As part of continuing efforts to renew the historical landmark in the heart of the township, the Township Council approved on August 3 a $32,000 contract with the New Jersey Barn Company to repair the Schenck Farm School House timberframe.
The contract is the latest move the township has made toward restoring the entire farmstead. According to Sam Surtees, the township’s division of land use manager, the contract authorizes the company to do restoration work on the timbers and also replicate any timbers they are not able to restore. It also authorizes them to reassemble the new schoolhouse on the foundation.
While the New Jersey Barn Company can work on restoring the timberframe, it cannot reassemble the school house on the foundation until bids are received and construction is done on a new foundation. But those bid packages went out this week, said Surtees.
The bid package is for the construction of a new foundation for the schoolhouse and carriage house, and also for handicap improvements around the farmstead, as well as work to finish the display room in the barn and the replacement of some fire doors, he said. “That has to happen before the New Jersey Barn Company can do the reassembling,” Surtees said.
“Once that is awarded, and that work is completed, then we could get a certificate of occupancy,” Surtees added.
The proposals are due back to the township on Wednesday, September 9. “Hopefully we’ll get a nice number of bids, and it will come in under what we have budgeted,” Surtees said. From there, “it will probably take six to eight weeks to get permits,” he said. “The bid would be awarded some time in October, permits would be awarded some time early next year, and construction can begin in March of next year. So next year at this time, it should have a C.O. and be open to the public.”
“Most definitely, the barn would be done and open next fall,” Surtees said. “I’m really looking to get 90 percent done within the next year.”
Over the winter, the township awarded contracts for work on the carriage house reconstruction, parsonage/school house, and the barn renovations.
Set back off Southfield Road, the Schenck Farmstead is buffered by the surrounding cornfields and rows of trees and shrubbery. The council endorsed a Master Plan for the farmstead over the summer.
The site’s structures date from approximately the 1740s to the early 1900s, and officials have hoped it would serve as a tool for educating residents about the town’s agricultural roots, as well as serve as the home base for the township’s historical society. The three structures on site — the Dutch-English barn, the carriage/wagon house, and the school house — complement the main house, which now serves as the historical society’s home.
The restoration project spans all the way back to 1991, when the land and its structures were donated to the township by Max Zaitz. From 1991 to 1993, officials worked on a restoration plan and repairs for the site’s house.
In 1994 public sewer and water was brought to the site, and the schoolhouse was relocated to the Schenck Farm from its original location at the Maurice Hawk school on Clarksville Road. A foundation was quickly put in, but it didn’t resemble what a school house from that era would have looked like, and the building was also placed improperly, causing leaks. No money was put into the capital budget at the time to fix it, and the schoolhouse sat there for years.
In 1995 heating, venting, and air conditioning were added to the house, and in 1997 planning for the barn restoration began. Initial bids were set out in 1998 for the barn work, but originally came back higher than anticipated. From 1999 to 2000, the barn frame was disassembled, and the shed portion of the barn was supported and enclosed. Between 2001 and 2002, the barn foundation was constructed. In 2002 work on the house had been completed, so it was opened up for tours to the public.
Between 2002 and 2003, the timber frame of the barn was repaired and reassembled, and between 2003 and 2004, its light framing, siding, and roofing was installed.
Most recently, between 2007 and 2008, the barn’s shed repairs, roof, siding, electrical work, lighting, and emergency exits were added, and the school house was disassembled, and moved off site for safe keeping until it can be restored.
The plan also allows for other historical structures to be located on site in the future. Some planned structures include a windmill, which has already been donated for the site, and a pump house.
