Monks Tell Park Service to Keep Off Their Land

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Jan. 10 (RNS) -- The National Park Service wants to buy and preserve up to 180 acres of land adjacent to an area where Gen. George Washington's troops wintered during the American Revolution, but the monks who own it will not allow the government to appraise the property.

According to Michael Henderson, superintendent of Morristown National Historical Park, the monks have denied the Park Service access to the property to perform an appraisal.

"You can't make an offer without an appraisal and we certainly don't trespass," said Henderson, who says that negotiating with the monks has been an exercise in frustration.

The Benedictine monks at St. Mary's Abbey, who run the Delbarton college preparatory school, say they need to develop the land to secure the financial future of their order and to provide retirement care for their aging members.

Adolph Schimpf, the abbey's vice president of business affairs, said he would not allow the government to appraise the land because a low appraisal would "create confusion and prejudice deliberations as we go along. We don't want unrealistic information floating around."

The land currently is zoned for single-family homes on minimum 3-acre lots and is assessed by Morris Township at $2.8 million.

Thomas Wells, administrator of New Jersey's Green Acres program, said a combination of state and federal agencies would pay "in the low millions" to keep the land as open space.

Wells said the Green Acres program would buy the land if the price was reasonable. The National Park Service would then repay the state for the land over time and add the property to Jockey Hollow, which is part of the Morristown National Historical Park and spans 1,700 acres.

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