One way to get an idea of what a new place is like is to look at a map that shows its area graphically. You don’t get much idea of what it might be like to live there, but at least you will see it in relation to other places you might be familiar with and, for example, where the nearest roads are. You will also see the geological features that might be of interest to you, like, say, the nearest river or lake, and the mountains or hills, if there are any.
Obviously, maps also show you how far away the other nearby towns are. For example, you will find that it is exactly three miles from the corner of Washington and Cranbury roads in West Windsor to the corner of Washington Road and Nassau Street in Princeton, a trip many of us probably make several times a week.
But when you look at a map it’s also important to know how old it is. The map of a place like West Windsor, for example, has changed drastically in the last few decades. When the residential building boom started around 30 years ago there were some residents who were concerned that unless some constraints were initiated soon, there would be nothing left of the open land that had once been farmed, and that the entire township — and maybe even the whole state — would become a large “sea” of houses. Nice houses, of course, but houses nonetheless with all the schools, paved roads, and need for municipal services that go with them. Some saw New Jersey as nothing more than an extension of New York City — and maybe a bit of Philadelphia, too. The discussion went so far as to refer to “urbanizing” West Windsor — a scary thought to many.
There’s no doubt that New Jersey has many assets as a place to live. There are mountains and wetlands, lakes and rivers, beaches and the ocean, and rich farmlands — just about every kind of terrain that has some feature to attract people to come and live here. And some large areas such as the Pine Barrens have been preserved — supposedly forever. The Pine Barrens occupy 22 percent of New Jersey’s land area. Occasionally we have weather extremes we could do without, but generally speaking our weather is stable most of the year.
But maps can tell you a lot. My favorites are those published by the USGS, that is the United States Geological Survey. They are very accurate, are updated periodically, and contain no advertising. Not long after I came to West Windsor I bought a set of USGS maps that cover the entire central New Jersey area. The ones I have of the West Windsor area were based on aerial photos taken in 1970 and field checked that same year. Some of the main features are based on the 1954 edition. It’s interesting to note how much residential development had taken place in Princeton by then, while there was hardly any in West Windsor and Plainsboro. Farming, though diminishing, was still king.
Among the interesting features of the West Windsor landscape shown on the map is the Upper Bear Swamp. This covered much of the area bounded by Route 1, Quaker Bridge Road, the railroad track main line, and the Dinky tracks. Little Bear Brook more or less bisects it. Much of the land surrounding the swampy area was so flat that farming there was very difficult because of poor drainage.
When the Estates at Princeton Junction was built on Bear Brook Road special preparation of the terrain in that area was required. That also required the realignment of Bear Brook Road. Sometimes, during heavy rains, the direction of flow in Little Bear Brook still reverses, and part of it flows from east to west instead of west to east.
Other useful features of the USGS maps are the contour lines and bench marks that give the elevation of the terrain above sea level. By observing these you can tell how high the hills are — if there are any. The contours show that West Windsor is pretty flat, averaging between about 60 and 100 feet above sea level. The elevation gets a few feet higher to the east in the direction of Hightstown, and that helps keep the Millstone River flowing in the right direction — from east to west — in our part of the state.
Fortunately for West Windsor, as well as for the state as a whole, some leaders in New Jersey could see what might be coming and started the movement to begin preserving what we had. As a result of the efforts of Governors Byrne, Cahill, and Whitman large land areas of the state are now preserved and, as demonstrated by the recent legislative decision to ban pipelines in the Pine Barrens, will continue to be preserved.
Governor Whitman promoted the state open space tax, and many municipalities, including West Windsor, followed suit by instituting their own. To date, through the efforts of Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS), West Windsor has preserved nearly 1,700 acres. Add to that the areas of West Windsor municipal parks and the Mercer County Park and you find that nearly 49 percent of the area of West Windsor has been preserved. Theoretically that area will remain free of development indefinitely. But it is what we allow to happen to the remaining 51 percent that will determine what it will be like to live here.
