Hance Sitkus
Allaire traces the history and culture of the village from its days as a
famous nineteenth-century industrial community to one of today's most
popular living history museums in New Jersey. In 1822, James P. Allaire
established the Howell Works, one of many bog-iron furnaces that once
dotted the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Explored are the rise and fall of
the industrial community, as well as the village's transition from the
Allaire family to Arthur Brisbane, a famous Hearst newspaper editor.
Also included are the early restoration efforts of Allaire Village and
some familiar sites on the outskirts of Allaire, including Kessler
Farms, Thompson's Dairy Farm, the Pine Creek Railroad, DeLisle's French
Restaurant, and Allaire Airport. In 1836, more than three hundred people
lived and worked at Howell Works, a self-sufficient community once
complete with thirty buildings. The collapse of the bog-iron industry in
the late 1840s left the village crumbling and nearly deserted by 1900.
In 1907, on a leisurely drive from his Lakewood mansion, Arthur Brisbane
bought Allaire Village. Revitalizing it, he created a luxurious country
estate. Allaire contains images of the Allaire Inn, Brisbane's model
farm, and the Boy Scouts' Camp Burton. During the 1900s, Allaire was
home to the legendary Indian Joe, the Pennsylvania Railroad's
doodlebugs, and Brisbane's full-time staff-the Macauley, Frostick,
Service, and Reynold families.
