Gone but not forgotten

14 Rts 202/31 circa 1920, demolished 2023
(written by Carla Cielo)

This circa 1920 Craftsman style bungalow is a vestige from the residential and agricultural days before NJ Route 30 (Rts. 202/31 today) was built. The area was called “Muirheads” for the Muirhead farm. There was a railroad station stop nearby, a church, a graveyard and several farms. The road was rural and extended from what is today Dutch Lane and Amwell Road to Flemington. It was incorporated into Route 30 between 1926 and 1935.
I’ve watched the house deteriorate over the years – the porch collapsed and was later carted away; the roof partially caved in at the rear; and an unidentified wood-frame outbuilding evidently blew over in a recent storm. Much of its ¾-inch thick pale blue-painted cedar siding was recently removed exposing 5-inch wide solid pine sheathing (both flush boards and edgeand- center-beaded). Part of the foundation is rock-faced concrete block and part is smooth faced block suggesting construction in two phases. A concrete walkway with steps leading from what is now the highway suggests that they once served a neighborhood of walkers and slower paced cars. This was a suburban style property with a detached two-car garage in the backyard.
There are no remaining agricultural structures.
The interior is plain and has a three room plan with a kitchen at the rear. A staircase that lines the north gable end wall in the front room has a nice handrail with a paneled newell post. The kitchen has metal cabinets from the 1950s and a brick chimney with thimble to vent a stove pipe which suggests an original coal or wood-fired cook-stove.