Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003

FANWOOD, 10.7 miles (160 alt., 1,681 pop.), has a home-owning population protected by close restriction of business building. The town was named for Miss Fannie Wood, a writer, daughter of a Jersey Central R.R. official. The SPENCE HOUSE (private), Martine Ave., built in 1774, was used during the Revolution by American soldiers. A strong room in the cellar with the name "George Washington" carved on a beam is believed to have served as a prison cell. The building has two wings covered with white clapboards, green slat shutters, and a shingle roof. A large red brick chimney has the date 1774 in white brick.

1. Left from the center of Fanwood on Martine Ave. to the RUINS OF A CIDER MILL (L), 1 mile, on the grounds of Shackamaxon Country Club. Cider and apple-jack were produced here as early as 1740 by the builder, Simeon Lambert. A detachment of General Howe's British troops paused here on a June day in 1777, drank three barrels of applejack, and promptly forgot the orders for the day. All returned to Staten Island, leaving the countryside unharmed. The cider mill operated until 1908.

2. Left from Fanwood on Terrill Rd. to the FRAZEE HOUSE (private), 1.9 miles (R), at the junction with Raritan Rd. It is a low, white, shingled structure on a fieldstone foundation. In Revolutionary times Mrs. Elizabeth (Aunt Betty) Frazee lived here. Found baking bread for Continental soldiers by Lord Cornwallis, she handed him a loaf at his request, saying: "Your lordship will please understand that I give this bread in fear and not in love." Saluting, the British commander is said to have answered: "Not I, nor a man of my command, shall accept a single loaf."

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