Category: kingston

News or events in Kingston which we participate in or promote

KHS Annual Meeting featured talk by D&R Canal Commission Executive Director

Annual Meeting November 12 at Kingston Fire House

2024 KHS Annual meeting was held at 7:30 pm on Tuesday November 12th at the Kingston Firehouse; our speaker was D&R Canal Commission Executive Director John Hutchison, who gave an illustrated presentation including new drone video of the D&R Canal.

The drone video is available at: THIS LINK

John Hutchison, Executive Director of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission will present an illustrated program on the Commission. He will describe its role in preserving the Canal and its corridor and the process of a new master plan. The MasterPlan was last updated in 1989. As part of that process, the Canal is being documented by drone. A new video taken by drone,“Taking Flight on the D&R Canal: Raven Rock to Prallsville Mills” will be shown.

2024 is the 50th Anniversary of both the D&R Canal State Park and The D&R Canal Commission. Both the Park and the Commission were established by the D&R Canal State Park Law of 1974. The Park is the second most used State Park in New Jersey. Many are familiar with the Park. People are less familiar with the Commission and its mission to “prepare, adopt, and implement a master plan for the physical development of the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, review State and local actions that impact on the park to insure that these actions conform as nearly as possible to the Commission’s master plan, and coordinate and support activities by citizens’ groups to promote and preserve the Park.” The Commission’s regulations and continuing actions are essential in preserving not just a historic canal and a park, but a unique corridor of natural, historic and recreational resources in the center of the most densely populated state in the nation.

John Hutchison was appointed the fourth Executive Director of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission in 2017. He advises the Commission on its actions and serves as the chief administrative officer of the Commission. He is assisted by and oversees the operations of a professional staff of administrative and engineering personnel from the Commission’s office at the historic Prallsville Mills complex in Stockton, New Jersey. Prior to his appointment, he served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.

Exploring the Kingston Lock Area

The October 19,2024 walk along the D&R Canal was a big success!

The weather was perfect for walking, and we had a good crowd gathered. They heard about the event in US1, Princeton Online, South Brunswick Patch and by word of mouth. Fall foliage was neary at its peak.

The “Walk the Lock” event began in the Locktender’s house with Robert von Zumbusch and George Luck demonstrating our models of the Lock and the A-frame bridge.

Then Charlie Dieterich described the A-frame bridge, which carried the Lincoln Highway through Kingston. He took the group across the “new” bridge that replaced the Swing bridge over the canal and upstream to the canal’s turning basin and the Carnegie Lake dam.

Doug made a short video of some still images and George reading from a 1918 newspaper article concerning the bridge at Kingston. During the First World War the canal was guarded by New Jersey national guardsmen, as it was a military asset.

The story of the suspected spy was discovered by Markus McParland while researching his BOOK.

It all seems unreal (like the music)!

George explains the Battle of Kingston Lock, WWI…

Thanks to Sharon Hansen, there were refreshments too!

The Kingston Historical Society will host an easy stroll focusing on historic structures of the Delaware and Raritan Canal in the Kingston area.
Come see the history and learn how the canal worked. Led by Robert von Zumbusch, president of the Kingston Historical Society and Charlie Dieterich, Society secretary and archivist, the mile-long journey will begin and end at the Kingston Locktender’s House, just off Route 27 at the foot of the Kingston hill, near 4492 Route 27, Princeton.
Participants will walk on the D & R Canal towpath and other paths that may be muddy, so appropriate footwear is advised. There will also be an opportunity to see the canal exhibits and a demonstration of models of the lock and original A-Frame bridge in the Locktender’s House.
The event is free and open to all. Children should be carefully supervised near the canal and its structures. Parking is available in the State Park lots, along the road, and also across Route 27 in the Flemer Preserve. Light refreshments will be served.

South Brunswick Patch

Kingston’s stop on “Five Canal Houses” tour

On Sunday, September 15th, the Delaware and Raritan canal was bustling with activity as canal-related groups created a “Canal House Challenge” This was part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the D&R Canal State Park and D&R Canal Commission.

