Shinn - Curtis Log House - Mt. Laurel, NJ
N 39° 59.625 W 074° 47.383
18S E 517951 N 4427084
in 1969, this house was removed by the city for preservation and now the Mt. Holly Historical Society has a fifty year lease on the house. Today, it is a contributing structure to the Mt. Holly Historic District.
Waymark Code: WMER4G
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2012
Views: 6
The early settler's log house of hand-hewn logs was entirely cased in a house on Water Street (now Rancocas Road) and was uncovered in 1967 when the surrounding house was demolished. It was in the possession of the Curtis family for 147 years, since 1802, and is now owned by the Mount Holly Historical Society. I had to do some digging to find out where the house was originally located.
I came across a scanned document located HERE. The document is from June of 1983, at least that is the newest date I can find typed on it. The document is an architectural data form from the Historic American Building Survey, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The document lists the original location of the house as 20 Water Street. Unfortunately that street was changed to Rancocas Road. So I punched in 20 Rancocas Road instead on GoogleEarth and was greeted with a likely location where the house probably once sat, 541 feet away to the northeast. I next found an old map, located HERE, and matched up the modern location with the location on the map and sure enough, it looks to be the right spot. If I am wrong, it cannot be by that much. 
Further information on the document reveals the house was owned by Aquilla Shinn and his descendants from c1712 to 1802. In 1802 it was acquired by the Curtis family and remained in that family until mid-20th century. Eleni SIlverman, the HABS Architectural Historian found her information from Jack E. Boucher from a telephone conversation with N.K. Beinke, Fenruary 25, 1969.
Today, the house is located at an interesting location. It seems it was just plopped down along this small road, next to the municipal building and across the creek from the courthouse. Plentiful parking is everywhere; two large parking lots for all the government employees are on either side of the house. There is also a grist mill stone on display and an historic marker as well. I visited the house on Wednesday, June 2012 at about 4:30 PM on a beautiful and very hot day.
Naturally, a building this old and unique is also a contributing structure to the Mount Holly Historic District. In my never ending quest to document all things contributing, I visited the town town library to retrieve the nomination form and narratives for the historic district. The reference desk rewarded me with a very old packet from 1969. Despite what on-line sources would have you believe, there are actually 39 contributing structures and not 36.
From the Nomination Form:
SHINN LOG HOUSE (CURTIS) ....C 1736 ....Park Drive and Commerce Place
One story rectangular log house; Flemish bond high brick foundation; 6/6 windows; gabled roof; board and batten doors; walls of squared logs.
There is also a historical marker attached to the front of the house which reads:
SHINN~CURTIS
LOG-HOUSE
THOMAS SHINN-OWNER
CIRCA 1712
Col. Thomas A. Reynolds ...Chapter ~ NJDAR
1995