HOWELL – Once you are bitten by the bug of examining history, there is no cure for it.
Those were the words of Ann Julian at the close of a meeting of the Howell Heritage and Historical Society. The gathering brought together 20 members of the organization to hear the promising news of the future regarding their mission to preserve the past.
They group met at the Ardena Baptist Church on Adelphia Road. Members are “trying to revitalize and reorganize,” said Julian, the group’s secretary. From the ashes of the former Howell Historical Society which formed decades ago, the new group has formed to take on the task of bringing the community’s interest in its old schoolhouse and the MacKenzie House Museum alive.
Julian was a member of the prior group and has been active in seeing the new organization form.
The MacKenzie House on 427 Lakewood-Farmingdale Rd. “has been closed for years,” Julian said. Its history began as a settler’s cabin between 1730 and 1750. In 1779 a grist mill was constructed and the cabin became the miller’s home. In the mid-1800s an addition to the house was built.
At some point in the 1920s the grist mill burned down and in 1956, Jessie and James MacKenzie purchased the home and the MacKenzie family owned it until 1982. The current cost to restore the structure is more than $150,000.
The Old Ardena Schoolhouse sitting on Old Tavern Road on the border of Farmingdale and Howell is another historic site, which was once a one room schoolhouse where boys and girls in the 1800s spent their days learning.
“The woman who owned it was aging out and it was donated to Howell Township as a museum and a place to go for the public. All went well for a number of years,” Julian said. She recalled the days when she and others would host tours for children who would come to the schoolhouse and museum on class trips.
“They’d spend half the day at the museum and the other half at the one room school house. When I would take them through, I told them I am taking you on a trip back in time when there was no electricity, no television, no air conditioning, no light. I asked them could you live this way? Some of the kids said they could not do it,” Julian said.
“A little boy told me that if we were going back in time, he’d bring his allowance because he’d be rich in that time. It is so worth it to see the children’s reactions. Yes, the adults like it too but the kids are blank slates and even with their Gameboys and cell phones this shows them what life used to be,” Julian said.
“In 2000 there was a takeover. New people were running the Society and they did not do a satisfactory job and the museum closed,” Julian said. “A new town council started reviewing the facilities when they found the museum had not been opened in years and they saw it as a financial drain and they decided to use the wrecking ball.”
[adrotate banner="278"]The MacKenzie House got a reprieve however. During a recent meeting of the Mayor and Council, the property was sold to the new organization at a cost of one dollar. “We are seeing what we can do to get back in and give the public a taste of what life was like during the time of the American Revolution,” Julian said.
The evening’s meeting also provided members to look at their community’s past and to celebrate the news regarding the township’s action. Organization Vice President Ann Malsbury wore a dress from the Revolutionary War period and also provided a number of historic items including a photo album for the display table she was responsible for.
The church’s gymnasium where the meeting was held had four tables featuring maps, newspaper articles, photographs, drawings, paintings and a miniature model of the MacKenzie house that had been sold to the new organization for $35.
“We have a lot of work ahead and a lot of fundraisers to hold,” Julian said.
Bob Novak was among those who attended the meeting. “This is very good news (concerning the Mayor and Council’s selling the property to the group). Novak is on the slate to become the group’s next president. He said the Monmouth County Historical Commission has been “a very supportive group and they seem very willing to be helpful to our organization and helpful with our getting grants.”
“That is a bargain price,” Leigh Shaffer said. She is a former president of the Farmingdale Historical Society and a member of the organization. “A formal closing will happen soon and we have a meeting with lawyers concerning the disbanding of the old Society. A cost estimate is being prepared for what is needed to reopen the MacKenzie house. This all takes time.”
