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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
IMLAYSTOWN, 11.2 miles (110 alt., 129 pop.), is a piece of the nineties or even the sixties-preserved along one of the narrowest and crookedst main streets in New Jersey. Old residents say that the street follows
the pattern of an Indian village that once stood here, on the banks of
Doctor's Creek. The statement that local people can sit on their porches
and shake hands with visitors who sit in their cars must, however, be discounted. Most of the houses are of plain gray or white frame construction:
of special interest is the BARBER SHOP (R), an ordinary dwelling with
the corner porch post neatly striped, and for good measure decorated with
gold stars. The rest of the town's commercial life is handled by a garage,
a poolroom, a gristmill, and the P. J. Malsbury GENERAL STORE AND
POST OFFICE (R), at the triangle. The store has, outside, a hitching bar.
little used, and an old pew from the Methodist Church that is frequently
used as a resting place for observers of the Imlaystown scene, including
five multi-hued cats.
From the bench is an excellent view of traffic at the triangle, of the bare
exterior of TOWNSHIP HALL across the street, of barnyard geese on IMLAYSTOWN LAKE, and of business transactions at the adjoining mill, where
cow and hog feed are ground by water power. The present building replaces one destroyed in the great fire of 1898. Prior to that time, Mr.
Malsbury says, "the mill always operated ever since there were any mills.
Modern improvements, such as furnace heat, have changed the character
of the general store; but it is obviously the pulse of the community. Imlaystown has no justice of the peace and no policeman. "We could get a
State trooper if we ever needed one," the residents explain.
Buck Hole Creek, an insignificant stream, joins Doctor's Creek at Imlaystown. Two thousand acres in the basins of these creeks were the manorial holding of Richard Salter in the early 1700's. It was Salter's only
daughter, Hannah, who married Mordecai Lincoln.
Left from the Imlaystown triangle on County 26, a macadam road, to the junction
with a graded dirt road at 2.4 miles; L. on this road to YE OLDE YELLOW MEETING
House, 3 miles, erected 1737 on land donated by Mordecai Lincoln's father-in-law,
Richard Salter. The two-story frame building, well preserved and sheltered by veteran
oaks, looks much like a plain farmhouse with front and back porches removed. A side
door is kept unlatched so that anyone may try out the white box pews or climb to
the large balcony in the rear. There are two other entrances, the doorstep for each
being half of a millstone. It is still a yellow church-albeit a faded yellow-with
blue shutters of varying designs. Descendants of the Baptist builders attend services
in a newer church, more conveniently situated in Imlaystown. On the last Sunday
in each July, however, members of the congregation and others of the neighborhood
turn out for all-day preaching, interrupted only by a picnic lunch, at the old church.
The large carriage shed has no tenants even on this day, for everybody comes in
automobiles. A graveyard with an interesting variety of headstones and verses adjoins the building. Two black slate stones are dated in the early 1720's. Many of the
graves have footstones shaped at the tops to match the curving pattern of the headstones.
Crossing the MILL DAM on Doctor's Creek, the dirt road runs S.
through gently rolling farm lands. Signs for Cream Ridge should be followed.
Right at 12.2 m. at the junction with a dirt road.
Left at 12.8 m. at the junction with a dirt road.
Between this point and Fillmore the road takes an up-and-down course,
almost in a straight line and usually between well-kept worm fences. Many
of the old posts are capped with verdant bouquets of poison ivy. Crossing
an iron bridge over Schoolhouse Brook, the road climbs slightly and ends
at the junction with another dirt road.
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