Smith, Bridget, House - Mine Hill Township, NJ
N 40° 52.430 W 074° 35.792
18T E 533996 N 4524829
This house, built in 1855, was used to give refuge to Irish Irish-American “widow of the mines” in the mid to late 19th century. It is the last intact example of iron miners' housing in the area.
Waymark Code: WM2MPK
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 11/21/2007
Views: 55
The house is located in an area of Mine Hill originally known as "Irishtown".
Bridget Lockman and her husband, John Smith, immigrated from Ireland in the 1850’s following the Irish Potato Famine. They settled in Mine Hill with other Irish immigrant iron mine workers in a section then known as Irishtown. By the time Bridget purchased this double house in 1879 for $300, John had been killed in a local mining accident. She was living on one side raising the two children while renting the other side to another Irish “widow of the mines” with six children.
Take a unique glimpse into the past of working class families. Left virtually unchanged since it was built in 1855, the house had a simple conversion in 1912 to accommodate a single family who lived there until 1988. Listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, it represents the last intact example of worker housing in northern New Jersey. Restored and opened in 1998, the museum is staffed by volunteers on selected dates and by special arrangement to offer insight into the simple but difficult life of immigrant working women raising families in the late 1800’s.
For more information, call (973) 366-8768 or write to the Ferromonte Historical Society of Mine Hill, Bridget Smith House, 124 Randolph Avenue, Mine Hill NJ 07803. (Morris County)