Old Post Farm

Old Post Farmhouse, Jan. 2021. From Paul Ligeti.

Historical Overview

A long gravel driveway branches off 11 South Post Road, leading to a large, old house with detached 7-bay garage, chicken coops, corn crib-turned-guest cottage, and more. These structures all form a sort of courtyard around a large grass lawn shaded by large trees. This secluded property - surrounded on three sides by the much-younger "Windsor Park Estates" suburban development - is called "Old Post Farm" by its current owners at the time of this writing (2024). It is also a member of West Windsor's "100 Club."

According to tax records, at least part of the 2.5-story, 5-bay center hall plan house with 4-bay wing was constructed around the year 1800.[1] However, a 1988 survey posited that its original portion may in fact date to the 1700s. The house was clearly expanded over time, and eventually became "one of the more substantial, and possibly more high style houses, in West Windsor."[2]

It's unconfirmed who built the house or originally established a farm here. However, the property's earliest known resident owner was Rutes Covenhoven, a member of one of West Windsor's oldest families.[3] The Covenhovens had settled in West Windsor in the 1730s.[4] Tax rolls from 1802 show Rutes owning at least one slave, name unknown.[5] While it's unclear when Rutes acquired (or possible established) the farm, in 1806, he and Lorne Covenhoven sold this "plantation" - then 150 acres - to Redford Job for about $5,000.[6] Redford, who himself owned a slave named Charles,[7] was a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex County[8] and West Windsor's Overseer of the Poor and Township Committeeman in the early 1800s.[9] In 1810, he sold the farm to John Covenhoven.[10] Twenty-five years later, it passed to Enoch Rue, beginning a long line of Rue ownership.[11]

Approx. extent of the 1806 Covenhoven-Job deed.

The 1850 federal census  showed Enoch, 43 years old, as a farmer with $8,000 worth of real estate. He then lived with Elizabeth Rue (44 years old), Jonathan Rue (17), Rebecca (5), Jonathan Davison (9), Liscomb Applegate (12), Margaret Otis (a 17-year-old Irish immigrant), and Joseph Hanley (a 27-year-old Irish immigrant).[12] In 1856, Enoch formally deeded Jonathan Rue the farmstead.[13] Thirty-five years later, both Enoch and Elizabeth passed away and were buried side-by-side in the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard.[14]

Enoch’s oldest son, Jonathan Davison Rue, is perhaps the most interesting figure in our story. He was born in 1833,[15] within a few years of South Post and North Post Roads being surveyed.[16] As an adult, he dealt in commercial fertilizers and farm machinery.[17] However, more notable was his political career. Through the 1850s-1870s, he served as Superintendent of the long-gone West Windsor School District, Township Freeholder, Judge of Elections, Township Committeeman, and Inspector of Elections.[18] Also in the late 1870s, he was an Assembly from the then-Third District of Mercer County.[19] By 1885, Jonathan is listed as living in the Fifth Ward in Trenton in that year’s state census.[20] The following year, he was elected to the New Jersey State Senate as a Republican, beating several other contenders.[21] After “an exciting and hard-fought campaign,” he was reelected in 1889.[22]

West Windsor, 1849. Note "E. Rue."

In 1891, Jonathan served on the Committees on Finance, Public Grounds, and Buildings and Federal Relations.[23] He was also a trustee and superintendent of the State Home for Girls in Trenton, where he was swept up in a conflict-of-interest scandal when the Trenton Bone Fertilizer Company – of which he was president – was awarded a contract for fertilizer by the State Home for Girls’ farm.[24]

Ex-Senator Jonathan Davison Rue passed away in 1912 from “Bright’s disease" (AKA nephritis, or kidney inflammation).[25] Three years earlier, his wife, Amanda Shangle, had died after being stricken with severe paralysis for seven weeks.[26] Both were buried in the Dutch Neck Cemetery next to Enoch and Elizabeth.[27] They were survived by their son, Gilbert, who[28] himself had been deeded the farm in 1893,[29] and at some point, it had passed to Walter Stelle.[30]

Walter was a dairy farmer, lifelong Mercer County resident, and a director of the Mercer County Co-op for 32 years. He was also a member of the Sire Selection Committee of New Jersey, the Artificial Breeders Co-Op, and the Agricultural Extension Service. Like the Rues before him, he was also a member of the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church.[31]

Walter Stelle, date unknown.

