Grovers Mill: Old Snedeker Place
Old Snedeker Place in 2018.
Historical Overview
This 2-story L-shaped clapboard house at 148 Cranbury Road is a contributing structure to the historic West Windsor community of Grovers Mill and also a member of West Windsor's "100 Club". Like its neighbors, it was originally part of the Grovers Mill "Joint Tract" that also included the adjacent Mill, Barn, and Millwright's House around which the community grew. Various records suggest that the house - which some call the "Old Snedeker Place" - likely dates to between 1860 and 1879.[1],[2] Given its age and inclusion in the Joint Tract, this structure, like its neighbors, may have been a tenant house for mill-workers. For the remaining history of the Joint Tract (and thus this house) before 1928, click here.
The house is stylistically typical of plain Victorian folk houses of the late 19th century. Its front porch is said to have originally been open and of the "spindlework" style common on Victorian "Stick" and Gothic-style houses of the 1860s-80s. It was reputedly enclosed with the present (2022) colonial revival fan-light windows in the 1930s. The exposed rafter ends and prominent corner boards are virtually the only other expression of this house's Victorian style. Meanwhile, the little building that serves as the garage is said to be older than the house itself and probably dates to the early 19th century. Tradition says that it was originally located closer to the mill pond and served as an ice house at the mill.[3]
Following the death of Walter S. Grover in 1928[4] his estate was subdivided into individual parcels for each building - including this house. The next owner was local farmer Charles Lawrence Dey, and his wife, Hattie May Dey. However, the Deys soon sold the property in 1929 to Russell W. Snedeker Sr. and his wife, Edith. Russell operated the Snedeker Mower Service for 20 years in Grovers Mill and, for 46 years, was a chauffeur for three Presidents of the University of Princeton.[5] The Snedekers presumably raised their children either here - including their son, Russell W. Snedeker, Jr. In 1961, Russell, an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II, purchased the property from his parents. He also worked with Princeton University and the Radio Corporation of America.[6] In 1977, Russell and his wife, Bendetta, sold the property to the house's next owners: Peter and Susan Cook. The Cooks, in turn, lived in the house until 1986, when it was bought by Eliot Werner and Cynthia Koch.
Cynthia was Director of the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton from 1979-93. After that, she was Executive Director of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (1993-97); then Associate Director of the Penn National Commission on Society, Culture, and Community; and after that, Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library (the nation's first presidential library) and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, from 1999-2011. [7] As a prolific author of historical fiction, she was a natural partner for Eliot, who published academic social science books.[8]
Cynthia and Eliot sold the Old Snedeker Place in 1999 to Thomas and Jennifer Seery. The building has since passed to new owners, but, like its neighbors, remains a landmark of the historic community of Grovers Mill.
The house is stylistically typical of plain Victorian folk houses of the late 19th century. Its front porch is said to have originally been open and of the "spindlework" style common on Victorian "Stick" and Gothic-style houses of the 1860s-80s. It was reputedly enclosed with the present (2022) colonial revival fan-light windows in the 1930s. The exposed rafter ends and prominent corner boards are virtually the only other expression of this house's Victorian style. Meanwhile, the little building that serves as the garage is said to be older than the house itself and probably dates to the early 19th century. Tradition says that it was originally located closer to the mill pond and served as an ice house at the mill.[3]
Following the death of Walter S. Grover in 1928[4] his estate was subdivided into individual parcels for each building - including this house. The next owner was local farmer Charles Lawrence Dey, and his wife, Hattie May Dey. However, the Deys soon sold the property in 1929 to Russell W. Snedeker Sr. and his wife, Edith. Russell operated the Snedeker Mower Service for 20 years in Grovers Mill and, for 46 years, was a chauffeur for three Presidents of the University of Princeton.[5] The Snedekers presumably raised their children either here - including their son, Russell W. Snedeker, Jr. In 1961, Russell, an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II, purchased the property from his parents. He also worked with Princeton University and the Radio Corporation of America.[6] In 1977, Russell and his wife, Bendetta, sold the property to the house's next owners: Peter and Susan Cook. The Cooks, in turn, lived in the house until 1986, when it was bought by Eliot Werner and Cynthia Koch.
Cynthia was Director of the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton from 1979-93. After that, she was Executive Director of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (1993-97); then Associate Director of the Penn National Commission on Society, Culture, and Community; and after that, Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library (the nation's first presidential library) and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, from 1999-2011. [7] As a prolific author of historical fiction, she was a natural partner for Eliot, who published academic social science books.[8]
Cynthia and Eliot sold the Old Snedeker Place in 1999 to Thomas and Jennifer Seery. The building has since passed to new owners, but, like its neighbors, remains a landmark of the historic community of Grovers Mill.
Bibliography
- Lake, D J, and S N Beers. Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia and Trenton from Actual Surveys By D.J. Lake and S. N. Beers. Assisted by F. Beers, L. B. Lake and D. G. Beers. Philadelphia, PA: C.K. Stone and A. Pomeroy, 1860. https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/34112?show=full.
- “West Windsor Township Natural Resource Inventory.” West Windsor Township, NJ: Historical Society of West Windsor's archives at the West Windsor History Museum, 1978. Updated in 1991
- 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.
- Bruno, Elise, Robert W Craig, Mrs. Charles Lawrence Dey, Luci DiPolvere, Edward DiPolvere, Cynthia Koch, Vivian MacPherson, Ronald Rogers, Ralph Vierno, and David O Wright. “A Brief History of Grover’s Mill: Part II,” 1995. Spring 1995 “Broadside” newsletter, published by the Historical Society of West Windsor
- “Obituary - Russell Snedeker Sr.” The Times. August 18, 1989.
- Jersey, Central. “Russell W. Snedeker.” Central Jersey Archives, December 28, 2001. https://archive.centraljersey.com/2001/12/28/russell-w-snedeker/.
- “Cynthia M. Koch - Historian and Former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.” Fórum Açoriano Franklin D. Roosevelt, n.d. Accessed at https://forumroosevelt.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/cv-cynthia-koch.pdf
- Farrell, Barbara Gallo. “One-Man Publishing Company Departs from Field with Book on FDR's Love Interest.” Poughkeepsie Journal, December 19, 2018. https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/life/2018/12/19/fdrs-love-interest-topic-new-book-released-clinton-publisher/2242779002/.
