Strategy & Coordination: 
Regular Open Meetings of Trustees and Members
Four committees, organized by Tim Johnson, Antje Doyle,
                                                            Brian Mullay, Don Sherblom 
Some immediate tasks are set out below.  
Areas of overlap are indicated by color code.   

 Next Step:  four committee leaders arrange meeting and/or communication to
v  expand on list of tasks set out above
v  prioritize tasks
v  organize for action
v  estimate time-line for completion of each tasks and larger projects

OK - the vast majority of those who voted on a meeting time favored Tuesday or Thursday evening, so our next meeting will  be Thursday July 2nd at 7 pm at RE/MAX Town & Country 44 Leigh Street in Clinton, NJ 08809 (see map).

View Larger Map

Starting July 2 - Our meetings will be the first Thursday of the month at 7 pm.

To prepare, please think about the subcommittee you will serve on and the agenda for that subcommittee.  Here’s what I see as the major divisions of labor:
          (1) House & Grounds: maintain and transform this property, (mothballing, preservation plan & action, make visible changes at house)
          (2) Raise Money: raise funds, seek grants, stabilization funds, private foundations, corporate donations, etc.
          (3) Awareness & Membership: build membership, get the public involved, prepare mailing w/existing HC CHC grant.
          (4) Develop History: pursue genealogy project, research, outreach to historians, National Register and Landmark status.

Vought House Inc. - July 2 @ 7pm - preliminary Agenda 

    1) (re)-introduction of members, bylaws, goals of The 1759 Vought House, A Revolutionary War Loyalist Homestead.
    2) Discussion of the Vought House “bubble,” our current needs, next steps, probable time line.
    3) Old business: informational mailing to Clinton Twp. residents, etc.
    4) New business -
    5) Break into subcommittees to set small group agendas and leaders

Any questions or suggestions on agenda items, please email or call (908) 303-8130

Don Sherblom

The covenants already on record with the County re: Vought House: archaeol_environ_covenants.pdf

A sample of type of historic preservation easement that will be required: hist_pres_ease_sample.pdf

I got a copy of the appraisal done on the Vought House - dated April 1st for some reason, maybe so they cover their sloppy work by claiming it an April’s Fools joke.   It’s linked here in three sections (PDFs).  I didn’t scan the addendum because those documents are available elsewhere. 
                           
             Section 1 Facts    Section 2 Analysis    Section 3 Valuation

For a selection of the major problems from all 3 sections see:  appraisalmajorerrors.pdf

Every layperson knows that even renovated this house is not worth $600,000 in today’s market.  The question: How could the $590,000 renovated and $225,000 “as is” valuation be so far off? 

Here’s the major problems with the appraisal:

• Two Clinton Township properties are identical in every way, both priced at $600,000.  One house sits in an environmental buffer for a C-1 stream which prevents the owners from building a shed, ever mowing the lawn, paving the driveway, building a garage, or disturbing existing plants or the soil in any way.   As the potential home buyer, do you still value them the same?   The appraiser for this property barely mentions the environmental buffer and DOES NOT reduce the value of the “comparable” properties to reflect the significant fact that none of them were so restricted.
• Same two Clinton Twp. properites, but one is on the State Register of Historic Properties.  Does this affect the value?  It probably will, although in reality, private individuals are not affected by this, only government entities, like school districts, are prevented from harming properties on the NJ Register. The school district must also get approval to transfer ownership and that approval will rest on them placing a satisfactory historic preservation easement on the deed.
• This not-yet written SHPO-required historic preservation easement is not factored into the value of the property. Page 20 acknowledges that private individuals are Not restricted by the house being placed on the Register.  In bold underlined letters it declares that individuals would face no restrictions on the renovations or remodeling of the property. 
• WHAT the appraiser fails to explain is: How the property can be owned by a private individual Without being transferred from the school district.  The appraisal correctly says that ”sale of the property requires” prior review and authoriation by the SHPO to assure that adequate restrictions are in place to protect the home’s significant historic features!  It’s not the Register but the easement written into the deed prior to the sale that would prevent any future private owner from harming the historic features!
• It would be a strange law indeed that prevents the school district from ripping out the ceilings but allows it to sell the property to a private party to do as they please! 
• Besides the fact that there’s no allowance for the comparable propeties being buffer-free, the Potterstown Road property had a whole cottage, a second building, which was ignored by the appraiser, who added $175,000 for the supposedly smaller size of that property.
• I could go on but these major problems are a huge disappointment in an appraisal that took five months and cost several hundred dollars.  A little clarity is not too much to expect.  Instead the picture is clouded with obviously wrong information and a sloppy valuation.  

