To the editor:
There is a growing sense that the Mansion on the Duke Estate should not be torn down, but instead saved from demolition and preserved for current and future generations to visit and enjoy the majesty of a “Gilded Age” Mansion.
Fifteen years ago the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders joined a public-private partnership to build what today is TD Ballpark. It is time for the Freeholders and Somerset Park Commission to join forces with interested private citizens to save, restore, preserve the Duke Mansion which could become a centerpiece of the county’s history and a tourist attraction that could draw visitors from across the state, the nation and the world.
After all, Doris Duke was a citizen of the county and state . . . and a global figure.
Recently the Courier-News and Home News-Tribune had an article about the richest people living in Somerset County — and it did not even include Steve Forbes, who is a lover of history.
Led by these private citizens and a dedicated public fundraising effort with a restricted fund set up by Duke Farms and the Park Commission Foundation, I am confident that sufficient funds could be raised to save the mansion and to set up a trust to restore and preserve the Mansion.
The county did save Natirar . . . and the Mansion would rival in grandeur the effort in motion to preserve another precious piece of Somerset County’s history — Blairsden Estate in Peapack-Gladstone.
The public outcry through a petition signed by thousands should indicate to the players named that this is in the best interest of Duke Farms, the County of Somerset and its residents. May the Board of Chosen Freeholders intervene to halt any attempt by Duke Farms to demolish the Mansion. Let the process begin . . .
Donald H. Bowers
Three Bridges
