Clinton Township Newsletter

2 7 M a r c h 2 0 2 0 Historic Background: The Gitlow Farmstead is located on the eastern side of the Windy Acre's open space property, just south and down the hill from its highest point. For centuries Native Americans used this area. Numerous arrowheads, spear points, and artifacts have been found on the farmstead and in the surrounding Round Valley mountain area. The house is constructed of uncoursed rubble stone with a center front door. Windows and doors on the first level are low arched stone. A second story roof bump out and a single-story addition was added later. There are two stone fireplaces and chimneys, at each end of the original structure. The original structure was b e l i e v e d t o h a v e b e e n b u i l t sometime before 1755 as one survey shows a building labeled as "Robert White's house" in the approximate location as the Gitlow house today. Robert White was a tenant of the property during that time. An actual documented date of when the house was built is not known. Previous architectural surveys and field observations indicate the house was built in the 18th century. By 1765 George Rhoads resided on the property. In 1818 the property was sold to David Traphagen. After Mr. Traphagen died in 1853, the property was sold to John N. Stiger and his sister Hannah Maria Stiger. The Stigers farmed the land as had their predecessors. By 1910 both John and Hannah Stiger passed away and the property was sold to John B. Beekman who consolidated it with some other parcels to bring the lot total to 175 acres. Eventually, in 1946, the property was sold to Albert Gitlow, and then passed to his son Bernard in 1984. Bernard sold the property to developer Pulte Homes. Pulte intended to build 1,165 housing units on Windy Acres. In 2008, after years of disputes, the Clinton Township Council unanimously approved spending $7.1 million to buy 292 acres as open space through the State's Green Acres program to prevent the construction of the controversial Windy Acres development. Fast forward to today: The Gitlow House is listed on the Hunterdon County List of Historic Sites and is eligible for listing on the State and National Hist oric R egist ers. Ot her t han the Gitlow House, all buildings have been removed from the site. The farmhouse is in remarkably good shape but will need work to maintain its integrity. As this house represents one of the oldest houses in Clinton Township, the hope is to repurpose the house through volunteer efforts and public donations. We encourage anyone who is interested in the Gitlow Farmstead, or has information on the farmstead (including pictures, stories or other artifacts) to contact the Clinton Township Historical Preservation Commission. We're always interested in learning more about the history of our community! If you have stories, photos or artifacts depicting the Township's history, please contact the Clinton Township Historical Preservation Commission at 1225 Route 31 South, Suite D, Lebanon NJ 08833, or email us at: historic. clintontownshipnj@gmail.com. c l i n t o n t o w n s h i p h i s t o r i c a l p r e s e r v a t i o n c o m m i s s i o n Getting to Know your Township – An Historical Perspective Series – The Gitlow Historic Farmstead Court Appointed Special Advocates of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties (CASA SHaW) has announced that they are now serving all eligible foster children within their service region. "Our vision has been and will always be to provide advocates for every child in foster care in our service region," said Tracey Heisler, Executive Director of CASA SHaW. "We have long sought to ensure that each one has both support and a voice while they go through the family court process. After 15 years of striving, we're seeing our mission and our vision of providing advocates to every child who needs one come to fruition. It's incredibly gratifying." Each year more than 300 children from Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties are thrust into the New Jersey Family Court system through no fault of their own. All of these children have experienced some form of abuse and neglect. Over the past year, 126 active CASA SHaW volunteer advocates provided nearly 10,000 hours of service to the children they serve. "The ultimate and overall goal is reunification for these children with their biological parents," said Heisler. "We continue to see the CASA model proactively working as more and more children are served. CASA SHaW will continue our fight to ensure that every foster child is safe, has a permanent home, and realizes the opportunity to not merely survive but to thrive," Heisler said. While CASA SHaW has temporarily suspended CASA advocate training during the winter months, the program knows that more CASA volunteer advocates in the future will be needed. "Just because we are serving all of our kids, it does not mean the problems facing many families and children will simply go away," Heisler said. "Our staff and advocates are always looking for ways to enhance our child advocacy, provide community education about the needs of vulnerable families, and try to find ways to strengthen them into the future," she added. CASA of Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren Counties is part of a statewide network of community-based, non-profit programs that recruit, screen, train and supervise volunteers to "Speak Up for a Child" removed from home due to abuse or neglect. CASA is the only program in New Jersey that uses trained volunteers to work one-on-one with children, ensuring that each one gets the services needed and achieves permanency in a safe, nurturing home. Find out more at: www.CASAofNJ.org. ca sa s h a w s e r v i n g a l l F o s t e r c h i l d r e n i n s o m e r s e t , h u n t e r d o n a n d w a r r e n c o u n t i e s A bird's eye view of the Gitlow Farmstead in the 1950's, and a closer picture of the Gitlow House today. All other structures have been removed. The farmhouse is the only remaining structure on the property. Registration is now open for Mane Stream's Summer Day Camp for ALL abilities. While this camp is PerformCare Approved, its diversity guarantees to be engaging for the beginner rider, those with no horse experience and emerging riders alike. All campers receive daily riding lessons, participate in horsemanship activities like grooming, tacking, leading, learning about horses and basic horse care. Campers will also participate in fun activities like arts & crafts, and games. Trails rides and water play will be scheduled throughout the week. Openings are still available including weeks for the horse crazy kid who just can't get enough of horses. For more information about summer camp and other Mane Stream programs, visit our website www.ManeStreamNJ.org or Contact Camp Director, Holland Kochanski at: holland@ manestreamnj.org or 908.439.9636. About Mane Stream – Mane Stream is a non-profit registered charitable organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals with physical, developmental, emotional and medical challenges through a diverse program of equine assisted activities, therapy services and educational initiatives. Mane Stream is designated as a Premier Accredited Center of PATH - Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, who provides education, accreditation and resources for the equine assisted activities industry. p e r F o r m c a r e a p p r o v e d h o r s e B a c k r i d i n g d a y c a m p F o r k i d s o F a l l a B i l i t i e s

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