Meeting In Works Over Local Revolutionary War-era House Targeted For Demolition
BELLMAWR, N.J. (CBS) - A meeting is being put together between New Jersey road officials and advocates of a building in Bellmawr that dates back to the Revolutionary War that's scheduled for demolition as part of the rebuilding of the 295-42 interchange.
Those advocates have made significant progress, getting the National Park Service and Congressman Donald Norcross in their corner.
The sit down with the New Jersey Department of Transportation is the result of stepped up public pressure to save the Harrison-Glover house in recent weeks.
But Chris Perks with the Camden County Historical Society is less than optimistic that things will work out:
"We're scrambling now to try to find a place to put it and, of course, it should be as close to its original location as possible."
He suggests, given the project is so far along, relocation options are limited. But the fight to save the house goes on.
"We are going to continue to advocate for some solution that will save the house," he said. "We're going to find some solution but it's very, very challenging."
A spokesman for NJ DOT calls it "unfeasible" for the state to relocate the house at state expense, as Perks and his followers have suggested.
The spokesman concedes a decade old consultant's report on the house had inaccuracies in it, but demolition is still in the plans at this point.
