Tag: Somerset County

Neshanic Station Bridge

This Neshanic Station Bridge, also known as Elm Street Bridge, has been on my to-do list for several years. Whenever I visit my brother-in-law in Annandale or stop at Conclave Brewing for a pint, I route through Hillsborough and Neshanic Station. On this occasion, I was returning from completing a photo project. I had spent the morning photographing from the south branch of the Raritan River in Clinton Township.

Neshanic Station is an unincorporated community within Branchburg Township in Somerset County, New Jersey. Notably, in 2016, a significant portion of the village was recognised for its historical value and added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Neshanic Station Historic District. On the drive out to Clinton, I slowed down, paid attention to potential parking places, and made a mental note to stop on the way back.

When I started my return drive home, the sun was lower in the sky. I parked on the shoulder of the road on the eastern side of the Raritan River. I could easily see the banks of the River. I grabbed my camera and tripod and went to the river bank through the brush. The snow or ice had melted, and the ground was muddy and slippery. I slid down to the river bank. I almost slide right in. My shoes were full of chunks of mud, but I set up my tripod and grabbed a few shots from a few locations.

Neshanic Station Bridge, Branchburg Township, Somerset County, New Jersey — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, f/10, ISO200), Copyright 2019-01-26 Khürt L. Williams

So what do I know about this bridge? I gathered from various online sources that The Elm Street Bridge, also known as the Neshanic Station Bridge, is a lenticular truss bridge that carries Elm Street (Somerset County Route 667) over the river out of the community to River Road. Because of the length of the Raritan River, there are quite a few towns in New Jersey with a River Road.

Constructed in 1896 by the renowned Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Connecticut, this bridge comprises two spans and spans a length of 285 feet. Even after over a century, the Elm Street Bridge remains true to its original design and maintains its historical significance. In 2007, Somerset County undertook a rehabilitation project to ensure the preservation and maintenance of this historic structure.

South Branch School House, Branchburg, Somerset County

South Branch School House, Branchburg, Somerset County, New Jersey

Constructed in 1873, the South Branch School House in Branchburg Township is a one-room building in the Victorian-Italianate style of architecture. From 1873 to 1950 it educated children in grades 1 through 8.

In 1848, Henry Barnard published School Architecture, which offered designs and ideas for model schoolhouses. Following his advice, schools were built with rectangular plans on raised foundations, with the gable end would serving as the front. The longer side walls featured multiple double-sash windows, and the classrooms offered high ceilings. Up until shortly after the Civil War, their style and manner of construction mirrored churches and meetinghouses.

South Branch School House | FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm

Students faced a windowless wall at the back. The school also incorporated a raised platform at one end for when the classroom was used for assemblies. The South Branch School House was one of the first in the area built expressly as a tuition-free public school following the New Jersey Free School Act of 1871. With a room size of about 24 or 25 feet square the school was designed to accommodate 50 students.

Writing in the 1874 Annual Report of the New Jersey Department of Education, State Superintendent of Education Ellis Apgar wrote:

Every school should be well furnished. Everything added to make the schoolroom comfortable, convenient, and attractive, facilitates the work of education. A teacher cannot be expected to do good work without the proper tools. The desks furnished the children should be of the most approved style; they should have folding seats, so as to allow of freedom of motion in marching, callisthenics, and general exercises. Settees placed in front of the teacher's desk are convenient for recitation purposes. The teacher's desk should be neat and substantial, having at least six drawers in it. There should be three or four chairs, a thermometer, an eight-day clock, a small globe, a call bell, and other conveniences for teaching.

South Branch School House | FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm

Peak attendance at the school hit 95 in 1875. Due to declining enrollment, in 1950 Branchburg Township built a new built a consolidated elementary school and use of the Little Red School House dropped even further.

In 1963, the Branchburg Board of Education sold the schoolhouse to Branchburg Township, and work was begun on a restoration project to coincide with the township's tercentenary. Closing in 1965, the South Branch Schoolhouse was the last one-room school in use in Somerset County. Restoration worked continued into 2005, when the school was placed on the state and national registers of historic places.

The famous opera singer, Anna Case, attended the school in the late 1890s.

South Branch School House | FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm

I shot from a tripod and bracketed my shots. The Classic Chome Fujifilm Film Simulation preset was applied to each image and the images combined in Photomatix Pro. The Natural filter was applied in Photomatix Pro and the resulting image was imported back into Adobe Lightroom for further adjustment.

Sources

South Branch School House, VisitSomeresetNJ.org, Somerset County, https://visitsomersetnj.org/fun-somerset-nj/south-branch-school-house/
Greg Gillette, South Branch Schoolhouse, My Central Jersey, 7:00 a.m. ET May 25, 2017, https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/view-from-hillsborough/2017/05/25/south-branch-schoolhouse-2/102137624/
Kelly, Somerset County's Last One-Room Schoolhouse: South Branch, The History Girl, Kelly, 2015⁄02, https://www.thehistorygirl.com/2015/02/south-branch-schoolhouse-nj.html

Best Photo of the Week

South Branch section of the Raritan River, South Branch, Hillsborough Township, Somerset County, New Jersey

While on my way to photograph the South Branch School House yesterday, I noticed the ice floating on this section of River Road along the Raritan River in Hillsborough. I could see the river through the trees, which only caught my eye because the trees had no leaves. Even though I have driven along this section of the river in the past, I don't recall noticing before, perhaps because the trees were full of leaves. I made a mental note that, after photographing the schoolhouse, I would stop somewhere nearby and walk along the river.

I parked in the parking lot of the South Branch Bible Fellowship building on Orchard Road and walked back toward the river, making sure to cross River Road carefully. I walked along the south-west trail, noticing a large number of fallen trees. I walked closer to the edge of the river, which I noticed had a steep drop from what is perhaps erosion from water from when the Raritan River was flooded. I saw that many of the trees were hanging from the edges of the riverbank, barely staying upright.

This image is from the set I used for Frank Jansen's weekly photo challenge.

Best Photo of the Week is personal photography project where I post the best image captured that week. The image will be posted at the end of the week. That will be a Sunday. I can take one or 100 photos for the week but I will post only one, the best one.

I shot from a tripod and bracketed my shots. The Classic Chome Fujifilm Film Simulation preset was applied to each image and the images combined in Photomatix Pro. The Natural filter was applied in Photomatix Pro and the resulting image was imported back into Adobe Lightroom for further adjustment.