Farming

Spraying potatoes off Rabbit Hill Road, 1941, from Ruth Reed Kehoe.

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West Windsor was a farming community for centuries. Fields of crops stretched over the horizon in direction and livestock roamed the landscape. Agriculture dominated most aspects of life in town until rapid suburban growth of the mid-late 20th century. Scroll for more.

First written by Paul Ligeti, 2026.

Historical Overview

Indigenous Practices

Farming in West Windsor began with the area's original Indigenous inhabitants: the Lenape. The ancestors of our Indigenous predecessors are estimated to arrived on the east coast around 10,700 B.C.E., however prevailing evidence at the time of this writing (2026) indicates that they were a semi-nomadic culture at first, relying on hunting and foraging for their dietary needs.[1]

However, around the "Late Woodland" period (1000 C.E-1600 C.E.), the Lenape transitioned into a more sedentary lifestyle, and increasingly relied on agriculture.[2] Women were the primary farmers, tending to the land while the men hunted and fished. Their methods were sophisticated and varied. The Lenape cleared land by "girdling" trees (using tools to strip a ring of bark around the trunk, causing the tree to die and fall) and cleared land by burning and maintained the land by weeding. After this process, they used various tools to till the soil and plant crops on elevated mounts. Particularly notable was how they planted the "Three Sisters" - corn, beans, and squash. Each of these plants worked in harmony: corn stalks provide support for bean vines, squash's prickly leaves protected beans and corn from animals and shaded the ground, . And beans return nitrogen to the soil, nourishing the squash and corn. The Lenape saw (and still see) their food to be a gift from the great spirits, to be eaten and celebrated together.[3],[4]

The "Three Sisters." Click to learn more.

Colonial Growth

Europeans began moving to the West Windsor area around the 1690s, and a large wave of colonial settlement came in the 1730s. By this time, the Lenape had been driven out of the West Windsor area (and most of the Lenape more broadly from New Jersey by the early 1800s) by colonial pressures.

European settlers, attracted by West Windsor's fertile soil and coursing waterways, brought new crops, tools, and growing/harvesting methods. They deforested the native forests and meadows, transforming the region into  farm fields stretching as far as the eye could see, only broken up by roads and the sporadic hamlet. This agricultural landscape dominated West Windsor for the next few centuries, until it was largely replaced by suburbia in the 1980s/1990s.

Livestock like cows, hogs, ox, chickens, and more roamed area farms. Many crops were also refined into products such as flour, syrup, cider, and whiskey. Mills were often used to produce these commodities, and one still remains in town at the time of this writing: Grovers Mill (albeit long since repurposed). 

What the local landscape might have looked like in the mid-1700s.

In 1748, Finnish naturalist Peter Kalm remarked after traveling between Trenton and Princeton:

Near almost every farmhouse has a spacious orchard full of peaches and apple trees in such quantities to cover nearly the whole surface. Part of the fruit they left to rot, since they could not take it all in to consume it. Wherever we passed by we  were always welcome to go into the orchards and gather our pockets full of the choicest fruit without the possessor so much as looking after it. Cherry trees were planted near the farm on the roads.[5]

Interpretive rendering of Peter Kalm's description.

The area's agricultural abundance remained unchanged throughout the 1700s and 1800s. However, as more families moved in over the decades, properties shrank significantly. While a pre-Revolution farm could have often been several hundred acres, by the early 1800s,[6] the average farm was between 100 and 130 acres.[7]

Censuses reflect West Windsor's agrarian identity. The vast majority of those listed as employed throughout the 1800s are referred to as "farmers" or "laborers."[8],[9],[10] Regrettably, farming's ubiquity in the region incentivized slavery.

Throughout the 1700s, West Windsor's farms primarily produced grain products such as wheat, rye, and oats, as well as fruit products. The chartering of the Trenton-New Brunswick Turnpike (Route 1) in 1804,[11] the Delaware and Raritan Canal in 1834,[12] and the Camden and Amboy Railroad in 1839[13] opened up new markets across New Jersey (and beyond) to local farmers. Moreover, increasingly advanced machines and cultivation techniques allowed fewer people to accomplish the same tasks in shorter timeframes, growing abundance further.

Train and canal.

Naturally, township meeting minutes from the 1700s and 17800s are filled with agricultural references. Stray dogs killing sheep, runaway bulls, and more anecdotes tell the story of an agrarian township concerned primarily with the challenges of everyday rural life.[14]

After the turn of the 20th century, specialization transformed the agricultural landscape. Dairy and poultry became especially widespread, and potato farming and sheep and cattle raising also grew, especially after World War I. Whereas a typical farmer in the early 1800s would have owned three to four horses and cows, it wasn't uncommon to see herds of livestock roaming certain properties during the 1900s.[15]

Horses with potato digger, early 1900s, from Southard Everett.

