HERB COTTRELL, OLD BRIDGE FARMER

By Jeffrey Kagan Herbert Cottrell

Herbert Cottrell, Jr. passed away at age 95 in 2013. He was a lifelong resident of our town, and his family lineage dates back to the founders of New Jersey. In an interview Herb gave a year before he died, he talked about life and he paints a rustic picture of growing up on the Cottrell Farm.

Herb was born in the house that still stands on the northeast corner of Route 516 and Cottrell Road, back when the local traffic was one car driving by per hour. His father, Herbert Cottrell Sr. ran the farm back then and always kept a sharp eye out to ensure the quality of their products. Herb Jr. says that his father was the only graduate in his class at Rutgers College of Agriculture, Class of 1900. Farming was his life, as it was for generations in their family.

“He had a good education and he had a good brain and he knew how to use it,” Herb Jr. said. After prohibition was repealed, they decided that they would go into the distilling business.” The four Cottrell brothers formed a corporation, the New Jersey Apple Growers Inc. and they kept the distillery going until 1955. Two of their popular products were Browntown Applejack Cider and 86% proof Apple Brandy, which was marketed as “rich, mellow, smooth”. Herb Jr. reminisces about their horses Dan and Beaut. As a young boy, he would drive the rig to plow the fields. He’d think about many of the old westerns that he saw at the movies and imagine that he was driving a stage coach. The Thomas Warne Museum is open on Saturdays from 12pm-4pm. See more at www.thomas-warne-museum.com.