Two single-family homes may replace old Awosting Inn clubhouse

BY ANN GENADER
WEST MILFORD – When the aged Awosting Community Club House on Long Pond Road in Hewitt was demolished and removed from its long time location a few years ago, a modern new community building was designed to replace it on a tract nearby.
As expected, the old clubhouse property, no longer needed by the community, was sold.
Minor subdivision and bulk variance approvals to subdivide the existing lot into two individual building lots for proposed family dwellings were granted by the West Milford Planning Board on Jan. 3.
The Fuller house, a post and beam farmhouse, became the Awosting Inn decades ago, according to the late Eugene Richards.
His son, Mark Richards, recently joined the West Milford Museum group and can often be found at the Union Valley Road museum on Saturdays when it is open from 1 to 4 p.m.
Richards and his cousin Bradley Bender, a former West Milford Board of Education trustee, both have a lot of knowledge about the local area, and enjoy sharing it with today’s generations.
Richards is especially knowledgeable about train history.
Bender said he learned from his Uncle Gene that the Fuller family took in boarders when the Ringwood Company bought the farm.
The company added a building that was moved up from Pompton Lakes DuPont Works, and was attached to the south end of the Fuller farmhouse where it became the dining room and dance hall for the Awosting Inn.
Originally there was an apple orchard owned by the Fuller family on what is now the Awosting property, according to Bender and Richards.
The Awosting development was developed by the Ringwood Company.