Charlie Fineran takes you back in time with this week’s Photos of the Week.

NOTE: Information for this article was obtained from Shippen Manor Museum brochure – Warren County Department of Land Preservation & Board of Recreation Commissioners.

Let’s go back in time! Do you wonder what the story behind Shippen Manor is? Let’s find out.

Shippen Manor, a house museum owned and operated by Warren County, is an 18th century restored iron master’s residence.

It is constructed in Georgian style from local stone with two foot thick stone walls and three immense chimneys. The ground floor contains of six rooms including a kitchen, dining room, the Scranton parlor (decorated in Victorian style to commemorate that period in the house’s history) and the Robeson study (an earlier presentation of the house).

Upstairs there were two bed chambers and four garret rooms, (rooms just below roof with sloping ceilings) which are now offices and museum storage. When the Manor was built, it was designed to be functional rather than luxurious.

The site of the Manor demonstrates the position of the Shippen Family in local society. When it was owned by the Shippen Family, the property consisted of more than 4,000 acres, including land on the Delaware River and a grant from the King of England to operate a ferry in Belvidere. This iron plantation was self-sufficient, surrounded by tenant farms, various mills, a store and the iron furnace.

Archaeological excavations at Shippen Manor have uncovered a wide range of information about the previous inhabitants of the site along with the many changes that the Manor and grounds have undergone since the 1740’s. Numerous 18th and 19th century subsurface features such as wells, builder’s trenches, refuse pits and ‘middens’ (dung hill or refuse heap) in addition to various architectural elements have been discovered. Further information about the Manor was obtained through primary sources such as inventories, letters, wills and diaries.

Three colors dominated the interior of that portion of the house restored to the colonial period, white, blue-gray and red. Through analysis of paint chips, taken from throughout the Manor, restorers have reproduced the original colors. The baseboards in this portion of the house were painted black, this prevented dirt from showing on the lower section of the white walls. The breaks in the black baseboards indicate a contemporary addition. The pine floors in the reception room, dining room and Victorian parlor are original.

Shippen Family

The Shippens were a socially prominent and wealthy Philadelphia family. Joseph Shippen, Jr. acquired title to the site of what was to be Oxford Furnace, NJ around 1741. The Manor was built circa 1754 by Dr. William Shippen, Sr. In the late 1760’s Joseph W. was installed by his father, William I, to manage the property.

His father secured the services of a local girl, Martha Axford (granddaughter of John Axford) as a housekeeper. Over the next several years, Joseph W. and Martha had seven children. To date, no evidence has been found of a marriage. When Joseph W. died intestate (without a will) in 1795, his father came to live in the Manor to administer his son’s estate and oversee furnace operations. William is said to have grown fond of his grandchildren in spite of his disapproval of Joseph W. and Martha’s relationship. Martha died in 1798 and William I owned the Manor until his death in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1801 at which time he provided for all his grandchildren in his will. Dr. William Shippen II then became owner of both the Manor and ironworks in Oxford from 1801 until his death in 1808.

Oxford Furnace

Oxford Furnace was located in part of what was then Greenwich Township along the Pequest River. The furnace was built in 1742 and started operation a year later. The original furnace had an 8-foot bosh (lower part of the walls of a blast furnace where the walls begin to slope) and was 38 feet in height. The output was from thirteen to seventeen tons of pig iron a week. By the 19th century, so much charcoal had been used for the furnace (350 bushels of charcoal per ton produced), that all the hills within the hauling distance were bare of tress. As a result, the furnace discontinued from 1809 to 1831.

At the completion of the Morris Canal, fuel was again attainable. During this time, William Henry used hot blast and obtained a patent for this method. This process enabled the furnace to produce four tons a day and when the stack was made higher, up to 10 tons a day. In 1882, the furnace went out of blast, was rebuilt and operated until about 1925. Much of the early iron was used to make fire-backs. The earliest date found on a casting made at Oxford was 1755. During the American Revolution, the furnace was one of several in the state that supplied iron for the cannonballs used by Washington’s Army.

The manor and furnace are under the stewardship of the Warren county Bicentennial Cultural and Heritage Advisory Board, formerly county Cultural and Heritage Commission. Among the charges of the commission is the continuation of the preservation, interpretation and education of Shippen Manor and Oxford Furnace for future generations.

The commission also develops county programs in order to promote public interest in local and county history, the arts, cultural values, goals and traditions of the community, as well as the state and nation

NOTE: Due to Covid 19 and restrictions please check on status of the museum before visiting. www.warrenparks.com or (908) 453-2650

NOTE #2: Many of Warren County’s historic sites have coordinated plans for a self-guided county-wide tour, with family activities at each location, on the weekend of November 6-7. Start at any site and pick up your map and guide. Mark your calendar, and read more about each site for more information!

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran

Allamuchy Township Director of Open Space

Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman

Allamuchy Historical Society – Presiden