Don Sherblom  

With the recent appraisal of the Vought House (see news article) the fate of Hunterdon’s most historic revolutionary era site is unnecessarily brought into question.  The questioning is unnecessary because anyone who knows this house and that it cannot be expanded, knows it can never be worth $590,000! 

Saving money is a good thing, especially in these trying times.  As America’s founding genius said, a penny saved is a penny earned.  But a deal where you loose far more than you gain is no bargain.  It’s penny wise and pound foolish.  Were the Vought House sold off, we’d gain a fraction of a penny one-time tax relief and lose control of what happens at our elementary and middle school campus forever, be it a smoke shop, tattoo parlor or derelict vandal magnet.

This crystal-clear picture was recently clouded by a wildly optimistic valuation of the property.  As a full-time Realtor with 12 years experience in Clinton Township and a part-time historian, I am uniquely qualified to speak to this multifaceted issue:

1) The valuation seems extremely high. A habitable three bedroom, one bath home with no garage 100 years newer than the Vought House is currently on the market in Annandale not for $590,000 (no surprise) but for $290,000! Any lay person knows a list price near $600,000 for this small old house with no garage sitting in an environmental buffer at the entrance to two schools and a stone’s throw from Rte 31 is just crazy talk.

2) Also, this valuation does not include the historic preservation easement, since that easement has not been written.  There’s absolutely no doubt the State Historic Preservation Office will require an approved preservation easement prior to any property transfer since the house is listed on the NJ Register of Historic Places.  What will it cost to repair the damaged ceiling and stabilize all four historic ceilings as required for their preservation?

3)  Even if sold ‘as is’ for $100,000, that would be a minuscule one-time savings for local taxpayers, literally a single drop in the 9 billion dollar Clinton Township tax bucket, a fraction of a penny savings for one year and 100 years of who knows what problems at the school.

4)  My daughter will  be attending the Clinton Township Middle School next year. As a parent I do not want to see this remain a derelict  abandoned house, a private residence, or a “candy” store at the edge of the middle and elementary school campus.

5) Ultimately this is not about personal gain or temporary expedient actions.  A sale is forever.  It’s about who we are as people, as a community, a township past, present and future. 

6) The most important revolutionary era historic site in Hunterdon County cannot be auctioned off to the highest bidder with no regard to what happens with this house and grounds in the years ahead.  That would be short-sighted, contradict our district’s educational mission and be a huge betrayal of our identity.

7) This property is part of American history.  Even if the citizens of Clinton Township have a legal right to sell with no regard to what happens here, as citizens of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, as Americans we are not worthy citizens if we allow such a key educational testament to the history of the American Revolution be destroyed or become unavailable to the public.   

You may think I exaggerate for effect.  If so, please read the history of the Vought Family and the American Revolution available in the Clinton Bookshop and the County library.  This property met the criteria in all four categories of the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, was nominated for the National Register and preparations are in the works for designation as a National Landmark (5% of National Register sites).  It is clearly the most important Revolutionary War site in Hunterdon County.
 

The 1759 Vought House, A Revolutionary War Loyalist Homestead, a 502 (c) 3 non-profit, is ready to forge an Educational Partnership with the Clinton Township School District to maximize the educational utility of the Vought House and bring financial resources to the district.  
_____________________________________
GOALS:

To transform this property from a liability draining resources from the school district to an asset with a positive financial impact on the educational mission of the district.

To enhance the aesthetics and safety of the Clinton Township Middle School and Spruce Run Elementary School campus.

To enhance the education of students in Clinton Township and beyond by providing them direct access to the material culture of Revolutionary era New Jersey.