Displays and Refreshments in the North Room (Kristina Hill photo)

D & R Canal Watch was the organizing group, while The friends groups opened five bridgetender and locktender homes: East Millstone, Blackwells Mills, Griggstown, Kingston, and Port Mercer were opened for tours.

Robert von Zumbusch explains Canal Lock Operations (Kristina Hill photo)

Visitors wishing to participate in the challenge received a “Passport” to be stamped at each house. Those who visited all five received a small prize.

D and R Canal Watch “Passport” cover

Five members of the Kingston Historical Society greeted visitors (with and without Passports) and explained the displays and our canal study models. Shown below are Robert von Zumbusch and Charlie Dieterich demonstrating the Kingston Lock and Swing Bridge models.

Passport interior. Stamps indicate canal house visits completed.

Some visitors were heading north (downstream) from Port Mercer in Lawrence Township (opened by the Lawrence Historical Society) going to East Millstone. Others started in Kingston or traveled upstream from East Millstone to Port Mercer.

A boat exits the lower lock (Kristina Hill photo)

Over forty groups came through to see the displays. Thanks to all who prepared the Locktender’s House for the open house and those who made cookies (not shown)!

Charlie Dieterich supervises visiting (model) boatmen. A model of the early D&R Canal Swing Bridges is in the foreground (Kristina Hill photo)

A new display celebrating the Canal Commission and the State Park has been added to our center room. Come by on Saturday or Sunday to see it and all the displays at the Kingston Locktender’s House.

Lock-Tender’s House display featured in local paper

US 1 newspaper and PrincetonInfo.com featured an article on the Kingston Lock and our current exhibition “Kingston’s Lock: History Preserved — Photos and Drawings from 1936 re-interpreted for the 21st Century”

The article is available online: https://www.communitynews.org/princetoninfo/coverstories/unlocking-a-bit-of-local-history-in-kingston/article_8a175cc0-2814-11ef-a778-ef510c9bccb1.html

More about the display:

“Kingston’s Lock: History Preserved- Photos and Drawings from 1936 re-interpreted for the 21st Century” Drawings, Photographs and Text documenting the D&R Canal Lock in Kingston, NJ.

The Miter Gate Lock installed on the Delaware and Raritan Canal, photographed in 1936 as part of a WPA Historic American Buildings Survey. The Lock-Tender's house is visible in the background.
Kingston Lock, HABS Photo, 1936

Video of Spring Talk now online!

The Kingston Historical Society celebrated the centennial of the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 with Chief George Luck Jr. (retired) speaking at the firehouse and via Zoom.

A video of the May 14, 2024 presentation, with a description of the program, is now available HERE

Our streaming video file is hosted on Archive.org, a non-profit repository for community videos. Consider donating a few dollars to them!

The KHSNJ on-line archive (archive.khsnj.org) also has items related to the 100th anniversary, view that collection HERE

100 Years of Volunteers-Opens

A new display “100 Years of Volunteers-The Kingston Volunteer Fire Co.” is now up in the Lock-Tender’s House. On the left the display shows a section from the 1924 KVFC Certificate of Incorporation. The rest of the display is divided into the three “objects for which the corporation is formed:”

  • …to Reduce the Fire Hazard in the Vicinity of Kingston,
  • …to Promote Good Fellowship Among its Members,
  • …to Forward the General Welfare of the Community.
Display board of 100 Years of Volunteers is viewed by a man pointing out one face in a photo
Viewing the Display in the Lock-Tender’s House

The display is in support of the KHS spring talk “100 Years of the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company” A talk by George Luck Jr. to be held at the Kingston Fire House on May 14th at 7:30 PM

For more information on the May 14th talk, go to the registration page HERE

To view the display, visit the Kingston Lock on the Delaware and Raritan Canal on weekends between 10 AM and 5 PM.

This Display celebrates the members of the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company No. 1. May the images on display here remind us of the foresight of those who formed the Fire Company one hundred years ago, and all who have kept our village safe.

