Highfields is a historic house in East Amwell Township,

Hunterdon County Hunterdon County is a County (United States), county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county was the state's List of counties in New Jersey, 4th-least populous ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

that served as the home of

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Anne Lindbergh, the famous

aviators An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

. It was the location of the

Lindbergh kidnapping On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of Col. Charles Lindbergh and his wife, aviator and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was murdered after being abducted from his crib in the upper floor of t ...

, after which it was turned into a rehabilitation center. The home was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1994.

Construction

The Lindberghs built Highfields in 1931 on a secluded spot of the Sourland Mountain so as to escape the spotlight brought on by their celebrity status. After his pioneering solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927, four million people had attended the ticker tape parade in Charles Lindbergh's honor, and he had received two million congratulatory telegrams, making him one of the most famous Americans of the century. The Sourland Mountain location, while secluded, afforded easy access by air and automobile to the Lindberghs' offices in New York City and to the laboratories of nearby

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, to which they had been granted access.

Lindbergh kidnapping

The home was the site of one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century, the

, often called the "Crime of the Century". On the evening of March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs' oldest son, 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh, Jr., was abducted by means of a ladder from a second floor window of Highfields, aided by a warped shutter which could not be closed. Over two months later, the baby's body was discovered a short distance from Highfields in Hopewell Township with a massive skull fracture. After a more than two-year investigation, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested, tried in one of the so-called trials of the century, and convicted of the crime. He was executed by

electric chair The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and leg. Alfred P. Southwick, a Buffalo, New Yo ...

at New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936. Nevertheless, speculation has continued to run rampant, as most investigators at the time of the initial investigation, as well as contemporary researchers, believe there was inside help.

Rehabilitation center

The headquarters of the search for Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was in the garage of Highfields. After Lindbergh identified the body of his son, they left the house. Never to spend another night there, they returned to Anne's family home in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

. The attention from the trial led the Lindberghs to a self-imposed exile in Europe from 1935 to 1939. In June 1933, Anne wrote that the house would be turned over to a board of trustees, and she named it "Highfields," saying the name carried some secret meaning. One biographer has speculated that it commemorates the young Lindbergh's special greeting to his father. In 1941 the home was conveyed to the State of New Jersey by the Highfields Association, in memory of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. It has been used since July 1, 1952 as a juvenile rehabilitation center by the

New Jersey Department of Corrections The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) is the government agency responsible for operations and management of prison facilities in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Department of Corrections operates 9 correctional facilitie ...

References

{{NRHP in Hunterdon County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Hunterdon County, New Jersey Houses in Hunterdon County, New Jersey East Amwell Township, New Jersey Charles Lindbergh New Jersey Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1931 1931 establishments in New Jersey Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Construction

Lindbergh kidnapping

Rehabilitation center

See also

References