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Six Mile Run Historic District
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Six Mile Run Reservoir Site
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| Location: | Franklin Township, New Jersey United States |
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| Area: | 64,450 acres (260.8 km2) |
| NRHP Reference#: | 95001191 |
| Added to NRHP: | October 25, 1995 |
Six Mile Run has been used to name several different but related features in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey.
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The National Register of Historic Places defines the Six Mile Run Historic District as roughly bounded by Grouser Road, Amwell Road, Bennetts Lane, New Jersey Route 27, a diagonal line from the bridge at Six Mile Run to South Middlebush Road at Claremont, Butler Road and the Millstone River. It includes a portion of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Blackwells Mills Canal House that are separately listed on the National Register. It contains 149 contributing buildings, 5 contributing sites and 44 contributing structures.
Examples of Six Mile Run Historic District contributing buildings are the three Meadows Foundation maintained properties listed here:
Six Mile Run is the historic name for an unincorporated area within portions of North Brunswick Township and South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County and Franklin Township in Somerset County, in New Jersey, United States. Route 27 (historically known as Old Road/King's Highway and once part of the Lincoln Highway system) bisects the village and serves as the dividing line between the two counties.[1] The village name was formally changed from Six Mile Run to Franklin Park on June 25, 1872.[2]
In 1710, a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church (now the Reformed Church in America) formed the Six Mile Run Reformed Church.[3][4] The first building was replaced by a new building in 1766 and was later replaced in 1817 by a third structure on the same site. The current building replaced the 1817 church that was destroyed by fire in 1879. The Frelinghuysen Memorial Chapel was added in 1907 and the Fellowship Hall was dedicated in 1958.[5]
The proposed Six Mile Run Reservoir Site is adjacent to the Delaware and Raritan Canal and included a large portion of the Six Mile Run Watershed in central Franklin Township. In 1970, the land for the reservoir was acquired by the State through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Resources as a future reservoir and recreation area and included many of the properties later listed as contributing to the Six Mile National Register Historic District. The reservoir was never built, and in 1993 administration of the area was transferred to the Division of Parks and Forestry. (see http://www.dandrcanal.com/pdf/6MileRun_HuntingMap.pdf for map showing boundary of reservoir site)
Today the Six Mile Run Reservoir site is maintained as a State Park and includes several trails that are used primarily by mountain bikers, hikers, and horseback riders. It has 8 miles (13 km) of twisting single track maintained by JORBA. Access to the park can be found at the large parking lot on Canal Road near Blackwells Mills Road, from the parking lot of the private soccer club on Route 27, and from several smaller parking areas on roads that traverse the park. (see http://www.dandrcanal.com/interest.html#sixmile for more information and trail maps, see http://www.dandrcanal.com/pdf/6MileRun_HuntingMap.pdf for parking areas).
Because part of the land at the site was taken out of cultivation 39 years ago, the process of "old field succession" has now yielded up trees and foliage that are unique among state park lands. In the section between Canal Road and South Middlebush Road, there are postings describing the foliage and the natural process. The "Red Dot" hiking trail, which runs between Canal Road and South Middlebush Road, has now been extended from South Middlebush Road up to NJ Rte 27. There is a new White Trail, not fully blazed but very usable, running from a left fork off of Red Dot near South Middlebush Road, to a parking lot off of Jacques Lane.
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