Home News Tribune Online 12/3/06

JAMESBURG — Buckelew Mansion is said to be haunted, but the house is a ghost of its former self.

The historic building, in a sad state of decay, is literally sinking.

Water from a nearby lake creeps through the basement's brick floor, muddying it with puddles 4 inches deep. The corner of the dining room has sunk more than 4 inches over the past two years, detaching the ceiling from a plaster wall. In one of the mansion's 23 rooms, an inch-wide crack runs like a lightening bolt to the floor. In another, Sheetrock, graying with mold, dangles from the ceiling in a twisted jumble. And all that's keeping the 1830s-era parlor rooms from collapsing is a propped-up two-by-four.

"The Buckelew mansion is in desperate condition,"

said Chad Hetzell, treasurer and former president of the Jamesburg Historical Association.

The more than 300-year-old mansion's only foreseeable hope is to receive $500,000 in requested funding from Middlesex County. Borough residents and history buffs have their fingers crossed.

The house was once home to borough namesake James Buckelew, one of the most influential figures in Central Jersey's history. The mansion, which dates back to the 1600s, is listed in the national and state historic registers and is a designated Green Acres Historic Site.

Yet the Buckelew Mansion, also known as Lakeview, is no roped-off museum. It's a touchable time capsule that brings past centuries to life.

"You can touch the coach that Abe Lincoln rode to Trenton in for his first inauguration," said Hetzell. "You can touch the curtains, touch the windows, sit in chairs. That makes us unique."

Seeking funding

Ron Becker, president of the historical association, estimates his all-volunteer organization rakes in a few hundred dollars per year in membership dues plus an additional thousand dollars or so, at best, in donations.

"We really never ask for money," Becker said.

The association has maintained the mansion since 1979, running free tours for the public on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. The group also hosts various seasonal events, such as a Victorian-style Christmas program, a Presidents Day program, Buckelew Day, and a Halloween haunted house.

"Being a small municipality, we don't have the luxury of being able to put in our budget the large sums of money needed to keep buildings like this up," said Mayor Tony LaMantia.

In the past, funding has come from the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission and the State Historic Trust.

Last month, the mayor asked the freeholders for $472,000 to fund urgently needed repairs, which would fix the foundation and the roof and replace the boiler, which has been destroyed by flooding in the basement.

The funds also may help patch a hole in the roof of the farm museum, which sits in a garage at the back of the property. LaMantia calls these renovations "Phase One," differentiating them from the remaining $728,000 worth of upgrades in second and third phases, such as replacing banisters and installing insulation, that he says can wait for the spring.

Historical value

"It's one thing to learn history out of a book. It's another thing to experience history," Becker said.

That's why LaMantia believes the mansion is too valuable to lose.

"It's one of the major historic sites in the county and in the state," LaMantia said. "The history of Jamesburg is right there."

Buckelew was an original contractor for the Camden and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Co. in 1831, the first rail line in New Jersey and one of the first in the nation. Buckelew also built the first public school in the borough in 1847 and opened it to all, regardless of skin color. The endeavor was his reaction to the Monroe school system's refusal to enroll a black child. The 13th Amendment ended slavery 16 years later.

Buckelew is also known for establishing the First National Bank of Jamesburg, donating land to area churches and Fernwood Cemetery, and owning the mules that pulled barges along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

The mansion was later rented out as a boarding house, primarily for unmarried teachers, from 1908 to the 1930s.

"A lot of people passed through there. Some never checked out," said Tom Bodall, second vice president of the historical association.

"According to different teams of (psychic) investigators that we've had come to Lakeview, the mansion is haunted by a number of different spirits and entities. Many people have had their own personal experiences in the house — hearing footsteps, seeing things that aren't really there," Bodall continued. "We've recorded voices in the house. Mr. and Mrs. Buckelew are present in the house."

While Lakeview remains very much the same as it was centuries ago, the mansion has become central to present-day visitors. It is home both to borough events and contemporary organizations, including The Lakeview Players, the Jamesburg High School Alumni Association and Jersey Central N-TRAK, a railroad enthusiast group.

Cassandra Campos, 17, of East Brunswick is a member of the Players, a theater group that rehearses and performs improv shows at the mansion. Campos said she and her friends hang out at the historic site on a weekly basis, even when the organizations they belong to aren't meeting.

"I used to hate history until I started coming to this house. They teach you everything about it, and it's amazing," she said. "It just feels like you're back there."

Rebecca Lerner:

(732) 565-7271;

rlerner@thnt.com

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