Internet photo. Lines on Main Avenue for their home cooking. Undated Internet photo.
Sampler Inn
The Sampler Inn was a famous cafeteria style restaurant and hotel on Main Avenue. It eventually went down hill and then became a dangerous derelict structure. For some time the neighbors, especially those on Heck Avenue, complained about the risks, smells, ugliness and unsanitary conditions at the building, both during its last days as an eatery and then thereafter.
In the photo below, the derelict house on the left eventually became #27 Heck Avenue, the address that now wants a car driveway on the right.
Heck Avenue rear view of the Sampler. Note the setup for trucks to pull in at the “driveway.” It was a loading dock. Photo 2009. By Daniel Beaman.
The Sampler was finally torn down by the Township in 2009.
Sampler site as seen looking from Main towards Heck. Note the sign that shows four houses to be built there. Blogfinger photo. Undated.
In 2012, Charles Layton wrote a long and comprehensive article on Blogfinger about the Sampler’s history. He featured interviews with residents who were involved in trying to deal with the Sampler’s problems. I
Below is a link:
From the article linked above: “After the Sampler’s destruction, the zoning of the site reverted to single-family homes. It is likely that such homes will be built there eventually.”
“Whatever goes up there,” Beaman (a neighbor) said, “we’re not going to be afraid of it. And that’s the big thing.”
Blogfinger has no information regarding the 4 lot subdivision which should have been obtained at the Planning Board to turn that site into 4 lots. And what happened to the idea of 4 homes?
PETER ALLEN: