The Bridget Smith Homestead - Mine Hill, NJ
N 40° 52.430 W 074° 35.792
18T E 533996 N 4524829
This homestead almost went the way of the Dodo despite it being eligible for the NRHP in '77, but thanks to the Historical Society & NJ Historic Trust fund to restore the home in '90, its restoration & historic status became a reality.
Waymark Code: WM5PRV
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 01/31/2009
Views: 12
This house, built in 1855, was used to give refuge to Irish-American “widows of the mines” in the mid to late 19th century. It is the last intact example of iron miners' housing in the area. The house is located in an area of Mine Hill originally known as "Irishtown". The first effort to preserve the Bridget Smith House began in 1990, spearheaded by the Ferromonte Historical Society, At that time, the Morriseys hoped to sell the house to the historical society for $20,000, but the society balked at the price, particularly since the building was clearly in desperate need of thousands of dollars of repairs. FInally, in 1993, the great grand-children of Bridget Smith gave the house and its lot to the Township of Mine Hill for $1 with the deed restriction that the property be named the "Bridget Smith Homestead".
SOURCE (page 247)
Other SOURCE
One Last SOURCE
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)