By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Flemer family was known worldwide for the Princeton Nurseries it ran for nearly 100 years.
On Sunday, the same family that shied away from publicity was recognized and honored for deciding to preserve more than 1,900 acres of its land forever.
D&R Greenway Land Trust presented the family with its annual conservation award at the trust’s Johnson Education Center in what used to be a private estate of Robert Wood Johnson. Amid the tableau of natural scenery, representatives of two branches of the Flemers gathered to accept the honor.
”It’s land that we always loved, and I didn’t see any benefit for developing it,” said William Flemer IV. “It’s a comforting feeling knowing it’s preserved.”
”This is unprecedented. I mean what has happened in terms of preserving this land 1,900 acres in central New Jersey is something that has an impact on whole generations,” said Linda Mead, president and CEO of D&R Greenway, prior to the gala ceremony. “This is the largest impact in central New Jersey of any land preservation deal ever done.”
The land, owned by two branches of the Flemer family, could have been built into a development. The acreage spanned Mercer, Monmouth and Burlington counties, including forests and wetlands. But family members decided preservation was the right option, although it took a while to resolve the complicated matter involving the family, lawyers and public officials.
The three-year process culminated when the state announced Aug.17 that a $28 million deal had been finalized. Just more than 1,000 acres would be preserved as open space as a 512-acre wildlife management area and as “nearly 500 acres in additions to the Mercer and Monmouth counties park systems,” the state said at the time.
The other 847 acres, still owned by the Flemer family, went into the state farmland preservation program through the Flemers selling the development rights on the land so that it can only be used for farming.
The money came from the state, Monmouth and Burlington counties, the Monmouth County Conservation Foundation and Upper Freehold, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
”The size and the complexity of the deal is unprecedented, spanning multiple agencies, multiple municipalities, ownership split between two families,” Mr. Flemer said.
The deal is “landmark acquisition for the state,” said Richard Boonazian, an assistant commission with the DEP, who was at Sunday’s event.
The Flemer family traces its roots to the region to when William Flemer Sr. founded Princeton Nurseries in 1913 in Kingston. Brothers John and William Flemer ran the business during the post-World War II era, said William Flemer IV.
Kate Barrack, the middle daughter of John Flemer, recalled on Sunday working the land in Kingston with her two sisters. She remembered having to pick weeds and drive the tractor.
Through the years, the family expanded its land holdings across the central part of the state.
Princeton Nurseries ultimately went out of business three to four years ago, but the family held onto a valuable asset: the land. Ms. Mead said that in 2008, the family was looking at development projects for the property. Her organization planted the seed about preservation as an alternative.
”We worked with the two sides of the family to come to agreement on preserving the land and what the applications would look like,” Ms. Mead said.
Ms. Barrack, now of Welleseley, Mass., said she thinks her late father and late uncle would have been pleased how things worked out. She felt preserving the land was “the right thing to do.”

