In a message dated 98-07-31 18:14:11 EDT, you write:

> In a message dated 7/31/98 5:10:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>  [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>  << <insert generic preservation soap opera story here> >>
>
>  Waiting for the story.
>
>  ][<en
>
You asked for it...

Taken from the Trenton Evening Times, Tuesday June 20, 1972

The house that Benjamin Temple built in Hopewell Township around 1750 is in
remarkably good condition, considering its age. But unless a group of
historically-minded Ewing Township residents can raise at least $6,000 within
the next week or so, its days may be numbered.

"It's ironic," said John Schiavone, a 22-year old hsitory student who is one
of those spearheading the drive to save the Temple house. "We demolish the
best examples of authentic colonial buildings and then turn right around and
try to imitate the very thing we have just demolished by building 'early
American style' houses."

Although Temple built a house which could withstand the ravages of time, he
didn't reckon with the 20th century's highway planners. The land on which
Temple's house is built... is fated to become the site of a concrete
cloverleaf which will connect Route 31 with Interstate Highway 95, the super
road which will connect all of the major population centers of the East Coast,
from Maine to Florida.

"The highway is a monster," Schiavone said. "It's costing us so much and
destroying so much." ...

The house is of interest to historians not only because it is a remarkably
well preserved example of colonial architecture, but also because of it's
connection to John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. ... The
Hart and Temple families were very close through friendship and marriage, and
it can be assumed that John Hart was a frequent visitor to the Temple House.
... Henry Charlton Beck [regional historian] ... cites a local resident as
recalling that according to stories she had heard, the Temples at the time of
the Revolutionary War owned a prize clock.

"When Hessians were in meadows and woods on every hand, the timepiece was
concealed in a strip of woodland and brought back to the house three months
later. Long years after, the clock and a chair in which a British officer died
in the old house were disposed of at a public sale," Beck quotes Mrs. Eugene
Drake, a longtime resident of the area, as saying.

========================
In the interest of actually getting some work done today, I'll cut to the
heart of the story, which turned out with a happy ending. The newly founded
historical society did indeed fundraise enough money to build a foundation for
the building. It was moved about a mile away from it's original site, and
placed in a municipal park of a neighboring town. The building now serves as a
historic house museum and local history library for the historical society.

Personally I think this house is almost as interesting in terms of the history
of the preservation movement as it is in it's architectural significance. This
story could be a template for the modern "preservation saga:" so many houses
from this time were moved due to impending construction, and so many
historical societies were developed in response to these demolitions.

-Heidi