BARNEGAT – Usually when the government spends millions of dollars to refurbish a historic home, the home has local history. Sometimes, it was the scene of a famous battle or historical incident. A famous person or even a past president might have stayed at the home.
We’ve all seen the Tom Hanks movie Money Pit. We know how this one turns out in the end.
When it comes to the Cox House in Barnegat Township, there are no such stories of local historical significance, only that it was a home that filled the childhood memories of Ocean County Commissioner Virginia Haines.
Built in the 1800s, the Cox House was home to a local newspaper publisher Mary Ann Cox. That’s it.
Haines has convinced the Board of Commissioners to spend $3.4 million to clean up decades of mold, deterioration, neglect and asbestos contamination to get the building back into its Victorian-era elegance. That is only phase one of the project. Haines is planning another multimillion-dollar upgrade to a home where she spent days as a child.
According to the county, the home has been linked to political insiders like Haines since it was built. A grand list of who’s who in Ocean County politics that makes most people outside of political circles say, “Who?”
“Ironically, the home is also associated with Ezra Parker (1854-1935), the political nemesis of Ocean County’s first elected female assembly person, Lilia W. Thompson (1875-1933). Ezra Parker and Mary Etta Collins Cox were married in 1907. Mr. Parker was also the president and founder of the First National Bank of Barnegat which still stands as an antique restoration shop that borders the Cox House property,” the county touts the home. “Ms. Thompson prevailed and was elected to two terms (1924-1925) in the NJ Assembly, the first woman to represent an entire county in the NJ Assembly. She even challenged the Ocean County political machine of Captain Tom Mathis, coming up short in her challenge for the NJ Senate. The section of route 9 between Lakewood and Manalapan is named in her honor.”
It’s a scenario that Mrs. Cox, as a seasoned journalist would question herself if she was here today to do so.
Haines says publicly that she wants to use the building as a public bathroom along the Barnegat Branch Trail, a walking trail along the former railroad track system. She also wants to use the building as a storage facility.
Behind the scenes, there are plans to use the building as an office for county workers aligned with Haines. Phase I is just the interior work. Phase two, will include interior renovations.
The building has already been a taxpayer money pit. Donna Flynn, spokesperson for Haines said the county spent $178,000 for a new roof on the home and $81,000 on asbestos removal.
It turns out the Cox House is not even a completely original historic piece. Few parts of the orginal 1848 structure remain. The bulk of the home was renovated and expanded in 1983 after a previous construction project in 1904 expanded the home.
When Mary Ann Cox died in 1983, she left the home to the county, under one condition. That it would not burden the taxpayers.
Since her death, it has been nothing but a money pit and tax burden for all of the taxpayers of Ocean County.
But, Ginny Haines says it has historical significance, at least in her own establishment elitist childhood upbringing that saw her raised inside a county-owned home on the grounds of Ocean County Park.
The bottom line is this is a pet project by Haines, who simply liked the Cox’s and they were all family friends.