UNTAPPED RESORCE:

This house met all four possible criteria for inclusion on the state register, which means it offers educational insights on several aspects of life in 18th Century Hunterdon County, NJ:
a. This family’s material culture is seen in the architecture and rare wattle & daub decorative plaster ceilings. 
b. The qualityof life on this prosperous Hunterdon County family farm is also well documented.
c. The builder, Christoffel Vought and son John, were prominent leaders among Hunterdon Loyalists.
d. Their mob attack on Jones’ Tavern, skirmish with the militia, and military service are emblematic of conflicts in New Jersey during the American Revolution.

Divided Loyalties is one of three interpretive themes of New Jersey’s Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area, created in 2002.  It is an under-represented theme within this National Heritage Area of the National Park Service.

CONTRAINTS:

In 2005 environment and archaeological restrictions were placed on file prohibiting a disturbance of the grounds.

In 2007 this property was placed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. The State Historic Preservation Office will require the district to write an historic preservation easement into any deed transferring the property to new owners.

PARTNERSHIP:

Ownership Responsibilities – We would be stewards of the subdivided house and grounds.

Raising Funds – We would be solely responsible for gaining government and foundation grants, private donations, local and national corporate gifts, and public fundraising to meet our goals.  All money invested in this project would be raised outside the school district’s budget and would benefit students and residents of Clinton Township by creating a potentially important local educational resource and museum. 

Occasional Partnership Grant Applications – We would also like to apply for grants and donations in partnership with the school district for specific educational projects while the house is being renovated and as it is developed into a local public history museum.

Curriculum Development – We will assist your efforts to incorporate this house history into your middle school curriculum and can help with the historic preservation easement, etc.

Library Space – To increase student access to collected research materials, especially while the house is being renovated, we would like to have some space in the Middle School Library/Media Center devoted to these materials, books, pamphlets and Compact Disks.

Parking – Although the house has access to Grayrock Road and limited parking, public events and school buses would utilize Middle School driveway and parking facilities.

___________________________________________________________________

SAMPLE PARTNERSHIP GRANT:  SaveOurHistory
                                            
Inspire the youth in your community to become the preservationists of tomorrow. Museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations, libraries, and archives are invited to partner with a local school or youth group and apply for funding to help preserve the history of their communities. Each year, HISTORY awards $250,000 in grants to organizations that partner with schools or youth groups on community preservation projects that engage students in learning about, documenting and preserving the history of their communities.
The 2009/2010 Grant Cycle will kick off in January 2009, when the grant application is posted online at saveourhistory.com. Applications will be due in June of 2009. In the interim, questions about the program can be directed to info@saveourhistory.com.
_____________________________________________________________________________
NOTE:  2009 Save Our History grant recipients nationwide included:
Vernon Township Historical Society  in Vernon, NJ
Partner: Glen Meadow Middle School
Description: Bringing the Past to the Present: Teaching Lenni Lenape History and Culture through the Black Creek Site
Assisted by professional archaeologists, students from Glen Meadow Middle School in partnership with the Vernon Township Historical Society will participate in an archaeological dig of the Black Creek Site, home to thousands of artifacts dating back 10,000 years (from 8500 BC to 1700 AD) through 500 generations of human history during the Great North American Stone Age. Maps, trail markers, signage and an outdoor classroom area will enable teachers to bring students onsite to learn the rich prehistory and history of the Black Creek Site.

FOUR Items for the action and consideration of members:  

1) As many of us as can make it will be meeting with the Facilities Committee on November 10, from 7-8 pm at Board Offices, at Round Valley School.  Please mark your calendars and ask me if you need directions or information.

2) The Educational Booklet is (finally) at the printer!  I hope to have copies to distribute at the state-wide biannual history conference (see below).  

3) The 1759 Vought House Inc., just received an invitation to join an effort to get National Landmark Status for period German American Homes. 

The letter is a PDF document:  invitationlandmarkstudy.pdf

Background: the school district has been required to file for State and National Register of Historic Places.  The Vought House was put on the State Register in Sept. 2007 and National Register Status for the ceilings is in process.  National Landmark Status is the highest level of recgnition, only about 3% of National Historic Registry properites.  National Park Service policy is so restrictive that in effect, no individual property can be listed unless it is identified as part of a thematic study such as the one being proposed.  Please give this some thought and post comments below or send an email.

