By: centraljersey.com
JAMESBURG – The Buckelew House and its 23 rooms are being renovated with funds from Middlesex County and hard work from the Jamesburg Historical Association.
The mansion was built in 1685, and additions were built around 1790, 1832 and 1870.
An entrepreneur and Jamesburg’s namesake, James Buckelew, lived in the Buckelew House, also known as the Lakeview Mansion, until the late 1800s. The building served as a home into the 20th century.
Ed Mendoker, one of the founders of the Jamesburg Historical Association, began raising money for the first renovation of the 325-year-old house in 1979. In 1981, once the first renovations were complete, a historical museum opened in the mansion.
Over the past four years, the association has received about $700,000 in funding from Middlesex County to perform more renovations.
Thanks to the work the association has done so far, the house has a new porch, repaired windows and repaired walls, all part of one of three planned phases.
The house remains closed to the public while the work is being done.
Phase one of the project also involved putting a temporary roof on the front portion of the house, placing a new French drain under the front porch, repointing the bricks of the building and installing a new heating system, new concrete pads in the basement and steel supports in the basement.
Now the association needs more cash for phase two of its renovation plan.
"We’re looking for grants from the state and federal government; every penny we can get," said Elliott Stroul, vice president of the Jamesburg Historical Association.
While renovating the building, the association found asbestos under the meeting room and removed it.
"There were no building codes back then (when the house was first built)," Mr. Stroul said. "There weren’t any concrete pads prior to renovation. There was just mud. Any excess water from Manalapan Lake came into the house and wore away the foundation."
He added, "They didn’t have steel beams supporting the foundation 100 years ago, either. The house was very close to falling in on itself."
The association also purchased a new boiler so the house can be climate controlled, and it purchased a new sump pump for the basement.
Phase two will involve work on the back roof, scraping and painting the entire structure, interior cosmetic work and restoring shutters. The association hopes to secure $1 million from the county, state and federal governments for phase two.
"I don’t know what the final number is going to be. It could be anywhere from a half a million to $1 million," Mr. Stroul said.
Phase three will take care of any extra projects that emerge during the renovation process.
The Buckelew House is home to Buckelew’s coach, which transported Abraham Lincoln in Trenton when he gave his inaugural address to the New Jersey House and Senate in 1860.
Feb. 24, Lincoln’s address will be reenacted by the New Jersey 150th Anniversary Civil War Committee as part of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The anniversary began Nov. 5, 2010, and will last four years.
At the reenactment, Lincoln will be played by Bob Costello, commander of the Third Regiment Volunteers, a reenactment group.
Middlesex County funded the renovations of the Buckelew House since the mansion is located in Buckelew Park, a county park.
"It (the Buckelew House) spans a historical time period of over 300 years," Mr. Stroul said. "As far as life in the area, there aren’t many properties where people can look through a window into the past and be thankful for how good they have it now."
He explained how everything in the Buckelew House took place in two rooms, the bedroom and a common meeting room.
Mr. Stroul said the house is the perfect chance to see how technology has changed over the past 150 to 200 years since Mr. Buckelew was in many ways ahead of his time.
"He (Mr. Buckelew) did things no one else would have thought of doing at the time," Mr. Stroul said.
In a time when schools were segregated, Mr. Buckelew bought his own school so anyone could go to it. As an entrepreneur, he started many of the factories in old Jamesburg, built the Presbyterian Church, which opened in 1854, and donated land for St. James Church.
He established a shirt factory, butterscotch factory and one of the first canneries in the area to ship cans out of the country. He also helped establish the Freehold Agricultural Railway.
"Because of him, Jamesburg went from an agricultural to an industrial community," Mr. Stroul said.
For more information on the Buckelew House and Jamesburg history, visit www.jamesburghistory.com.

