The first question you may have, is “Why West Jersey?”  Your work isn’t limited to just half of a small state, is it?

Daniel Coxe 1707 Hopewell Patent Showing East and West Jersey

West Jersey is used in our name to honor the long and distinguished history of my adopted part of the state of New Jersey (For a great discussion of West Jersey, please see my friend Bob Barnett’s website (www.westjersey.org) . Based on the joint rights granted by the Duke of York to Sir George Carteret and John, Lord Berkeley, early New Jersey became a proprietary colony divided into two provinces, east and west. East Jersey’s development was tied to New York, New England, and the former Dutch colony of New Netherland. The settlement of West Jersey on the Delaware River was initially by Quakers, and was associated with William Penn and others involved in the colonization of Pennsylvania. The Quaker heritage of the area is still strong with active meetings and schools in numerous West Jersey communities including Haddonfield and Moorestown.

Though we are proudly based in the West Jersey community of Collingswood and some of our services (house histories, for instance) are primarily performed for local clients, our geographic reach is limited only by the needs of our varied clients.

WJHR is presently a one-person operation. I, Douglas McVarish, am a 20-year veteran in the historic preservation, history, and archival research fields, and I have the knowledge and experience needed to get you a product that is right the first time. I am also in touch with a network of professional colleagues, so if your project requires, for instance, archeology, conditions assessment, or building fabric analysis, please let me know. I willl be able to quickly assemble a very experienced team that will work well together.

Please look around the site and contact WJHR if we could assist you in your historical documentation or interpretation project.