Newspaper articles and photographs are from the archives of the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company and the Kingston Historical Society, selected and arranged by Charlie Dieterich and George Luck, Jr. Assembled by the KHS Archivists. May, 2024

Open House Weekend a Success

April 6 and 7, 2024 was opening weekend for displays at the Kingston Lock-Tender’s House. Several dozen folks came through our expanded display space — from local historians to joggers taking a break from their canal run.

a man sits by two models, one of a canal lock, and one of a swing bridge

Society president, Robert von Zumbusch demonstrated how the Kingston canal lock worked and how the swing bridge, just downstream of the lock, could be swung away from the canal to allow boats to travel through. Both the lock and swing bridge have been removed from the D&R canal.

Charlie Dieterich and Peter Shell, who assembled the new display “Kingston’s Lock: History Preserved” stand in front of the large panel.

In addition to the new display, two continuing displays drew attention. One concentrated on Inns and Taverns of Kingston and the other on Main Street Kingston.

This weekend was also the first chance for visitors to see the North Room, the Lock-Tender’s living room. Recently renovated, it includes a few items including a large desk built in Kingston by Mr. Moor, who later became the Lock-Tender.

The Lock-Tender’s House will be open weekends from 10-5 until the end of October, and 10-4 in November, 2024.

New Exhibit coming April 6, 2024

The Kingston Lock-Tender’s House display space opens for the the season on April 6 with an open house. Volunteers are working on this year’s displays as well as preparing a second display room.

Here are a couple of photos:

Here is a mock up for a photo shoot showing the lower, miter gate of the Kingston Lock. These “miter gates” were removed in 1945 when the canal was converted to water supply. The upper gate, which was a “drop gate,” was sealed with a concrete barrier containing water flow control valves.

Below is a photograph from the 1936 National Park Service’s “Historic American Buildings Survey” HABS of the Kingston NJ Lock on the D & R Canal (called “Heathcote” by the Library of Congress.)

The goal of the display is to relate structures in the 21st Century canal park to their appearance in the 19th and 20th century, when the canal was in operation.

Open house will be 10 AM to 5 PM at the Kingston lock. Free and open to the public.

—-

HABS NJ-359
Survey Photographs from Nov. 1936 Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, and Canvass White. Delaware & Raritan Canal, Drawbridge, Lock & Tollhouse, Delaware & Raritan Canal, Heathcote, Middlesex County, NJ. www.loc.gov/item/nj0579/

Press Release:

Kingston Historical Society Open House celebrates new exhibit: “Kingston’s Lock – History Preserved”

Saturday and Sunday April 6 and 7, 10 am – 5 pm

Kingston LockTender’s House on the D&R Canal just off Route 27, Kingston, New Jersey
(GPS address: 39 Old Lincoln Highway, Princeton NJ, 08540)

As part of its celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the D&R Canal State Park and the D&R Canal Commission, the Kingston Historical Society’s first exhibit is a new display: “Kingston’s Lock: History Preserved–Photos and Drawings from 1936 re-interpreted for the 21st Century,” which celebrates the preservation of drawings and photographs of canal structures created during the Great Depression, making these formal drawings accessible to modern viewers. During the Open House, both display rooms will be open. Members of the Society will demonstrate models of the Kingston Lock and Kingston’s former A-Frame bridge which carried road traffic across the canal. The program is free and all are welcome. https://www.khsnj.org/

The LockTender’s House will be open to the public on weekends and major holidays April through October from 10 am to 5 pm and in November from 10 am to 4 pm.

About the Canal: The village of Kingston served as the central port of the Delaware and Raritan Canal. The canal and its feeder opened in 1834 connecting Pennsylvania coal fields with New York markets, as well as providing inland passage for pleasure boats and other commercial traffic.
In 1932 the canal ceased operation.

