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Dennisville Historic Home Owners Association DHHOA P.O. Box 311, Dennisville, N.J. 08214-0311 609-861-1338 The Dennisville Historic Home Owners Association is a non profit corporation organized to study the history of Dennisville and the surrounding area and to encourage the preservation of the historic homes in the village and in the township so that future generations will be able to view them and learn about the history of the area. Originally accounting for 69 structures, the village of Dennisville is included as an historic district on both the national and state registers of historic places. The association meets quarterly throughout the year at the Dennis Township Senior Center in Dennisville or on field trips to sites of historical interest. Each meeting consists of a brief business meeting followed by a guest speaker or the tour of the site being visited. Recent fieldtrips have included: historic barn presentation at the Joseph Falkinburge House, the Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage, the restored Whalers Cottages south of the Cape May Canal, a tour of the Cold Spring Presbyterian Church and cemetery, and a tour of the Union Cemetery and the South Dennis Trinity Methodist Church in South Dennis, NJ. |
 Historic Dennisville Christmas House Tour
December 19, 2009 The annual Historic Dennisville Christmas House Tour is our premier fund raising event. On the 3rd Saturday of December each year a minimum of 10 home owners open their beautifully decorated homes to the tour. Please think about starting your holiday season with a festive glimpse of history in Dennisville at Christmas time!
2009 Date, Time, Ticket & Contact Information:
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| 2009 Featured House - The Crawford House - c. 1810 |
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 Crawford House on original site c. 1960 |
 The Crawford House - 2009 |
 Illustration by Alice Balenger McGuigan |
 Crawford House on original site c. 1960 |
 The Crawford House - 2009 |
 Crawford House on the move - c. 1960 |
| From the Historical Perspective:
The Crawford family presence dates from the late 18th / early 19th century in old northern Cape May County. The Crawford family members owned numerous properties in the area including both vacant land and lots with structures on them. Eleazer Crawford, Sr. bought "this year's feature house" from the Johnson family for his son to live in. The original structure was most likely built by the Johnson family as it traces back to the time when the Johnson family owned the land. Eleazer Crawford, Sr. owned property at the landing-a storefront. His son, Eleazer Crawford, Jr., did not own land but took over the business and became a successful businessman in the area. In the 19th century it was common for wealthy families to own numerous properties around the village which they rented out to worker families. These families included workers from the shipyards, shops, and farms and sawmills. At their peak in the 1880's, the shipyards employed over 150 people. The Eleazer Crawford Tenant House, or the Crawford Tenant Cottage as it was sometimes called, was one of these houses. Newspaper accounts of the day included the following references to the Crawford House: "William Treadway has moved from the Parker cottage to the Crawford Tenant cottage" (Star of the Cape - 1879), and "Eleazer Crawford has a new roof put on his tenant house" (CM County Gazette - 1881). And in fact, the name on the 1872 Beers Map is Mrs. Crandall-a tenant at the time. In the late 1960's Ray and Jane Dixon moved the house from across the street, adjacent to the old 1 bay fire house, to its current location. M. Jones House Movers of Leesburg, N.J. performed the move. M. Jones's son, Marvin and his wife, Connie, currently reside in the Dennisville Historic District in the Mary Dalton House just down the street from the Crawford House. A more modern rancher now sits on the Crawford House's original site. The Crawford House was transformed from a standard I-house configuration with a rear lean-to/shed roofed addition, to a saltbox by the Dixons.
From the Owners' Perspective: Our Dennisville adventure began in 2003. The Crawford House was our "new" old home. Our previous home was from 1743, so we had a "newer" home now. Work began in the kitchen, family room, and bathroom. Box living became our way of life as we worked on our home. While doing the tearing out, three local historians came to investigate the revealed inner structure. They determined the house should date to 1810. This was detected by using the nails found, structural features and, of course, their expert knowledge. Next we worked upstairs to make it in our home while having regard to the age of the house. We kept many features such as gunstock corners to keep the house as authentic as possible. But recently our passion has become gardening. After removing stumps, much bamboo, and putting in a driveway and walking path, we began gardening. People (us), butterflies, and hummingbirds feed here. It has been an amazing learning experience. We are learning to garden in an environmentally sensitive way by using native plants as well as drought resistant plants. This year we have become a certified Monarch butterfly way station. Please visit with the New Jersey Audubon Society / Cape May Nature Center during the summer months. We have had the privilege of sharing the garden with this group and learning much from our visitors. We hope you enjoy visiting our home on the 2009 Historic Dennisville Christmas House Tour!
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| Click Here for Old Fashioned Directions or view the Google map below. View Google Map directions below to '24 Hall Ave., Dennisville, NJ 08214'. Google Maps uses the Woodbine zipcode 08270 in the search results but the map is accurately showing the Dennisville Post Office location. |
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 Email:
Main Office
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Information 571 Petersburg Road, Dennisville, N.J. 08214, Phone: 609-861-9700 |
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