Fieldville is a historical

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located within Piscataway Township in Middlesex County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. The location is sometimes described as being on River Road south of Bound Brook. The community was named after John Field and his descendants who settled the area.

History

John Field (1659–1729) purchased along the

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided t ...

in 1695 from Benjamin Clarke.

Historic houses

The original Field House, built by John Field in 1710, was located between River Road and the Raritan River. It was destroyed in 1907. Richard R. Field (1755–1840) lived in a frame house at 260 River Road, dated by a foundation stone. John Field's grandson, John Field (born 1714), built a stone house at 625 River Road in 1743. A later addition was wood-frame construction. About 1868, Benjamin McDowell Field built a large two-story frame house along River Road. It was also known as the ''Kenneth Perry House'', named after its last owner. The house was destroyed by fire in 1965.

Fieldville Dam

As part of the

Delaware and Raritan Canal The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelp ...

, a dam was constructed on the Raritan River at Fieldville to supply water for the last five miles of the canal to

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. What remains of the dam can still be seen in the Raritan River, about 500 feet upstream from the I-287 North overpass near exit 10.

Transportation

Fieldville is accessed by two major roads:

Interstate 287 Interstate 287 (I-287) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US states of New Jersey and New York. It is a partial beltway around New York City, serving the northern half of New Jersey and the counties of Rockland and Westchester in ...

and County Route 622 (River Road).

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* {{Middlesex County, New Jersey Piscataway, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Middlesex County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey 1710 establishments in New Jersey