Milford chronicle., 1960-07-15
| Remember Milford
BY George d. Truift


Growing Pains
BY 1890 Milford was a teenager
and growing rapidly. Again the
Mispililon played its part. Because
Of the creeks new roll in serving
the expanding community, the oys-
ters couldn't be taken from its
mouth anymore. The nearby
beaches, Bowers, Cedar and Slaugh-
ter, had to be used. The oysters
were just as good.
North Milford was still the
Crowded part South Milford was
mostly made up of open spaces like
the beautiful Causey property at
the junction OF South Walnut and
Causey. Later, the Holland and the
Vinyard dominated the scene. From
| the railroad depot along Causey
Avenue, then south on Walnut to
the John B. Smith home, which is
now the library, there were no
other houses. Frederick Causey
sold off his holdings little at the
time. 1t was very imposing es-
tate, but even then was only a pOr-
ton of a great plantation, which
a hundred years earlier had ex-
tended far down into Sussex COun-
| ty. First, Joseph Holland bought a
block of the property and built a
home which he later sold to VIII
Draper. Then William A. Humes
built his house, No, believe Bill
Kern and A. j. Cain built before
Humes. Anyway, both the Kern
and Cain houses are still standing
across from the lumber yard on
Causey Avenue. George H. Draper
bought the largest parcel of the
Causey property. He extended
Church Avenue and built his home.
Then his property was subdivided
for the homes of his son and three
sons-in-law The open spaces be-
gan to shrink rapidly. Mark Davis,
Charles Prettyman, and Mrs. Annie
williams, William Aldred, and Dan
Hirsch built houses on Causey Ave-
nue. and Walnut Street.
Across Causey Avenue and fac
ing the Plaza was the estate OF
Peter F. Causey. 1t was bounded
by Walnut Street on the east,
| Causey Avenue on the south, and
Church Avenue on the west and
extended from the creek. Where
| the Milford Chronicle and the ad-
jacent buildings now stand, there
was a high board fence and it was
whiteWashed every year. John
Causey didn't marry until late,
but he had extensive property
which included all the land on both
sides of the Kings Highway all the
way through to Grier's Pond and
this included about three hundred
| acres abutting Grier's Pond.
The Peter Causey property had
large and charming garden for
mally designed in squares with
/ lockwood hedges and paths between
! the squares filed with rust colored
| gravel which was renewed each
year. In season, the garden was
ablaze with bleeding heart, old
fashioned pinks, pansies, hello
trope, cowslips and many, many
vegetables. All this Towering was
supplemented with shrubs like
SNOWFALL and japonica and fruit
trees-cherry, apple, ounce. A
springhOuse at the southwest cor
ner of the garden was a delightful
| Spot-sweet cold water on a sum-
mer day, l remember.
Most of the estates had lovely
gardens. But the people in North
Milford also beautified their prop
erty. Squire Fleming, for example.
His place was on the east side of
Walnut Street just beyond the
T'haw house. Because of the slope,
his garden was laid out in four
successive terraces and the walks
there were also bordered with box
wood. Others, too. The Richard
girls-Miss Sallie and Miss Mollie,
spent many hours away from
school teaching maintaining the
beautiful garden at their. fathers
home on Lakeview Avenue. Can
you believe that peacocks once
strutted around a park which is
now the parking lot for the First
National Bank? This was the gar
den of General Torbert. He was
fond of bringing animals and birds
home from his travels abroad. Mon
keys and parrots were his favor
ties, and I think he may have had
some rare specimens.
Utilities and Improvements
Growing Milford had to be pro-
vided with transportation facilities
and up-to-date utilities for COM
munity living. Usually at intervals
of two years, the town authorities
bought large quantities of oyster
shells to resurface the streets. The
shells were considered excellent
material for this purpose, but for
some weeks after they were spread
over the road beds the townspeople
enjoyed terrific bouquet from the
rOtting integument that attached to
the oyster shell.
Il