Mercer County has expanded the footprint of Howell Living History Farm with the acquisition of a 6-acre historic farmstead along Valley Road — a move that strengthens long-term preservation of Pleasant Valley’s agricultural landscape and opens new opportunities for public education, conservation, and working-farm interpretation.
The newly acquired Dale property, located adjacent to existing Howell Farm land and other county-owned parcels, has long been viewed by planners and preservationists as a key piece of the valley’s historic fabric.
“This is part of a vision Mercer County has had almost from the beginning,” said Howell Farm Director Peter Watson in an interview. “The Pleasant Valley Historical Park grew out of the recognition that this unique rural valley held an extraordinary concentration of historic farms, landscapes, and community resources.”
Completing the Pleasant Valley landscape
Howell Farm, established in 1974 through the donation of 126 acres by Inez Howell, is today part of a larger network of preserved properties known as Pleasant Valley Historical Park — a core area within the Pleasant Valley Rural Historic District, listed on both the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places.
Over decades, Mercer County and its partners have assembled a mosaic of farms, historic structures, and conserved land along Valley Road and Moore’s Creek. The Dale property sits squarely within that preserved corridor, bordering Howell Farm land and facing Baldpate Mountain across the valley.
Watson noted that historically, the land now being added was likely connected to the original Howell and Smith farm holdings that shaped Pleasant Valley’s early agricultural community.
“When you think about it, the original property that Howell Farm came from was over 200 acres,” Watson said. “We’re pretty sure some of the acreage we’re acquiring now was part of that earlier landscape.”
A working landscape, not just preserved land
While the farmstead’s house and barn date to before the Revolutionary War, the county does not expect immediate public use. Upgrades such as septic replacement and other maintenance will take time, and full programming could be several years away.
In the meantime, Howell Farm staff are already using the property in ways consistent with its historic role. Sheep will again graze the fields — restoring a familiar Pleasant Valley scene.
Watson said the long-term vision centers on interpreting Pleasant Valley’s historic woodlots and sawmill economy — a largely untold dimension of the region’s agricultural past.
“We know the Smith family had a sawmill along Moore’s Creek, downslope of this property,” he said. “The Dale property gives us a wonderful place to interpret what happened there — how timber was harvested, milled, and used by the farming community.”
A future sawmill and forest story
Plans call for eventually establishing a historically accurate sawmill demonstration area, using sustainably harvested timber from county parklands — trees lost to storms, invasive pests, or management removals — to produce lumber for restoration projects and educational programs.
The concept mirrors Howell Farm’s existing agricultural model: demonstrating historical practices while producing useful goods.
“Every farm had a woodlot,” Watson said. “Harvesting timber was part of a community’s self-sufficiency. Our intention is to tell that story by creating a woodlot and sawmill that show how people managed forests and used local materials.”
The site could also support tree planting programs focused on historically significant species such as American chestnut — connecting ecological restoration with agricultural history.
Preserving viewsheds in a changing township
The acquisition comes as development pressures continue across Hopewell Township, making the preservation of Pleasant Valley’s intact agricultural landscape increasingly significant.
Watson emphasized that the valley represents one of New Jersey’s most successful examples of coordinated farmland, historic, and open-space preservation.
“Mercer County has done an amazing job working with state, local, and nonprofit partners to protect land as well as farmland,” he said. “Pleasant Valley is a great example of what can be accomplished and how it can be enjoyed and used by the public.”
The Dale property also preserves an iconic visual element of the valley: the stone-and-frame sheep barn visible along Valley Road that for generations has symbolized Pleasant Valley’s rural character.
“It’s such an iconic part of the landscape,” Watson said. “For years people saw sheep grazing there as they drove through the valley — it gave a wonderful rural feel to the experience.”
Expanding interpretation beyond 1900
Howell Farm interprets agricultural life around 1900, but the broader Pleasant Valley Historical Park encompasses earlier and later periods — including Revolutionary-era farmsteads, mills, bridges, and community sites.
Watson said the Dale property helps extend Howell Farm’s educational narrative beyond a single time period into the valley’s deeper agricultural and environmental history.
“It lets us tell the story of Pleasant Valley as a whole rural community — farms, mills, woodlots, and landscapes — not just one farm at one moment in time,” he said.
Long-term public benefit
County officials say the expansion will eventually support educational programming tied to New Jersey’s agricultural heritage and the nation’s Semiquincentennial commemorations.
For Watson, however, the significance is broader: safeguarding a rare intact rural valley within a rapidly changing region.
“Sometimes I can hardly believe what’s been accomplished here,” he said. “This valley has been preserved and shared with the public in a way many places hope for but rarely achieve.”
Learn more about Howell Farm and all of their activities, including upcoming maple sugaring, at howellfarm.org