In 1934 the canal property reverted to the State of New Jersey. Fortunately, in 1936, the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), now a program of the National Park Service, documented Kingston’s recently closed lock, bridge and canal buildings. The carefully prepared architectural drawings and photographs provide a snapshot of the now-closed canal. The Kingston Historical Society’s new display adds context to the reprinted drawings (originals housed in the Library of Congress) with additional photographs and text to help understand the survey.

Fifty years ago, in 1974, legislation was passed creating the D&R Canal Commission and the D&R Canal State Park. This assured historic preservation of structures for future generations. The Kingston Lock area is one of its most popular access points in the State Park.

About Kingston Historical Society: The Kingston Historical Society (KHS) was formed in 1997 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization to preserve, enhance and promote the history of the village of Kingston, New Jersey. The KHS has its headquarters in the Locktender’s House on the Delaware and Raritan Canal where volunteers maintain the original circa 1834 home of families who operated the Kingston canal lock and the adjacent canal bridge.

Attached photos:
1) Archive team member Peter Shell adjusts the model of the canal lock

2) Swing bridge model built by Paul Kayne (2001)

Contact: Charles Dieterich (Secretary, Kingston Historical Society)

Archiving… and you

The Kingston Historical Society (KHS) was formed in 1997 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization to preserve, enhance and promote the history of the village of Kingston, New Jersey.

For the past 25+ years we have been been collecting items related to the village of Kingston and preparing presentations for the community. Some of our artifacts help us to understand our environment. For example, the flour sack shows what was produced at the Kingston mill on the Millstone River.

Copies of photos brought to Photo Night at the Kingston Firehouse on March 5, 6, 2011
Flour Sack from Kingston Roller Mills

Other items help us to remember our more recent history.

Glasses and mugs from community anniversaries (and the Main Street Coffee House)

The Kingston Historical Society maintains a second website to show photographs of artifacts via the world wide web. This second site uses a more formal style than our main, WordPress formatted, website. Items in the archive site can be linked back to our WordPress pages, as seen here–

Here’s a photo of the Delaware and Raritan Canal at the Kingston Lock. In May of 1989 the section of the canal was drained so gates could be repaired.

several photographs from the period were gathered as an archive “Item”
https://archive.khsnj.org/items/show/82

And this item is combined with several other items to create a “collection” related to the Kingston Canal Area: https://archive.khsnj.org/collections/show/16

So far we have created a number of collections which you are welcome to browse. https://archive.khsnj.org/collections/browse

There is plenty more archiving work that needs to be done. Some is methodical and some will require creativity. The Kingston Historical Society welcomes volunteers from central New Jersey to join us in the work of sorting, preserving and displaying our collection. If you are interested in being a part of the team, please fill out the form at the bottom of THIS LINKED PAGE. It’s a great way to learn history by helping preserve it.

Holiday Tree Lighting- 2023

Photo by Glen McParland

The weather cleared just in time for our community tree lighting, Sunday December 3rd, 2023. The crowd was not as large as other years, but the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 came to provide lights, and the Kingston Women’s Chorus came to provide a joyous sing-along.

Photo by Charlie Dieterich
Photo by Charlie Dieterich

The Kingston Women’s Chorus sang seasonal favorites and reminded us that they have a concert on December 10th at the Kingston United Methodist Church. See OUR EVENTS LIST

Before the event the Kingston Historical Society opened the history room in the Kingston Locktender’s House for one last view of the 2023 displays. The Locktender’s House is now closed until April, 2024. The windows of the house were decorated by Karen Linder and Anne Zeman, with evergreen arrangements made at the December 2nd Wreath and Garland Making Workshop put on by the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands. fpnl.org

Photo by Glen McParland

The Historical Society provided cookies and hot chocolate, the assembled crowd provided magical power to light the tree for the holiday season.

Photo by Glen McParland

Trustees Sharon Hansen and George Luck, Jr. were in charge of food and setup. Deputy Chief Robert Weissman led the Fire Company’s lighting detail

Photo by Glen McParland

Thanks to all who attended. See you next year!

Volunteer!