MIDDLEBUSH, NEW JERSEY

'Middlebush' is an unincorporated area and community located within Franklin Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It is perhaps most distinguished as being the host section for Franklin Township's municipal complex.
Middlebush still has quite a rural feel with 19th Century homes and tree-lined streets. Middlebush was once a stop on the Millstone and New Brunswick Railroad, and this legacy is evident in the street named Railroad Avenue that presently has no railroad tracks in sight.

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Points of Interest

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Points of Interest

★ 'Middlebush Park' is Franklin Township's newest municipal park. Located in Middlebush, off DeMott Lane, the park hosts ballfields and a children's playground.

★ 'O'Connor's Beef 'N Chowder House'. The first recorded ownership of this site dates back to 1703, when Dutch settler Denyse Teunissen relocated to the area from Long Island. In 1923, Christian VanDoren purchased 357 acres from Teunissen, which was later divided into seven smaller farms. Garrett Voorhees later purchased one of these farms where he built his original homestead. His son Garrett Voorhees II, became the owner and served in Washington's Continental Army, the original homestead was burned by Cornwallis at the time of his critical and embarrassing retirement from the Somerset Courthouse in Millstone, New Jersey on June 19, 1777. After the Revolutionary War, the British compensated Garrett Voorhees II for the burning of his house. With this money, Voorhees built the present Colonial Farms, which now houses the restaurant.

★ The 'Middlebush Giant' was a circus performer and sideshow attraction who retired to a farm in Middlebush.

★ The 'Cedar Grove Cemetery, Franklin' is located off of Amwell Avenue and contains the body of the Middlebush Giant.

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