Kovenhoven-Jewell Homestead

Kovenhoven-Jewell homestead, 1949. Courtesy of Princeton University's Mudd Library.

Historical Overview

A large, 2.5-story, multi-gabled house once stood around 1,000 feet north of the intersection of Washington Road and Route 1.  Situated in a small grove surrounded by vast stretches of farmland, this long-gone site - hereafter called the "Kovenhoven-Jewell Homestead" - was, in its day, a longtime landmark of the historic West Windsor community of Penns Neck. 

Near to the house were a tall stucco/wood smokehouse, stone barn, and storage shed.[1] The house's date of construction is known. While one survey from 2003 presumed the house was new when it was insured in 1878,[2] another survey from 1988 posited that a portion of the building may have dated to the 1700s.[3] It was even supposed in the 1939 "Old Princeton's Neighbors" publication by the Federal Writer's Project that this was one of the original Penns Neck homesteads.[4] Indeed, several structures already appear in this location on an 1840 map of the area.[5]

What is known is that the property was originally owned by the Kovenhoven family starting in the mid-1700s, after Garret Schenck and John Kovenhoven purchased over 6,500 acres here in 1737 from the sons of William Penn.[6],[7] They split up their immense tract into plots for their family. This specific farm, roughly 250 acres straddling both sides of Route 1 from the Stony Brook to the Bear Brook and bound on the southwest by a division line that eventually became Washington Road - was given to William Kovenhoven (presumably , probably shortly after this purchase.[8] ​

Thomas Jewell Sr. (1810-1891)

The property eventually passed to through the Kovenhoven family to William's grandson, also named William.[9] This younger William may have been one of West Windsor's Overseers of the Highways and Commissioners for Laying Roads in the early-mid 1800s.[10] The 1830 census seems to show him living with a household of twelve, including two slaves.[11]

After William's death in 1838,[12] the farm briefly stayed in Kovenhoven hands before passing to Job and Maria Olden in 1841,[13] then to Thomas Jewell Sr. in 1845.[14] Thomas, was a West Windsor Overseer of the Highways, Commissioner for (taxation) appeal, and Commissioner for Laying Roads from the 1840s-70s.[15] He and his wife, Hannah, had several children and also lived here with their servants.[116]

Thomas died in 1891,[17] after which the property at some point passed to his daughter, Sarah.[18] She, in turn, died in 1916.[19] Her estate kept it until 1948, when the house and surrounding farmland (by that point about 100 acres northwest of Route 1) were sold to Princeton University.[20] They presumably rented it to various tenants, including the Keels family from around 1956-69.[21] The house itself was demolished in the 2000s or 2010s.[22],[23] Meanwhile, the surrounding land remained primarily farmland as well as a track-and-field course until the groundbreaking of Princeton University's "West Windsor Meadows" in December 2021.[24] All that remains of the old property are archaeological remains buried underground.

Sarah Moore Jewell (1841-1916)

Return to Penns Neck Homepage

---

Bibliography

1. “Mercer County Historic Sites Survey: West Windsor Township, Mercer County, NJ.” Princeton, 1988. Conducted by Kinsey & Hand Associates.
2. “Penns Neck Area EIS - West Windsor and Princeton Townships, Mercer County and Plainsboro Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey - Historic Architectural Survey - Volume 1 of 2,” May 2003. Prepared for the New Jersey Department of Transportation by John Milner Associates (Architects/Archaeologists/Planners)
3. “Mercer County Historic Sites Survey: West Windsor Township, Mercer County, NJ.” Princeton, 1988. Conducted by Kinsey & Hand Associates.
4. “Penns Neck Area EIS - West Windsor and Princeton Townships, Mercer County and Plainsboro Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey - Historic Architectural Survey - Volume 1 of 2,” May 2003. Prepared for the New Jersey Department of Transportation by John Milner Associates (Architects/Archaeologists/Planners)
5. Gerdes, F H, and F R Superintendent. Map. 1840. U. S. Coastal and Geodetic Survey Of . Scale: 1-20,000. Reg. No.-127
6. Covenhoven, John, Penn, John, Penn, Richard, Penns, Thomas,  Schenck, Garret. Indenture. New Jersey State Archives, 1737. Deed of 6,500 acres from heirs (sons) of William Penn to Garret Schenck and John Covenhoven. Located in New Jersey State Archives F-2 (EJ): Folio 380 (SSTSE023)
7. Schenck, John, Covenhoven, John. Indenture. New Jersey State Archives, 1765. Located in New Jersey State Archives East Jersey Deed Collection Volume E-3 Page 344
8. Ibid.
9. Kovenhoven, Margaret, Kovenhoven, Ralph, Kovenhoven, Richard, Kovenhoven, Voorhees. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1839. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book A Page 711.
10. ​​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
11. United States Census, 1830 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1830.
12. ​​Princeton Baptist Church. (n.d.). Princeton Baptist Church graveyard. West Windsor. Princeton Baptist Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of West Windsor's oldest families.
13. ​​Kovenhoven, Voorhees, Olden, Job G., Olden, Maria. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1841. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book C Page 302.
14. Jewell, Thomas, Olden, Job G., Olden, Maria. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1845. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book G Page 527.
15. ​​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
16. United States Census, 1880 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1880.
17. Princeton Cemetery. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton Cemetery graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of Mercer County's oldest families.
18. Estate of Sarah Jewell, Princeton University. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1948. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 1048 Page 487.
19. Princeton Cemetery. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton Cemetery graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of Mercer County's oldest families.
20. Estate of Sarah Jewell, Princeton University. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1948. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 1048 Page 487.
21. Keels, Tom. “Facebook Comment - Tom Keels,” August 14, 2023. Full url: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=873124977759885&set=a.508987980840255¬if_id=1692010966442636¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif Full comment: "My childhood playground. My dad worked for Princeton University and leased the Cox-Jewell farm. We lived in the old farmhouse from about 1956 to 1969. I spent a lot of time here with my friends playing Cops and Robbers and telling ghost stories."
22. “Penns Neck Area EIS - West Windsor and Princeton Townships, Mercer County and Plainsboro Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey - Historic Architectural Survey - Volume 1 of 2,” May 2003. Prepared for the New Jersey Department of Transportation by John Milner Associates (Architects/Archaeologists/Planners)
23. “Mercer County Historic Sites Survey: West Windsor Township, Mercer County, NJ.” Princeton, 1988. Conducted by Kinsey & Hand Associates.
24. Personal observation of this article's author (Paul Ligeti), who visited the site in the 2010s and found no remains of the house.
25. Sanservino, Bill. “Princeton University Breaks Ground on Massive Lake Campus Project in West Windsor.” West Windsor and Plainsboro Community News, January 1, 2022