At the Crossroads of History

One of the ubiquitous sights in the River Towns is the red barn. While many large structures dominate a farm view, others are smaller and seem to fit into the landscape. The barn on Bowne Station Road, at the border of East and West Amwell townships, is one of the latter types. Nestled at the intersection of Garboski Road, next to a stone arched bridge over a branch of the Alexauken Creek, this small barn harmonizes with the valley’s scenery.

For the past forty years, this well-preserved piece of history has been owned by Gary and Janis Grover. The couple found the property while seeking an old house with a barn in a rural community, although they had no prior experience as barn owners.

When they first walked into the barn, the Grovers saw it as a time capsule. “There were horse shoes hanging on the walls,” Janis says. “We inherited a lifetime supply of shovels, picks, and other tools.” Today, the barn is used for storage and to house two working World War II Jeeps owned by a friend.

After the couple purchased the house, they discovered their barn’s star quality: People would stop to take photographs and wedding pictures by the bridge and barn. They appreciate the property’s heritage and feel that the barn, standing virtually unchanged for centuries, is a continuation of the area’s history.

The three-bay barn with a central threshing floor may be considered a variant of a bank barn. The front wall is level with the grade while the rear wall is on a stone wall as the grade falls away from the barn. Otherwise, it is a prototypical ground barn and does not have the upper level typically found in bank barns. Unlike most Pennsylvania barns, many New Jersey barns, such as this one, have horizontal rather than vertical siding.

That many of its main posts and beams were cut with a circular saw suggests a construction date in the mid nineteenth century. The interior of the barn has truss systems on either side of the central threshing floor, which allows access to the side bays without any central posts.

The property served as a railroad platform for the Lambertville and Flemington railroad line (now the Black River and Western Railroad) which was a part of the Belvidere-Delaware Railroad system. According to local historian Marfy Goodspeed’s study of Bowne Station, the railroad came through in the 1870s. The station, initially called Barber Station, was later renamed Bowne Station.

“It’s a responsibility and a great privilege to live in a home with so much history and a community with so much tradition,” Janis says. “I recommend that others who purchase historic properties walk carefully.”

Jeffrey L. Marshall, a former president of the Heritage Conservancy, is the author of six books on local history and historic architecture, including Barnstorming in Eastern Pennsylvania and Beyond (Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, 2021).