This little lane isn't the old road up to New England and the intersecting road isn't a nod to recent politicians so what are their namesakes?
When Bound Brook's Westerly Gardens was platted in 1912 George LaMonte the elder had just died. His daughter Caroline apparently ceded the street naming to her recently widowed mother who was inspired by her family of origin.
"The break up of the LaMonte farm for residential purposes began in 1912 when Miss Caroline B. LaMonte launched the project known as Westerly Gardens. The involved the building of about 35 one family dwelling houses, with roads and other improvements, in a block between Talmadge avenue and Second street. It also included the Nurses Home and the beginning of a social welfare program which still continues to expand and has been the model for other communities in this state." (Bound Brook Chronicle No.16, 1950)
Rebecca Kern LaMonte had been born and raised in a neat brick home in Romney, the seat of Hampshire County in the western highlands of Virginia.
The Kern's House in Romney, WV is now an American Legion post |
Being a major post for provisions on the road from the Ohio Valley to Confederate strongholds in the Shenandoah Valley, Romney changed hands at least ten times in the early Civil War. It was finally ceded along with all of Hampshire County to the newly formed state of West Virginia in 1863, becoming the first town of the first county in the state.
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