The March 2026 updates to the History Project included historical cisterns found at the Hopewell Inn, and an amazing 1914 Hopewell Area Farms & Businesses Directory. (See Site Updates for more.)
Historical Cisterns Found at the Hopewell Inn
In November 2025, the construction work on the exterior of the new Hopewell Inn building was nearly complete (at Broad Street and Seminary Avenue in Hopewell Borough), and the focus was shifting to finishing the interior, including replacing the old driveway and parking area behind the building.
However, stripping the old asphalt and grading on the site exposed two blocks that were covering what were apparently old circular stone cisterns. The covers were metal, and the holes were approximately 8 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep. The walls of the shafts were constructed from stone, with shale on the bottom. There was a clay pipe (visible in the photos) running between the two shafts, and metal pipes presumably to access the water.
Perhaps these were cisterns that were installed to collect run-off rainfall, and then simply covered over later when the parking lot was constructed and paved. They may have been used as an additional source of non-well / drinking water source for such things as watering a garden and its crops, boiling water to use for washing clothes, and for washing exterior features and other materials.
1914 Hopewell Area Farms & Businesses Directory
The 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey is an amazing resource, with two separate directories for each county: a directory of people, and a classified business directory including numerous display ads.
The book begins with an index of advertisers, statistics for each county on area farms and farmers, and lists of county officials and postmasters. It concludes with a section on Handy Things to Know for farmers.
In addition, the book includes wonderfully evocative Mercer County Farm and School Photos of schools and school children, and farm scenes with different animals and crops, ranging from horse-drawn plows to more “modern” equipment and techniques.
Additional Materials
Another major addition in the Image Gallery was nine Grays Watercolors of historic scenes of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. The Harvest Fair Almanacs collection has been updated through 2025.
Please contact us if you have – or know of – other images and materials that we can share to help illuminate the history of our Hopewell Valley.
