The Stone House
Historical Overview
Standing at 3628 Brunswick Pike is a stone building colloquially called the "Stone House." It is now offices but was built generations ago and still stands as a picturesque relice of the historic West Windsor community of Penns Neck.
This structure was reputedly erected in 1929 by L. Beaumont Reed.[1] It is one of West Windsor's few all-stone homes and was built in the style of traditionally Princeton architecture and inspired by the rural English cottage. Annabelle Hawk - Principal of the J.V.B. Wicoff School in Plainsboro - is said to have lived here in the 1950s-60s.[3] Starting in the 1980s, Carnegie Center gradually grew up around the house, replacing farmland with parking lots and commercial/office buildings.[4],[5] At some point the Stone House itself was converted into offices. Still, and although the house hasn't served as a residence for decades, it remains a memorial to a more bucolic and less commercial Route 1. |
Bibliography
- “Penn’s Neck.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press,1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project.
- DiFrancesco, P. S. (2020, October 2). Facebook comment by Phyllis Shinn DiFrancesco. Comment made on Facebook in response to photo of the Stone House shared by the Historical Society of West Windsor. Full comment: "My teacher and principal at Plainsboro School, Annabelle Hawk lived there in 50’s and 60’s." Retrieved from the following URL: https://www.facebook.com/profile/100051871727720/search/?q=beaumont
- "West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1980.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1980.
- "West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1990.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1990.