By Melissa Ziobro
MIDDLETOWN – The statewide nonprofit group Preservation New Jersey (PNJ) recently named the Revolutionary War-era Joseph Murray farmhouse and barn, located near Oak Hill Road in Middletown, to its annual 10 Most Endangered Historic Places list.
The five-room, two-story house and barn were the only structures listed from Monmouth County this year.
The annual announcement and networking activities were held June 4 at the historic Spermaceti Cove Life-Saving Station within the Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy Hook. The National Park Service, Sandy Hook Foundation and Monmouth University Department of History and Anthropology co-sponsored the event.
The 10 Most Endangered Historic Places program spotlights irreplaceable historic, architectural, cultural and archeological resources in New Jersey. Listing these resources acknowledges their importance to the her- itage of the Garden State. The list, generated entirely from nominations by the public, aims to draw attention to worthy sites.
Sites related to the semi-quincentennial were a priority this year. According to Kelly Ruffel, PNJ executive director, “With the onset of America’s 250th celebrations, Preservation New Jersey supports and encourages municipalities, counties, and statewide stakeholders to engage in exploring and preserving New Jersey’s role in America’s founding. In listing the Joseph Murray farmhouse and barn on the 10 Most, PNJ plans to lend support and draw further attention to the site. We applaud the efforts and stewardship to date by Middletown and the Poricy Park Conservancy and look forward to working together to achieve next steps in the preservation of the site for future generations.”
Not familiar with this local treasure? The Murray farmhouse and barn at Poricy Park in Middletown exemplify 18th-century homesteading. They are believed to have been built circa 1770 by Joseph Murray, who immigrated from Ireland. In Monmouth County, he married and started a family. In 1775, as men and women across the colonies were being forced to take sides in the contest between Patriots and Loyalists, he joined the First Monmouth County militia regiment. He gained a degree of notoriety for commandeering supplies and materials, as well as for spying on British troops. Murray was killed by Loyalists in his own fields in 1780. Today, you can visit his grave at Middletown’s Old First Church, 69 Kings Highway. His headstone reads: “Joseph Murray, who departed this life June 8, 1780 while in the service of his country.”
The property stayed in the possession of the Murray family until 1861. It operated as a dairy farm into the 1960s and the farmhouse was inhabited until it was purchased in 1973 by Middletown Township. The Poricy Park Citizens Committee, formed in 1969 to preserve surrounding open space and fossil beds from development, was an immediate partner in the stewardship of the site.
The barn was restored in 1978 and the farmhouse in 1981. They are still the property of Middletown Township and are maintained by the committee, which in 2004 changed its name to the Poricy Park Conservancy. Over the years, a wide range of activities has taken place at the site: class trips, 18th-century cooking demonstrations and dancing lessons, tavern nights, quilting bees, “haunted” tours and so much more. As one 14-year-old told a local paper in July 2000, “This is a beautiful place and it is magical going back in time.”
Today, the farmhouse and barn still remain on their original foundations and the farmhouse’s original beehive stove is still operational. But threats to any historic structure are many and varied, and the farmhouse and barn are no different. Pests like carpenter bees pose a threat, as does the wood rot that plagues so many historic structures.
The site was listed on the state register of historic places in 1976 but has not been listed on the national register of historic places. Either way, listing on the state and national registers does not necessarily guarantee any specific funding or protections. The Poricy Park Conservancy and Middletown Township continue to partner to apply for grants and otherwise secure the funding to make necessary repairs to the Murray house, but grants are often quite competitive and can be difficult to obtain, and even government budgets are limited.
Still, Tony Mercantante, Middletown Township administrator, shared that “The township is setting aside approximately $350,000 of capital and/or grant funds for window and roof improvements (to the farmhouse) in the coming year. This will be done in a historically appropriate manner to ensure the longevity and survival of this important historic site in Middletown.”
The township continues to evaluate the barn’s condition and needs.
As communities across the nation plan to celebrate America’s semi-quincentennial, the cause of preserving and protecting our Revolutionary history is more visible and timelier than ever. But historic sites can be difficult and expensive to maintain and require community engagement. To learn more about this Revolutionary War site and contribute time or dollars to preserving the Murray farmhouse and barn, visit the Poricy Park Conservancy website at poricypark.org.
Melissa Ziobro is the specialist professor of public history in the Monmouth University Department of History and Anthropology and a member of the board of directors of PNJ. Andrew Clark of the Poricy Park Conservancy Board of Trustees assisted with this article.
The article originally appeared in the July 20 – 26, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
