LITTLE SILVER – As guests huddled beneath umbrellas in steady drizzle on the walk toward enormous tents on the grounds of the stately Parker Homestead and last-minute preparations were being made, Bob Sickles observed the buzz of activity at this place of family memories, on the threshold of a bold, new phase in the effort to restore it.
The event was a major fundraiser for the nonprofit group that Sickles – owner of Sickles Market, adjacent to the Parker Homestead – founded recently with two other community members. The aim of the nonprofit, Parker Homestead – 1665, Inc., is to restore and preserve the house and grounds – a place rooted deep in Sickles’ own family story – for an eventual new life as a historical learning center and meeting place.
The event, conducted in partnership with the Monmouth County Historical Association, went ahead on Sept. 13 in spite of the rainy weather, bringing together about 300 people for live music by the Bobby Lynch band and Riptide, live and silent auctions and sumptuous food provided by the renowned chef David Burke.
A final figure on the amount raised wasn’t available at presstime, but Sickles said, “we did really well.” Tickets were $250 per person, and underwriting opportunities were set at $1,000 to $25,000, with sponsorships at $1,000 to $10,000.
“The most important thing we did was to raise the profile of the project to the broader community beyond Little Silver,” Sickles said.
Julia Parker, Sickles’ great-aunt, deeded the house – whose original section dates to 1721 – its barns and 10 acres of the Parker Homestead to Little Silver in 1995, the year she died. That ended eight generations of family ownership and opened a new window on more than 300 years of New Jersey history.
The house has been subject to an extensive stabilization project, and a careful historical restoration of the house and the barns is in the future, Sickles said. The settlement of the homestead land by Parker family ancestors is dated to 1665, and an archaological dig on the grounds is to take place soon. He recalled as a child and young adult spending holidays with his family in the old house, playing and eventually working on the homestead grounds.
Laurie Bratone, director of development and communications for the historical association, described the Parker house and homestead as a “gem” that takes its place on a long list of distinguished historical structures and sites in Monmouth County.
“We’re just happy to be a part of this. It’s like welcoming a new member to the family,” Bratone said.
The association is one of the largest history-based organizations in New Jersey, she said. It serves as a resource for smaller groups, offering advice, helping them establish nonprofit fundraising entities or offering expert evaluation of artifacts and documents.
The association’s role in the joint benefit was as a source of support to the Parker Homestead nonprofit group, and to help raise awareness of the ongoing work at the estate, Bratone said.
She marveled at the rarity of a home that’s been in continuous ownership of a single family for nearly 300 years.
“For the house to have been handed down eight generations in the same family is truly astounding,” she said.
The historical association will host its annual Tavernfest on Oct. 17 at the Allen House, 400 Sycamore Ave., Shrewsbury.That structure, built around 1710, once served as a courthouse as well as a tavern among many uses over the centuries, and is one of the county’s iconic historic sites.
Sickles said the funds raised during the Parker Homestead benefit will be used to advance the campaign to stabilize the house and barns behind it. That will be in preparation for an eventual painstaking historical restoration of the structures to include analysis of furniture and implements that once occupied the buildings.
The Parker Homestead group, formed as a 501c3 nonprofit by Sickles and community members Jennifer Pardee and Keith Wells, was founded to oversee the operations of the homestead and raise funds for the continuing project.
The borough has been an active partner, helping to stabilize the house and paint the exterior, as well as assisting in securing grant money for restoration work on the house’s interior.
The house, which has been placed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the New Jersey State Registry, is full of intriguing anomalies because the original structure had been added onto many times over the centuries, Sickles said. For example, a mud-and-hay compound, one of the world’s oldest insulation materials, was found inside one of the home’s walls, side by side with a section of distinctly modern polyurethane foam.
Teams from Monmouth University are preparing to conduct an archaeological dig on the property, an exploration that might encounter evidence, not only of early Colonial settlement of the land, but of its occupation by Native Americans. Some artifacts from American Indians already have been unearthed, Sickles said.
“That’s why there may be some very significant things to be discovered,” he said.
Those seeking additional information or who wish to make a donation to the restoration effort may visit the Parker Homestead – 1665, Inc., website at parkerhomestead – 1665.org, or by mail at Little Silver Borough Hall, 480 Prospect Ave., Little Silver, NJ 07739.
To reach the Monmouth County Historical Association to make donations or for information, the website is monmouthhistory.org. The address is 70 Court St., Freehold, NJ 07728 and the phone is 732-462-1466.
Editor’s note: See Two River People photographs of the event by Lynne Ward onthe Two River People Pages.