4) The New Jersey Forum, a biannual state history conference is on Sat. November 22. 
My paper on the Vought family:  “Vital History:  What Two Generations of a Loyalist Family Reveals About the American Revolution” is on PANEL 6 Eighteenth-Century New Jersey Families from 2:00 - 3:45 pm (see the bottom of this page). 

The $40. registration fee incudes a Continental breakfast and full lunch.  Here’s the announcement and below that the program:

25th Annual History Conference
New Jersey Forum
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Trenton Marriott

The New Jersey Forum will feature 20 papers and presentations by leading scholars in New Jersey history. Speakers will discuss

the history of public health in the state;

efforts to preserve and protect the state’s historic landscapes;

the development of mature suburbs; and

• the roles of women, families, and slaves during New Jersey’s four centuries of recorded history. 

The morning speaker, Dr. Ian Burrow, will discuss the role of historical archaeology in generating new knowledge of the state’s history.  Our featured luncheon speaker, Dr. Kenneth T. Jackson, the Jacques Barzun Professor of History at Columbia University, will present a talk entitled, “If All the World Were New Jersey: Reflections on the Past and Future of the Garden State.”

This conference is sponsored by the historical divisions of the NJ Department of State: The NJ Historical Commission, the NJ State Archives, and the NJ State Museum. The conference program and registration form are available at:

www.newjerseyhistory.org

PROGRAM:

8:00 Registration, exhibits, continental breakfast

9:00 Morning Program

Welcoming Remarks: Marc Mappen, Executive Director, NJHC

Morning Address: Dr. Ian Burrow, Hunter Research:
Hands-On Our History!  Archaeological History in the Active Voice for New Jerseyans

10:15 – noon: Morning concurrent panels

PANEL 1: Hope, Fear and Pestilence: Public Health in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century New Jersey

Moderator: Karen Reeds, Princeton Research Forum

Newsprint, Fear, and the Cholera: A History of the 1832 Cholera Outbreaks in New Jersey
Margaret Charleroy, University of Minnesota
 
Death Unspoken: The Impact of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Jersey
Jennifer Harmsen, Hillsborough Middle School + Rutgers-NJIT History Department

Pestilence Across the Delaware: New Jersey and the Yellow Fever Epidemics of the 1790s
Sandra Moss, New Jersey Medical History Society

PANEL 2: Interpreting a Preserved Landscape: New Jersey Museums and Architecture

Moderator: Ron Emrich, Preservation New Jersey, Trenton

New Solutions for House Museums
Donna Ann Harris, Heritage Consulting, Inc.

Take Any Exit: The Colonial Revival in New Jersey
Harriette Hawkins, independent scholar

Telling the Straight Story: Truth & Fiction in Building Interpretation
Margaret Westfield, Westfield Architects

PANEL 3: Suburban Stories: Place and Race in Twentieth-Century New Jersey

Moderator: Howard Green, Public History Partners

Extremely Suburban: Narratives from 20th-Century Princeton
Michael H. Ebner, James D. Vail III Professor of History, Emeritus, Lake Forest College

African American Suburbanization and Racial Politics in Pre-World War II Montclair
Patricia Hampson, Rutgers University

A National “Black Brain Center” in Post-WWII Fort Monmouth, NJ
Melissa Ziobro, staff historian, U.S. Army **CECOM** Life Cycle Management Command, Fort Monmouth, NJ

12:00 Featured Luncheon Speaker and NJHC Awards – BALLROOM:

Kenneth T. Jackson, Barzun Professor of History at Columbia University:
If All the World Were New Jersey: Reflections on the Past and Future of the Garden State

2:00 – 3:45 Afternoon concurrent panels

PANEL 4: Parks and Bonapartes: Landscapes of 19th and 20th century New Jersey

Moderator:  Peter Mickulas, NJ Historical Commission

“He Will be a Bourgeois American and Spend his Fortune in Making Gardens”: A Preliminary Examination of Joseph Bonaparte’s Point Breeze Estate, Bordentown, New Jersey
Richard Veit, Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University

The Development of Branch Brook Park – America’s First County Park
Kathleen P. Galop, Esq., Preservation Possibilities, Summit, NJ

