By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR A thin yellowed slip of paper sat inside a rectangular glass case. In fading blue ink, it read “Your tax in West Windsor Township for 1895 is $22.” Near it, in black sharpie, a note commented, “Ahh, those were the days!”
And those are the days folks can expect to return to when they visit the nearly complete 18th century Schenck Farm museum this spring.
After 20 years, almost $700,000 and countless donations and volunteers, the Historical Museum of West Windsor at Schenck Farm will officially open its doors to the public this spring. The 122-acre property has been a project in process after the Zaitz family donated it to the township in the early 1990s. Since, the administration, the volunteer West Windsor Historical Society (WWHS) and donors have worked to give the community a temporary portal to Colonial times in the township.
An exclusive tour on Jan. 28 unburied a tangible history of life in West Windsor back when horse and buggies ruled the road, or rather, the dirt. Leading the way that morning was Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, Land Use Manager Sam Surtees, Kay Reed, the treasurer of the WWHS, and Mary Schenck, whose marriage to the late Warren Schenck links her to the historic property that has been in the Schenck family for three generations.
Save for a few remaining holiday decorations, the white wooden farmhouse presented a visual example of a typical Colonial residence circa 1700s. Built in three sections, the oldest was the kitchen, which went up in 1750 just about a decade after the sons of William Penn sold what is now Penns Neck to West Windsor’s two founding families: the Schencks and the Covenhovens.
Adjacent was the double parlor, which was added in the 1830s. This is where the fun happened card games, parties and many a square dance. The room was furnished with donated Victorian-era furniture and housed a 200-year-old melodeon, which looked like a Ford Model-T version of modern day piano or organ.
Moving to the second story, which was added in 1905, one had to use the narrow back servant steps essentially on tiptoe because adult sized feet would hang off the edges.
At the top, one might have stepped out of a time machine. The walls and freestanding displays are filled with more than 100 years of West Windsor history captured in black and white and sepia-toned photos.
From maps to 1930s “bathing beauties” swimming in the D&R Canal, visitors are presented with a panorama of what West Windsor’s past.
The upstairs also contains a child’s bedroom and two adult bedrooms. One featured a vintage shaving set, complete with a small mirror, a little jar of lotion and a small metal razor. The other had luxuries such as a hot water bottle and a bed with pull ropes.
”Back then beds were made with feathers or straw,” explained Ms. Schenck. “So you had to tighten the bed with ropes you had to sleep tight, literally.”
Across from the farmhouse is a Dutch-English barn that goes back to the 1750s, which the township renovated in 2009. To get there, one passes a wooden outhouse and enters through a reproduction of a circa 1900 carriage house.
This part housed sleighs, wagon wheels and a big wooden “utility dump wagon” the original Public Works fleet.
The actual barn was spacious inside, with the middle being completely open. Mr. Surtees said this is where they hope to hold dances and other events in hopes of bringing in money to offset operation costs of running the museum. This can happen once the construction of the site’s public restrooms is complete.
The side of the barn featured somewhat of an aisle, filled with a mix of artifacts such an old school blacksmith collection, vintage waffle irons and a tin can of Premium Saltine crackers that touted “now made with enriched flour!” on the front.
A small room connected to the barn will hold an environmental education exhibit and souvenir shop, which will eventually look like a 1930s general store. For now, it housed a few artifacts such as the tax bill, typewriters and a replica of the barn, which is also featured at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Mayor Hsueh estimated this portion of the museum will be finished by the end of the year.
From there, one heads to the museum’s most recent acquisition: West Windsor’s first one-room schoolhouse, which moved from Clarksville Road to the Schenck Farmstead in the mid-1990s when the township had enough funds for its restoration. Inside there were 19 small wooden desks with holes in each corner where the ink wells went.
”Then you had to dip the pigtail of the girl, who sat in front of you, to get the ink,” added resident and local farmer Steve Jany, making everyone laugh.
After the major construction work is completed, Mayor Hsueh plans on holding a grand opening celebration.

