Community Corner

Warren's Coddington Farmstead Attracts Visitors During Journey Through Past

Annual historic event draws public to restored township-owned site.

The pre-Revolutionary War Coddington Farmstead in Warren attracted more than 200 visitors this weekend as part of the Somerset County's annual Weekend Journey Through the Past, when many historic sites are open to the public, said Warren Township Committeewoman Carol Garafola.

Doug Reeder, lead docent, assisted in the photo below by Hannah Feldman, docent in training from Watchung Hills High School, lead a group of visitors in the Coddington Homestead's living room. 

Reeder coordinated the Eagle Scout restoration projects at Coddington Farmstead in 2006 that enabled township to open the historic site for tours. 

The living room, on the mantle, displays a portrait of Lora Coddington who passed away at 92 years of age and was a major donor to the Warren Library and to the Mt. Horeb Methodist Church. 

Lora Coddington was the last of the family, and she lived in the historic home at the time it was sold to Warren Township along with 50 acres of trails behind the home. The portrait was painted by Ralph Garafola and the original hangs in the Warren Library.

Reeder also is shown standing next to the most recent donation from the Salvato Estate, a stone grinder to the Codington Homested. The late Frank Salvato was a former mayor and township official who passed away at the age of 98 in the fall of 2011 while still in office. 

Salvato's daughter, Hope, donated the antique stone grinder upon the request of Doug Reeder. Frank Salvato had lived all his life in Warren and went to the one-room schoolhouse with Lora and Lester Coddington, and he knew the entire family, Garafola said.


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