Jersey Shore Magazine

J e r s e y s h o r e • S p r i n g 2 0 1 9 58 JERSEY SHORE LANDMARKS PEANUT STONE, continued from page 57 used for foundations, low walls and pillars, and even fireplaces, but on rare occasions, an entire building facade of peanut stone was used to noteworthy effect. Much of the construction with this distinctive fieldstone seems to date from the late 1800s into the 1930s. Today, you rarely see it used except for historical preservation or aesthetics. "[The supply] comes and goes," says Jeff Woehr, manager of building stone for New Jersey Gravel & Sand Company in Wall Township. "Nowadays we get it out of various quarries when we come upon it. But we don't refine it. It's in a very raw form. You need an installer who's willing to split and cut it for you. It's swinging a sledgehammer all day. That's how it used to be in the old days. I imagine that's why it's not used a lot." As a result, peanut stone, with its unique appearance and aging beau- ty, has become a sort of calling card for historic buildings and accents in Monmouth County. In some cases, peanut stone pillars mark roads and driveways long gone, yet still they stand as sentinels of both history and a connection to native materials. "People in the nineteenth century tended to know their rocks," com- ments Hunton. "Histories written back then commonly began with a description of geology and soils." A case in point, Franklin Ellis' History of Monmouth County, written in 1885, discusses the Cretaceous Formation and reads, "…at a few detached points… the mineral of the strata has been cemented, by oxide of iron, into a kind of sandstone or conglomerate. They appear to have lain undisturbed ever since their deposition from the ocean." Thus, the formation of peanut stone in the Coastal Plain of New Jersey actually took place millions of years ago. As one of the more "recent" geological deposits, one can come across large hunks of ancient peanut stone to this day scattered among some Monmouth County Park System trails, particularly at Huber Woods in Middletown and Hartshorne Woods in Highlands, both upland areas where the stone is abundant. While the peanut stone found in Atlantic Highlands is a "pretty hard stone," says Woehr, the farther south in New Jersey, the more crumbly it gets with less and less of the distinc- tive pebbles or "peanuts." "The Pine Barrens around Batsto is full of it, but they don't even call it peanut stone there. It's just ironstone," he says. Ironstone, otherwise known as bog iron, was the most import- ant natural resource found in the Pinelands. It literally fueled the fur- naces and forges of the Pine Barrens during its heyday from the late 1700s to the mid 1850s. With a great amount of peanut stone deposited in the hills of Atlantic Highlands, it's no wonder that the historic town and the areas surrounding it once served as the epicenter of peanut stone construc- tion. The wall welcoming you to Atlantic Highlands on Route 36 is peanut stone, as is the picturesque "Old Stone Bridge," built in 1896, over Grand Avenue. Nearby, in the Leonardo section of Middletown, the abandoned "Dempsey House," built in 1923, is clad completely in peanut stone surrounded by a peanut stone fence. It was once a pump station to generate well water for the area, but today fulfills the role of local "haunted house" inspiring many myths and ghost stories with its padlocked iron gate. Perhaps one of the most well known installations of peanut stone, however, is the stunning All Saints' Memorial Church on Navesink Avenue in Atlantic Highlands. Built in 1863 and now a designated National Historic Landmark, it was designed by the renowned archi- tecture firm of Richard M. Upjohn and his father, Richard Upjohn, who designed the famed Trinity Church on Wall Street in New York City and was famous for English Gothic Revival style. Known locally as simply "The Stone Church," the property also includes a Parish House and Rectory, all of which include facades made entirely of peanut stone. "The Stone Church is very unique in that the architect purposefully used the native stone, instead of a 'high style' stone, in his Gothic rendition of an English country church," comments Hunton. The result is a pastoral masterpiece whose aesthetic has stood the test of time. A September 1879 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine stat- ed, "…a pleasant surprise awaited us, a turn in the road bringing us in sight of an exquisite little English Gothic Church, looking as if some genie had borne it over the sea and dropped it on the sunny side of the hill, built of the warm-tinted beccia Paul Scharff The picturesque peanut stone wall on Route 36 welcoming you to Atlantic Highlands.

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