James P. Allaire, Industrialist with a conscience

This weekend I was noodling around with this unfinished painting of one of the buildings at Historic Allaire Village and it caused me to reminisce a bit. As a kid, I spent a lot of time there. It was on the way to my aunt and uncle's house and my mom would always take my sister and I there when we were going to their house. We loved going to that old seemingly forgotten historic village. My mom and I were history geeks, but my sister; not so much. This was payback for all those boring shopping trips I was forced to go on!

As I painted, I remembered the smell of the blacksmith's shop, the creak of the worn floorboards in the general store and a bunch of other details to numerous to mention. It was candy to a history geek. Yet, I didn't know a whole lot about what really happened there. I had to look it up, of course.

Like most historic places, there was a great story living there. The Allaire family, who were loyalists during the American Revolution and were evacuated to Nova Scotia eventually found their way back to there native country when the dust settled. James P. Allaire, living in New York at the time, bought the property known as the Howell Iron Works in what was then a remote part of central New Jersey on the edge of the Pine Barrens in 1822. His intent was to have a source of raw material for his growing business of building steamship engines.

Allaire got into the business before the War of 1812 by casting parts for none other than Robert Fulton. Fulton not only invented the steam ship, he also put it into practice. Eventually Allaire would produce not just engines, but entire ships. He and Fulton also got into transportation and founded regular service routes for passengers.

At the peak of it's production, Allaire's iron works employed between a 400 to 600 people and expanded into a self contained corporate village. The works diversified into making "hollow ware" which was, essentially, enameled pots and pans. James P. Allaire was one of the best known industrialists in the country. Part of his fame was due to his philanthropic nature. He founded the first free public fire company in the country and was an ardent proponent of education of the masses. But, in 1836 the wheels started to come off.

In that year, his wife of 30 years passed away. The heart broken Allaire had to also endure the sinking of two of his ships shortly afterward. One resulted in the loss of 90 people and called his good name into question. Then there was the economic Panic of 1837 which hit the cash poor ship industry like a ton of bricks....or iron perhaps. By 1850 production ceased at the works.

The story ends with a happier twist. One of Allaire's former employees when on to become a successful ship builder and bought Allaire's New York operation and gave his former boss a job. James P. Allaire was able to live the rest of his life in relative comfort.

Since I was a kid, a lot of restoration work has been done at Allaire Village. The place is a gem now. There are all kinds of living history events, a train station with operating steam engines and beautiful walking trails through the woods. If you're on vacation at the Jersey Shore this summer and need a break from the beaches, this would be the perfect history geek getaway. They have a great website too.

Allaire State Park is a big part of my personal history. Who knew it also played big in New Jersey's and America's history too?