Park Restoration In Chester Receives A $260K Historical Grant

CHESTER, NJ — The township’s historic Merchiston Farm, also known as the Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center, is among projects throughout the state expected to share $15.8 million in grants from the Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund.

The historic house and garden, which is located at 170 Longview Road, in Chester Township, is in line to receive $260,605 from the New Jersey Historic Trust.

The structure is one of ten historic sites in Morris County that applied for the grants, and the funds will be distributed to the Garden State Preservation Trust once they are presented to the Garden State Preservation Trust.

According to a statement issued this week by the Morris County Board of Commissioners, the money requires legislative appropriation and approval by Gov. Phil Murphy.

“This is an important first step in the process, as well as an enormous boost to our own efforts to preserve, protect and restore historic sites throughout Morris County. These state dollars will supplement grants we already approved from our Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund to protect these same sites,” said Morris County Commissioner Stephen Shaw, the board’s liaison to the Office of Planning & Preservation.

The Merchiston Farm funding is a "Level 2" grant that falls under the Capital Preservation Grants category.

The category is one of four grant categories and funds capital projects with requests ranging from $150,001 to $750,000, with the New Jersey Historic Trust contributing 50 percent of the project cost and the nonprofit or government agency contributing 50 percent.

Grants for Historic Site Management include funding for preservation plans, historic structure reports, condition assessments, design documents and the creation or revision of a local historic preservation ordinance.

Merchiston Farm, also known as the Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center, is a botanical garden and public park that was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its significance as the home and landscaping of American landscape architect Martha Brookes Hutcheson.

According to the New Jersey Historic Trust, Hutcheson lived at the property, which included an 18th-century farmhouse and farmyard, from 1912 to 1959. The house is surrounded by Hutcheson's designed landscape, which includes informal gardens, a tennis court, a swimming pool and an orchard.

There are numerous trails that wind through the fields and along Bamboo Brook, in addition to the formal areas. The surrounding terrain consists of rolling meadows and wooded areas. According to the Morris County Park Commission, the area is home to a diverse range of birds, butterflies and animal life.