The tiny Borough of Highland Park has been home to at least three hotels. This multi-cache will take you on a tour of them.
STAGE 1:
Stage one is near the site of the first known hotel in Highland Park, the Ferry House tavern. The owners first applied for a tavern application in 1760. A 1766 map shows it just south of the road that became Rt 27/Raritan Ave on the banks of the river. Licenses for the Ferry House tavern exist until 1788, with a break in records during the Revolutionary War. Although licenses do not exist after 1788, the Ferry House is depicted on a 1790 map of New Brunswick and a 1795 drawing of the new Albany Street Bridge. That bridge, which ended the need to wait for tides, boats, or ferries, and allowed much easier access to the taverns in New Brunswick, likely doomed the Ferry House. It is not known how long after 1795 it continued to operate.
STAGE 2:
There are records of another hotel operating in the area in the 1830s. It was known at the Rail Road hotel of East Brunswick, and it existed in what is now either Highland Park or Piscataway, although the exact location and dates of operation are unknown
So the second stage will give you a view of the location of the second hotel known with certainty to have operated in Highland Park. The Highland Park Hotel was located near the confluence of Woodbidge Ave and Raritan Ave. At one point, that intersection also boasted a diner and movie theatre (visible at the right in the picture below). The Victorian structure began construction in 1896 at the cost of $11,000 and was also the site of Highland Park's first restaurant. Local poet Joyce Kilmer was known to spend afternoons drinking there. The hotel was demolished by 1961, and the owners of the gas station you can see nearby were allowed to expand and the rest of the hotel property is what is now the bank.
STAGE 3:
The third and final stage is home to the newest hotel in Highland Park. It was built by my kids and me and it is the Highland Park Travel Bug Inn. We made it from about four and a half feet of a 1x6 plank of wood. The kids helped measure the wood, paint it, and hammer it together--they had a hand in everything except the circular saw I used to cut the wood. It's our first foray into woodwork, although more caches and maybe a birdhouse are being discussed for the future.
Our favorite part of geocaching is exchanging swag and trackables and seeing how far our trackables go, so we've put a bunch of toys and trackables in here to start. Feel free to message me if either are getting low. From start to finish, you'll take a 1.5 mile tour through Highland Park, and it is easy to walk, run, bike, or drive to get around. The terrain is a 1.0 until the last 150 feet or so, which is up a slight hill and into some overgrown woods.
There is a small glass stone for the FTF that was given to us at GC8XVT3 by VforGreen. Enjoy!
All historical information, for this post, as well as publicly available pictures, are from Highland Park: Borough of Homes, by Jeanne Kolva and Joanne Pisciotta.