The Farm Before the Park

The Farm Before the Park. . , Welcome to the Rogers Farmstead. You are standing on the edge of the barnyard to the rear of the farmhouse. Conjure up the sounds and smells and daily routines of the farming life as the Rogers family labors here raising crops and livestock, enough for their own consumption, and a surplus for sale at market., From Wilderness to Peaches , This farmstead was first carved out of the woodland wilderness along the Assunpink Creek by the Rogers family in the late 1740s and 1750s. For more than a century and a half, four generations of Rogers lived in the farmhouse and farmed a tract covering between 100 and 200 acres. In the surrounding fields the Rogers grew wheat, rye, corn and oats, and each year mowed a patch of meadow for hay. Closer to the farmhouse they planted potatoes and other vegetables, and kept a peach and apple orchard. Horses, dairy cows and other cattle grazed in the pasture not far from the house, while pigs and poultry were penned close to the barnyard., In the later 19th century traditional family farms in central New Jersey found it harder and harder to compete with the large-scale agricultural production of the Midwest. The Rogers, like many of their neighbors, turned to fruit and vegetables and poultry to supplement their income. By 1880, the farm had 800 peach trees spread over six acres. The property passed out of Rogers family hands in 1902 following the death of William Tindall Rogers. It continued to be farmed as a 97-acre tract, first by the Schielke family until 1931, and then by James and Jennie Sciarotta, who later rented out the land to other local farmers. As recently as 1969 the property still boasted some 1,120 peach trees., From Farm to Park , Following James Sciarotta's death in 1965 his estate began negotiating the sale of the farm to Mercer County to be incorporated into the new Mercer County Park, also known as Assunpink Park. The sale was completed in 1970, park construction was started in June of the following year and the Rogers Farmstead was thus absorbed into the 2,500+ acres that today comprise the largest recreational facility in the County. The park was officially re-named the Richard J. Coffee Mercer County Park in 2009 to honor the State Senator and County Freeholder who was instrumental in founding the Mercer County Park Commission in 1964 and the Mercer County Community College in 1966. , Slaves on the Farm , Slavery was a not uncommon feature of colonial farms in New Jersey, even among Quaker families. The numbers of African-Americans in bondage were typically in the range of two to five per farm holding. In the 18th century, one or two negro slaves worked for the Rogers in the fields and home; otherwise, the farm was sustained mostly by Roger family members. In his will, proved in 1793, John Rogers stated "I will and bequeath to all my negroes that are at the age of twenty one years their liberty and the others as soon as they come to the age of twenty one years.", [Captions:] , Part of a map of 1875 showing the Rogers Farmstead in a rural landscape of widely dispersed farms, many of them inhabited by other Rogers family members., Three views of the farm fields and farm buildings taken in the late 1960s as part of Mercer County's assessment of the property., Restoration of the Rogers House was completed 2017. Funding has been provided by the Mercer County Open Space Preservation Trust. Sign design by Hunter Research, Inc. and Douglas Scott. Image credits: New Jersey State Archives; Mercer County Planning Division.