Haddonfield has a rich history, dating back hundreds of years. There are many historical houses and places in the borough, but not all of them are where they used to be. Many of the houses, churches and buildings have been moved from their original setting.
Helen Stevens Mountney, a member of the Historical Society of Haddonfield, has been recording these houses for the past six and a half years in a regular column of the HSH’s “Bulletin.” These columns have been gathered together, along with a few more, in a book called “Haddonfield on the Move.”
Released on Nov. 16, “Haddonfield on the Move” is a 42-chapter book of buildings of Haddonfield that were moved. The book holds 210 pages, not including the forward, prologue and dedication, and 123 pictures of buildings and maps of before and after locations.
“Each chapter is a separate entity. You don’t have to read it from page one to 110. The book can be read skipping around,” Mountney said.
Mountney started writing about the moving houses when she, as well as Elizabeth Lyons and Katherine Mansfield Tassini, were having a general conversation at the HSH’s library about moving houses. Lyons and Tassini asked if she wanted to write an article about the moving houses in the “Bulletin.” Little did Mountney know how large of a project she was taking on when she agreed.
“From there it snowballed,” Mountney said.
In May 2008, Mountney started researching historical houses that were known to have moved and spoke to people around town about them. She found that research for one story would lead to another and to another.
“I found houses we didn’t know that moved by accident just by talking to people,” Mountney said.
According to Mountney, one of the biggest examples was the HSH’s library itself. The dark, red-framed, almost 300-year-old building next to HSH’s museum was originally located along Kings Highway, then moved to Ellis Street and finally settled to where it is now.
Friends and members of the HSH would tell her the articles she wrote were really interesting and had to be kept in a book. With the help of Tassini, Mountney was given the blessing by the board of directors and they started to put the book together.
“I had fun doing it. I met a lot of great people in town, and I didn’t have to go in the houses. I just had to talk to the people. I did a lot of phoning and emailing, and general meeting people and talking with them. I have been getting a lot of fun out of it,” Mountney said.
Mountney already had a lot of the research and articles written, but the articles needed to be revised and updated for publication. They also researched other houses that haven’t been printed as of yet in the “Bulletin,” but are a part of the book.
“I learned a lot of the history of Haddonfield by researching these moved houses. Why they moved, what caused the move, it’s a general learning process for me. I learned a lot about people and a lot about the town,” Mountney said.
With the help of Tassini and Doug Rauschenberger, the former town librarian, Mountney compiled and finished the book, which the HSH published.
Up to the date of publication, according to Mountney, they do not know of any other buildings in Haddonfield that have been moved so the book is, as of now, a finished project.
Copies of “Haddonfield on the Move” can be bought through the HSH as well as the Haddonfield Information Center and Harrisons of Haddonfield. The book as well as HSH’s other book, “Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, 1680–1762, Building the Quaker Community of Haddonfield, New Jersey, 1701–1762,” will be sold as a bundle at the HSH’s library as well as its Holly Festival and Shop on Dec. 14 for $30 as a special for Christmas. For more information, go to the HSH’s website at haddonfieldhistory.org or call them at (856) 429–7375.