In 1994, Malcolm Roszel, West Windsor's mayor from 1961-1970, recollected memories of growing up in a farming community:

When I was growing up in Dutch Neck, we had a dairy [farm] of about 20 cows, and we raised corn, wheat, and hay ... At one time we were farming 400 acres. Potatoes were always a big cash crop ... We took [bags of potatoes] to the Lawrence (railroad) station to be shipped out ... For a number of years we raised turkeys by the hundreds. We sold them to local restaurants and butcher shops ... What did we do for fun? We worked! We milked cows very early, before school and after school. In the summertime we worked from daylight to dark. We had hay, wheat, rye, corn, and potato crops. When we did have time off, we went swimming [in Grovers Mill Pond].[16]

Russell Tindall loading hay, mid-1900s.

In the late nineteenth century, New Jersey began to see the growth of "migrant workers" - laborers who typically came up from southern states to New Jersey in the summer, and worked for several months before returning back home. Contracted by local farmers, some came as individuals but others drove up as families. They became part of the community; an expected sight in the summer and early fall, and their children joined the school system, swelling class sizes in September and October.[17],[18] Rex Goreleigh - an influential Black artist who operated a teaching studio along the Delaware and Raritan Canal in West Windsor - was well known for his depiction of migrant workers in New Jersey.[19],[20],[21]

In the late 1950s, West Windsor started to see a few suburban developments pop up around town. Suburbia began to replace agraria as hundreds of acres of centuries-old farmland was transformed into residential developments with manicured grass lawns. Still, much farming remained throughout the third quater of the 20th century. In 1964, about two-thirds of the township's land was devoted to agriculture.[22] In 1978, that number was just over 50%, with corn, wheat, and soybeans being the primary crops during that decade. However, fewer than twelve resident farmers remained in the township by that point.[23]

Migrant family driving from North Carolina to Cranbury NJ. From the Library of Congress (click for source).

In the 1950s, American Cyanamid - a multinational agricultural and industrial chemical engineering conglomerate - purchased hundreds of acres in the "Clarksville" area of town, transforming family farms into a vast agricultural research complex specializing in animal feed, experimental crops and livestock, and more.[24] Starting in the early 2000s, this facility sat vacant off the intersection of Clarksville and Quakerbridge Roads. It was demolished in 2022, in anticipation of further development.

Increasingly rapid residential and commercial development during the last quarter of the 20th century was ultimately the death knell for West Windsor's agricultural identity. Thousands of acres of farmland were bulldozed to make way for houses, and, in turn, a population boom that saw West Windsor's population more than triple in size between 1980 and 2020. By 2010, only about 3,700 acres were devoted to farming, in comparison to nearly 9,000 just two dozen year prior.[25] It has shrunk even further ever since.

"Clarksville" area of town, 1950s, colorized. Click for more.

Partially in response to this growth, several initiatives took hold during the last decades of the 20th century. In 1993, the township adopted an Open Space Tax, incorporating an agricultural preservation philosophy into its ambitions of an "open" township.[26] Its first purchase was the Grover farm off Village Road East.[27] The Farmland Preservation Element of the township's Master Plan, as well as an Agricultural Advisory Committee, now guide West Windsor's farming policies. A "Right to Farm" ordinance further recognizes agriculture as a ubiquitous and natural right throughout the township.[28]

​Various community groups also support West Windsor's farming identity. In 1996, the Friends of West Windsor Open Space formed to ensure the preservation of multiple types of land - including agricultural tracts.[29] In 2004, the West Windsor Community Farmers' Market organized to promote local farmers and vendors. It remains a popular destination at the time of this writing (2026).[30] And, of course, the Historical Society of West Windsor has worked for decades to promote local history - especially at the Schenck Farmstead, where thousands of artifacts and many exhibits highlight agriculture in "old West Windsor."

Tractor at Schenck Farmstead, 2024. From Paul Ligeti.

Move the vertical line below to compare West Windsor in 1980 (mostly farmland) with 2002 (mostly suburbs).

