GRANT TO HELP PRESERVE HISTORIC FRANKLIN FARMSTEAD

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, New Jersey—October 19, 2009—A historic farmstead in Franklin Township will get some needed work done through a grant received through the Somerset County Historic Preservation Fund.

            The property, known by several names, including Stoothoff, Suydam and Gunther, is on the list of National and State Registers of Historic Places in the Six Mile Run Historic District. It is located on South Middlebush Road, a designated scenic byway. The grant of $134,500 will be used to help preserve the property that was built by one of Franklin’s founding families and operated as a farm for 270 years. The building is a pre-revolutionary home, with much of the 18th century fabric retained.

            Franklin Township received the property under a Preservation Deed from the developer K. Hovnanian in 1998.

In the attached picture (from left to right):

Somerset County Freeholder Rick Fontana, Franklin Township Historic Preservation Commission members Barbara Lawrence and Susan Goldey, Somerset County Freeholder Patricia Walsh, and Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine.