In order to build a parking lot that never materialized, South River's Tabernacle Baptist Church demolished its own 90-year-old house of worship in 1998. Now it intends to demolish another of the borough's historic structures, the former Whitehead homestead at 124 Main St. Unfortunately, whatever benefit the church derives from this act will be more than offset by a great loss to the citizens of South River.

There is no disputing the Victorian, Queen Ann-style house's architectural significance; it is, indeed, a stately structure and a reminder of a bygone era. Equally important, however, is the fact that it stands in tribute to a family long influential in South River's economic and sociopolitical development.

Economically, Samuel Whitehead's decision to begin a fruit farm and nursery in 1820 helped give birth to the shipping industry vital to South River for nearly a century. Because Whitehead supplied fruit trees to farmers in Middlesex and Monmouth counties, ships sailing from South River were needed to carry thousands of bushels of their fruit daily to New York markets. In 1840 he began the clay bank and sand mine industry that eventually became the largest business of its kind on the East Coast, shipping sand and clay from South River to ports in New York and New England. His sons, the Whitehead Brothers, eventually took over and expanded the business, with one of the brothers opening a brickyard in South River in 1890. A Whitehead family member was among those responsible for building the borough's first textile mill; another owned South River's only print shop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; and yet another was on the original board of directors (1902) of the First National Bank of South River.

The family's contributions, however, went far beyond economics. Charles Whitehead, for example, served on the Town Committee governing South River prior to it becoming a borough. He then served on South River Borough's first Board of Commissioners in 1871 and on its first Board of Health, and came in second to James Bissett in his bid to serve as South River's first mayor in 1897. Whitehead women played roles in establishing South River's library in the former Old School Baptist Church, and Whiteheads from South River fought in both World Wars.

Sparing the Whitehead home would be a salute to a family that gave so much to South River, and would retain, both physically and emotionally, a tie with the borough's long and storied past.

Richard K. Meyers

president

South River Historical and Preservation Society