Allaire Village

     Thursday, May 19, 2022: Later, after my being at Historic Walnford, I arrived at another historic Monmouth County, New Jersey village: Allaire Village, 4265 Atlantic Avenue, Farmingdale (732-919-3500). Unlike Walnford, Allaire was once a livelier company town with about 5,000 acres. At the peak of its prosperity, around the 1830s, about 400 people lived here, most of them were employed at the Howell Iron Works company. The iron works operated from the 1820s to 1846. Then in 1850, James P. Allaire retired here until his death in 1858. Years later, the Allaire family sold the property to newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane in 1901, and in the early 1940s, Arthur’s widow, Phobe, donated the grounds to the State of NJ in the hope, in Arthur Brisbane’s words, that it “… be used as a historical center and forest park reservation to be known as Allaire State Park….” When I visited here, the visitor’s center wasn’t open, but a box on the front door provided brochures and maps of the village. Nearby, I saw what had once been an Episcopal Church but has been currently serving as a non-denominational chapel. (It can be rented for weddings.) Similar to Walnford, some of the staff opened some of the buildings to the public. My favorite was the General Store! This 1835 store was one of the largest at the time in NJ, and it didn’t just serve the workers because people traveled for up to 40 miles to shop here. Afterward, other places that impressed me were the Manager’s House, the oldest building here, dating back to the 1700s, before Allaire Village.  I also entered an 1835 Bakery, an 1836 Blacksmith & Tin Shop, and an 1835 Carpenter Shop. In each of these places, I found an enthusiastic employee or two who either demonstrated his or her craft or gave a history of how important of his or her trade was the village or both. Some of the employees dressed themselves in 1830s style. Finally, I completed my visit by walking around and glancing at the other, mostly circa 1830s, buildings.