Portland Place
Opening Portland Place for guided tours through mid-November is one more example that the Monmouth County Parks System is unexcelled anywhere in its dedication to preservation, historic accuracy, and programs that attract people of all ages.
The guided tours and programs at the residence which had been in the Hartshorne family for 300 years are now open, following an extensive historic restoration by the Park system, and includes, in addition to guided tours of the Portland Place house and restored 19th century bar, educational and cultural programs a variety of classes and walks around the 35 riverfront acres of the Locust area residence.
Portland Place was a gift to the Monmouth County Park system in the will of Daniel Ward Seitz, a Hartshorne descendant who died in 2008.
Seitz was intensely proud of his Hartshorne heritage and history and maintained the 18th century home, and family heirlooms from three centuries while he resided here and in New York for 40 years. It is because of his pride and preservation that the restored home includes furnishings, portraits, and materials from history. The estates are on both the state and national Registers of Historic Places as a representation of the area’s early settlements and culture as well as the impact of the Hartshorne family on Monmouth Conty.
Richard Hartshorne, one of the large Hartshorne family members who came in the 1600s to settle in the British colony of New Jersey was a Quaker seeking the resources and religious freedom that the colonies offered. Arriving in 1669 and settling in the Bayshore, he became a leader in local politics and Quaker matters and over the years acquired 2,400 acres along the Navesink Highlands and Sandy hook peninsula.
The lands served a variety of needs and uses over the centuries, from farming and forestry to subdivision, and development, some being sold by Hartshorne family members. Hartshorne Woods Park, established in the late 20th century, is all part of the former Hartshorne estate.
Portland Point includes the 200 acres the Hartshorne family acquired along the Navesink River in 1720. There, a simple farming homestead was built from the wood surrounding the land and farmland was later created on the site along with grazing lands for cattle and other farm animals.
Once a small cabin, Portland Place house was enlarged in the late 1700s, then again in the late 1800s when a small section was added, and finally in the early 1900s when a second floor was extended over the earlier addition and a country estate was established. One of the paintings in the home, a William Hahn oil painting from 1878, shows the carriage road that led into Hartshorne Woods, and the County Park system followed the design in creating its own maintenance roads to ensure upkeep and preservation of the historic area.
In donating the land and Portland Place house to Monmouth County, Seitz wrote he did it to honor the values of the Hartshornes, from Richard, “the first of the family to come to America and to build on the land.” His efforts were “exemplified both by his action in public service and by the principles set forth in his letters to his children.” It is those principles and lessons to his children that were inherited by Steiz in making his generous donation, which also included some instructions to ensure the property remains intact, preserved, and following the Hartshorne principles.
Visitors to Portland Place can begin their tours at the Visitor Center adjacent to the house in a restored 19th century. There are are numerous exhibits, information, interpretive panels and literature in that building alone to ensure appreciation of the estate. That building is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Guided tours are conducted at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., 1:30 and 1:20 p.m. and are limited to ten persons at a time. The guided tour takes approximately a half hour…more if you have numerous questions for the well-educated and enthusiastic staff and volunteers.
For more information, visit the Monmouth County Parks System site at www.MonmouthCountyParks.com or call the office at 732-842-4000.
