Highfields | |
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| Location | End of Lindbergh Rd.,East Amwell, NJ 08551 |
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| Coordinates | 40°25′26.0″N74°46′04.0″W / 40.423889°N 74.767778°W /40.423889; -74.767778 |
| Area | 380 acres (150 ha) |
| Built | 1931 |
| Architect | Delano & Aldrich |
| Architectural style | Mixed French and EnglishTudor Revival withColonial Revival treatments |
| NRHP reference No. | 94001096 |
| NJRHP No. | 1585[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 23, 1994 |
| Designated NJRHP | August 1, 1994 |
Highfields is a historic house inEast Amwell Township,Hunterdon County,New Jersey that served as the home ofCharles andAnne Lindbergh, the famousaviators. It was the location of theLindbergh kidnapping, after which it was turned into a rehabilitation center. The home was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The Lindberghs built Highfields in 1931 on a secluded spot of theSourland Mountain so as to escape the spotlight brought on by their celebrity status. After his pioneering solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927, four million people had attended theticker tape parade in Charles Lindbergh's honor, and he had received two million congratulatory telegrams, making him one of the most famous Americans of the century. The Sourland Mountain location, while secluded, afforded easy access by air and automobile to the Lindberghs' offices in New York City and to the laboratories of nearbyPrinceton University, to which they had been granted access.[2]
The home was the site of one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century, theLindbergh kidnapping, often called the "Crime of the Century".[3] On the evening of March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs' oldest son, 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh, Jr., was abducted by means of a ladder from a second floor window of Highfields, aided by a warped shutter which could not be closed.[2] Over two months later, the baby's body was discovered a short distance from Highfields inHopewell Township with a massive skull fracture. After a more than two-year investigation,Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested, tried in one of the so-calledtrials of the century, and convicted of the crime. He was executed byelectric chair atNew Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936. Nevertheless, speculation has continued to run rampant, as most investigators at the time of the initial investigation, as well as contemporary researchers, believe there was inside help.[4]
The headquarters of the search for Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was in the garage of Highfields. After Lindbergh identified the body of his son, they left the house. Never to spend another night there, they returned to Anne's family home inEnglewood, New Jersey. The attention from the trial led the Lindberghs to a self-imposed exile in Europe from 1935 to 1939. In June 1933, Anne wrote that the house would be turned over to a board of trustees, and she named it "Highfields," saying the name carried some secret meaning. One biographer has speculated that it commemorates the young Lindbergh's special greeting to his father.
In 1941 the home was conveyed to the State of New Jersey by the Highfields Association, in memory of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. It has been used since July 1, 1952 as a juvenilerehabilitation center by theNew Jersey Department of Corrections.[2]