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Bibliography

1. “2. Lenni Lenape: The First Agricultural Innovators.” Garden State History Garden at Updike Farmstead - Historical Society of Princeton. Historical Society of Princeton. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://princetonhistory.org/garden-tour/02.html.
2. “Horizon,” 1998. Produced by the Assunpink Environmental Institute - Mercer County Soil Conservation District - New Jersey Department of Agriculture. Spring 1998.
3. Soderlund, Jean R. Lenape Country Delaware Valley Society before William Penn. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc, 2016.
4. Lenape Virtual Lesson (Full). Lenape Virtual Lesson (Full). Staten Island Greenbelt Con servancy, 2020. youtube.com/watch?v=swncArQ3bjE.
5. Kalm, Peter, and Johann Reinhold Forster. Travels into North America; Containing Its Natural History, and a Circumstantial Account of Its Plantations and Agricultural in General, with the Civic, Ecclesiastical and Commercial State of the Country. 1. Vol. 1. London: T. Lowndes, 1772. Reproduction and publication of Peter Kalm’s 1748 1751 journey through the continent.
6. MacAdam, Henry Innes, and Robert W Craig. “Appendix A - Agriculture in West Wind sor.” Essay. In West Windsor, Then and Now: Commemorating the Bicentennial of West Windsor Township, 1797-1997, 85–86. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Corridor Rotary Club, 1997. From Craig’s “History of the Development of West Windsor Township,” based in part on his unpublished West Windsor Township and the Early Years of Central New Jersey (1680-1797). 
7. West Windsor History Museum - Tax Ratables - 1802, 1808, 1809, 1810, 1817, 1819, 1821.” West Windsor Township, n.d. Accessed March 26, 2022.
8. Ibid.
9. West Windsor History Museum - National Census - 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880.” West Windsor Township, n.d. Accessed March 26, 2022.
10. West Windsor History Museum - New Jersey State Census - 1885, 1895.” West Wind sor Township, n.d. Accessed March 26, 2022.
11. “New Jersey Historic Roadway Study,” January 2011. Produced by KSK Architects Plan ners Historians, Inc. with Armand Corporation, Inc. & Michael Baker, Jr. Inc. HOP Log #03-1895-6
12. "The Delaware and Raritan Canal, which will afford a sloop navigation between the cities of Philadelphia and New York, is to be opened today with appropriate ceremonies." Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser. June 25, 1834.
13. "New York paper says that the Rail Road to Philadelphia, via Jersey City, New Brunswick, and Trenton, is completed." Staunton Spectator and General Advertiser (Staunton, V.A.). January 3, 1839.
14. “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center. Minutes collectively tell of the roles of various township officers as well as town develop ment. Several thousand pages.
15. MacAdam, Henry Innes, and Robert W Craig. “Appendix A - Agriculture in West Wind sor.” Essay. In West Windsor, Then and Now: Commemorating the Bicentennial of West Windsor Township, 1797-1997, 85–86. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Corridor Rotary Club, 1997. From Craig’s “History of the Development of West Windsor Township,” based in part on his unpublished West Windsor Township and the Early Years of Central New Jersey (1680-1797). 
16. Roszel, Malcolm, and Peg Smith Roszel. “Broadside - Fall 2001,” 2001. Produced by the Historical Society of West Windsor. Interview with Malcolm and Peg Smith Roszel conducted in 1994 but not placed into Broadside newsletter until 2001.
17. White, Carey C. “Broadside,” 1987. Historical Society of West Windsor newsletter, Fall & Winter, 1987. History of the Dutch Neck School.
18. Wright, Giles R. Afro-Americans in New Jersey. Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Commission, Department of State, 1988. 
19. “Deed.” Trenton: Mercer County Clerk’s Office, 1955. Mercer County Clerk’s Office Deed Book 1331 P. 273
    
20. “Studio-On-Canal Courses Will Resume Next Month.” Princeton Herald, August 29, 1956.
    
21. “Rex Goreleigh: Migrant Worker’s Witness.” Historical Society of Princeton. Histor ical Society of Princeton, 2018. https://princetonhistory.org/exhibitions/current ly-on-view/rex-goreleighs-field-workers/.
    
22. Reed, Marvin R. West Windsor Township People -- Purpose -- Progress New Jersey Tercentenary, 1664-1964: West Windsor : Tercentenary Committee, 1964.
    
23. “West Windsor Farmland Preservation Plan Element.” West Windsor Township, Au gust 18, 2010.
    
24. “Cyanamid Co. Gets Title to West Windsor Tract.” Trenton Evening Times, May 15, 1957.
    
25. “West Windsor Farmland Preservation Plan Element.” West Windsor Township, Au gust 18, 2010.
    
26. “West Windsor Township Committee Minutes.” West Windsor Township, May 24, 1993. Minutes show the Township Committee adding a .01 cent open space tax to the 1993 budget, “honoring the result of the election.”
    
27. “Mercer County Clerk’s Office Deed Book 2901 Page 291.” Trenton, NJ: Mercer County Clerk’s Office Search Room, 1995. Deed of sale of Leroy C. Grover Jr.’s and Florence E. Grover’s farm to West Windsor Township. Located in the Mercer County Clerk’s Office Deed Book 2901 Page 291.
    
28. “West Windsor Master Plan Appendix - Township Ordinance - Section 200-146 - ‘Right to Farm.’” West Windsor Township, n.d. Outlines the right to farm as being a “natural right” and further definitions for what the “right to farm” means.
    
29. “Friends of West Windsor Open Space Celebrates 25 Years.” West Windsor and Plains boro News. March 2, 2021. https://www.communitynews.org/news/commen tary/friends-of-west-windsor-open-space-celebrates-25-years/article_66679405 15a6-5819-9c5a-17a68b9274f0.html.
    
30. “COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKETS OPEN AROUND NJ, BRINGING HEALTHY, LOCALLY GROWN PRODUCE DIRECTLY TO RESIDENTS.” Department of Agriculture News Archives. New Jersey Department of Agriculture, June 19, 2004. https://www.nj.gov/ agriculture/news/press/2004/press040619.html. Mentions that New Jersey Agri culture Secretary Charles M. Kuperus had just visited the “West Windsor Commu nity Farmers’ Market at the Princeton Junction Train Station, one of the state’s six new markets to open this year.” The 2004 opening year is also corroborated by the West Windsor Community Farmers’ Market’s own website.