Not much is known about post-Stelle ownership. A 1964 West Windsor Township tax map shows Dutch Neck Lands, Inc. in possession of the property.[32] In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the surrounding land was turned into the Windsor Park Estates suburban development.[33] Yet the farmhouse, garage, corn crib, and other smaller structures remained as an independent property, which has passed through various owners since the early 2000s. The current owners at the time of this writing (2024), Denis and Tracey Healy, have restored the house and corn crib, and now run it as Old Post Farm (a name they developed),[34] ensuring that this vestige of West Windsor history remains preserved.

Corn crib-turned-guest cottage, ca. 2020. From Denis and Tracey Healy.

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Bibliography

1. "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. Sent to the Historical Society by Lorraine Jones and Dawn Moretti.​
2. “Mercer County Historic Sites Survey: West Windsor Township, Mercer County, NJ.” Princeton, 1988. Conducted by Kinsey & Hand Associates.
3. Covenhoven, Rutes, Covenhoven, Lorne, Job, Redford. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1806. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 761.
4. Schenck, Garret, John Covenhoven, Thomas Penn, Richard Penn, and John Penn. 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)
5. ​“West Windsor Township Tax Ratables, June 1802.” West Windsor Township, 1802. Lists individuals that lived in West Windsor Township in 1802 - including their occupations. Digital copy donated to the Historical Society of West Windsor from the the New Jersey State Archives; listed in their archives as being in Book 1065, Box 49, Item 11, Reel 14. Also located in the Historical Society of West Windsor's West Windsor History Museum digital archives.
6. Covenhoven, Rutes, Covenhoven, Lorne, Job, Redford. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1806. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 761.
7. Removal certificate for Charles (1818-08-04) recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 273. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
8. Manumission of Flora (certificate dated 1818-01-02), recorded in Manumissions and Removals Book, p. 278-279. Middlesex County (N.J.) Records, 1688-1929, Vol. XI (MC 784.1). Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.
9. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
10. Covenhoven, Jonathan, Job, Redford. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1810. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 8 Page 286.
11. Covenhoven, Jonathan, Rue, Enoch. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1835. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 28 Page 185.
12. United States Census, 1850 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1850.
13. Rue, Enoch, Rue, Jonathan. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1856. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 36 Page 220.
14. 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.
15. Ibid.
16. "Middlesex County Public Road Surveys, 1720-1775 (Microfilm).” Trenton, n.d. Accessed February 28, 2022. From the New Jersey State Archive’s Microfilm room. Reel: Middlesex County Deeds and Land Conveyances, 1714-1722; Public Road Surveys, 1720-1775.
17. Lee, Francis Bazley. Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey. Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.
18. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
19. Fitzgerald, Thomas F. Legislative Manual of the State of New Jersey. Internat Archive. Newark, New Jersey: Thomas F. Fitzgerald, 1892. https://archive.org/details/manualoflegislat1892mull/page/207/mode/1up?q=%22john+d.+rue%22. 
20. New Jersey State Census, 1885. - Trenton.” Trenton, 1885.
21. Fitzgerald, Thomas F. Legislative Manual of the State of New Jersey. Internat Archive. Newark, New Jersey: Thomas F. Fitzgerald, 1892. https://archive.org/details/manualoflegislat1892mull/page/207/mode/1up?q=%22john+d.+rue%22. 
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. "Grave Chares Made Against Girls' Home Matron and Trustee." Trenton Evening Times. July 30, 1910.
25. "Former Senator John D. Rue Dies." 
26. United States Census, 1870 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1870.
27. 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.
28. Rue, Gilbert D., Rue, Jonathan D. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1893. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 188 Page 442.
29. Rue, Gilbert, Rue, Jonathan D. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1893. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 761.
30. Fryer, H L. “Tax Maps of West Windsor Township.” Map. Trenton, New Jersey: H. L. Fryer, C.S., 1938. Revised by C. S. Sincerbeaux, 1938.
31. "Obituaries - Walter L. Stelle." The Trentonian. March 28, 1983.
32. Fryer, H L. “Tax Maps of West Windsor Township.” Map. Trenton, New Jersey: H. L. Fryer, C.S., 1964. Revised by C. Robert Jones, 1964.
33. "West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1990.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1990.
34. Personal conversation between this article's author (Paul Ligeti) and Denis & Tracey Healy.