Pleasant Valley, Warren County, New Jersey
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Pleasant Valley, Warren County, New Jersey
OR:
Pleasant Valley, Warren County, New Jersey on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Pleasant Valley is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
located in Washington Township, Warren County,
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 ...
, west of
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
, along the Pohatcong Creek. The hamlet was built around a
mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...
on the creek during the mid-18th century. The Pleasant Valley Historic District, encompassing the village, is listed on the state and national registers of historic places.


History

In 1754, Thomas Van Horn acquired a large tract of land in the Pohatcong valley from John Moore and later built a mill on the creek. After his death, the mill was eventually bought by John Sherrerd in 1791. John's son, Samuel Sherrerd, inherited the property in 1810. Samuel's wife, Ann Maxwell, was the daughter of Captain John Maxwell and the niece of General William Maxwell, both officers in the
Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...
. Their son, John Maxwell Sherrerd, was appointed the first Surrogate of Warren County. William M. Warne, husband of daughter, Susan Sherrerd, bought the property in 1833 after Samuel's death. He is listed as building the main block of the house at 14 Mill Pond Road in 1834. With the completion of the
Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a toll road, common carrier Anthracite, anthracite coal canal across North Jersey, northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals in Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its weste ...
, which bypassed Pleasant Valley and favored
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
, the area had little growth. In 1865, Dr. J. V. Mattison purchased the property from the Warne family and rebuilt the mill. In 1893, William Larison bought the property. After several exchanges, the property was bought by Earle S. Eckel in 1926. Eckel made several changes to the property. He dredged and enlarged the mill pond, and upgraded the dam and causeway with the goal of generating hydroelectric power. After the mill burned down in 1929, he built a brick and steel power house on the old mill foundation for the turbine and generator. Eckel was also interested in aviation, in particular the
autogiro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-drive ...
by
Harold Pitcairn Harold Frederick Pitcairn (June 20, 1897 – April 23, 1960) was an Americans, American aviation inventor and pioneer. He played a key role in the development of the autogyro and founded the Autogiro Company of America. He patented a number of i ...
. In 1931, he purchased one and built a runway and hangar for it, probably the first exclusive autogiro airport in America. During National Air Mail Week, he carried mail postmarked: "Via Air Mail. First Flight. From Washington, N.J. May 19, 1938" to
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
using his own Pitcairn PAA-1. Eckel was one of the founding members and the first vice president of the Antique Automobile Club of America in 1935.


Historic district

The Pleasant Valley Historic District is a
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
along Mill Pond Road in Pleasant Valley, Warren County, New Jersey. The district 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 ...
on February 17, 1994 for its significance in engineering, transportation, and architecture from 1830 to 1942. It includes 20
contributing resources In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...
. With The Sherrerd/Warne/Eckel House shows Federal/
Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...
styles with
Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...
remodeling. It features a round cobblestone fountain basin, built . The Power House has a round cobblestone planter with flagpole.


Gallery

File:Power House, Mill Pond Road, Pleasant Valley, Warren County, NJ.jpg, Power House, built 1930 File:15 Mill Pond Road, Pleasant Valley, Warren County, NJ.jpg, House by Mill Pond dam, built 1865 File:Eckel's Autogiro Port, Pleasant Valley, Warren County, NJ.jpg, Eckel's Autogiro Port, built 1931


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Warren County, New Jersey List of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Warren County, New Jersey This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Histor ...


References


External links

* {{NRHP in Warren County, New Jersey Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Warren County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, New Jersey Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places