State decision pending on proposed school site
Archeologists turn up no signs of historic mission settlement
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

Further archeological and historical research says that the 18th-century Bethel Mission Settlement was not located on the proposed site of the new Monroe Township high school.

The latest conclusions by Cranbury-based Richard Grubb & Associates have been forwarded to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and township and school officials hope that the state will agree with them that the Bethel Mission Settlement was located north of the 35 acres of Thompson Park where the school is proposed.

"They do not believe the Bethel site was on this location," Assistant Monroe Township Attorney Peg Schaffer said. "They believe it was a half-mile away."

The archeological firm began its work in February on the proposed high school site at the corner of Perrineville and School House roads. When it presented its initial report to the DEP's Historic Preservation Office, DEP officials determined that a title search and further historical background research were needed.

Grubb has since conducted the additional research and recommended that there be no further investigation to locate the Bethel Mission Settlement within the acreage in question. The DEP will make a final determination whether the land transfer between the township and Middlesex County can proceed.

"I spoke with them on Friday, and urged them to make a decision as soon as possible," Schaffer said.

The land transfer involves the township trading 172 acres of land to the county for the 35-acre tract. Also, Monroe would pay a $1.127 million supplement to the county to cover the higher assessed value of the parkland.

The process has been wrought with dispute, with some residents unhappy about the proposed land swap, and litigation from environmental and citizens groups seeking to appeal the state's January 2006 decision to allow the transfer. Schaffer said a decision on the appeal process should come any day now.

"Until a judge issues a stay or an injunction ... we can move forward," Board of Education President Kathy Kolupanowich said yesterday.

Adding to the complexity of the process is the recent nomination of the site by Richard Walling to the state and national registers of historic places. Walling, who has conducted research on the site, was interviewed along with Monroe Township Historian John Katerba as part of Grubb's study for the DEP. While Walling has asserted that the Bethel Mission Settlement was located on the 35 acres, Katerba has said he believes it was instead on the site where the CVS pharmacy now stands in Jamesburg, across the street from the park.

According to Grubb & Associates, the settlement, which dates back to 1746, was located on the former Redmond Farm, adjoining the Lane family property, where an orchard and a spring once existed in the 1840s. That tract is about a half-mile north of where the high school is proposed.

Schaffer said artifacts found at that site prove that the settlement existed there, including land deeds.

"It's pretty clear where it was," Schaffer said.

The settlement was led by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd, who converted the 200 Leni-Lenape natives who lived there to the Christian faith. Consisting of a church, a school and 40 houses, Bethel dismantled in 1801 because of negative feelings toward the Lenape from white men during the Seven Years' War, according to Preservation New Jersey's Web site. The organization included Bethel on its "10 Most Endangered Sites" list in 2006.

Grubb's archaeological survey consisted of 600 one-foot in diameter shovel test pits, a 5-by-5-foot excavation area, and metal detection and geophysical surveys. To supplement the physical aspects of the study, Grubb conducted interviews and other research on the land. The work cost the township over $46,000, according to Schaffer.

During the survey, 624 artifacts were discovered, including three prehistoric items, and 14 artifacts that definitively date to the 18th century. Schaffer said the only remains found on the site were those of rodents.