Please Note: The information and pictures contained on this webpage were taken from a plaque located in the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park in Griggstown, Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey.

The establishment of the Benjamin Griggs gristmill along the Millstone River in the 1730s initiated the settlement of Griggstown. While small but flourishing by the time of the Revolution, it was the opening of the new canal in 1834 that hastened a construction and commercial boom in the farming community. A road crossing the river at Griggstown necessitated the building of a canal swing bridge, bridgetender’s home and station giving the town a new “commercial center.” The demolition of the original Griggs gristmill required the construction of a second which was positioned at the new Causeway along with a basin and multi-use, commercial building. Soon other structures and homes appeared along the Causeway as well as on Canal Road. By the 20th century canal usage was in decline as was Griggstown’s commercial heyday. However, the town found a new life in the 1920s as a desirable summer retreat and today has become a bedroom community to the surrounding suburban centers.

The forty-four miles of the Delaware and Raritan Canal’s main section required fourteen lift locks. Lock #9 at Griggstown is located approximately seven-tenths of a mile south of the Causeway. This early 20th century view shows the downstream approach to the lock. The locktender’s house and station, drop-gate lock mechanism and gear shelter, and lock swing bridge are all located to the right of the lock. Within a dozen years of the canal’s closure in 1932, the waterway was converted into a water supply for the state of New Jersey.

In this early 20th century eastern view of the Causeway, the bridgetender’s house can be seen to the left of the A-frame swing bridge’s support beam while the small bridgetender’s station is located to the right. The cluster of buildings and properties located on the canal’s eastern bank were host to various small business including a lumber operation, weaver shop, store and short-lived bottling manufacturer. The buildings were destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. Today the lot is empty with the exception of one remaining structure that served through much of the 20th century as a private dwelling.

This three-story wood frame gristmill stood on the western bank of the canal along the Causeway and across the road from the “Long House.” The property was purchased by Abraham Veghte in 1832 who soon after commenced the construction of the town’s second gristmill. The Veghte family owned and operated the second mill throughout the 19th century. It remained in the family until it was sold by Abraham’s grandson Charles Hoagland around 1909. The structure was dismantled and removed leaving only the mill’s stone foundation on the site. In the early 1950s a small home was constructed on top of the old mill’s foundation.

The “Long House,” locally known as the Mule Tenders Barracks, was a multi-functional, commercial structure. Its original construction date and use are undocumented and remain speculative. Some possible functions include a grain storage facility, living space for mill hands and canal builders, and an eventual rooming house for canal workers. By the mid 19th century the property belonged to the Veghte family who operated both a store and post office from the building. It was eventually converted into a small apartment building and later became the location of the Griggstown Museum until sustaining considerable flood damage in 1999.

Throughout its history, Griggstown had its share of small mercantile establishments including the one pictured here – Harvey Boice’s Store and Post Office, located at the intersection of Canal Road and the Griggstown Causeway Road. Now a private residence, the property however proved an ideal location for a store and was the site of one through much of the 19th century. William Oppie operated a general store here for over 50 years in the 19th century. Harvey Boice purchased the property, re-established a store, ran the local post office and operated a door-to-door butcher business from this Causeway location in the early part of the 20th century. Mr. Boice is pictured here seated in his meat wagon on the store scale.

In the 1920s the town was promoted as an idyllic and restful summer vacation destination to Norwegian-American families living in the New York City area. By the mid 1920s small summer bungalows appeared along the Causeway road and elsewhere in the village. In 1927 the Kunze family opened a small store here offering Scandinavian specialties to service the summer vacationers and the growing number of families settling in the “Norseville” section of town. Although the business changed hands several times, the shop remained in operation at the Causeway location well into the late 20th century.

Although the canal was primarily a vehicle of commerce it also served as a recreation destination for the local populations residing along its banks. Swimmers, ice-skaters, fishermen and leisure-time revelers could be found all along the length of waterway. The Griggstown area was no exception. The old gristmill property along the canal’s western bank became a favored summer gathering spot and swimming hole by the 1920s. Likewise the waste weir gate – used to help regulate water levels in the canal – located just south of Lock #9 at Griggstown attracted its share of adventurous children and bathers as seen in this 1920s photograph.