The Fernbrook Farm Historic District is the core of one of the gentleman’s farms that helped transform the farming landscape of the greater Mercer County region (including Bordentown and Chesterfield) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1881 Charles Morgan, of the New York banking family, bought Fernbrook and immediately began making improvements. He entered into at least fourteen building contracts in 1881 and 1882, to build a large new mansion, a gatehouse, barns and, probably, formal gardens. Morgan raised English cattle and worked with a farm superintendent to create a model breeding farm. Like a classic gentleman farm, the Morgan estate combined working agriculture with high-style architecture and gardens. In 1897 John L. Kuser, a Trenton industrialist, and his family moved to the farm. They named it “Fernbrook” and continued and expanded upon Morgan’s gentleman farm, combining their own agricultural operations with a variety of landscapes—lawns, meadows, woodlands, and formal gardens—for experiencing the natural world and outdoor recreation.

The 2022 Trust grant will help fund restoration of the Wagon Shed, a contributing resource to the Fernbrook Farm Historic District.

The 2017 Trust grant helped fund a National Register nomination to become listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. 

For more information, visit: https://www.fernbrookfarms.com/about-fernbrook/