In late 2018, Hunter Research was contacted by Moorestown Ecumenical Neighborhood Development, Inc. (MEND, Inc.), as lead developer for federal, state and county government sponsors, to assist with historic preservation compliance related to a project to build an assisted senior living facility on the location of the former Children’s Summer Home of Cinnaminson. Specifically, Hunter Research was brought in to fulfill requirements of Section 106 and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office (NJHPO) to mitigate demolition of the rambling late-Victorian summer home, which had been abandoned for nearly a decade. The firm’s architectural historians documented the building to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), created a historic marker and interpretive sign and completed a historic context study of children’s summer retreats in New Jersey.
The Children’s Summer Home of Cinnaminson was established in 1897 by the Westfield Friends Meeting to provide underprivileged children of Philadelphia with a reprieve from summer heat, pollution and disease. It was part of a nationwide reform effort known as the Fresh Air Movement, which gave city children opportunities to experience the outdoors, while usually also receiving religious or moral instruction from sponsors.
Hunter Research conducted HABS Level III archival research and photo-documented the summer home prior to demolition. The HABS content was then used to prepare a traditional historic roadside cast-metal marker and an interpretive sign for placement in the lobby of the new assisted senior living facility. Hunter Research managed sign development and fabrication steps, as well as handled approvals and coordination with the NJHPO and the building contractor.
As a capstone work product completed in 2020, Hunter Research produced an in-depth historic context study of New Jersey summer homes and camps. Research revealed that the Garden State’s proximity to New York City and Philadelphia fostered many types of country and seashore retreats. Summer homes reached their height of popularity during the Progressive Era and reflected the charitable efforts of the wealthy elite and religious communities to offer children “wholesome” domestic environments in which to breath clean air and eat fresh foods. Summer camps had more of an outdoor recreational emphasis than the homes and have tended to remain economically viable until recent times. Hunter Research’s historians identified nearly 50 children’s summer retreats established between 1870 and 1920 and described their significant historical and architectural characteristics. Future researchers may use the study’s data and recommendations, which were reviewed and approved by NJHPO, to assess eligibility of summer homes and camps for the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.