On Monday, this magnificent Red-tailed Hawk perched atop one of the Fell House conifers, serving as a reminder of what wonderful habitat would be lost -- and how many trees like this one would be felled -- if this project were somehow approved.
The wetlands on the property are of exceptional value. We are fighting to protect them, and to protect the nearby Celery Farm.
IN THIS AERIAL VIEW, The Fell House is in the middle on the left.
The Franklin Turnpike goes from the upper middle left to the lower middle right.
The dark spot in the upper right is the Celery Farm and Lake Appert.
The developer wants to tear down the historic house, barn and root cellar, build 11 townhouses, and have all stormwater runoff flow under Franklin Turnpike and into the Celery Farm.
The historic Fell House is located at 475 Franklin Turnpike, near the 107-acre Celery Farm Natural Area.
The property is 2.78 acres. A developer wants to tear down the Fell House and its beautiful outbuildings and build 11 townhomes.
He is asking for a huge variance -- townhouse developments are supposed to be on 10-acre lots, not on one that is less than three acres.
Our group, the Concerned Citizens of Allendale, is trying to save the house and property.
We are a 501c3 non-profit group.
Our Web site is savethefellhouse.org.
Please, help us save this wonderful home and property.
John Fell was a leader of the Bergen County resistance to the British in the Revolutionary War and so despised by the British that he was captured in this very house in Allendale and imprisoned in New York City for more than a year.
He kept a secret journal during his captivity -- the journal documented the harsh conditions in these jails. More Americans
died in British prisons in New York City during the Revolution than on the battlefield. His journal has been reprinted in a book about American prisoners of war during the Revolution.
Fell served the county as a Justice of Peace, a judge of the court of common pleas, and served the county as a member of the Provincial, a member of the New Jersey Council.
As a member of the First Continental Congress of the United States, John Fell ratified the Constitution.
John Fell kept a diary while he was a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress.
It has also been reprinted by a university press.
Joseph Warner Allen
Stephen Cable
The
daughter of former owner Stephen Cable, Mary Emma (Mrs. James A.
Reading) first conducted a Sunday school in the home of her parents. In
1873, the school was moved to an old barn opposite the Cable house.
This Sunday school grew to become the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany,
the oldest church in Allendale.
General Adam Badeau
In 1892-1893 General Adam Badeau, summered in the Fell house. He
was the military secretary to General (later President of the U. S.)
Ulysses E. Grant from 1864-1866, and later Consul General at London.
Joseph B. Taylor
The Cable family retained ownership of this house until 1912, when Joseph B. Taylor bought the house. He was born in Brooklyn in about 1868 and his grandfather, William Taylor was the founder of the Columbian Iron Works in
