by Ceil Leedom, Township Historian
Editor’s note: Articles in this series will expand on people, places and events that have shaped South Brunswick s history. Comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcome.
South Brunswick’s only brownstone mansion, located in Kingston, grew from the foundations of a House of Refuge in Kingston in 1850. The State of New Jersey purchased a 75-acre tract from Isaac Chandler Withington for $5,600 to create a “House of Refuge” for youth who had committed minor crimes. The plan was to take problem juveniles off the street, place them in a safe environment, educate them, and train them for useful occupations. The Legislature set aside $15,000 for this purpose allotting contracts for stonework, carpentry and other needs.
All went well with the initial construction of the House of Refuge. New York architects King & Kellum were hired to design the structure to contain 192 dormitories, schoolrooms, laundries and facilities to provide up to 400 meals a day. Contracts were let for stonework, brickwork, carpentry and water supply. However, as costs began to mount, it became evident that the completed project could cost over $100,000 at a time when the entire state budget was only $165,538. Also, the idea for free public schools was growing. Legislators began to think that money for this project could better serve this need and keep these problem youth in local schools and off the streets. The House of Refuge received no further appropriations, all work stopping at the end of August 1851. The basement and parts of the main building had been completed to 22 feet. The state paid damage claims to the contractors and sold off surplus property and materials for a return of $8,580. They sold the land back to Withington for $6,700. In all, it cost the state $35,567.
Isaac Chandler Withington was the son of Phineas Withington. Phineas came to Kingston from Massachusetts about 1810. He had become a friend of Commodore Vanderbilt of New York and they started the Union Stage Line running between New York and Philadelphia. Phineas’s land in Kingston included the site of the current Union Line Hotel building. He married Sarah Gulick, daughter of Henry Gulick of Kingston. After his death in 1834 his oldest son, Isaac Chandler Withington, eventually gained possession of the 80-acre homestead. Isaac worked for a wealthy New York businessman, George Platt, married his daughter and took up residence in New York. Isaac sold the farm to the state for the House of Refuge, however, he was happy to buy it back when this project failed.
Soon after, the Withington-Heathcote-Cook Estate no longer resembled the brownstone shell of the House of Refuge, but an Italianate mansion. Named after the nearby Heathcote Brook, Withington’s mansion was completed in 1857. It included hot and cold water in every bedroom, several bathrooms and principal rooms heated with individual coal stoves. First floor rooms had 12-foot ceilings and gilded woodwork in the parlor. The house, landscape and gardens designs all reflected the popular ideas for country estates of the period promoted by the famous garden and landscape designer of the time, Andrew Jackson Downing. The Recollector article by Clifford W. Zink, includes an extensive review of Downing’s landscape design ideas.
After Isaac died in 1881 his eldest son, Charles Sumner Withington, left his New York law practice and returned to Kingston. Charles developed an interest in the culture of violets. Turning this into a successful business, he marketed as many as 750,000 violet blooms in a season. He married Eva Van Duyn of Kingston in 1888. They had no surviving children and after their deaths, the estate was sold to the Garneau family of New York in 1914.
Joseph Garneau, a wealthy wine importer, made extensive renovations in the Colonial Revival style of the time. He added one-story wings, built a porte-cochere, replaced windows with colonial twelve-over-twelve lites among many extensive changes to the property. He died in 1917 leaving an estate worth over $600,000. Mrs. Garneau’s nephew sold the property to Thomas and Grace Cook in 1926.
Thomas Cook, a successful member of the New York Stock Exchange, brought his family of six children to Kingston. The Cooks were known for regular music events in the large 20-by-50-foot music room they created soon after moving in. Otherwise they made few major changes to the house and gardens, except for a swimming pool built in 1931. Thomas Cook died in 1965 and Grace Cook died in 1981. In the 1970s, the family donated 52 acres to the state, creating the Cook Natural Area, and made plans to divide the house into several condominium units. Although this project was completed, there may be plans to reconstitute the separated units back into a single house.
Most information on the history of this property comes from a special edition of the Princeton Recollector written by Clifford W. Zink, published in September 1972. A copy is available at the South Brunswick Public Library.
Ceil Leedom is the South Brunswick township historian. She can be e-mailed at [email protected].

