Built some 25 years before H.B. Smith's arrival in Burlington County , the Greek Revival mansion symbolizes in its buildings and gardens the complexity of its most famous owner.
Enlarged in the popular Gothic manner in mid 1840s
The Semple Cottage was probably built as the original house of the gristmill operator when the property was known as Parker’s Mills. Jonathan and Samuel Shreve purchased the property in 1831 to serve as a calico printing works, followed by the addition of factories for spinning and weaving cotton. The Semple Cottage evolved as one of the more attractive structures on the property probably to serve as a dwelling to attract European talent to assist in the enterprise.
It is named for Samuel Semple, who was brought to Shreveville as the Master Weaver in 1846. Semple arrived from Scotland in 1846 at the age of 38 with his wife and 6 children. He was employed by the Shreves for the express purpose of introducing a spool cotton thread manufacturing operation in the works. By 1850, both his sons were also employed by the Shreve firm as machinists.
During the decline of Shreveville while the debt-ridden Shreves were borrowing and accumulating mortgages, Semple continued to manage the affairs of the firm not withstanding the accumulation of a long overdue salary. By 1856, because the Shreves owed him money, he took over the machinery and removed it to a building on Mill St. in Mount Holly and established the Semple and Sons Spool Cotton Mill which manufactured the nationally known “S.F.T.” (Soft Finished Thread). The entire property was practically abandoned for the next 9 years until it was purchased by H.B. Smith in 1865.
Today, the Semple Cottage serves as the headquarters of the H.B. Smith Industrial Village Conservancy.
