Monmouth County Purchases $8M Middletown Estate; Will Become Park

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The Monmouth County Parks System just made a major purchase of a 17-acre waterfront estate on the Navesink River.

The plan is to convert the property into a public park.

The property is 160 Hartshorne Road in the Locust section of Middletown. On April 6, the Monmouth County Parks System purchased the property for $8.4 million. This new park will connect to Hartshorne Woods, the 800-acre peninsula park so big it has deep woods, caves, coyotes and cliffs plunging down to the Navesink River and sea.

This was a major acquisition by the Monmouth County Parks System: 160 Hartshorne Road was owned by the same family for generations, and had been on the market for some time. The property consists of a farmhouse with a wraparound porch, a lawn, a pier going into the river and woods and marshlands. You can view the property here: https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

This new piece of waterfront land is located right next to Historic Portland Place, an old farm already owned by the Parks System and which is open to the public. So now, Monmouth County will own two big properties on Navesink River, and connected to Hartṣhorne Woods.

"The most beautiful feature of this new property is the view and access to the Navesink River," said Monmouth County Parks System spokeswoman Karen Livingstone. "The Park System is pleased to add this parcel to Hartshorne Woods Park."

While the county bought the property, the Monmouth Conservation Foundation contributed $35,000 to the purchase. Monmouth Conservation Fund is a well-known Middletown-based land preservation group that has some deep-pocketed supporters.

NJ.com was the first to report of this historic sale.

They reported that the staff at the Monmouth Conservation Foundation have been talking to the property owners for the past two decades, trying to facilitate the sale of the land to the county.

"Preserving a property can take years — even decades, as in this case — from the first conversation with the landowner," MCF Director Bill Kastning told Patch. "Monmouth Conservation Foundation congratulates our dedicated Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners and many County partners on adding this acreage to our already stellar park system. We are proud to serve a valuable role in facilitating transactions such as this, by maintaining longstanding relationships with landowners and municipal collaborators."

This is one of the wealthiest parts of Middletown, abutting the Rumson border. Who lives in that neighborhood? None other than Gov. Phil Murphy, well known for his palatial home on the Navesink River, and rocker Jon Bon Jovi; Jon Stewart also used to own two mansions in that area. (One always wonders what a block party must be like along Navesink River Road.)