Our New Home

In 2018, IMHS purchased the former Jennings’ home which will be converted to the permanent home for our collection as well as serve as the new meeting location.

Click here to see the three year plan for the building.

In 2018, The Indian Mills Historical Society acquired the old historic Jennings Farmhouse on Oakshade Road, one of the oldest houses in Shamong Township. The property contains 2.403 acres and at one time was part of a small settlement called “Fliatum” sometimes spelled “Flayatem”, later shortened to “Flyatt”, which grew up around the Flyatt Tavern/Hotel and Stagecoach Stop across the road.

The age of the Jennings house is not known. Although it goes back much further, the house was there when John Henry Clay Jennings bought the property in 1878. It remained in the Jennings family for the next 126 years. John H. C. Jennings owned it until 1886 when he turned over ownership to his wife, Sarah Ann (Keeler) Jennings. Sarah Ann died in 1920. The property remained with her executors until March 2, 1942, when Joseph Wilks Booth Jennings, her last living executor, sold it to Jerome Stevenson Jennings for $1000. In 1993, Wayne L. Jennings took possession of the house and property by last will and testament of his father, Jerome Stevenson Jennings. Wayne was the last Jennings to own the house. In 2003 he sold it to Robert and Donna Abrams. They in turn sold it to the Indian Mills Historical Society in 2018.

The Society plans to restore the farmhouse by taking it back to the way it was in its earliest days. The goal in buying the farmhouse was not only to make it a teaching museum for area school children and local history buffs but also, after restoration, using it for general meetings and displaying their fine collection of artifacts.

Shamong has always been a farming community. In restoring this old farmhouse to its original condition, IMHS hopes to preserve a monument to the heritage of the farming community of Shamong Township.
The key word here is RESTORING. It will take extensive reconstruction to return this old farmhouse to its original condition. They will be applying for grant money and various funding. But the real sense of accomplishment will come from personal involvement through volunteer work and donations. Hopefully, local contractors and businesses will get involved by volunteering their services or making a donation.

The Society is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit educational organization and as such all donation and services are tax deductible.

See the gallery below for pictures of the house in it’s current state. We hope to start remodeling soon and we are looking for volunteers to help with the cleanup.

On June 1, 2019 we started to clean out the house. In a couple of hours we managed to fill a 20 yard dumpster. Great job to all who helped out!

June 7, 2019 Update: On this day we focused on getting the basement cleaned out. A special thank you to the Mozitis family for their continued support and the use of their tractor to assist in lifting the debris from the basement.