Delaware Township, N.J.: A Farming Town With One Traffic Light

When Kevin Eberle and Genna Cargill started exploring the river cities and farmlands of Hunterdon County, N.J., seven years in the past, looking for a extra rural way of life, they typically discovered themselves passing by way of a small, historic group with a single flashing site visitors gentle.

“Each time we’d go round wanting, we’d find yourself at that crimson blinking gentle, and we stated to one another, ‘We’re going to maneuver right here,’” stated Mr. Eberle, 37, the proprietor of a digital advertising and marketing firm.

That prophecy turned out to be appropriate — twice. In 2015, the couple purchased a two-bedroom 1790 farmhouse eight homes east of that blinking gentle, paying $300,000. The next yr they had been married, and in 2020 they traded as much as a three-bedroom Victorian home eight homes west of the sunshine, paying $490,000.

The one site visitors gentle in Delaware Township, a 37-square-mile space bordering Pennsylvania by way of the Delaware River within the Amwell Valley, is on the intersection of Routes 604 and 523, within the unincorporated group of Sergeantsville. It’s inside strolling distance of the one-room put up workplace, the city corridor, the Sergeantsville Basic Retailer and the Nineteenth-century Sergeantsville Inn, the place locals collect on Friday nights.

It was on a kind of Friday evenings a couple of years in the past, on the Inn’s tavern, that Ms. Cargill and Mr. Eberle met the previous homeowners of their present house. When the home went available on the market a yr later, they reached out to the 2 ladies and requested for a tour. Inside a couple of days, they had been in contract.

“It’s a small space, and all people is aware of all people,” stated Mr. Eberle, who has constructed up his firm by serving companies within the space. “The tempo of life is so much slower right here. There’s no site visitors, except you get caught behind a tractor. It doesn’t really feel such as you’re in New Jersey.”

Except for a couple of historic villages and the adjoining residential neighborhoods, most of Delaware Township is farmland, rolling hills and woodlands. By means of restrictive zoning, environmental protections and a devoted open-space fund, near 40 p.c of the city’s land mass has been preserved, stated Rosalind Westlake, the chair of the planning board and the township’s Open House Committee.

“It’s a tradition on this space,” stated Ms. Westlake, who moved to Delaware from Princeton, N.J., in 2004. “Everybody’s in favor of preservation. The farmers need it to maintain the city’s agricultural heritage alive, and the New York transplants need it as a result of it’s spectacular.”

That dedication to land preservation was examined when PennEast Pipeline Firm tried to construct a 116-mile natural-gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New Jersey that will have seized state and privately owned land by way of eminent area and lower by way of the center of Delaware Township. Working with the New Jersey Division of Environmental Safety, township residents mounted a seven-year marketing campaign to dam the $1 billion venture. They emerged victorious final September, when the consortium of vitality firms withdrew the proposal.

The protracted battle could have briefly dampened Delaware Township’s attraction to potential consumers, stated Jacqueline Evans, an artist and actual property agent with Kurfiss Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty. “The pipeline was continually a difficulty, and since there was a lot uncertainty, it might have devastated this city,” stated Ms. Evans, 57, who has lived there for 22 years and spoke out in opposition to the pipeline. “There was a lot opposition right here, so we fashioned a corporation to combat it. And we gained.”

What You’ll Discover

Delaware Township, with fewer than 5,000 residents, has eight designated historic districts, together with Sergeantsville, Rosemont and Locktown, the place the extra concentrated residential areas are discovered. In a lot of the remainder of the township, zoning and environmental restrictions require minimal constructing numerous three to seven acres. There are additionally a number of massive farms, a few of them occupying a whole bunch of acres. Greater than 60 p.c of the township’s acreage is farmland assessed, and greater than 50 p.c is actively farmed, Ms. Westlake stated.

The farm homeowners embrace rich New Yorkers who lease their fields to working farmers, in addition to horticulturalists like Peter McCrohan, the proprietor of Shoppons Run flower farm. A Princeton native, Mr. McCrohan took his farming abilities to Arizona for eight years, till the land there turned too dry to develop a lot, he stated, sending him again East. His dahlias, lilies and peonies now grace the tables at native eating places and weddings, and will be picked by prospects dropping by.

