Dvoor Farm
In December 1999, Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance (HLTA) became the owners of the Dvoor Farm, a historically significant farm in Raritan Township.
Preservation of the farm was made possible through a partnership between the New Jersey Green Acres Program, Citizens for Parkland, the South Branch Watershed Association, and Raritan Township, when Herb Dvoor sold the property and ownership was transferred to the Hunterdon Land Trust.
Over the years, the Dvoor Farm has been home to many industries: from dairy farming to copper mining, pottery production to its most recent incarnation as a center for horse and cattle trading. The farm includes a Dutch stone farmhouse constructed in 1790 and three barns that represent the history of barn building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Herb Dvoor's family farmed the land and sold livestock on the farm since 1920, when his father Jacob Dvoor bought it. Sadly Herb, a gentle man with a twinkle in his eye, passed away in 2009.
The farm typifies the agricultural character of the region that is an integral part of the history of Hunterdon County. Its highly visible location on the Route 12 circle contributes to the rural character of the area that county residents want to preserve.
William Penn originally owned the land and passed it on to his sons, who, in 1738, sold it to John Kase, a German immigrant. When Kase came to build his log home here he befriended Chief Tuccamirgan of a Lenni Lenape encampment on the Mine Brook. The Lenape were helpful to the settlers, sharing their food and medicinal herbs. Following a long friendship between Tuccamirgan and Kase, the chief, faced with his imminent death, asked to be buried in the Kase family cemetery. His request was granted and in 1850, he was buried there in full tribal ceremony. In 1925, Flemington erected a monument to Chief Tuccamirgan, which is still intact at 56 Bonnell Street.
The Dvoor Farm is a critical connection in a greenway of parkland along the Mine Brook in Raritan Township. To the north, the farm abuts Mine Brook Park and the greenway continues through Bernadette Morales Nature Preserve and Uplands Park to the headwaters of the brook. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection classifies the Mine Brook as a high-quality trout maintenance waterway. The brook is also habitat for the threatened wood turtle.
Funding for the acquisition was provided through the New Jersey Green Acres Program, Raritan Township, Flemington Borough, NJ Department of Transportation (through the Federal ISTEA Program), the Large Foundation, The Tomlinson Family Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Bunbury Company, and Merck. In addition, Citizens for Parkland, a local preservation group, spearheaded an effort to raise more than $255,500 through foundation grants, raffles, gifts and events such as "A Day in the Park." Of these funds, $65,000 came through a bequest from the estate of Hermia Lechner.
Hunterdon Land Trust donated a 2 1/2-acre portion of the newly preserved property to Raritan Township to be annexed to Mine Brook Park for future recreational use. Mr. Dvoor made a generous donation of $50,000 to the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance for maintenance of the property. Mr. Dvoor and Mine Brook Associates also donated two easements on adjacent parcels along the Walnut Brook for stream corridor preservation and pathway construction. The Land Trust has created a special committee to plan for the future use of this important community asset. |
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