Mullica's Elijah Clark House For Sale

Excerpts
Imagine a 254-year-old colonial-era mansion on a private peninsula bordered by a wild and scenic pinelands lake. Imagine a house so steeped in history and legend that it was named after the heroine of a popular 19th century romance novel.

Such a house exists on the banks of Nescochague Lake in the tiny village of Pleasant Mills in Mullica Township. It's a short walk from the Batsto United Methodist Church, built in 1808, and St. Mary Cemetery, which dates to 1827. It was built in 1762 by Col. Elijah Clark, a wealthy landowner and Revolutionary War officer who owned a sawmill across the street along the Mullica River. 

Clark served in the French and Indian War and was a representative in New Jersey's first Provincial Congress.

A roadside sign identifies the house as the "Elijah Clark House," but it has long been known to locals as the Kate Aylesford Mansion after the heroine in author Charles Peterson's 1855 novel, Kate Aylesford. Kate's character was based on Margaret Wescoat, the daughter of Richard Wescoat, who bought the house in Pleasant Mills from Elijah Clark in 1779. Set during the Revolution, the book includes references to the Battle of Chestnut Neck as well as Joe Mulliner, a notorious outlaw and folk hero from Sweetwater who was tried for high treason and hanged in 1781.

Over the centuries the three-story house has had progression of prominent owners including William Richards, whose family owned the nearby Batsto Iron Works, which manufactured cannon balls for the Continental Army.   Vineland residents Robert and Frances Blank acquired the house in 1988.

 The property also includes the remnants of an old ice house and a guest cottage. Two ancient buttonwood trees flank the driveway and a towering cedar tree grows by the lake next to a gazebo. Across the road from the mansion, are the ruins of a factory that over the years was a sawmill, a cotton mill and a paper mill. For couple of years in the mid 1950s it was even converted into a playhouse for summer theater.

An open house at this property, which is listed for $449,000, will be held Sunday, April 17, from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information call Sue Dunphey of RE/MAX Atlantic, 609-287-9587 (cell) or 609-641-8600.

This majestic manor house in Mullica Township was built in 1762

 

For more information about the house, see
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/classified_box/real_estate/history-in-the-pines/article_3ca0088f-2b4c-5beb-bcbe-0c4789f738bc.html