Restoration continues on Parker Homestead in Little Silver

Little Silver mayor Suzanne Castleman announced in this week's borough Reorganization Day Meeting that the exterior of the Parker Homestead, a historically relevant property off Rumson Road, has been "power washed, scraped, primed and repainted."

Former contents of the Homestead, which the borough currently owns, have been "removed from storage, categorized and placed in the Bates home on Rumson Road, and in the trailer behind the barns on the Homestead property."

Castleman also announced that a community meeting has been scheduled for March 10 at 7 p.m. in the Borough Hall borough chambers to present preliminary findings for the Parker Homestead site, including concepts, uses, facilities, users and offerings.

"This will be a ninety minute planning session which will employ PowerPoint and other visual aids that will be carefully constructed to elicit impressions, opinions and suggestions about the project and its elements," says Castleman.

The responses recorded during the meeting will be used to revise the plan, and to summarize the final project report by the consultants.

This management study is being paid for using grant monies. According to The New York Times, at least $670,000 in gifts and grants have already been spent upgrading the property.

The Parker Homestead was the focus of a recent council meeting when Chester Apy, a concerned citizen and former Little Silver councilman, urged current officials to continue their efforts to protect and restore the oldest property in the borough, which he believes "may be the finest historical site in the county."

Earlier in the same meeting, Castleman announced that Richard Veit, a professor of archeology at Monmouth University, had finished a draft of a report aimed at qualifying the three-hundred-year-old homestead for the National Registry of Historic Sites.