“I discovered these 14 acres of sandy loam soil with all these overgrown outbuildings. It didn’t seem like it does as we speak, however it was excellent — and it was like they threw the home in free of charge,” stated Mr. McCrohan, 71, of the farm and 1879 farmhouse he purchased for $525,000 in 2010. “It felt like I used to be coming house.”

Delaware Township can also be house to quite a lot of artists, due to its proximity to in style Delaware River cities like Lambertville, N.J., and New Hope, Pa. Lengthy rows of transformed hen coops at Cane Farm Furnishings, in Rosemont, function studio and retail areas for artisans. Different makers have workshops of their properties: Geoff and Karen Caldwell function Sunflower Glass Studio out of a former tool-and-die store subsequent to the 1870s farmhouse they purchased 44 years in the past.

“Some very well-known artists have lived all alongside the river,” stated Ms. Caldwell, 69. “I assume artists appeal to artists.”

What You’ll Pay

As of mid-October, there have been 18 residential properties available on the market in Delaware Township. The costliest was a 92-acre horse farm with a three-bedroom 1880 farmhouse and several other outbuildings, listed for $3.2 million; the least costly was a two-bedroom 1896 stone cottage on 0.14 acres, listed for $425,000.

In response to info from the Backyard State A number of Itemizing Service, the typical sale value for the 29 properties that bought within the first 9 months of this yr was $797,445, a large leap from the typical of $651,061 for the 39 properties that bought throughout the identical interval in 2021.

The Vibe

Moreover the tavern on the Inn, the most well-liked gathering spot on the town is Sergeantsville Grain & Feed, the shop the place locals purchase provides for his or her livestock and atone for gossip.

“There’s an actual closeness right here, with everybody looking for one another,” stated Paula Anastasio, an actual property agent and 38-year resident, recounting the current incident of a stray donkey wandering by way of a pasture, posted on the township’s Fb web page. Inside minutes, the donkey was recognized as Ricky, from “the massive white home,” out in search of his mate, Lucy, who died in Could.

Fund-raising occasions sponsored by the Delaware Township Historic Society have the same small-town vibe: The group’s president, Roger Byrom, holds candlelit dinners at his 18th-century sheep farm, cooking over his cellar kitchen’s open fireplace.

This yr, on Thanksgiving weekend, 22 artists will share their work and work areas in the course of the twenty eighth annual city studio tour. And for nature lovers, there’s the 79-acre Bull’s Island Recreation Space, with mountaineering and biking trails alongside the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and stocked fishing websites.

The Colleges

Delaware Township Faculty serves 361 college students in prekindergarten by way of eighth grade on its 26-acre campus, with a state-of-the-art applied-technology lab and an energetic guardian program. Residents will vote in November on a $1.35 million bond referendum to rebuild the college’s roof.

Highschool college students attend Hunterdon Central Regional Excessive Faculty, in Flemington, N.J. It serves 2,566 college students from 4 neighboring communities and sits on 72 acres, with 4 gyms, two theaters, a soccer area and its personal tv and radio stations. The college presents 76 Superior Placement and honors courses, 26 of which may earn school credit. In 2021, the typical SAT scores had been 593 in studying and writing and 596 in math, in contrast with state averages of 557 and 560.

Space personal colleges embrace the Pennington Faculty, a coed day and boarding college for college students in sixth by way of twelfth grade; the Hun Faculty of Princeton, a center and highschool; and the Lawrenceville Faculty, a coed boarding highschool.

The Commute

The closest prepare stations are in Princeton Junction or Trenton, a couple of 20-minute drive away. New Jersey Transit trains to Penn Station in Manhattan from Princeton Junction take 55 to 85 minutes and price $16 one-way or $451 for a month-to-month move. From Trenton, the journey takes from 70 to 95 minutes and prices $16.75 one-way or $480 a month.

A extra time-consuming and costly choice is the Trans-Bridge bus service from Lambertville, which takes nearly two hours to get to Manhattan and prices $48.05 one-way.

The Historical past

New Jersey’s solely remaining historic lined bridge is Inexperienced Sergeant’s Lined Bridge, crossing the Wickecheoke Creek. Inbuilt 1872, the single-lane picket bridge accommodated horse-drawn carriages and later automobiles. However in 1960, after it was rammed by too many automobiles, native officers deliberate to interchange it with a contemporary bridge. Neighborhood outcry was fierce, so the 84-foot bridge was as an alternative rebuilt utilizing the unique supplies, with an uncovered eastbound lane added to ease site visitors stream.

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