A HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE Prepared for: Mercer County Planning Department Mercer County Park Commission Prepared by: Hunter Research, Inc. April 2018 HONEY HOLLOW: MYTH AND SUBSTANCE A HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE Prepared for: Mercer County Planning Department Mercer County Park Commission Prepared by: Richard W. Hunter, Ph.D., RPA APRIL 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS page Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................. i List of Figures .....................................................................................................................................................iii List of Photographs and Tables ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments ..............................................................................................................................................vii 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................1-1 2. HONEY HOLLOW -- THE NAME ..........................................................................................................2-1 3. HONEY HOLLOW -- THE PLACE .........................................................................................................3-1 4. HISTORY A. Roads ....................................................................................................................................................4-1 B. Colonial Settlement and Land Ownership ...........................................................................................4-8 C. From the American Revolution to the Laying Out of Honey Hollow Road .....................................4-11 D. Honey Hollow at Its Peak, circa 1830-1875 .....................................................................................4-17 E. Agricultural Decline in the Later 19th Century .................................................................................4-26 F. The 20th Century ................................................................................................................................4-31 5. THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESENCE .............................................................................................5-1 6. TODAY’S LANDSCAPE A. Topography, Geology, Soils and Drainage ..........................................................................................6-1 B. Honey Hollow Road and the Old River Road .....................................................................................6-2 C. Farm Lanes, Trails, Fields and Woodland ...........................................................................................6-9 D. Standing Buildings and Archaeological Remains .............................................................................6-10 7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OPTIONS ...................7-1 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ R-1 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) page APPENDICES A. Excerpts from Henry Charlton Beck’s Fare to Midlands ....................................................................A-1 B. Sequences of Land Ownership 1. Block 52, Lot 14 ............................................................................................................................. B-1 2. Block 52, Lots 6 and 35 .................................................................................................................. B-2 3. Block 61, Lots 1 and 49 .................................................................................................................. B-3 4. Block 61, Lots 3.01 and 3.02 .......................................................................................................... B-4 5. Block 60, Lot 54 ............................................................................................................................. B-5 6. Block 60, Lot 28 ............................................................................................................................. B-6 C. Farmsteads Along Honey Hollow Road – Agricultural Assets and Production, 1850, 1860 and 1870 ...................................................................................................................................... C-1 D. Slaveholders and Numbers of Slaves in Hopewell Township, 1778-1802 .........................................D-1 E. African-American Heads of Household in Hopewell Township, 1830-1940 1. 1830 Federal Census ....................................................................................................................... E-1 2. 1840 Federal Census ....................................................................................................................... E-2 3. 1850 Federal Census, Population Schedules .................................................................................. E-3 4. 1860 Federal Census, Population Schedules .................................................................................. E-4 5. 1870 Federal Census, Population Schedules .................................................................................. E-5 6. 1880 Federal Census, Population Schedules .................................................................................. E-6 7. 1885 New Jersey State Census ....................................................................................................... E-7 8. 1895 New Jersey State Census ....................................................................................................... E-9 9. 1900 Federal Census, Population Schedules ................................................................................ E-10 10. 1905 New Jersey State Census ....................................................................................................E-11 11. 1910 Federal Census, Population Schedules .............................................................................. E-12 12. 1915 New Jersey State Census ................................................................................................... E-13 13. 1920 Federal Census, Population Schedules .............................................................................. E-14 14. 1930 Federal Census, Population Schedules .............................................................................. E-15 15. 1940 Federal Census, Population Schedules .............................................................................. E-16 F. Resumes ................................................................................................................................................F-1 ii LIST OF FIGURES page 1.1. Aerial Photograph of the Honey Hollow Study Area .............................................................. opposite 1-2 1.2. Honey Hollow Historic Core and Expanded Honey Hollow .................................................. opposite 1-2 3.1. LIDAR Map of Honey Hollow Vicinity .................................................................................. opposite 3-2 4.1. Worlidge, Map of East and West Jersey, 1706 .......................................................................................4-2 4.2. Hessian map, 1779 ..................................................................................................................................4-4 4.3. Hills, A Sketch of the Northern Parts of New Jersey, 1781 ....................................................................4-5 4.4. Gordon, Map of the State of New Jersey, 1828 ......................................................................................4-6 4.5. Return of Road in Hopewell [Honey Hollow Road], 1831 ..................................................................4-16 4.6. U.S. Coast Survey, Yardley to Baldpate, 1844 .....................................................................................4-18 4.7. Otley and Keily, Map of Mercer County, 1849 ....................................................................................4-19 4.8. Lake and Beers, Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia and Trenton, 1860 ............................................4-22 4.9. Everts & Stewart, Map of Hopewell Township, 1875 ...........................................................................4-24 4.10. Scarlett & Scarlett, Hopewell, 1890 .....................................................................................................4-27 4.11. Pugh and Downing, Map of Mercer County, 1903 ...............................................................................4-32 4.12. Mueller, Mueller’s Automobile Driving and Trolley Map of Mercer County, 1918 .............................4-33 4.13. Aerial Photograph, 1930 ........................................................................................................ opposite 4-34 6.1. Topography of Honey Hollow ................................................................................................. opposite 6-2 6.2. Locations of Cultural Resources, Field Boundaries and Trails in Hollow Hollow ............... opposite 6-10 iii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND TABLES page PHOTOGRAPHS 6.1. View from Mount Canoe toward Baldpate Mountain along the JCP&L transmission line corridor .....6-3 6.2. View from Baldpate Mountain toward