Couwenhoven-Post-Everett Farm (18 North Post Road)
18 North Post Road, late 1800s or early 1900s. Photo taken from Village Road West, facing northeast.
Historical Overview
Pictured above is one of West Windsor’s oldest houses - and a member of West Windsor's "100 Club" -, which memorializes families deeply rooted in our town’s history. You are looking at the Couwenhoven/Post/Everett residence.
Tax records claim construction around 1811,[1] but a 1988 architectural survey noted what appeared to be a rare, Dutch colonial wing.[2] Indeed, this was likely part of the homestead of Lukes Couwenhoven (1716-1777)[3] - one of West Windsor’s (WW) earliest Dutch settlers – and was inherited by his son, Garret, upon his death.[4] One of Lukes’ children, Elizabeth, was married to Jacob G. Bergen (1745-1805)[5] - a Revolutionary War soldier[6] and West Windsor Township founder[7] who once hosted the Continental Congress in one of his Trenton taverns.[8] Another one of Lukes’ children was David,[9] who lies under the oldest gravestone (1771) in the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church’s cemetery.[10]
Pictured above is one of West Windsor’s oldest houses - and a member of West Windsor's "100 Club" -, which memorializes families deeply rooted in our town’s history. You are looking at the Couwenhoven/Post/Everett residence.
Tax records claim construction around 1811,[1] but a 1988 architectural survey noted what appeared to be a rare, Dutch colonial wing.[2] Indeed, this was likely part of the homestead of Lukes Couwenhoven (1716-1777)[3] - one of West Windsor’s (WW) earliest Dutch settlers – and was inherited by his son, Garret, upon his death.[4] One of Lukes’ children, Elizabeth, was married to Jacob G. Bergen (1745-1805)[5] - a Revolutionary War soldier[6] and West Windsor Township founder[7] who once hosted the Continental Congress in one of his Trenton taverns.[8] Another one of Lukes’ children was David,[9] who lies under the oldest gravestone (1771) in the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church’s cemetery.[10]
January 2023, from Paul Ligeti. The Dutch-colonial wing is the single-story portion on the right.
Garret’s daughter, Maria (1780-1826),[11] and her husband, William Post (1777-1860)[12] acquired the family farm in 1801.[13] William was a WW Committeeman (1814-24; 1826-41) and Commissioner of Taxation Appeal (1814-1820).[14] He was also one of the founding organizers/Elders of the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church in 1816 and personally recruited David Comfort as its first pastor.[15] Moreover, in the mid-1830s, two roads were constructed to use William Post’s farm as their common endpoint – we know these two avenues today as North and South Post Roads ("Post" being a reference to the family).[16] William and Maria, like Garret, Jacob, and Lukes, are all buried in the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church’s cemetery.[17]
Upon William’s death in 1860,[18] the farm passed to his grandchildren - David, Sarah, Mary, Enoch, and Hannah.[19] David and Enoch, too, served in local government: the former as Surveyor of the Highways from 1893-1900 and the latter as Tax Collector/Overseer of the Poor from 1897-1903 and Freeholder from 1906-1910.[20] The farm finally passed out of Post hands in 1920, when it was sold to the Everett family.[21]
A notable owner was Arthur Everett, a co-owner from 1920 to 1998,[2] who was also on WWT’s Zoning Board in the 1940s, Township Committee in the 1960s,[23] and School Board from 1949-61 (serving as President for 4 years).[24] In 2022, the house remains in Everett hands,[25] standing next to the roads which memorialize one of its longtime owners, and still surrounded by the same farm fields that its original owners planted centuries ago...
Upon William’s death in 1860,[18] the farm passed to his grandchildren - David, Sarah, Mary, Enoch, and Hannah.[19] David and Enoch, too, served in local government: the former as Surveyor of the Highways from 1893-1900 and the latter as Tax Collector/Overseer of the Poor from 1897-1903 and Freeholder from 1906-1910.[20] The farm finally passed out of Post hands in 1920, when it was sold to the Everett family.[21]
A notable owner was Arthur Everett, a co-owner from 1920 to 1998,[2] who was also on WWT’s Zoning Board in the 1940s, Township Committee in the 1960s,[23] and School Board from 1949-61 (serving as President for 4 years).[24] In 2022, the house remains in Everett hands,[25] standing next to the roads which memorialize one of its longtime owners, and still surrounded by the same farm fields that its original owners planted centuries ago...
Wooden wagon house in front of larger gambrel-roofed barn. Photo taken from North Post Road, facing north. Date unknown.
Bibliography
- “West Windsor Tax Assessor Address List, 2019.” West Windsor, 2019. List of all residences in West Windsor with dates of construction, according to tax assessor.
- "Mercer County Historic Sites Survey: West Windsor Township, Mercer County, NJ.” Princeton, 1988. Conducted by Kinsey & Hand Associates.
- Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. (n.d.). Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard. West Windsor. Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there.
- MacCrellish & Quigley Co. (1931). 1777, Aug. 26. Covenhoven, Lucke. In Archives of the State of New Jersey: Documents Relating to the Colonial and Revolutionary History of the State f New Jersey (Vol. V - 1771-1780, Ser. Calendar of Wills, pp. 111–111). essay.
- Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. (n.d.). Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard. West Windsor. Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there.
- Cobbett, F. B. (1922). New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution - Application for Membership. Lists Jacob G. Bergen as a Lieutenant in the Somerset County militia in 1777.
- “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
- U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian. (n.d.). French Arms Tavern, Trenton Nov. 1—Dec. 24, 1784. BUILDINGS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/buildings/section10
- Ancestry.com. (n.d.). David Couwenhoven (unknown-1771) - find a grave... Find a Grave. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43875493/david-couwenhoven
- Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. (n.d.). Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard. West Windsor. Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Baker, B., Baker, E., Post, W., & Post, M. (1801). New Jersey State Archives - Middlesex County Deeds - Deed Book 4 Page 284, etc. ms, West Windsor. Original deed located in New Jersey State Archives.
- “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
- Post, R. B. (1966). Sesquicentannial History 1816-1966. First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, NJ. Located in the Historical Society of West Windsor's archives at the Schenck Farmstead/West Windsor History Museum.
- “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
- Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. (n.d.). Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard. West Windsor. Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there.
- Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. (n.d.). Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard. West Windsor. Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there.
- Post, E., Post, M., Post, S., Woolsey, C., Woolsey, H. B. (1895). New Jersey State Archives - Middlesex County Deeds - Deed Book 204 Page 65, etc. ms, West Windsor. Original deed located in New Jersey State Archives.
- “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
- Beacht, C. R. E., Beacht, E., Everett, A. L., Everett, E. G., Everett, H. E. (1920). New Jersey State Archives - Middlesex County Deeds ms, West Windsor. Original deed located in New Jersey State Archives.
- Everett, A. L., Hunter, N. E., (1998). New Jersey State Archives - Middlesex County Deeds ms, West Windsor. Original deed located in New Jersey State Archives.
- “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
- The Times. (n.d.). Arthur Everett Obituary (2005) - Trenton, NJ - "the Times, Trenton,". Legacy.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/trenton/name/arthur-everett-obituary?id=14705576
- “West Windsor Tax Assessor Address List, 2019.” West Windsor, 2019. List of all residences in West Windsor with dates of construction, according to tax assessor.
