Small in size but rich in history, Lewisville Road – a narrow road that connects Princeton Pike and Franklin Corner Road – has received recognition as the earliest Black community in Lawrence Township.
A plaque explaining Lewisville Road’s historical importance was unveiled at a ceremony March 25 that drew about 60 people, including a handful of descendants of the Black families that settled on Lewisville Road in the 1840’s.
The proposal to install the plaque, near the site of the now-demolished Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Church at the entrance to The Lawrenceville School’s athletic fields, grew out of a Lawrence Township Council resolution in 2022 to support the state Task Force on Reparations, said the Rev. William Howard.
“We were (also) inspired by the last words of (Lawrence Township historian) Brooke Hunter’s brief account of Lewisville Road on the Lawrence Historical Society’s website, where she writes, ‘Small in size but rich in history, Lewisville Road is a significant African American historic site in the township that must not be forgotten,'” Howard relayed.
The date of March 25 was chosen for the plaque unveiling because it coincides with the annual International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, as recognized by the United Nations, he said.
Howard reeled off a list of the earliest Black families to settle on Lewisville Road – Samuel Duncan, Hezekiah Vanhorn and George Centurian, along with the LeCompts, the Schencks, the Bosleys, the Harmons and others who lived there for more than a century.
“We do this intentionally at a time when some of the nation’s political leaders aim to wipe from memory the vital human journey that is symbolized by this historical marker,” he said. “It is a journey that is critical to the development of Lawrence Township and a source of its richness.
“With this small symbol, Lawrence is saying we know better than to forget. It is my hope that this is just the beginning of recognizing those who are at risk of being forgotten, and enhancing the teaching of this history to our future generations.”
Brooke Hunter, who is the official Lawrence Township historian and an associate dean at Rider University, told the attendees that she became aware of Lewisville Road and its history in 2010 while she was working with students on an oral history of one of the early families.
Lewisville Road takes its name from Lewis W. R. Phillips, who belonged to one of the founding families of Lawrence Township. He was a slaveholder who later joined the antislavery movement. He freed two of his slaves, and sold land to free Blacks and to whites on today’s Lewisville Road in the 1840’s and 1850’s.
Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Church, near which the plaque is sited, was built on Lewisville Road around 1891 or 1892. It was a small frame structure that was painted light brown with green trim, Hunter said. It could hold about 60 people.
The church served as a spiritual, social and civic center, she said. It united the dozen or so Black families on Lewisville Road with other Black families in Lawrence Township.
“The Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Church may have been small, but it brought crowds of people from all over to Lewisville Road around the turn of the century,” Hunter said. “A ‘harvest home’ was a popular fundraiser at the time and Mount Pisgah went all out.”
A harvest home was a combination of religious revival, political meeting and carnival. The church used an outdoor space off Lewisville Road for the event, and the women would prepare dinner for 3,000 people, she said.
“Lewisville Road is not only an integral part of Lawrence Township history, it showcases American history writ large – from slavery to freedom,” Hunter said. “Some of the first residents on Lewisville Road were slaves before they became property owners.”
Steve Murray, who is the Shelby Cullom Davis ’26 Head of School at The Lawrenceville School, said that dedicating space for the plaque is not a one-off endeavor. It is part of the school’s initiative to become more inclusive.
“To understand who we are now, we have to understand our past,” Murray said.
Mayor Patricia Hendricks Farmer, who grew up in Lawrence Township, admitted to the attendees that she was unaware of Lewisville Road’s history.
“It is important to share history and also the present,” she said. “As a former school board member, I am committed to education. We are standing on sacred ground.”
The Lewisville Road plaque project is a collaboration of the Lawrence Historical Society, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrence Township, Lawrence Neighbors Together, the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville and the Lawrence Township Public Schools.
A plaque explaining Lewisville Road’s historical importance was unveiled at a ceremony March 25.
