the first store. Joseph Titus was founder of the village.
   — The “Harbourton Blacksmith House,” located at 1459 Trenton-Harbourton Road. This was the residence of the blacksmith serving the Harbourton village area and the site of the blacksmith shop from 1826-until after 1900, in addition to being the site of the third schoolhouse for the Harbourton neighborhood.
   — The “Marshall’s Corner Schoolhouse.” Located at 95 Pennington-Hopewell Road (Route 654), this building represents the character and form of 19th-century schoolhouses in the township and is one of the few remaining in the township. It is part of the remaining fabric of a village named for storekeeper and state Assemblyman William Marshall.
   — The “Runyon-Titus Barn,” located at 115 Route 31 North. It was first built about 1740 in a saltbox form no longer found in the region. It was modified by Andrew Titus Jr. prior to 1800 to suit the changing farming operations of the day.
   IT IS THE OBJECTIVE of those working on the Enos Titus property “to create a look and feel that simulates the property’s past charm,” said Mr. Hayden, who added: “Lucash-Montgomery is doing a serious restoration and saving this property for generations to come.”
   ”We feel that this property gives us all the attributes needed for a successful business. With a fully restored main house . . . this building will be brought back to its historical ‘hay day.’ Over time, it is our intention to renovate all the structures as they were. The buildings on this property are big enough for our company to operate without compromising their historical integrity,” said a spokesman for Lucash-Montgomery.
   The Lucash Montgomery offices will be in the house. Storage and a workshop will be in the barn, with more storage in the cattle barn out back.
   The property started as a farm in the early 1800s with a house and 70 plus acres of farm fields. It has several buildings, which include the main house, a bank barn, a metal garage structure and a couple of sheds. The foundations remain from a chicken coop and two silos. Once on the property was a blacksmith’s shop owned by the Titus family. The main residence has doubled in size over the years with the addition of an entry foyer, living room, and two upstairs bedrooms. The property, recently subdivided, is now on a 2½- acre lot.
   Documents that discuss the property say the house on the farmstead is an example of mid-Federal architecture and the two-parlor plan without passage. Built at a time when large cooking fireplaces were the scene of traditional colonial cooking methods, the house is divided into the two typical portions.
   The property can be considered a landmark because of the preserved lands and tracts of private open land surrounding the house and barn. The farmstead “ornaments a large area of the rural landscape, and preserved agricultural land surround the complex on the north, west and south. On the west are Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority farmland with a barn, and the open farmland of Bristol-Myers Squibb (B-MS). The Thomas Welling farmstead owned by B-MS and the iconic McDougald barn on Old Mill Road show, along with this property, the historic density of farm complexes in the landscape. Preserving the appearance of the Enos Titus farmstead helps preserve a nearly 2-square-mile segment of the township’s historic rural landscape.”
   Enos Titus (1768-1840) was a leading citizen in Hopewell Township, primarily due to his role as ruling elder of the Pennington Presbyterian Church for several decades. A blacksmith and farmer, he and his large family were active in the development of Pennington. He occupied the property as early as 1797, while it was owned by his brother Samuel, from whom he bought it in 1802. The house was constructed soon after that. He sold the property in 1822. He purchased a large farm in 1818, but lost it in the depression of the mid-1820s. His son Charles bought a Pennington lot in 1823 on which he built. He took over the blacksmith business for the village. Enos’ grandson Charles Blackwell built the large store and residence building on the northwest corner of Main and Delaware about 1880 and became the town’s leading merchant for many years.
   Lucash Montgomery Builders is a New Jersey-based company founded in 2000 by Marty Lucash and Chris Montgomery. It is their goal “to build using the highest quality materials and craftsmanship to be enjoyed by generations.”
   The staff consists of the two owners, an office manager, and 10 to 15 field workers. Their projects have included custom homes, extensive additions and historic restorations, such as a complete restoration of the Joseph Stout House, found on the Hopewell Township “Guidelines for Historical Properties” Web site.