Hamilton resident Anne Reeves stands in the kitchen at Kuser Mansion, where she has volunteered for 20 years. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Sharon Shaw decorates a Christmas tree at Kuser Mansion Nov. 12, 2015 for the mansion’s holiday events. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Hamilton resident Debra Seabridge fixes garland along a banister at Kuser Mansion Nov. 12, 2015. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Stephanie Marino sets out ornaments for Kuser Mansion’s annual holiday display Nov. 12, 2015. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
By Laura Pollack
When Hamilton resident Anne Reeves began working as tour guide at the Kuser Farm Mansion, she was the youngest person on the job. Now, 20 years later, she is the most senior staff member and arguably knows more about the mansion than anyone else in the township.
Walking around the mansion with Reeves, there isn’t a nook or cranny that is passed over. From the curves of the walls to the knick-knacks on the counters, Reeves can rattle off the stories of the famous Kuser family with equal parts ease and delight.
“I love the people, first of all, that come and visit us,” Reeves said. “The house has always felt so warm and welcoming to people.”
Reeves originally took the job because she loved Christmas and the traditions the holiday brings. However, for Reeves—and all eight tour guides of the Kuser Farm Mansion—that sense of tradition extends beyond the usual holiday cheer. They want to share something more than decorations or holiday memories. They want to pass down their love and passion for Hamilton’s history.
While mansion tours are offered throughout the year, the holiday season is one of the busiest times. During Winter Wonderland alone, thousands of people visit the mansion to meet Santa Claus and explore the historic home.
All of the tour guides are gearing up for the holiday rush, despite some of them only taking the job a couple months ago.
Bordentown resident Steph Marino saw a recent job posting on Hamilton’s website and thought the job would be a fun way to meet new people.
“I love history so any chance I have to talk about history and have people actually listen to me I thought was a good opportunity,” Marino said.
Marino has loved history since she was a child, and her passion for the past runs in her family. Her grandparents were members of the Hamilton Historical Society and volunteered at the John Abbott House.
“I’ve always felt it was very important—globally, nationally, locally,” Marino said. “To know who you are you have to understand who you were.”
Debra Seabridge shares Marino’s deep roots to the township’s past. As a lifelong Hamilton resident, she remembers taking her children on tours of the Kuser Farm Mansion when they were children.
“When they first started opening up in [the late 1970s] for tours, my kids first came here when they were about 5 or so,” Seabridge said. Now her children have grown up and have children of their own, and Seabridge takes her grandson on the same tour she once took his parent.
“At the time when you bring your kids you don’t realize everything that went behind it, and what had to be done to make the mansion look so beautiful,” Seabridge said. “It kind of brings it home, it’s amazing.”
Sharon Shaw also brought her children to visit the Kuser Farm Mansion when they were younger and decided to take the job when she saw the listing.
“I thought it would be a different kind of job to do,” Shaw said. “I’m used to a 9 to 5 sit-behind-a-desk-job, and this just seemed like it was more creative…I like art, I like history, I like architecture so it seemed like it combined everything.”
Whether they worked at the mansion for 20 years or two months, each tour guide has a passion for not just exploring history but sharing it with others.
“It makes me filled with joy in order to do this in all honestly,” Reeves said. “You learn a lot. You hope that when you’re explaining it to people that they can appreciate a portion of how much you do.”
In order to get everything ready for the busy holiday season, the tour guides begin decorating the mansion right after the Fall Festival in October. Decorating the mansion requires both an eye for design as well as extensive knowledge about the building’s history.
Reeves said there is a pile of decorations, and the tour guides go through and find which decorations fit which room the best.
For instance, for the bedroom that featured rose wallpaper, they used rose-colored trees and wreaths to make the color pop. Another bedroom still has its original 1892 blue tile, and in order to show it off they draped the room in blue winter decor.
The care in which each piece is placed reflects the level of enthusiasm and knowledge the tour guides have for the home. Even for those who were unfamiliar with the Kuser family prior to taking the job, they have grown to love them.
“Honestly, I didn’t know anything but once I got here and I started learning about them…It’s funny how everybody says they fell in love with the house, and you just love these people and you love this house,” Marino said. “It’s just a really good energy that this whole house has.”
Marino said the Kuser family was like the “Kennedys of Hamilton, New Jersey” because of the family’s wealth, influence and entrepreneurism.
Fred and Teresa Kuser lived in New York City and built the Kuser Farm Mansion 1892 as their summer country home. In 1926, after the death of his wife, Fred Kuser moved to the farmhouse permanently. In 1931, his son Frederick and his wife Edna Howe moved into the home, where they resided until they sold their property to the township in 1976.
The Kusers had businesses in everything from cars to sports. Most notably, Anthony Kuser consolidated all the gas and electric companies in Trenton and became president of the South Jersey Gas and Electric Lighting Company. The Kusers also gave a $200,000 loan to help launch the Fox Film Company, which later became 20th Century Fox.
But it’s the little bits of information and stories about the Kuser family that the tour guides love to share the most. From Raymond Kuser landing his plane on the fields where Trenton Catholic Academy now stands to the entire mansion being built for $19,131.48—an astonishing amount of money for the late 19th century—the tour guides are happy to share their knowledge.
For Reeves, sharing the information with children is especially rewarding.
“I remember being with my grandparents, who were from the Victorian Era, and some of the things that they did are familiar to me and I understood them,” Reeves said. “This is my way of teaching others what it was like.”
Through sharing her stories about the Kuser family with children, she hopes to inspire the next generation of history buffs.
“I’ve got great grandchildren, and I want them to be able to show what went before them—what they lived with—to their great grandchildren,” Reeves said. “Everything changes, nothing stays exactly the same, but you can’t forget where you came from.”
The holiday tours begin the first weekend in December. For the full list of dates and hours, visit hamiltonnj.com/KuserMansion.
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