Evens Farmstead - Art and Golf and Culture, Oh My! - Evesham Twp., NJ - Official Local Tourism Attractions on Waymarking.com

Historically, Evesham has been known best for its well preserved homesteads and farmsteads from early to mid eighteenth century colonial America. The township bought one of these sites, the Thomas & Mary Evens House a few years back, renovated the house and built a really nice golf course. The site is gorgeous featuring the center for the arts, a small lake and fountain, scenic vistas, a nice gazebo to hang out in or get married in and other amenities. In fact, this is the only non-governmental link featured on our home page.

We received a grant from the state and together with Green Acres money (another one of our open spaces preservation program), bought the historic Evens house in 2000 and it was rededicated as the Center for the Arts in Southern NJ & is a cultural center providing classes and exhibitions that are open to the public. The grant helped fund structural stabilization, exterior restoration, & interior rehabilitation. It has been a boon for the local economy so far.

About the Homestead

This is another typical example of 18th century homes in New Jersey. We have many historic sites similar to this one. Many of these similar historic resources of Evesham Township were entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 under the title, Historic Resources of Evesham Township, New Jersey. This one was entered onto the National Register in 1993.

I found an old picture in an archive of a series of pictures containing 110 photographs taken by N. R. Ewan (a fellow Mason like me) during the 1930s showing pre-1800 private homes and outbuildings in Burlington County. The photo of this house (see gallery) looks exactly like the house today. The pictures as well as a biography of the photographer can be found HERE. The picture is numbered #61. If you navigate to the first referenced site (Historic American Buildings Survey, click on the B& W link and you can see the actual pictures of this house and of the bricked date and homeowner initials. Take a gander at the other homes and you will see so many resemblances, that one cannot be distinguished from another. I suppose any one of these could have been earmarked as a cultural center. The picture was taken in 1939.

The initials and date, like all the other existing 18th century homes, are found at the top of the west end of the home, on the side. The date 1785 is splayed out in some kind of white stone (limestone?) and intermingled with in the brick. Similarly, the initials are displayed in the same manner, with the letter E (presumably for Evens) lying just beneath the A frame and below from left to right are the initials T (for Thomas) & M (for Mary). These initials were produced the EXACT same way as the Jacob Wills house which is no surprise since records seem to indicate the knew each other and went together to the same Meeting House for worship. The Evens/Evans have many other still existing homes not too far from this one, all with the same patterned brick and similar construction.

in 1785, with a western addition in 1790, the Georgian-vernacular house retains much of its original building material and its farm-like setting. It served for many years as the homestead for a family descended from original settlers. Now, the structure is part of the Indian Springs Golf Course and sits amid protected open space purchased with state Green Acres funds.

About The Center

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