12 High Street, Moorestown
The Smith-Cadbury Mansion is in the Historic District of Moorestown, and it is listed on the New Jersey State and National Historic Registers.
Today the Smith-Cadbury Mansion sits just off Main Street in Moorestown on a tiny pie-shaped lot, surrounded by 19th and 20th century homes. When the house was built in 1738 or before, it was the centerpiece of a large farm located just to the south of the old Kings Highway (now Main St.), with the front door (now a side door) facing the road. Because of modern development, the house is now entered from High Street, just south of Main Street. The center portion of the dwelling is the original section, with the parlor and kitchen wings added sometime before the late 1760s. Even with a few Victorian porch amenities and some interior changes during the 20th century, the house still retains the ambience of the mid-eighteenth century.
Home of Moorestown Historical Society, from 1970 - present
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The house was built by Joshua Humphries, possibly on the foundation of an even older home. In 1766 the 160-acre property was purchased by Samuel Smith of Burlington, who was a state provincial assemblyman, Treasurer of the Province of West Jersey, and the author of the first comprehensive history of New Jersey.
Although Samuel never lived in this house, the farm was inherited in 1775 by his son, Richard S., who did live here. Richard was a merchant, a farmer, a state assemblyman and township freeholder and committee-man.
The Smith home was the largest and most gracious in town and many well-known people were entertained there. During the American Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette and his aides were guests of Richard Smith in 1777. Less welcome guests were the Hessian General von Knyphausen and his officers. They were part of the British Army which was retreating from Philadelphia on June 20th, 1778. Tradition states that during their stop at the Smith house the soldiers killed chickens in the parlor and cooked them all, they harassed the women, and feasted and reveled far into the night.
Photo taken c. 1890
In 1798, the house and farm came to the ownership of Edward Harris, Sr., a newly arrived merchant from England. Mr. Harris exported clover seed and also grew raspberries, apples, and barley on the farm. He opened his home to visitors and allowed traveling clergy to preach to their flocks on the front porch and in the parlor. His son, Edward Harris, Jr. inherited the property at his father’s death in 1822 and lived there until 1849.
Hand-drawn map of Edward Harris’ farm-1834
He also farmed the land and lived the life of a scholar and a gentleman. He was a naturalist, who accompanied his friend, John James Audubon, on two expeditions. Harris was an early benefactor of Audubon, supporting his work when he was a young struggling artist, and it is believed that Audubon visited the farm in Moorestown on several occasions and named the Harris Hawk after his friend.
Harris Hawk, from Audubon’s “Portfolio of Birds”
Harris was the first to introduce the Percheron horse to the United States and he bred these horses on his Moorestown farm. Following the Harris ownership, the property changed hands several times. Bartholomew Sutton was the last to farm the land in the 1890s. Through the following years the Smith house remained a residence, but the land was gradually partitioned into smaller town lots. In 1924, the house was purchased by John and Rachael Cadbury, with Mrs. Cadbury living there until her death in 1969.
Diligence, a Percheron horse
The Smith-Cadbury Mansion, so named by the Historical Society, has been the headquarters of the Society since 1970. The home is fortunate to contain much of the original paneling, floorboards, fireplaces and even window glass. As a dwelling continuously lived in from 1738 to 1969, today the furnishings of the museum-house reflect styles from the 18th and 19th century and are not pristine to a particular time. There are many items in the collection that have passed through the Cadbury and other local families.
Among the important pieces in the Historical Society collection are samplers including one of the earliest schoolgirl samplers made at the Westtown School, quilts, early Quaker clothing, tall-case clocks such as a Peter Stretch clock from Philadelphia, and a Morgan Hollingshead clock from Moorestown, a William McElroy Windsor chair made in Moorestown, and other fine antique furniture. Off the 1738 dining room, the Historical Society maintains a lovely gift shop in a Victorian enclosed porch. Here visitors can purchase a variety of items for home and garden and books on local history.
