Posted on 10/26/2025 8:32:42 AM PDT by Red Badger
For nearly two centuries, the Henry family has worked the same soil in Bedminster, New Jersey — a 175-year-old farm passed from one generation to the next. But earlier this year, their heritage came under attack. Local officials, invoking the state’s “affordable housing” laws, sought to seize part of the Henrys’ land through legal maneuvering that would have handed it to developers.
The battle lasted months. It was draining, personal, and emblematic of a deeper national struggle between individual liberty and government overreach. At its heart was a simple question: do Americans still have the right to protect their property from the encroaching power of the state?
The Henrys said yes — and refused to back down.
Bedminster Township officials claimed the family’s land was needed to satisfy New Jersey’s affordable housing requirements, part of the state’s “Mount Laurel doctrine,” which forces municipalities to set aside areas for low- and moderate-income housing. In practice, that mandate often translates to deals between town governments and private developers — deals that profit politically connected insiders while displacing long-time property owners.
For the Henrys, compliance wasn’t an option. The farm had been in the family since before the Civil War, and to lose it to bureaucratic manipulation would have been a betrayal of everything their ancestors built. “This isn’t just land,” patriarch John Henry said. “It’s our home, our history, and our future. We weren’t going to let the government take that away.”
The family took their fight to court, arguing that the township’s actions amounted to an unconstitutional land grab disguised as “public good.” Their legal team showed that the town’s plan violated both the spirit and the letter of eminent domain law — which allows government to take private property only for legitimate public use, not for private development masked as social policy.
After months of hearings, the judge ruled in favor of the Henry family, halting the township’s attempt to rezone and seize the property. It was a rare victory for ordinary citizens in an era when small landowners are routinely bulldozed by regulation and corporate collusion.
The case may have unfolded in a quiet corner of New Jersey, but its implications stretch nationwide. Across the country, similar battles are erupting as state and local governments exploit “housing equity,” “green energy,” and “climate resilience” initiatives to justify taking or restricting private land. What happened in Bedminster is a warning: government power, once expanded, rarely retreats — unless citizens are willing to fight back.
The Henrys did just that. Their courage reaffirms a truth that runs deeper than politics — that freedom is inseparable from property. The ability to own, cultivate, and preserve what one’s family has built is not a mere privilege; it is a cornerstone of self-government and human dignity.
Their victory isn’t only about acres of farmland. It’s about preserving a way of life rooted in responsibility, faith, and independence — values that have long defined America’s heartland and are increasingly under assault by bureaucrats who see people as obstacles to policy.
For now, the Henry farm stands tall — a quiet symbol of resistance against an ever-expanding state. It remains in the hands of the family that has cared for it since 1850, proof that perseverance still matters and that liberty, though embattled, can still triumph when ordinary Americans refuse to yield.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Sue the officials personally and bankrupt them or burn their houses to the ground.
The Left tries to destroy and transform prosperous suburbs which they hate with “mandates” that overturn and supercede local zoning laws.
𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭
Go seize the properties of these politicians and make them low-income housing projects.
Karma has to bite back.
New Jerksey.
Is it really over?
I’m sure the town government will come up with another plan. They always do................
“𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭”
Yes, because they intend to run/be the government, They are really demanding that you worship THEM.
Old as the Bible.
Bedminster is the location of Trump National Golf Club. In that municipality, “affordable housing” is likely to be high-end townhomes in a corner of the township where the “affordable” units sell for $500,000+.
I think there is another family near another town in New Jersey who has been going through the same problem for the same reason.
Ah, Kelo...
This is great.
Our little town on the San Francisco Peninsula was laid out in the very early 1900s. It was largely agricultural and orchards. It was finally incorporated a few years after WW II ended and the huge post-war single family building boom took. The founders wrote that the town should retain its rural character and set a strict two-story height limit for the downtown retail and commercial area. We moved there 30 years after incorporation and the “founding fathers’” vision was strictly maintained. Then the state of CA started butting its nose into local housing plans, forced every town to have a “housing element” in their plans, and the developers all smelled money. Because the state said so, the town threw away the two story height limit around the edge of town and four story condos sprouted like weeds. But Main Street maintained its small town two-story charm. The city had submitted FIVE revisions to its “housing element” to the state and all were rejected. The city finally capitulated before fighting the STATE broke the bank. Immediately, another stinking developer proposed a SEVEN story building with the top two floors dedicated to moderate income housing. Because he was going to put in those two floors in compliance with the “housing element” it had to be approved. I think the building got reduced to five floors, but it’s going to be an enormous eyesore in the center of town — shadows all over, blocking views of the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains to the west.
So eight years ago we bought another place in then-cheap North Idaho. Now another corrupt city council and another stinking developer are finishing a NINETEEN story condo project in downtown Coeur d’Alene that is going to cast long shadows over the town and block views of the iconic Tubbs Hill to the south.
Neither of these two projects were the result of Eminent Domain takings, but the pattern of corrupt city and state governments is the same. Those pols think “we need more housing” and let the developers get away with murder ruining the once bucolic place for long-time residents.
I grew up when the country had “only” 150 million people. With almost 200 million more than that today (!!), these changes were bound to happen. With birth rates way below replacement, maybe the USA won’t hit 300 or 400 million population and these forces will abate. I’m not hopeful. I expect the politicians post-Trump will throw open the borders because “who else will pick our crops?”
Same thing is happening in Florida..................
THE WORST MESS EVER OVER PRIVATE PROPERTY
SHOULD HAVE PERMANENTLY ENDED SUCH ACTIONS
Or, as my mom used to call it, "The Garbage State."
Did they ever develop that?
Good point
Out of all the land in Pittsburgh County, Oklahoma the damn government took my Grandfather’s little farm where he scratched out a living and they built a German POW camp. It broke him and he died soon after.
Five of his sons went to that war, all came back but wasn’t that enough?
All I or anyone else could ask about his little farm being taken was why? and never got an answer. It has been hard for me for my knowing life to not be bitter about that.
We are mostly a family that try to live right and do right by others but just want to be let alone. Some things are worth more than just money.
I am very happy for the Henry family.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.