Morristown: A Cultural Landscape Study
Gillian Acheson, Department of Geography, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville

PANEL 5: Revolutionary Women: Female Education and Political Activism in Early New Jersey
Moderator: Rhonda DiMascio, Alice Paul Institute, Mt. Laurel, NJ

“A More Accurate and Extensive Education than is Customary”:  Educational Opportunities for Women in Early Nineteenth-Century New Jersey
Lucia McMahon, William Paterson University

The Ladies of Trenton: Women’s Political and Public Activism in Revolutionary New Jersey
Catherine Hudak, Morris Hills High School, Rockaway, NJ

“Working for the Slave as a Mother would Work for her Children”: Abigail Goodwin and the Anti-slavery Movement in New Jersey
Bruce Scherer, Project Archivist/Librarian, Salem County Historical Society, Salem, NJ

PANEL 6: Eighteenth-Century New Jersey Families

Moderator: Maxine Lurie, Department of History, Seton Hall University

From London Publisher to American Farmer:  Benjamin Clarke and his Diary of East New Jersey
Robert Craig, Historic Preservation Office, NJ Department of Environmental Protection

Black and White Together? Slavery and Freedom in Upper Freehold Township from the Colonial Period to the Early Republic
Sue Kozel, Independent scholar

Vital History:  What Two Generations of a Loyalist Family Reveals About the American Revolution
Donald Sherblom, President, 1759 Vought House, Inc.

Members of the 1759 Vought House, Inc. would like to schedule a meeting with the Facilities Committee to discuss your disposal of the Vought family house and property. You may have been misinformed or simply unaware of several issues that need to be addressed:
There is nothing keeping you from moving forward with disposal of this property

• Disposal of this property is not linked to the Notice of Violation or any litigation or issues pending with the DEP, it cannot be used as a bargaining chip, nor can the disposal be controlled by any settlement with the DEP.  SHPO rules and decisions will control disposal of the property. (source: personal communication with Scott Brubaker, DEP)
• Any DEP fines that might be assessed in the future would NOT convey with this property, so the conveyance does not need to wait for settlement of that issue. (source: letter from Scott Brubaker)

How to move forward -

1. Write the required Historic Preservation easement, which became a requirement only in Sept. 2007 when it was placed on NJ Register of Historic Places (source: personal communication June 2006 with Dan Saunders, SHPO and Sept. 19th 2007 Letter from Dorothy Guzzo, Administrator of SHPO to Dr. Nastus re: administrative review of sales when “adequate restrictions or conditions are included to ensure the preservation of the property’s significant historic features” and personal communication with Dan Saunders 2008 re: what would be adequate, i.e. an historic preservation easement would be needed - note Dorothy Guzzo has moved on and Dan Saunders is the current SHPO Administrator)

2. Find out the current market value with the current archeological and environmental restrictions from 2005 and current condition and lack of amenities of the house and factoring in the as-yet-unwritten historic preservation easement. Get an appraisal from a licensed appraiser - that is the only way to get a sense of whether this has any real estate has any monetary value in today’s market.

3. Balance whatever monetary (quantitative) value this house may have against the qualitative value of other potential uses, such as conversion to a revolutionary war era house museum through private funds and public grants, and make a well-informed decision as to what would most benefit township residents year after year.

Reasons not to wait -

* This derelict structure is an eyesore, a potential vandal magnet and a financial drain on the school district. The mothballing and monitoring contract needs to be renewed, the roof has developed another leak, the door was found open earlier this fall, the potential for a lawsuit from personal injury persists. (ask Gus Tuschik about the door being open, Adam Wengryn about the roof, and a good lawyer about the liability)

* Hunterdon County’s most important historic site is slowly deteriorating, the ceilings are becoming covered with mold and the exterior is weathering. (I have “then” and “now” pictures we should probably include in the mailing)

Another reason to meet is that we need to know the current school district policy to include in our upcoming mailing to all Clinton Township residents on the historic significance of this house. From 2005 through 2007 school district policy was to simply give the house away. (source, letter from Walt Wilson to Clinton Twp. Council and public school board meeting in Spring 2007) Is it your intention now to move forward to an auction or is it now your policy to await resolution of the huge potential fines?