Preserve the Harbourton Historic District

In 1768, a Welshman named John Harbort founded the village of Harbourton in Central New Jersey. The village was surrounded by, and is still surrounded by a wide belt of agricultural land. With most of its original houses still standing, Harbourton retains its historic identity better than any of Hopewell Valleys other rural communities, according to local historians. In 1974, the Harbourton Historic District was accepted to both the State and the National Registers of Historic Places.

Mercer Countys current plan to replace the Jacobs Creek Bridge with a newly constructed bridge and realigned roadway designed for heavy truck traffic, eliminating the traffic calming T-intersection, could prove catastrophic to the preservation of the Harbourton Historic District, just miles down the road from the bridge. The inevitable change in traffic patterns would include not only increased car traffic, but a flood of large trucks barreling through the narrow street of the Historic District, where the key historic buildings sit right at the roadside.

In an effort to preserve the Harbourton Historic District, we, the signers below, hereby petition Mercer County to abandon its plan for a newly constructed bridge and realigned roadway over the Jacobs Creek at Bear Tavern Road, and instead to rehabilitate the current 1882 bridge, using the Jacobs Creek Bridge Task Force top recommendation (Alternative 3b) as a basis - a rehabilitation that will satisfy all traffic and safety concerns, while preserving history at the same time.