Endangered
Preservation New Jersey announced its idea of the ten most endangered historic places in New Jersey in a press release this week.
It included only one endangered place in Monmouth County, the Joseph Murray home and barn at Poricy. That is the home of the Revolutionary War hero known for spying on the British at Sandy Hook as well as commandeering supplies for the troops during the war that helped create the nation.
The endangered list also includes a railroad freight station, a grist mill, a carriage house the former home of a wealthy miller, a tavern, a church, and a convent that was on its way to being restored until the state decided religious buildings shouldn’t receive dollars for historic preservation.
The endangered program spotlights irreplaceable historic, architectural, cultural, and archeological resources in imminent danger of being lost. It shows the important Preservation New Jersey places on their importance to the heritage of New Jersey and draws attention to the predicaments that endanger their survival and the survival of historic resources. Its purpose is to attract perspectives and ideas to become creative in saving them. The list was generated from some ideas and nominations from the public.
The press release goes on to show the support it gets from the National Park Service, The Sandy Hook Foundation, and Monmouth University Department of History and Anthropology.
The announcement was made at a ceremony at the historic Spermaceti Cove No. 2 Life Saving Station in the Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook.
And here’s the kicker…. As if holding the announcement ceremony on Sandy Hook wasn’t enough…..The accompanying photo was of a very old, or very touched up photo of the endangered Officers Row homes facing Pershing Field on Fort Hancock.
Not endangered
Let’s think about this. With the millions of visitors Sandy Hook gets each year, albeit admittedly primarily for its beaches, wouldn’t you think there would be some thought of being a bit more attentive to the falling down, dilapidated, endangered ruined barracks and historic homes at Fort Hancock that have been historic, noted, recognized admired and been the site of both war and peace?
Isn’t it rather insulting that while those gracious officers’ homes are depicted on the press release, they’re not even shown in their actual heartbreaking condition in which they currently exist. Nor are they considered among the ten most endangered buildings in the state…. even just one of them.
How can the National Park Service be touted as supporting preservation when they themselves have not done a thing to save these endangered buildings since the 1950s when they were active?
How can the National Park Service be touted as supporting preservation when everyday they show they don’t care about these endangered buildings.
Oh yeah, now they’re getting new roofs here and there, there are supports holding up the porches, and lots of attempts at salvation are being made now just to let them survive.
But where the heck have, they been for decades? Is historic preservation new to New Jersey or to the United States federal departments?
It’s a great thing that Monmouth Count, primarily because of the interest and toughness of the indefatigable Lillian Burry, is working, slowly but surely, to save one of the barracks along Pershing Field. They just did a terrific job of saving a smaller one, one that will live again for young NJROTC cadets, many of whom plan to on military uniforms and protect and defend the nation.
But do either Monmouth County or the National Park Service think about how they have slowed down the barracks construction that will also house high school cadets?
Do they remember the work that had to be halted because it got underway too late, and the nesting ospreys beat them to the punch?
Do they remember the number of different architects from the county, state and park service who apparently couldn’t ever meet together and come up with a single plan that would have saved the building as well as taxpayers’ money? It seems the plans changed as different historic architects from different county state and federal agencies saw the plans, causing more waste of money, less work on preservation and little progress.
There are plans for apartments altering the insides but saving some of the historic homes on Officers Row, but Monmouth County had to meet specific criteria for saving even the inside of the buildings they are trying to preserve. Anyone remember the stairway to the ceiling?
It’s laudable that a private entrepreneur will be making a very expensive effort to preserve those homes along Officers Row. But where has the Park Service been? Where has New Jersey Preservation been? Where has Monmouth University’s History Department been when it comes to Fort Hancock over the past decades?
For that matter, where have the millions of people who love to visit Sandy Hook been when it comes to calling on Congress to demand that this very important piece of history through the centuries is not treated with the respect and renovation it deserves?
