13.5 Acres Of Open Space Purchased By Montgomery

MONTGOMERY, NJ — A total of 13.5 acres of open space has been preserved in Belle Mead near the Sourland Preserve by Montgomery Township.

Known as the Skillman/Hillmont property, the purchase was completed May 23 with funds from Township Open Space Trust Fund, in partnership with the NJDEP Green Acres Program.

"We are thrilled to close on this new open space acreage," Montgomery Township Mayor Ed Trzaska commented. "It adds to the 800 acres of protected land surrounding Lubas Park. One of our core governing principles is to protect Montgomery's rural character. Over the past several years, we have preserved over 600 acres of additional open space, including authorizing funding to purchase 170 acres in 2016 alone."

The wooded area is located on Broadway and Route 601 and has views of the Sourland Mountains. The vacant land also carries an interesting history.

Former landowner Charles H. Cook had plans in the late 19th century to try and sell plots of small residential building lots to potential factory workers with hopes that manufacturing plants would be built along the railroad.

However, necessary residential improvements were never built for the neighborhood and almost all buyers lost their lots to tax foreclosure in the Great Depression.

Over time, Dix Skillman, who was an attorney and active citizen of Montgomery for decades, began buying up the undeveloped individual lots to rejoin them. His widow, Virginia Skillman, recently agreed to sell the multitude of tiny lots, which her husband reunited, to Montgomery for preservation.

Stone pillars, marking the planned entrance to the city that never came to be, are still visible on the property (see second photo).

The Dix Skillman/Hillmont property was purchased by Montgomery from Mrs. Skillman for $382,500.

(Images provided)

Photo 1 - Map of the 13.5 acre Dix Skillman/Hillmont tract near Rt. 601 and Broadway Fields, which is being purchased for open space by Montgomery Twp.

Photo 2 - Stone and concrete pillars along Rte 601, near Pleasant View Rd, still mark the envisioned entrance to the planned streets of a factory town which never was, now preserved by Montgomery Township as open space in the Belle Mead section of town.

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